Local racing: 35th annual Ohio Sprint Speedweek starts Friday

Eight tracks. Nine days. Nearly 900 miles.

And that doesn’t even include the racing.

The 35th annual Ohio Sprint Speedweek starts its trek across the state Friday night at Attica Raceway Park. The 410 winged sprint cars roar into Eldora Speedway on Saturday and Waynesfield Raceway Park on Sunday for Legs No. 2 and No. 3.

Findlay driver Chad Kemenah won the 2016 Sprint Speedweek championship. He enters Speedweek leading the All Star Circuit of Champions points standings with an 180-point lead over New Castle, Ind., driver Caleb Armstrong.

The event also visits Wayne County Speedway in Orrville (Monday), Sharon Speedway in Hartford (Tuesday), Muskingum County Speedway in Zanesville (Thursday), Limaland Motorsports Park in Lima (June 23) and the finale at Atomic Speedway in Waverly (June 24). Wednesday is an off-day and will be used as a rain date for the first five events. Each event pays $5,000 to the winner and counts toward ASCoC points.

“Sprint car racers and fans alike look forward to Speedweek each and every year. It’s grueling. It’s long. It takes a lot of sweat, hard work and dedication, but I’m sure the racers wouldn’t have it any other way,” said Tony Stewart, owner of both the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions and Eldora Speedway. “I want to thank all of the tracks and other organizations for helping us put this together, especially (sponsor) Cometic Gasket. The amount of support Ohio Sprint Speedweek attracts is overwhelming. I’m confident this will be around for another 35 years.”

On Saturday at Eldora, gates open at 4 p.m. with hot laps at 6 and racing at 7:30. The Eldora stock cars are also scheduled to appear.

On Sunday at Waynesfield, gates open at 5 p.m. with hot laps at 6 and racing at 7. The NRA Sprint Invaders are also scheduled to appear.

Kil-Kare Raceway: Gem City Auto Racing returns Sunday with a regular show featuring the late models, modifieds, sport stocks and compacts. Gates open at 11:30 a.m. Practice starts at 11:30 with qualifying at 1:30 p.m. and racing at 2:15.

Shadybowl Speedway: The 72-lap Bobby Korn Memorial for late models highlights the Saturday racing action. Modifieds, street stocks, pure stocks and compacts are also in action. Gates open at 4 p.m. with racing at 7. The track is accepting lap sponsorship for the Bobby Korn Memorial. Those interested can contact Cheri Marler Mahaffey on Facebook.

Kil-Kare Dragway: The drag strip hosts the Friday Night Pro Double Up with gates opening at 5 p.m. On Saturday it's the NHRA-sanctioned Summit ET Series points racing and the Outlaw 4.70 Index. Gates open at 11 a.m.

Edgewater Sports Park: NHRA-sanctioned Summit Racing is in action Saturday with super pro, pro, sportsman, motorcycle and junior dragster divisions. Gates open at 2 p.m. with racing at 6:30 p.m.

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