Gresham Motorsports Park, the 1/2-mile track in Jefferson, Georgia, will open its gates next season for the first time since 2014.

A Southern Super Series super late model event will take place May 16–17, and will be co-promoted by Speed51’s Bob Dillner and Southern Super Series’ Tim Bryant.

The facility originally opened in 1967 as Georgia International Speedway and was later known as Jefco Speedway and Peach State Speedway before Jim Gresham acquired the track in 2009.

Following the World Crown 300 in 2014, the track was listed for sale and has sat vacant.

The track previously hosted a number of major events, including two Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races in the late 1960s, three NASCAR Xfinity Series races in the late 1980s, and three NASCAR K&N Pro Series races from 2010-2012.

For more information, visit southernsuperseries.com or speed51.com.

Photo courtesy of Speed51

Hagerstown Speedway in Hagerstown, Maryland, has been announced as a FASTRAK weekly sanctioned track for 2020. Drivers at the 1/2-mile oval—which celebrates its 73rd season next year—will be able to collect points towards the FASTRAK VP Racing Fuels National Weekly Championship.

“We are pleased to welcome Hagerstown into the FASTRAK family,” FASTRAK Vice President DJ Irvine said. “We look forward to helping them build a strong base of drivers and putting on a tour race in 2020.”

Plans are still being finalized for a FASTRAK Racing Series powered by Chevrolet Performance event at Hagerstown Speedway.

Drivers can begin collecting points towards the FASTRAK National Weekly Championship on April 3, 2020, through Labor Day weekend. Each driver’s best 15 finishes are calculated for their point totals for the year.

For more information, visit fastrakracing.com.

Photo courtesy of FASTRAK

VIRginia International Raceway (VIR) in Danville, Virginia, has revealed its 10-event lineup for the 2020 season which includes the return of several fan-favorite races, including the NASA Mid-Atlantic HyperFest, IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship, Heacock Classic Gold Cup, and more.

The season begins with the Hoosier Tire SCCA Super Tour taking place on April 10-12. The annual HyperFest motorsports festival will feature road racing, drifting, karting, live music performances, and more. The family-friendly weekend will also give racing fans the chance to put their own cars to the test on VIR’s 3.27-mile road course including 17 challenging turns and 130 feet of elevation changes.

August brings one of VIR’s biggest races of the year—the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, August 21–23. The weekend’s headlining Michelin GT Challenge race will see drivers reach top speeds close to 190 miles per hour.

Vintage cars and sportscar legends will take over the track during the Heacock Classic Gold Cup weekend, September 24-27, which includes the SVRA Vintage Race of Champions Charity Pro-Am race.

“We are thrilled to announce yet another exhilarating race schedule this year at VIRginia International Raceway,” VIR Owner and CEO Connie Nyholm said. “Fans are in for an action-packed lineup of high-energy races, including events they know and love like the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and HyperFest. We’re looking forward to a great season on the track and can’t wait for the fans to experience all VIR has to offer.”

VIR 2020 Schedule         
April 10-12:      Hoosier Tire SCCA Super Tour
May 1-3:          MotoAmerica Championship of Virginia
May 15-17:      NASA Mid-Atlantic HyperFest
May 25:           Victory Junction Charity Laps
June 5-7:         GT World Challenge
July 17-19:      F3 Americas Championships; F4 U.S. Championships
Aug. 21-23:     Michelin GT Challenge – IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship; IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge; Lamborghini Super Trofeo; Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA
Sept. 19-20:    Championship Cup Series Motorcycle Road Racing 
Sept. 24-27:    Heacock Classic Gold Cup, presented by the Sportscar Vintage Racing Association; SVRA American Racing Legends Charity Pro-Am; Trans-Am Road Racing Series
Nov. 13:    Salvation Army Charity Laps

For more information, virnow.com.

Following a national search for top, diverse driver talent, NASCAR and Rev Racing announced the six drivers selected to the 2020 NASCAR Drive for Diversity Driver Development Program.

NASCAR Drive for Diversity provides opportunities for women and minorities to pursue career opportunities in NASCAR in the driver’s seat and on pit crews through the NASCAR Drive for Diversity Development Program and off the track through the NASCAR Diversity Internship Program.

The six drivers were selected from a group of invitees that competed in the two-day NASCAR Drive for Diversity Driver Development Combine in October at Daytona International Speedway and New Smyrna Speedway.

