ASCoT Devil's Bowl - Gary Wright spotlight

Wright Ready for More ASCS History at Devil's Bowl

TULSA, Okla. (October 10, 2006) -- Gary Wright is set to add another entry to the American Sprint Car Series record books as the O'Reilly American Sprint Cars on Tour wraps up the 2006 season with this weekend's 33rd Annual Devil's Bowl Winter Nationals at Mesquite, TX.

Wright enters the weekend with 299 career ASCS National Tour feature starts, and barring a Twilight Zone-like chain of events, "The Texan" will become the first driver in series history to start 300 National Tour feature events.

Wright's assault on the ASCS record books began more than 12 years ago, when he drove Brian Shearer's No. 210 entry to an eleventh place finish in the opening round of the Second Annual ASCS Speedweek at Memphis Motorsports Park on June 17, 1994.

Wright picked off his first ASCS National Tour win two nights later at Louisiana's Forest Hill Speedway and hasn't looked back since, racking up 106 career ASCS National Tour wins in 299 feature starts. Wright has posted 234 top-five finishes and 265 top-tens in those 299 starts as well.

With a pair of provisional starting positions still remaining, if needed, it is expected that Wright will make his 300th career ASCS National Tour feature start during Friday night's preliminary feature at Devil's Bowl Speedway.

Wright is just one of seven drivers to start more than 200 ASCS National Tour features. The others to break the 200 mark include Terry Gray (262), Garry Lee Maier (261), Tim Crawley (256), Zach Chappell (243), Travis Rilat (226) and Toby Brown (207).

Another 15 drivers have joined the ASCS "Century Club", with each of the following making at least 100 ASCS National Tour feature starts: Wayne Johnson (176), Jason Sides (173), Mike Ward (146), Jan Howard (145), Danny Wood (138), Darren Stewart (137), Danny Jennings (132), Dale Howard (127), Michael Dupuy (127), Kevin Ramey (114), Jason Johnson (110), Cody Branchcomb (110), Larry Neighbors (108), Pete Butler (108) and A.G. Rains (104).

Wright enters the weekend shooting for a third consecutive ASCS National championship, holding a 58-point lead over Louisiana's Jason Johnson. Wright can secure the title by finishing at least 14th or better on both Friday and Saturday night.

The 33rd Annual Devil's Bowl Winter Nationals fires off at 8:00 p.m. on both Friday and Saturday night, with a full card of racing action for the O'Reilly American Sprint Cars on Tour National series on both nights.

Devil's Bowl Speedway is located six miles east of Dallas' I-635 on US 80, then three miles south on Lawson Road. For more information, contact the track at 972-222-2421.

The 2006 O'Reilly American Sprint Cars on Tour features a record $150,000 point fund, with $50,000 earmarked for the champion. The series will contest approximately 30 events throughout Florida, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas, Virginia, Michigan and Iowa.

In its 15th year of sanctioning Sprint Car racing in the United States, the American Sprint Car Series will present approximately 180 nights of racing at nearly 100 tracks throughout 27 different states and Canada in 2006 including the National Tour and its Regional Tours (Gulf South, Mid-South, Midwest, Northern Plains, Patriot Sprint Group, Rocky Mountain, Sooner, Southern and Sprints on Dirt).

-credit: www.ascsracing.com