USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour sprint cars headline USCS Shoals Shootout season opening  event at North Alabama Speedway on Saturday (3/24/2018)

Atlanta, GA – March 22, 2018 – The United Sprint Car Series Outlaw Thunder Tour presented by K&N Filters winged sprint cars keep a busy 60 plus race 2018 schedule rolling with their their 7th event of the 2018 season with the USCS Shoals Shootout event at North Alabama Speedway near Tuscumbia, Alabama this Saturday, March 24th. The event will be the first race for the USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour drivers at the 3/8-mile Alabama red clay oval since 2012.

The defending USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour National Champion, Jordon Mallett from Greenbrier, Arkansas leads the USCS drivers into North Alabama Speedway for Saturday’s event.  He is currently the National points leader as well as the points leader in two USCS regional series after the first six events in 2018.

Last season Mallett finished the USCS season with the most points in the National standings after a season long battle with veteran and 11-time series Champion, Terry Gray from Bartlett, Tennessee. Mallett had six wins on the season. Morgan Turpen from Cordova, Tennessee was the feature wins leader during the 2018 season when she had nine victories. The 2013 USCS National Champion, Derek Hagar from Marion, Arkansas also had six wins on the season. All four of these drivers are entered for this weekend’s contest as well as a strong contingent of challengers.

The challengers include three-time World of Outlaws sprint car Champion and five-time Chili Bowl National Midget Champion, Sammy Swindell from Germantown, Tennessee as well as National Sprint Car Hall of Fame inductee and 2017 Ohio Sprint Car Series and the Atomic Speedway track Champion, Danny Smith from Chillicothe, Ohio.

In addition to the 120 miles per hour USCS winged sprint cars the www.RockAuto.com USCS Mini Sprints will see action as well as six North Alabama Speedway weekly racing divisions on Saturday night. Those include the Nesmith Dirt Late Models and Late Model Sportsman plus the Nesmith Street Stock division. In addition to those three sanctioned divisions the Factory Stock, Mini Stock and popular Buzz classes will also contest a full racing card.

Saturday’s USCS sprint car division racing card will include a full racing program that includes Test and Tune Hot Laps, the Hoosier Speed Dash, qualifying heat races and the 30-lap A-main event.

Pit area Gates open at 3 p.m., while the spectator grandstand area gates open at 4 p.m. Racing action kicks off at  6 p.m. Central Daylight Time on Saturday. For info on North Alabama Speedway please visit their webite at www.northalabamaspeedway.com or their Facebook page. Call 256-702-5852. For USCS information please call the USCS series office at 770-865-6097. For USCS rules, info and updated schedules please visit www.uscsracing.com

McIntosh Kicks Off Ambitious 2018 Slate with POWRi Midget Turnpike Challenge

Lonnie Wheatley, BROKEN ARROW, Okla. (March 22, 2018) – An invaluable season of laps is about to get under way for Cannon McIntosh and the RL Hudson/Toyota-TRD No. 08 team with this weekend’s POWRi Midget portion of the Fifth Annual Turnpike Challenge at Oklahoma City’s I-44 Riverside Speedway on Friday and Saturday.

The 15-year-old from Broken Arrow, OK, is set to take on a schedule of approximately 60 events in 2018 including a mix of POWRi, POWRi West and USAC Midgets along with ASCS Sprint Cars and more.

“We’ll be doing a lot of traveling to different tracks and trying our best to get solid top-fives and top-tens,” the Micro Sprint grad explains.

It begins with this weekend’s double atop the cozy confines of the 1/5-mile I-44 Riverside Speedway clay oval in southwest Oklahoma City with a stellar field of cars expected for the weekend’s POWRi Midget action.

McIntosh made a pair of Midget starts at I-44 Riverside Speedway last year, posting a third-place finish in his most recent start atop the Oklahoma City clay last June.

That podium finish was among four top-fives and nine top-tens that McIntosh posted en route to a ranking of fourth in 2017 POWRi West Midget points along with Rookie of the Year honors.

McIntosh’s most recent action came at the noted Tulsa Shootout in the closing days of 2017, posting sixth-place finishes in both the Winged “A” Class and Stock Non-Wing divisions on New Year’s Eve.  The strong finishes came amongst fields of 284 (Stock Non-Wing) and 232 (Winged “A” Class) entries.

With a season of Midget racing experience already under his belt, McIntosh adds a 360-ci ASCS Sprint Car to the mix in 2018 with an ASCS Red River Region double at Sapulpa’s Creek County Speedway and then Caney (KS) Valley Speedway on April 21-22 the first slated outings for the Sprint Car.

