by Kyle Luetters
A father and son battle for the lead was the highlight of the 40 lap World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series main event at Cottage Grove (Ore.) Speedway. When the dust settled, it was the son, Kraig Kinser, who used patience and poise to take the checkers over his dad, 20-time champion Steve. The win was Kraig’s first of 2011 and made it two in a row at the track for car owner Lonnie Parsons.

“This feels so incredibly good to be back in Victory Lane here at Cottage Grove,” said Kraig, who picked up his first career victory at the Speedway in 2004. “This car was right here in Victory Lane last year so there was quite a bit of expectations going into the night. We ran realyl good all night and I saw my dad use the top were the track had started to take rubber to get by me. From there, I knew I had to save my right rear so I tried to run as smart as I could and not use it up. We got to lap traffic and dad had to check up so I had my opening.”

Seconds after Kraig’s pass for the lead, a yellow flag allowed the leaders to restart in double file form. The younger of the Kinser chose the outside line and rode a quick restart to victory. The elder Kinser did all he could to hold onto the second spot and mentioned later on that the bottom of the race track was not where his car was the best.

“I knew we were in a bit of trouble when we had to restart on the bottom,” said Kinser, who has now finished in the top-3 for three consecutive races. “The track started taking rubber early on and there at the end, I was really lucky someone let me in the top line and helped us get going again. This is the second time I’ve finished second to Kraig here. I hate finishing second but if I had to lose to anyone, I’m glad it’s my son. Lonnie Parsons and that entire team have been running a whole lot better as of late.”

Dylan Kwasniewski stretches out his lead at Montana. (Jonathon Ferrey/Getty Images for NASCAR)by Shon Sbarra, NASCAR
It took Dylan Kwasniewski just nine races to pick up his first NASCAR K&N Pro Series West victory. And it took just seven more days to get his second, with a win in the Toyota/TTC 150 on Saturday night at Montana Raceway Park.

At 16 years and 2 months old, Kwasniewski became the youngest driver to win a NASCAR K&N Pro Series race – with his victory at Colorado National Speedway on Aug. 6. It did not take the Las Vegas teenager long to get back to Victory Lane.

He dashed from third on the grid at Montana to take the lead from his Gene Price Motorsports teammate, Greg Pursley, on Lap 52. He set a tremendous pace in charging around the cozy quarter-mile oval in his No. 03 Rockstar/Royal Purple Ford, putting all but five other cars a lap down in an event that remained green for the final 106 laps.

“He made a little bit of a mistake and we were able to get our nose in there and make a clean pass,” Kwasniewski said of his race-winning pass. “Once we were ahead of everyone, we knew we were going to pull out a little bit and get a comfortable lead. And that’s what we did.”

Kwasniewski battled heavy traffic as he began to put much of the field a lap down – running three wide on more than one occasion.

“I was definitely trying to push the limit at the beginning,” he said. “I like having a comfortable lead, knowing that everyone else is far behind. Once we got out there and I knew that we had a straightaway lead, I kind of backed off a little bit.”

Once again, Kwasniewski said he was confident of having a car to contend for the win.

BZ Zeller Photoby American Speed Association PR
Officials with the ASA Northwest Sprint Car Racing Association Sprint Car Series have announced their 2011 season schedule. The series will visit six tracks with twelve event dates.

"We are very excited about our 2011 schedule," Andy Alberding, 2010 ASA NSRA Champion and Series President said. "We are returning to many of the tracks we competed at in 2010 and making more than one visit at many of them. Our fans will get plenty of opportunity to see our fast asphalt winged sprint cars compete this season."

The series will open their 2011 season on Saturday, April 2nd at Evergreen Speedway in Monroe, WA. Expect to see high speeds on the fast sweeping 5/8-mile oval.

One of their traditional events will take place at Meridian Speedway, an ASA Member Track in Meridian, ID, for the annual Diamond Cup event on June 3-4. Fans will see exciting racing action on Friday and Saturday nights as the drivers will take on the challenging quarter-mile oval.

