After being closed for more than a year due to significant damage from Hurricane Irma and a resurfacing of the track, Hendry Motorsports Park is set to reopen its gates.

The quarter-mile dirt oval will return to action with its season-opening event on April 28, featuring the Top Gun Sprints, Tire Zone Street Stocks, Gladiators, Mini Stocks, Quads and V8 Warriors.

Promoter and owner Ken Kinney is said to have invested a substantial amount of time and effort into bringing the track back following the damage from the hurricane. He and his crew have redone the tower, lighting and billboards around the speedway, as well as oversaw painting of the bleachers and stands and additional new construction.

The track has been completely resurfaced with new dirt as well. Kinney and chief technical inspector John Wilson will oversee the facility.

A practice day will take place the week before the opening night of racing, set for April 21 from 7 p.m. until 11 p.m.

The track’s second week of regular racing will be particularly notable, with a $1500-to-win late model show highlighting the track’s May 5 racing program. The Late Model feature will pay a guaranteed $100 to start the event.

Two Hawaii Senate Committees have passed a resolution seeking construction of a new race track facility on the island of Oahu.

Islanders have not had a track to race at since the Hawaii Raceway Park dragstrip near Kapolei was closed in 2006.

The resolution requests that the Hawaii Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism identify state-owned land suitable for a public-private partnership to design, build and operate a racing venue. The bill is currently under the consideration of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means.

For more information, visit the SEMA Action Network (SAN) website. For details, contact Daniel Ingber at stateleg@sema.org.

Six new names will be enshrined into the West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame later this summer, five of which will receive the Heritage honor.

Five were elected for induction by the West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame’s Heritage committee, which considers figures from the pre-1970 era qualified for enshrinement but not previously selected by a vote of the organization’s full board of directors.

Among the list of Heritage inductees is Freddie Agabashian, George Bignotti, Bill Cheesbourg, Clyde Prickett and Mickey Thompson.

The elected Class of 2018, announced in March, is comprised of Larry Albedi, Joe Garone, Oren Prosser, Greg Pursley and Dick Woodland. The enshrinement of J.D. Gibbs is being withheld until 2019 at the request of Joe Gibbs Racing.

A special election from semi-final candidates selected Bryan R. Sperber to complete the roster of 2018 inductees. Sperber is president of ISM Raceway, as well as president of the West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame’s board of directors.

The Class of 2018 will be inducted June 21, 2018, at the Meritage Resort and Spa in Napa, California. The event, presented by Gateway Motorsports Park, again accompanies the annual Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR K&N Pro Series West weekend at nearby Sonoma Raceway.

Thunder Road Speedbowl (Barre, Vermont) officials, in conjunction with Speedway 51 powered by the Autosaver Group in Groveton, New Hampshire, have finalized the Twin State Street Stock Series for 2018.

The four-race “home-and-home” series will feature the top drivers from Thunder Road’s Allen Lumber Street Stocks, Speedway 51’s Caron Auto & Truck Repair Street Stocks, and other 4-cylinder racers from throughout Vermont and New Hampshire.

The series opens Thursday, June 21, with a 50-lap event at Thunder Road as part of North Country Federal Credit Union Night. The following race is set for Saturday, October 20, at Speedway 51.

Thunder Road will host the third race of the series on Sunday, August 5, with the Bolduc Metal Recycling 50-lap Street Stock Special. The series will conclude on Saturday, October 20, at Speedway 51 with a special companion event to the Octoberfast 150 Enduro.

In addition to an increased purse at each event, a separate point fund has been posted for the top overall finishers in the series. Any car that conforms to Thunder Road and Speedway 51 Street Stock rules is eligible to participate.

Visit thunderroadvt.com or speedway51int.com for more information.

One of the most iconic families in the history of auto racing will be honored by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum in its new exhibit, “The Amazing Unsers: From Albuquerque to Indianapolis,” opening April 9.

Twenty-five cars that the Unser family drove in competition will be on display, including eight of the nine that took them to victory in the Indianapolis 500, starting with the Rislone Eagle that powered Bobby Unser to victory 50 years ago this May.

