You asked for it and here it is. The Xcel Chassis 600 series will have a total of 88 races for the 2012 season. The tour division will see 36 dates, Lindas Speedway with 19, Thunder Mountain adds 16, Kutztown will host the sportsman 12 times and the newly paved Borgers Speedway has secured 5 dates and will be running the modifieds for the year.
Doug Borger, series owner, is excited the way the schedule all came together. “It takes a lot of work and communication to put a schedule like this together. We are returning to some popular tracks along with invading new ones for the series as a whole. All the promoters I worked with over the winter are looking for the same outcome I am and that’s to give the fans a show they soon won’t forget. Now if Mother Nature cooperates it’ll be all good.”
Five Mile Point will host the season opener for the tour division on April 1st and see the season end on October 27th. New to the series is Shippensburg Speedway. Invading the popular 1/5 dirt oval on May 12th has everybody checking out race videos on the web just like I did. After watching a few videos, the 600’s will be a good fit and the racing will be even better. Another track new to the series is the ever popular Accord Speedway. The Ulster County bull ring has the modifieds racing on September 22nd as part of their “King of the Catskills” weekend. The track has been modified since the exhibition race so all the drivers will be on the same playing field or should I say track.
Penn Can Speedway will play host a total of 6 times for the 2012 season with Five Mile Point confirming 5 dates for the year and with the increase of more cars being sold in upstate New York should bring together the north and south.
A lot of preseason talk has centered round the tracks that have returned to the series. Big Diamond Speedway, widely considered our superspeedway, will be racing on Saturday nights for the first time in the tracks history along with their regular Friday night shows for the 2012 season. Ten dates will see the mighty modifieds invade “God’s Country” with top speeds and top notch action.
Teams will be heading north on Aug. 11th to Black Rock Speedway, located next to Watkins Glen, the same weekend Nascar will hit the road course. We could see a couple of familiar faces from the NASCAR circuit as a few drivers have 600 modifieds of their own.
Trailways and Susquehanna Speedway will each see one date for the season but expect to see big action.
Grandview Speedway is one of the fastest if not the fastest track that is on the schedule. Car count in previous years hit the 40 mark and after a 5 year hiatus and the divisions’ growth I would expect to be over 55 cars for the Sunday Small Car Series. The action will be just as hot as the summer months.
Lindas Speedway will be hosting the tour division with 2 dates along with a regular Friday night schedule for the 600 modifieds. They are a fan favorite with the tight door to door racing week in and week out.
Not new but improved is the return of Borgers Speedway with a whole new look and feel. The choice to shut down forever or pave the surface gave Glen Borger no choice but to go to pavement. In February a handful of drivers were asked to test the first step of paving the track and the outcome couldn’t have been better for all parties involved. A total of 5 dates were confirmed and the question of will they be fast was answered but the next question will be “Are they going to run dirt or asphalt tires?” Doug Borger has also changed the division to the modifieds since the pavement surface was near perfect.
Kutztown will see the sportsman division on a weekly basis along with hosting a tour date for the modifieds. Chad Mullen of Factor X Graffics along with Doug Borger announced over the winter an increased sportsman series point fund totaling over $4000 along with bonus money on a weekly basis.
Thunder Mountain Speedway, located in Lisle, NY, added the modifieds to their weekly program over the winter months. “Doug and his series have always been great to work with and with the division growing in this area I wanted to showcase the cars and the racing these drivers put on week in and week out”, explained owner Dick Stark.
As a reminder to teams, registration for the 2012 season will close on March 17th. Doug Borger talked of the importance of getting your information in on time. “All cars must have their number registered with the series since we only allow 2 of the same number. Gary Suchy is redoing the website which will include driver profiles along with the work JoAnne does to get the information to the tracks before we arrive. A lot of work goes on during the off season and with the final stage of preparation coming to a close I look forward to this season. Teams can go to the website www.xcelchassis.com, scroll down and click the link for our forum board. You will need to create an account to download the registration form and email to
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as soon as possible. I also wanted to thank the promoters from all the tracks with working so closely over the winter months to make this season the biggest in the history of the 600 series.”
Check back often as the website will soon be done and the 2012 season will kick off in a big way.
