Autumn Classic Headlines Busy November at Southern National

LUCAMA, NC :: Southern National Motorsports Park is moving the Late Model portion of the Thanksgiving Classic up three weeks.  The 200 lap Late Model race, which will be billed as the Autumn Classic, will now be run on November 9^th while the Thanksgiving All-Star Classic will now be headlined by the Limited Late Models and Langley Speedway Modifieds – among other divisions.

The Autumn Classic will be run the week following the recently announced Halloween Spooktacular which will be headlined by the Limited Late Model division.  The Autumn Classic will be a three day event with practice being held on Friday, November 7^th, qualifying and heat races being held on Saturday, November 8^th and the 200-lap main event being held on Sunday, November 9^th.

.Along with the Autumn Classic and the Halloween Spooktacular, the PASS South Mason-Dixon Meltdown will be held on November 15^th and the Thanksgiving All-Star Classic will be held on November 28-30^th.Southern National Motorsports Park co-owner Mike Diaz told RACE22.com that a couple of things influenced his decision.

“There are a couple things that led to this: We wanted to ease up the days so the support divisions could have their own highlighted feature event and Mytle Beach’s rain date being on my race weekend, we feel it’s better to move it,” Diaz explained.  “It’s a month after Martinsville and two weeks before Myrtle Beach.  I think that’s a nice, decent break and I’m hoping to get a better car count for the Late Models.  I’m hoping, with the break, some Late Models will come out and run.  You never know, for my Limited race on the Thanksgiving Classic, there’s not much difference between my Limitds and Late Models, so it might give some guys the opportunity to run both.”

Diaz said he was hoping the breaks in the schedule will help both Southern National and Myrtle Beach gain more cars for their marquee events.

“I’m trying to make it a little bit easier on the Late Model teams,” Diaz statd.  “I think moving the race enables the Late Model teams to participate in all the big races and breathe a little bit.  They get to fix their car after Martinsville, prepare for us and then prepare for Myrtle Beach after that.  Hopefully it makes all three Late Model races in the fall big events.  Instead of making racers choose between Myrtle Beach and us, it makes things easier for them to attend both.”

Diaz stated that all three races, the Halloween Spooktacular, Autumn Classic and Thanksgiving Classic, would have mid-afternoon start times so the racers can get back to their hotels and get a reasonable amount of sleep at night and so the weather wouldn’t be as nippy during the feature races.

Support divisions for the Autumn Classic have not yet been determined but Diaz says the track will announce what those divisions will be later this week.

Southern National Motorsports Park’s November will be jam packed with racing as there will now be feature races on four weekends during the month of November.  For more information about Southern National Motorsports Park’s upcoming November races, visit their website at www.snmpark.com.