Champ Trail - January 19, 2016

  The countdown continues as speedweeks in Florida are now only three weeks away when the World Series of Short Track Racing begins at New Smyrna and preliminary events leading up to the Daytona 500 at the Daytona International Speedway begin. For those who can’t make it to Florida the Ice Breaker at Thompson Motorsports Park Speedway is only 12 weeks away.

  There will be more than 1,300 miles of racing action this summer at New Hampshire Motor Speedway with the regional series now locked in to both NASCAR weekends. Speedway officials announced today that tickets are now on sale for all races with the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, NASCAR K&N Pro Series East and American-Canadian Tour added to compliment the July and September weekends.

  The NASCAR K&N Pro Series East race has been moved from Friday to Saturday, capping off a tripleheader day of racing in July, while the American-Canadian Tour will do the same in September. The Whelen Modified Tour will run twice in July and once in September. The regional touring series join NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series, XFINITY Series, and Camping World Truck Series for a jam-packed weekend of summer racing.

  When Stafford Speedway announced the addition of a K&N East Pro Series event on June 17 to its 2016 schedule many fans just shook their heads in disbelief. The series which is made up of mostly poor little rich kids with wealthy parents has little fan appeal.

  Pro All Stars Series (PASS) officials and Renee Hackett announced today the final dates on the inaugural Southern Modified Racing Series Presented by PASS schedule. The South’s newest Tour-type Modified division will compete 11 times during the 2016 season at eight different speedways. In addition to the previously announced events at Hickory Motor Speedway, Concord Speedway, Anderson Motor Speedway, and Caraway Speedway, the Southern Modified Racing Series Presented by PASS schedule will be filled out by dates at Ace Motor Speedway, Tri-County Motor Speedway, and Dillon Motor Speedway. Additionally, four of those events will be "mega-shows," pairing the Southern Modified Racing Series with the PASS South Super Late Models.

  The inaugural Southern Modified Racing Series Presented By PASS event is scheduled for Saturday, March 26 at Hickory Motor Speedway in North Carolina as part of the 11th Annual Easter Bunny 150 weekend. Along with a PASS National Championship race for the Super Late Models and the first race for the new South East Mini Stock Tour, the prestigious Easter Bunny 150 weekend will only continue to grow in prominence with the addition of the Southern Modified Racing Series.

  On the speedway stock market scene last week it was another bloodbath except not quite as bad as the previous week. All three speedway stocks were down. Taking the biggest dip was the International Speedway Corporation which dropped 0.51 to 30.87. Speedway Motorsports dropped 0.18 to 18.37 and Dover Entertainment dropped dropped 0.07 to 2.18. NASCAR fuel supplier Sunoco (Energy Transfer) dropped 5.00 to 24.70, NASCAR cup sponsor Sprint dropped 0.53 to 2.87 and NASCAR tire supplier Goodyear dropped 0.59 to 27.55. Two of the three car manufacturers were also on the negative. Ford dropped 0.57 to 11.97 and Toyota dropped 0.46 while General Motors went up 0.04 to 29.57. In the home improvement sector Home Depot dropped 4.67 to 119.23 and Lowes dropped 1.89 to 68.99. With the exception of Aarons Rentals which went up 2.06 to 22.39 the big team sponsors stocks were down for the week. McDonalds dropped 0.30 to 115.18, Coca-Cola dropped 11.90 to 166.00, Target dropped 1.30 to 70.08 and Fedex dropped 7.79 to 126.92.

  On the tube this week:

  Wednesday, January 20
7:00 AM, NASCAR Scan All 43, NBC Sports Net
7:30 AM, NASCAR Scan All 43, NBCSN
2:00 PM, American Pickers - NASCAR Challenge, HISTORY
5:00 PM, NASCAR Race Hub, Fox Sports 1
5:00 PM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
8:00 PM, Tanked: Unfiltered - NASCAR and Baseball Champions Tanks, ANIMAL
11:00 PM, Tanked: Unfiltered - NASCAR and Baseball Champions Tanks, ANIMAL

  Thursday, January 21
3:00 AM, Tanked: Unfiltered - NASCAR and Baseball Champions Tanks, ANIMAL
7:00 AM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
5:00 PM, NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
5:00 PM, NASCAR America, NBCSN

  Friday, January 22
7:00 AM, Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame...NASCAR Fans for Hating Jeff Gordon, ESPN Classic
7:00 AM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
5:00 PM, NASCAR Race Hub - Jeff Gordon, FS1
6:30 PM, NASCAR America: Hall of Fame Special, NBCSN
8:00 PM, NASCAR Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony: From Charlotte, NBCSN

   That’s about it for this week from 11 Gardner Drive, Westerly, and R.I.02891. Ring my chimes at 401-596-5467.
E-mail: smithpe_97_97@yahoo.com.

Phil Smith has been a columnist for Speedway Scene and various
other publications for over 3 decades.
 

Source: Phil Smith / Champ Trail
Posted: January 19, 2016