Along with RL Hudson and Toyota-TRD, other marketing partners making this ambitious slate of events possible includes American Discount, Complete Auto Care, Best Graphics, Fieldhouse Gear, Precision Inspection, Sanders and Associates, Panels by Smoke, Walker Performance, Sanders Wheels, American Discount Brake and Muffler, D&N Fabrication, Car and Fleet and Infinity Shocks.

McIntosh’s current slate of events for 2018, tentative and subject to change, is as follows:

MARCH:
Friday-Saturday 3/23-3/24- I-44 Riverside Speedway, Oklahoma City, OK-POWRi National

APRIL:
Friday 4/13-Red Dirt Raceway, Meeker, OK- POWRi West midgets
Saturday 4/14-Caney Valley Speedway, Caney, KS-POWRi West midgets
Friday 4/20-Creek County Speedway, Kellyville, OK-ASCS Sprints
Saturday 4/21-Caney Valley Speedway, Caney, KS-ASCS Sprints
Saturday 4/28: I44 Speedway, OKC, OK-POWRi West midgets/stock micros

MAY:
Friday 5/4-Grain Valley Speedway, Grain Valley, MO-POWRi National midgets/WAR Sprints
Saturday 5/5-Lucas Oil Speedway, Wheatland, MO-POWRi National midgets/ASCS sprints
Saturday 5/12-Port City, Tulsa, OK-POWRi West midgets/stock micro
Friday 5/18-Creek County Speedway, Kellyville, OK-ASCS Sprints
Saturday 5/19-Lawton Speedway, Lawton, OK-ASCS Sprints
Saturday-Sunday 5/26-5/27-Airport Raceway, Garden City, KS- POWRi West/Stock micros

JUNE:
Friday 6/1-Red Dirt Raceway, Meeker, OK-ASCS Sprints
Friday 6/8-Jacksonville Speedway, Jacksonville, IL-POWRi National midgets
Saturday 6/9-Macon Speedway, Macon, IL-POWRi National midgets
Sunday 6/10-Lincoln Speedway, Lincoln, IL-POWRi National midgets
Wednesday 6/13-Lawton Speedway, Lawton, OK-ASCS National Sprints
Thursday 6/14- Creek County Speedway, Kellyville, OK-ASCS National Sprints
Friday 6/15-Red Dirt Raceway, Meeker, OK-POWRi West midgets
Saturday 6/16-I44 Speedway, OK-POWRi West midgets/stock micros
Friday-Saturday 6/29-6/30-Port City, Tulsa, OK-DRC stock micros

JULY:
Tuesday 7/10-Red Dirt Raceway, Meeker, OK-USAC midgets
Friday-Saturday 7/13-7/14-Grain Valley Speedway, Grain Valley, MO-POWRi National midgets
Sunday 7/15-Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex, Sweet Springs, MO-USAC National midgets
Friday-7/27-Creek County Speedway, Kellyville, OK-ASCS Sprints
Saturday 7/28-I44 Speedway, OKC, OK- POWRi West midgets

AUGUST:
Friday-Saturday 8/3-8/4-Federated Auto Parts Raceway@I-55-Pevely, MO- POWRi National midgets
Friday-Saturday 8/24-8/25-Humboldt Speedway, Humboldt, KS-POWRi West midgets/WAR sprints

SEPTEMBER:
Saturday-Sunday 9/1-9/2-Lake Ozark Speedway, Eldon, MO- POWRi National midgets/ASCS Sprints
Saturday 9/8- I44 Speedway, OKC, OK- POWRi West midgets
Saturday 9/15-I-30 Speedway, Little Rock, AR- ASCS Sprints
Thursday-Saturday 9/20-9/22- Lucas Oil Speedway, Wheatland, MO-ASCS Sprints

OCTOBER:
Thursday-Saturday 10/4-10/6-I-30 Speedway, Little Rock, AR-Short Track Nationals
Friday-Saturday 10/26-10/27-Creek County Speedway, Kellyville, OK- POWRi West midgets/ASCS Sprints

NOVEMBER:
Friday-Saturday 11/9-11/10-Kennedale Speedway Park, Kennedale, TX- POWRi National midgets

Up Next: POWRi Midgets “Turnpike Challenge” at I-44 Riverside Speedway in Oklahoma City, OK, on Friday and Saturday.

Keep Track:  Keep track of Cannon McIntosh’s on-track action including schedule and results at https://www.facebook.com/cmacracing/.

If you would like Cannon McIntosh Racing press releases e-mailed directly to you, send your e-mail address to Lonnie Wheatley at lonniewheatley@gmail.com.

Penning the recurring series of “The Wheatley Chronicles” articles on www.sprintcarmania.com, Lonnie Wheatley provides media, public relations and more for select tracks, drivers and events.  For more information, Wheatley may be contacted at lonniewheatley@gmail.com.