The combine included fitness assessments and evaluations of each driver’s marketing and media skills. The on-track portion tested the drivers’ abilities behind the wheel and proficiencies in late model stock cars. Representatives from NASCAR and Rev Racing were on-hand to evaluate the talent and determine the 2020 team.

The program’s newest class features five drivers who will make their return to Rev Racing next season, including Chase Cabre, Nicholas Sanchez, Gracie Trotter, Rajah Caruth, and Isabella Robusto. Late model driver Perry Patino will make his debut with NASCAR Drive for Diversity in 2020.

Caruth, Patino, Robusto, and Trotter will compete in a NASCAR Late Model, while Cabre and Sanchez will compete in the ARCA Menards Series East and ARCA Menards Showdown Series in 2020.

Competing in a late model stock car will be a first for drivers like Caruth, whose background is in iRacing, and Robusto, who has experience racing Legends cars.

Caruth also becomes the first driver with an iRacing background to be selected for the program, coming from the eNASCAR IGNITE Series—a first-of-its-kind esports competition created to identify young talent by providing a low barrier of entry to the sport.

For more information, visit nascar.com or revracing.net.

NASCAR’s Truck Series officials have announced that the series will be known as the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series in 2020.

The announcement was made on the series’ official Twitter account, along with the new logo.

Gander Outdoors became the title sponsor of the series in 2019 after Marcus Lemons, the owner of the previous sponsor, Camping World, decided to change the featured brand.

Camping World was the title sponsor of the Truck Series from 2009 to 2018.

For more information, visit nascar.com.

Milltronics USA has named Foothills Machinery Sales as its exclusive full-service distributor in Colorado and New Mexico.

Founded in 1984, Foothills Machinery Sales is one of Colorado’s oldest independent dealer of machine tools. Located in Broomfield, Colorado, Foothills Machinery Sales is home to both knowledgeable sales and service support staff.

“We’re excited to be representing Milltronics,” Foothills Machinery Sales General Manager Tim Beer said. “The Milltronics brand is well known for its line of tool room machines that have integrated conversational controllers that make CNC seamless, but they also have a range of CNC machining centers and CNC lathes that offer shops well-built machines at a competitive price. Another big advantage to the Milltronics controller is the G-code visualization screen that helps conversational programmers see the G-code as the program is being created.”

Foothills Machinery Sales will now be in charge of sales, service, parts, training, and application support for Milltronics Colorado and New Mexico customers. The company has industry veterans within its service, parts, and applications team with in-depth knowledge of machining, tooling, programming, fixturing, and work holding.

For more information, visit milltronics.com.

Over 50 Sonoma County, California non-profit organizations will benefit from nearly $380,000 in grants recently awarded by the Sonoma chapter of Speedway Children’s Charities (SCC), the charitable arm of Sonoma Raceway.

In total, $378,000 was distributed to 54 local youth-serving organizations, bringing the chapter’s total distribution of funds to nearly $6.8 million since 2001.

The amount raised this fiscal year includes $30,000 donated to the Fire Resilience Fund by Comcast after Sonoma Raceway President and General Manager Steve Page was named as a finalist for the 2018 Comcast Community Champion of the Year Award. The Fire Resilience fund supports youth-serving non-profit organizations that continue to work on recovery and rebuilding after the 2017 Northern California fires. The chapter's Board of Trustees recently approved the distribution of 2019 funds at its annual meeting.

SCC’s success was due to several fundraising events and partnerships in 2019, the majority of which are held during the raceway’s major-event weekends, including NASCAR and NHRA race weekends. The highlight of the year included the Speedway Children’s Charities NASCAR Banquet and its Fund-a-Need fundraiser at Viansa Sonoma, which combined to raise $145,000 during the Toyota/Save Mart 350 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series weekend in June. SCC’s NASCAR live auction at the banquet combined with its online charity auction raised more than $28,000 in donations prior to race weekend.

“The Sonoma Chapter of Speedway Children’s Charities grant for the Family Support Center is a key source of funding enabling us to provide preschool and educational support to the most vulnerable families in our community,” Catholic Charities of Santa Rosa Children’s Resource Manager Toni Horde Abraham said.

For more information and the complete story, visit the SCC website here.

California’s Monterey County Board of Supervisors has unanimously selected a new manager for WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca during a public meeting on Tuesday morning, according to published reports.