More machines representing their career in USAC, road racing and NASCAR will also be on display, some for the first time. Visitors will also see rare memorabilia from the drivers and can take an audio tour of some of the cars and trophies hosted by Al Unser, Al Unser Jr., Bobby Unser, Parnelli Jones and Roger Penske.

“It’s really nice of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum to honor the Unser family. To showcase all the Unsers at a track where so many great names have raced is very special for us,” three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Unser said.

Dover International Speedway (Dover, Delaware) and BAPS Motor Speedway (York Haven, Pennsylvania) have announced a unique partnership in hopes of closing the gap between short track fans and the country’s national touring series.

The goal of the alliance is to promote each facilities’ form of racing and bring it to each fan base, in hopes of bringing NASCAR, its competitors and fans, and local racing supporters closer together.

Dover will have signage and ticket giveaways at BAPS Motor Speedway throughout the season, promoting its May 4–6 and October 5–7 race weekends. The track will also sponsor the Justin Snyder Salute the Troops event on August 26, which will feature Tony Stewart’s Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions.

“I just think it’s a good opportunity, and I’m excited about this deal,” BAPS Motor Speedway General Manager Kolten Gouse said. “There has been a lot of stuff in the media about grassroots racing getting that tie back to dirt track racing. To put this ball in motion and do a year-long campaign, I just think this is so huge for this area.”

The National Auto Sport Association (NASA) has announced that registration for the 2018 NASA Championships presented by Toyo Tires opens Friday, April 6, at 9 a.m. PST.

The NASA Championships will move this year to the world-famous Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas. The four-day event will take place September 13-16, 2018.

The event will feature the inaugural Toyo Tires Classic for Spec Miata competitors, along with 28 classes of wheel-to-wheel competition joined by nine classes of Time Trial competition.

Registration for the 2018 NASA Championships presented by Toyo Tires will be based on a first-registered, first-entered basis.

In addition, NASA once again will make an early-entry reservation option available later this month to anyone who wants to take advantage of the lowest entry prices available for the year.

Visit nasachampionships.com for more information and to register.

Holley/MSD has announced that Holley is now a master distributor of SPAL fans.

SPAL fans are said to be powered by fully sealed waterproof and dust-proof motors that meet or exceed IP68 standards, with each motor also said to be individually balanced for long service life.

Fans are available in pusher or puller designs, with paddle, straight or curved blades.

Founded in 1959 in Italy, SPAL offers a complete line of high-performance electric fans for automotive, motorcycle, ATV, and even oil-cooler applications.

Formula DRIFT (FD) has entered into a partnership with the Drift Masters European Championship (DMEC) to create an open dialogue between the two series that will allow greater alignment and collaboration between FD and DMEC.

Formula DRIFT co-founders Jim Liaw and Ryan Sage will soon travel to Torun, Poland, to continue discussions with the DMEC series organizers with a view to growing the partnership for the future.
 
As part of the initial agreement, Formula DRIFT will award PRO licenses to the top eight drivers in the DMEC series who do not currently hold them. This will allow these drivers to compete at the highest level in Formula DRIFT for the following season. At the same time, all current FD PRO license holders will be eligible to compete in DMEC events for the entire championship season or selected rounds.
 
To assist with their future entry into Formula Drift, the top three drivers from the DMEC series will be awarded a scholarship by FD and DMEC. It is also hoped that Formula DRIFT drivers will join the DMEC series, and both series will benefit from the influx of new drivers.

(Photo courtesy of Porsche).

Porsche Motorsport North America and the Pikes Peak Int’l Hill Climb Organization have jointly announced the creation of a new class for the Broadmoor Pikes Peak Int’l Hill Climb.

The class is said to be the first official one-make Porsche category in the 96-year history of the event and is exclusive to the Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport. Eight invitation-only entries will battle for the Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport Pikes Peak Hill Climb Trophy by Yokohama on June 24.

Running in the Time Attack Division, three variants of the mid-engine Porsche Cayman GT4 are eligible: the Clubsport, the IMSA GS class-spec Clubsport and the international GT4-specification Clubsport MR.

Porsche Factory's Romain Dumas will be assisting in the new class in addition to chasing his fourth victory—and third consecutive—at Pikes Peak.

Jeff Zwart, an eight-time Pikes Peak Champion, will assume the role of driver coach for the eight invitational participants.