A second visit to Evergreen Speedway will take place on Saturday, June 25.

The fans of Stateline Stadium & Speedway in Post Falls, ID will host the Winged Sprints on Saturday, July 9. The high banked quarter-mile oval will provide some fast racing action.

The first of two visits to Douglas County Speedway in Roseburg, OR will take place on Saturday, July 23. The 3/8-mile oval will give the ASA NSRA drivers a good challenge.

They roll into the month of August with a visit to Ephrata Central Park Raceway in Ephrata, WA on Saturday, August 6. Fans will be treated to some great racing excitement on the quarter-mile high-banked oval.

by American Speed Association PR
Adam Nelson, Promoter of Meridian Speedway, an ASA Member Track in Meridian, ID is one of six promoters nominated for the 2010 RPM Auto Racing Promoter of the Year. This is the first time that Nelson has been nominated for this prestigious award.

NHRA Media PR Photoby NHRA Media PR
NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series Countdown to the Championship titles will be on the line in all four classes as the 23-race tour nears its endpoint for the 2010 season at the 10th annual NHRA Las Vegas Nationals.

For several drivers the season has reached critical mass and they will need to respond appropriately at the penultimate race at the spectacular Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Oct. 28-31, if they are to have any chance of claiming world championship glory. Defending winners of the event include Spencer Massey in Top Fuel, Robert Hight in Funny Car, Larry Morgan in Pro Stock and Andrew Hines in Pro Stock Motorcycle. The race will be televised on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN3.com.

Close points battles exist in all of the categories, with plenty of drama to go around. In Funny Car, Virginia cattle rancher Matt Hagan holds a 64-point lead over 14-time world champion John Force. Hagan powered his DieHard Dodge Charger to a strong performance two weeks ago in Pennsylvania and moved ahead of the 61-year-old Force, who has led the series for most of the season in an emotional comeback effort.

Hagan says his team will need to be focused to hang on to the title with two races to go in the season.

“We can’t make any mistakes,” Hagan said. “We have to go out there, do some good, solid racing, and go some rounds. I don’t feel like we have to set the world on fire but we need to go some rounds and keep kind of matching John round for round, and it will hopefully fall the way we want it to. This is drag racing; you never know how it’s going to end up.”

NHRA Media PR Photoby NHRA Media PR
With their wins on Sunday at the 23rd annual NHRA Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways, Cory McClenathan and Greg Anderson successfully began their respective quests to become the first driver(s) to sweep the Western Swing twice

The other winner at the 14th race in the 23-event NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series was Tim Wilkerson (Funny Car), who also won at this event in 2009.

McClenathan faced off against Antron Brown – who swept the Western Swing in 2009 – in the Top Fuel final round and his 3.887 at 311.70 in the FRAM dragster was just good enough to outrun Brown’s 3.909 at 308.92 in the Matco Tools dragster.

“There’s Antron (Brown) and myself in the final, we’ve both won (the Western Swing) … I want to be the first to win it two times,” said McClenathan, who swept the Western Swing in 1997. “I know that’s a lot to ask for, but you can’t get there until you win this first one and that’s what we did.”

The win also moved McClenathan around teammate Tony Schumacher and into second place in the Top Fuel point standings.

The Funny Car final was also a near photo-finish with Wilkerson (4.221 at 292.39) powering the Levi, Ray & Shoup Ford to a narrow victory over Ron Capps (4.246 at 289.51) and the NAPA Dodge Charger team.

It was the third straight final round for the LRS Ford team and second straight win in a space in the schedule – summertime – where they traditionally have done well.

“We’re happy to be in the position we’re in and we seem to really come into our own in this kind of weather,” said Wilkerson, who moved around Ashley Force Hood into fifth place. “We try not to think about it or do anything to pull us backwards. Just go run the racetrack every round.”