The fifth season opener for Anthony Anders reign as the promoter of Greenville Pickens Speedway will be the biggest stage for the Limited Late Model racers in the history of the track.
The second tier division will take center stage in the Winter Meltdown this Saturday, March 2nd. The event typically features Super Late Models as a headline act, but this season with the timing of Anders reaching a deal to extend his lease on the 1/2 mile track, the decision was made to make the Limited Late Models the top division and offer them a purse of up to $10,000 to win.
The Limited Late Models will compete in a 125-lap race and with a purse of $10,000 to win if at least 25-cars make the trek to Greenville, South Carolina this Saturday. Anders is optimistic that enough cars will be there and is excited about the season opener.
“I think we’re going to have a full car count there for the $10,000,” Anders told RACE22 Radio on Monday night. “I’m excited. It should be good.”
Anders is bringing some flavor from his past racing experience to hopefully spice things up for this special event.
“I wanted something a little different for those guys. You know this is our fourth year doing this race and normally it’s with a Super Late Model race but it was too late to get that going. Last year we had an average field around 13-15 cars every week and had some of the best racing with these young guys and on that Meltdown race we usually do with Limiteds we usually have about 20, 18-22 cars. But, the $10,000 to win is something where I can pile some money together for a special race, which is my opener.”
The format will break the race into three segments. The first segment will be a 50-lap segment before teams will come down pit road together and have a chance to make adjustments on their cars. The second segment will be 50-laps and at the end of that segment, teams will have the option to retain their position on the track or dive down pit road and take two new tires for the final 25-lap dash to the finish.
“I ran a race like this down in Georgia in a Super (Late Model) and we ran a 50-lap dash and came in for adjustments and then ran another 50-laps and had the option to come in for two tires or no tires. If you took two tires you got shuffled back into the field and the guy that didn’t got shuffled on up on towards second, third, or how they fell out.”
“I really enjoyed that race and that race stuck with me for how long I’ve been racing and I thought I’d give that race to these guys. They’re young and they’ve never been in this kind of race before, most of them haven’t and it gives them time to work with their crew chiefs and make some adjustments and work it all together for the next fifty laps to get to a point where we see who’s going to make the right call and who’s going to best outside driver.”
Anders points out that last season the outside groove was the place to make passes and that could play into this race format.
“Toward the end of the year, the outside groove was working better than our inside groove after the new pavement has been down for three years and it seemed like most of our races were won passing on the outside. It’s going to be a challenge for these guys to decide if they want these two tires for the 25-lap dash or if they feel like hopefully, their car is good enough to stay out front before those two tires catch up with them. It should be pretty exciting. We’re going to try and give this crowd something to talk about.”
Anders is focused on what will make the fans happy and keep them buying tickets and bringing friends to the track and thinks this race is exactly what they want.
“Talking to our crowd of people that’s what they want to see as well,” Anders continued. “They want to see it changed up and around a little bit and give them some racing so they can be up on the edge of their feet. These guys gave it to them last year and I can’t wait.”
In addition to the Limited Late Model race, the Late Model Stock Cars and all other track divisions will compete on opening day. The race is set for 2:00pm this Saturday and RACE22.com will have RACEDAY LIVE updates of the event starting with practice at 9:00am.
