Green flag drops next Friday at Toledo Speedway

4/16/2004

There were 70 race teams on hand for the first practice session of the year at Toledo Speedway last weekend and an eclectic assortment of ARCA late models, factory stocks, sportsmans, four cylinders and Figure 8 s, along with an ARCA RE/MAX machine worked out on the track. A final practice session takes place on Sunday before the real racing begins next Friday night with the Home Depot season opener.

Racing on the half-mile paved oval continues through Sept. 17. The highlight of the season will be two visits from the superspeedway-style stock cars of the ARCA RE/MAX Series. On Sunday, May 16 Toledo Speedway hosts the Hickory Farms 200. NASCAR driver Ken Schrader will compete with almost 40 other entries.

The Michigan-Ohio State ARCA 200 presented by Jasper Engines & Transmissions & Belle Tire runs Sept. 3.

For Friday night races, the front gates open at 5 p.m., time trials start at 6:15 and racing begins at 7:30. Toledo Speedway is located on Benore Road at the I-75/Alexis Road exit on the Michigan-Ohio border. The track phone number is 419-727-1100.

Flat Rock Speedway, Toledo s sister track in Michigan, hosts its season opener on Saturday, April 24 at 7 p.m.

BROOKLYN, Mich. - A busy season of racing at Michigan International Speedway gets started in June. The ARCA ReMax Series Flagstar 200 runs June 19, followed the next day by the Nextel Cup Series Sirius 400, which will bring all of the top NASCAR teams to the two-mile oval tucked in the tranquil Irish Hills area about an hour northwest of Toledo.

On July 31 the track hosts the NASCAR Truck Series. The IndyCars run the Michigan Indy 400 on August 1.

The Nextel Cup teams return on August 22 for the Gordon Food Service Marketplace 400, with the Busch Series Cabela s 250 running the day before.

Tickets for the MIS races are available at 1-800-354-1010.

MANSFIELD - Former Daytona 500 winner Geoffrey Bodine and fellow NASCAR driver Dennis Setzer will compete in the late model division at Mansfield Motorsports Speedway s season opener on April 24.

Bodine has won 18 times on NASCAR s top series, including the 1986 Daytona 500. He also was the 1987 IROC champion. Setzer has won 10 races in the Craftsman Truck Series.

Tickets are available by calling (419) 525-0183. Adult reserved seats are available for $15, general admission tickets are $12, children s (age 5-13) reserved seats are $10 and general admission $5. Pit passes are available for $25.

Mansfield Speedway s highlight event this season is the inaugural Ohio 250 Craftsman Truck Series race on May 16. This is the first national NASCAR series race in Ohio in 50 years. Due to a substantial demand, additional reserved seats have been added for this race, and a limited amount of these tickets remain.

LEXINGTON, Ohio - Many of the same cars, teams and drivers from the 24 Hours of Le Mans will visit Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course two weeks after that famed endurance run. This radical form of racing returns to the 13-turn, 2.25-mile road course on June 25-27 for the American Le Mans at Mid-Ohio.

The field is expected to include the winners from the 2004 12 Hours of Sebring and 24 Hours of Le Mans. Tickets are available at 1-800 MID-OHIO.