O’Reilly ASCoT Set For Devil’s Bowl Spring Nationals
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Tulsa, Okla.
Mar 13, 2007
The engines fire back to life this weekend for the O’Reilly American Sprint Cars on Tour as the National series takes to the famed ½-mile Devil’s Bowl Speedway clay oval near Dallas, TX, for the 34th Annual Spring Nationals on Friday and Saturday.
And, being added to the event’s list of prestigious winners will prove to be quite a task as approximately 50 of the nation’s top drivers are expected for the weekend.
Leading the way into the weekend is three-time and reigning ASCS National champion Gary Wright of Hooks, TX. “The Texan”, who got the ASCoT season off to a strong start with a $10,000 triumph at Tampa’s East Bay Raceway Park, has posted 14 of his 108 career series feature wins atop the Devil’s Bowl clay.
While Wright tries to pad his early-season point lead, several drivers will try to chip away at that lead with a strong weekend. Among those who will try to make a run at Wright this weekend are 2006 National runner-up Jason Johnson of Eunice, LA, and 2003 ASCS National champion Travis Rilat of Forney, TX. Johnson topped the preliminary event of last year’s season-ending Winter Nationals at Devil’s Bowl, with Rilat topping the Winter Nationals finale the next night.
Others expected to vie for the crown include Oklahoma City’s Wayne Johnson, who has teamed with the Mississippi-based H&H Enterprises team, 2005 National Tour runner-up Darren Stewart (Bixby, OK), 2006 Rookie of the Year Nick Smith (Broken Arrow, OK), 2001 National Tour runner-up Larry Neighbors (Oklahoma City, OK) and Rookie of the Year contenders Chris Schmelzle (Victoria, BC Canada) and Foster Landon (Collinsville, OK).
Other top contenders expected for the weekend include former ASCS National champion Garry Lee Maier (Cimarron, KS), Missouri’s Brian Brown, defending ASCS Midwest Region champion Toby Chapman (Lincoln, NE) and defending ASCS Northern Plains Region champion Chuck Swenson (Watertown, SD).
Also, Fort Worth’s Kevin Ramey will try to add another ASCS Devil’s Bowl triumph after winning both the Spring and Summer Nationals in 2006, while Norman, Oklahoma’s Danny Jennings tries for another Spring Nationals title after sweeping the two-night event in 2005.
