Sprint

ESS: 2003 schedule announced

Empire Super Sprints to celebrate it's 20th Anniversary Tour; purse increase await all competitors. SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- On Saturday night, April 12th at the Black Rock Speedway, the first green flag will be dropped on the 2003 season for the Empire ...

Edited: Apr 23, 2005, 8:54 PM

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Empire Super Sprints to celebrate it's 20th Anniversary Tour; purse increase await all competitors.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- On Saturday night, April 12th at the Black Rock Speedway, the first green flag will be dropped on the 2003 season for the Empire Super Sprints (ESS). One of the nation's leading 360 sanctioning bodies will then begin to celebrate its 20th anniversary tour. A total of 29 dates have been booked in four states and two Canadian provinces in which some of the best winged sprint car drivers in the Northeastern, U.S. and Canada will do battle.

For the first time in several years, all competitors will see a purse increase in all full point shows with the winners share now set at $1450 for each event, $1000 has been set for second, $600 for fifth, $400 for 10th and $200 to take the green flag for the A-Main which will be 25 laps in 2003. With added contingencies from several companies the winners share on each night could very well top $2000.

Once again the Black Rock Speedway in Dundee, N.Y. will anchor the ESS tour with five dates. The fast 41/0ths mile oval promoted this year by Gary Montgomery will see three full point shows for 2003 along with the annual two-day, $40,000 Bully Hill Vineyards Fall Sprint Nationals. Tom Cole's Utica-Rome Speedway will take advantage of all three Summer holiday weekends by running on Memorial Day, Fourth of July and Labor Day Weekends at the fast Vernon, N.Y. oval. Other tracks will multiple dates will be Stateline, Brockville-Ontario, Albany-Saratoga, Little Valley, and Autodromes Granby and Drummond in Quebec.

New to the ESS tour will be the first ever visit to the Ohsweken Speedway in Ohsweken, Ontario, Canada. Track owner and builder Glenn Styers, who pilots both a dirt track sprint car and a CASCAR late model in his native Canada, has a wide and fast oval ready for the invasion of "America's Race Cars".

Several high paying events also dot the schedule for this season: Along with the $4,000 to win Bully Hill Nationals, Empire Super Sprints/United Racing Club Challenge Races will be held on May 4th at Grandview ($2500 to win) and on October 11th at the Rolling Wheels Raceway as a part of Super DIRT week with the 25 lap event paying $3,000 to win. The top stars of ESS has also been invited to compete in the Brodix Cylinder Heads Tournament of Champions to be held at the famed Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, IA. The finale on Sunday night, August 10th will pay the winner $4,000.

It could very well be a wide open chase for the 2003 ESS title as eight-time champion Mike Woodring could miss a few shows due to his ownership of Erin Crocker's Silver Crown machine. Ready to take advantage will be top ESS stars such as Lance Yonge, who placed second to Woodring two of the past three seasons, Dan Kaszubinski, second to Woodring in 2001 and set with a new Maxim built sprinter, Bill Coffey, fourth in points for 2002, Mike Stelter and a host of some 30 other top sprint car chauffeurs.

It's going to be a wild party, celebrating 20 years of sprint car excitement. From April to October, from Quebec to Iowa, the Empire Super Sprints are ready to showcase some good 'ole wheelie poppin' dirt track racing. For more information on the 20th anniversary tour you can log on to www.empiresupersprints.com .

-ess-

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