Evergreen Preview

Easton, Pa., May 29 - On Sunday, June 7, at 2:00 PM, the American Racing Drivers Club (ARDC) CARQUEST Midget Series returns to Evergreen Raceway in St. Johns, Pa. It will be the club's first time there since 1992 and this appearance will offer a new cast of Midget drivers to the track. The 1992 ARDC Champion, Joey Coy, is no longer an ARDC regular and neither is the '92 runner up, Brett Mowrey. In fact, out of the top ten drivers in the final point standings of 1992, only Phil DiMario, Mike Piersig and Hank Rogers, Jr. are regular ARDC competitors in 1998. The rest of the class in the "top ten of `92" included Drew Fornoro, John Heydenreich, Bob Resco, Jr., Doug Craig and Lou Cicconi, Jr.

1998's ARDC CARQUEST Midget Series drivers are looking forward to getting on to the Evergreen asphalt. 1997 ARDC Champion, Ed Stimely, Jr., as well as Bryan Kobylarz, Doug Borger and Gary Mondschein are a few of the ARDC drivers ready to hit the pavement on June 7. And, many other ARDC drivers live very close to Evergreen Raceway. Mike Lapp and Dan Shelbo are Lehigh Valley residents. Shelbo was the 1992 ARDC Rookie of the Year. Doug Borger, Tom Martocci and one of the rookies in ARDC this year, Shawn Burke, all live about only 30 minutes away from Evergreen. So, friends and relatives of all of these drivers will have an opportunity to watch them race close to home. Mondschein offered his comments about the upcoming race. "I feel that Evergreen is in a very strategic target market area with Hazleton, Scranton and Allentown nearby. There are alot of Midget fans in those areas and it is good to see that Evergreen is going to bring Midget racing to these fans." Evergreen Race Director, Steve Fox, also gave his thoughts about the return of Midget racing to Evergreen. "Stan Lobitz of Hazleton, Pa. Encouraged us to bring the Midgets back to Evergreen Raceway. He's a great friend of racing and a friend of Evergreen Raceway, as well. We are happy with the increase in the car count of our regular divisions at Evergreen and that we are in a position to be able to bring back one of the favorite attractions of years ago - the ARDC Midgets."

The Evergreen race is a part of the five race series of asphalt races in the middle of the 1998 ARDC schedule this year. The other asphalt tracks include; two races at Flemington Speedway in Flemington New Jersey, Langley Speedway in Hampton, Virginia and Oswego Speedway in Oswego, New York. The dirt track of Dixieland Speedway in Elizabeth City, North Carolina on July 17 will be the next time that the ARDC Midgets race with grooved Hoosier tires. Also, it has been confirmed that the ARDC race at Southampton Speedway in Capron, Virginia has been canceled. Southampton has changed its race night from Friday to Saturday and a new ARDC date could not be rescheduled for this year.