PA Speedweek 27th
Annual Mitch Smith Memorial At Williams Grove Friday
6/28/15
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Mechanicsburg –Williams Grove Speedway will host the biggest event of the 25th Pennsylvania Speedweek series this Friday, July 3 at 7:30 pm when it hosts the 27th annual Mitch Smith Memorial for sprint cars, paying a hefty $10,000 to win out of a purse worth over $30,000.
Friday’s Mitch Smith Memorial
will use time trials to set the field as do all speedweek events and the
feature will be 30 laps in distance.
A special holiday fireworks
display is also slated during the program.
The
Saturday Series street stocks will also be on the July 3 racing card.
The Mitch Smith Memorial began in honor of the late star in 1989.
Known affectionately to most as the “Linglestown
Leadfoot,” Smith was one of the most electric sprint car stars to ever grace
the Cumberland County oval and the Central Pa region with his talents.
Perhaps his biggest claim to fame was his trumping of
the world-renowned USAC sprint car stars when they came east to Williams
Grove Speedway in 1971.
For comparison
purposes, USAC was in 1971 what the World of Outlaws is to sprint car racing
today.
They just simply
didn’t get beat.
Except by Mitch Smith in Central Pa in 1971.
The USAC’ers were furious.
The PA drivers and fans were famous.
At the end of his four-decade career in 1978, Mitch
Smith had amassed 179 overall total career feature wins including 27 in a
sprint car and nine in a super modified at Williams Grove alone.
Smith drove for owners like Mary Flack in the
Flying Tiger, John Regester, Gary Wasson and Al Hamilton in the famed No.
77.
After being felled
by a massive heart attack in 1988, Smith was posthumously inducted into the
National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 1995.
Fred Rahmer and Lance Dewease have done the best in the
Smith Memorial over the years, each owning four victories.
Stevie Smith is the
defending Smith Memorial champion, having taken his third victory in the
event last season.
Smith won the
inaugural event in 1989 and again in 2012.
He also kicked off the 2015 speedweek series
with a win this past Friday night at Williams Grove.
Friday’s event will again
be part of the 2015 Hoosier Diamond Series at the oval.
The Williams Grove
portion of the 50/50 on the night will be donated to the American Red Cross.
Adult general admission for the show is $18 with youth ages 13 – 20 admitted
for $10.
Kids ages 12 and under
are always admitted free at Williams Grove Speedway!
The Williams Grove
Saturday Series featuring the super sportsman continues on Saturdays during
the summer months with race time at 7 pm each week.
Keep up to date on all the latest
speedway news and information by visiting the oval’s official website at
www.williamsgrove.com
or by visiting the oval on Facebook or via Twitter.
1989 Stevie Smith
1990 Joey Allen
1991 Don Kreitz Jr.
1992 Lance Dewease
1993 Keith Kauffman
1994 Fred Rahmer
1995 Lance Dewease
1996 Keith Kauffman
1997 Lance Dewease
1998 Todd Shaffer
1999 Fred Rahmer
2000 Don Kreitz Jr.
2001 Lance Dewease
2002 Greg Hodnett
2003 Greg Hodnett
2004 Fred Rahmer
2005 Fred Rahmer
2006 Jeff Shepard
2007 Greg Hodnett
2008 Doug Esh
2009 Daryn Pittman
2010 Daryn Pittman
2011 Alan Krimes
2012 Stevie Smith
2013 Danny Dietrich
2014 Stevie Smith