The 5-0 vote selected A & D Narigi, LLC (A&D), led by the former Monterey Plaza Hotel Manager John Narigi, as the iconic road course’s new management team. The firm is expected to take over operations beginning with the 2020 race season.

The current facility managers, the Sports Car Racing Association of the Monterey Peninsula (SCRAMP), announced last week that the organization received notice that its 62-year contract with the county-owned park would not be extended.

A&D was one of three finalists for the position, including a five-person team led by Long Beach Grand Prix Co-Founder Chris Pook, as well as SCRAMP.

For more information, visit weathertechraceway.com.

The Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, California, will debut a new exhibit on Saturday, December 14, honoring one of the world’s most diverse and winning race teams, Chip Ganassi Racing. Titled “Chip Ganassi Racing: Fast Tracks to Success | 30th Anniversary Tribute,” the display will present significant vehicles, trophies, uniforms, and more that exemplify the success of the team under founder and racing legend Chip Ganassi, who will be formally honored on April 15, 2020, at the Petersen’s Annual Racers Night before the Long Beach Grand Prix.

Located in the Charles Nearburg Family Gallery, the 10 key vehicles on display will include the 1983 Patrick Wildcat MK9B raced by Chip Ganassi to his best finish at the Indianapolis 500; the Lexus-powered 2006 Riley MK XI raced by Scott Dixon at the Rolex 24 At Daytona; the 2010 Dallara IR-05 driven to victory at the Indianapolis 500; the 2016 Ford GT that finished first at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the LM GTE Pro category 50 years after Ford’s iconic first-, second- and third-place victories in 1966; and the 2019 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 driven by Kurt Busch in NASCAR.

“Chip Ganassi is an influential member of the automotive community, and his team’s penchant for success is a reflection of his raw skill and passion for the sport,” Petersen Automotive Museum Executive Director Terry L. Karges said. “Complemented by a visually dynamic and compelling 180-degree video, ‘Chip Ganassi Racing’ will celebrate the teams’ victories and tell its story while taking visitors on a trip down memory lane.”

A fixture in the auto-racing industry for more than 30 years, Chip Ganassi is considered one of the most successful and innovative team owners the sport has ever seen. Following a strong career as a driver, Ganassi created his own one-car INDYCAR team in 1990. The team’s track record includes 19 championships and over 220 victories. It is the only team to win the Indianapolis 500 (four times), the Brickyard 400, Rolex 24 At Daytona (eight times), 12 Hours of Sebring and 24 Hours of Le Mans. Adding to the prestige, it is also the only team to win the Rolex 24 At Daytona three times consecutively and the only team to win Rolex 24 At Daytona, the Daytona 500, the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400 in one 12-month span.
 
“Chip Ganassi Racing: Fast Tracks to Success | 30th Anniversary Tribute” will run through January 31, 2021. The museum will host a ticketed preview and opening reception on December 12.

For more information, visit petersen.org.

The Lucas Oil Midwest Latemodel Racing Association (MLRA) has announced its 2020 racing season, which is comprised of 23 events at a total of 11 different venues across five states.

The season will also feature a change in qualifying format, transitioning from the traditional passing points system used in recent years to time trial qualifying. Series officials piloted the best of two-lap qualifying format in select events this past season and will now use it moving forward at all MLRA sanctioned events.

The 2020 series will get underway on April 10–11 with the running of the 7th annual "Spring Nationals" at the Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Missouri. The track will also play host when the series joins forces with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series (LOLMDS) during the biggest weekend of the season, the 28th Annual "Show-Me-100" on May 21–23. After a September 5 event at the track, the series will crown a winner at the 7th annual “Fall Nationals” on October 9–10.

Additional tracks the series will visit includes 34 Raceway in West Burlington, Iowa; Stuart International Speedway in Stuart, Iowa; Davenport Speedway in Davenport, Iowa; West Liberty Raceway in West Liberty, Iowa; Rock Island County Fairgrounds in East Moline, Illinois; Salinas Highbanks Speedway in Pryor Creek, Oklahoma; Cresco Speedway in Cresco, Iowa; 300 Raceway in Farley, Iowa; Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas; and Quincy Raceway in Quincy, Illinois.

To view the complete 2020 Lucas Oil MLRA schedule, visit here.

Image courtesy of Lucas Oil MLRA