April 11th, 2014

The hint from yesterday was 1/4 mile. Many may just assumed that meant Route 66 Raceway, but not entirely so. Yes, Saturday I will be at Route 66 for its opening day with the first Test & Tune of the year. The gates open at 9:00 a.m. with on-track action starting at 9:30 a.m. Mother Nature looks to be cooperating, with the best opening day weather forecast in recent memory. Come out  and see the all-day's action, then come to the website and see the images from the racing. If you see me, stop and say hello and have your picture taken with your favorite car. Earlier in the week, it was announced that this year the Friday night Test & Tunes will be themed starting with the Memorial Muscle Test & tune on May 23rd. The gates open at 4:00 p.m. and racing starts at 4:30 p.m. Unfortunately, I will miss this opening theme event because of the commitment to be at the Indy 500 the same weekend. Click here to see the complete schedule of events for Route 66 Raceway and Chicagoland Speedway.

Click here to see some of the drag racing test & tune action from last year.

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On Sunday, I will move to the Rockford Speedway's high banked 1/4 mile short track for the 37th Annual Spring Classic featuring the Big 8 Late Model Series presented by Gandrud Chevrolet, the Mid-American Stock Car Series  and the Illinois Vintage Racing Series. Practice starts at 9:30 a.m., the Front Gate opens at 11:00 A.M. with Qualifying and the racing starts a 1:00 p.m. Click here for the day's complete schedule. The Big 8 Series has 35 entrants with 30 being champions at some level, either series champs or track champs. The lineup is impressive to say the least. When you think that NASCAR puts 43 cars on a 1/2 mile track and we are doing 35 on 1/4 mile track, the action is going to be non-stop. In the Mid-American Series there are 18 entries. It looks to be another great Spring Classic. Last year Alex Papini won his first Big 8 event at the Spring Classic enroute to his Rockford Speedway track championship. The only issue for Sunday may be the weather. The weather forecast is for rain, but for those that live in the Chicagoland area know, just wait awhile, it will change. Hopefully our friend Mother Nature will give us a break and we can get the racing in. That is the least Mother Nature can do for us after this last rough winter!

Click here to see all the action from last year's 36th Annual Spring Classic

Don't forget NASCAR is at Darlington this weekend with the Nationwide VFW Sport Clips Help A Hero 200 running tonight at 7:00 p.m. CT and the Sprint Cup Bojangles' Southern 500 starting at 5:30 p.m CT tomorrow, Saturday.

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