Track PR Report
KINGSPORT, Tenn. (Jan. 21, 2012) — With the last full season of racing at Kingsport Speedway having been in 2002, race fans and competitors alike from around East Tennessee, Southwest Virginia, and Western North Carolina were overjoyed to hear that former NASCAR racer Robert Pressley planned to open the .375-mile banked concrete oval in the Model City for NASCAR Whelen All-American Series sanctioned racing in 2011. The season started off with a bang in mid-March and gained momentum week-by-week, and ended the last weekend in August with a huge crowd in attendance that saw NASCAR Sprint Cup Series competitor Joey Logano battling with the track regulars.
Saturday night in the Americourt Hotel & Convention Center banquet room with over 300 attending, Pressley and NASCAR honored 2011 champions and recognized the top 10 drivers in each division.
Nate Monteith of Blountville had a phenomenal campaign to say the least en route to winning not only the Kingsport Speedway NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Late Model Stock championship, but also earning the Tennessee State NASCAR title while chauffeuring the True Line Construction Co./KBM Commercial Properties/Pizza Plus/BSA Security Co./TAB Performance/Clark’s Automotive Race Engines/Griffin Radiators/Amsoil/Brown & Miller Racing Solutions/Five Star Race Car Bodies/ProParts Engineering Performance/Sherwin-Williams/
Finishing second through fifth in Late Model Stock points were Asheville, N.C.’s Lee Tissot, Daniel Pope II of Smyrna, Johnson City’s Zeke Shell and Paul Nogradi Jr. of Clinton. Nogradi, a Mechanical Engineering student at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, was recognized as NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Tennessee State Rookie of the Year.
Middle Tennessee resident Randy Weaver, from Murfreesboro and crew chief for Pope, was recognized as Craftsman Mechanic of the Year.
Also visiting victory lane besides Monteith was Tissot, with five feature wins and Pope recorded three victories. Winning one race each were Shell, Nogradi and Seymour’s Wade Day.
Completing the top 10 in Late Model Stock points were Dakota Slagle of Asheville, Kingsport’s Brad Housewright, Nick Cole of Bristol, Kingsport’s Royce Peters and Ryan Stiltner of Grundy, Va.
Jeff Counts of Castlewood, Va., driving the Trevor Supply/TruPoint Bank/Stop-N-Shop/S&G Machine Shop/Gillenwater Chiropractic/Stone Racing/Pro Image Graphics/84EXPO.com/Taylor Race Cars/No. 11 Chevrolet Camaro, visited victory lane twice during the season but his consistency in recording top-five finishes in all but one start carried him to the Street Stock championship.
Finishing second through fifth in Street Stock points were Chuck Crigger of Surgoinsville, Castlewood’s Rob Austin, Paul Shull of Church Hill and Chris Tunnell of Wise, Va.
Besides Counts’ two victories, Crigger led the Street Stock division with 10 feature wins. Duke Bare of Meadowview, Va., recorded three wins, while Austin, Shull and Clintwood, Va.’s Roger Neece each captured one victory.
Even though he missed starting one race during the season due to mechanical issues at the track on race night, 29-year-old Mark McCrary of Bristol nonetheless stayed up-on-the-wheel and focused with the task at hand – trying to win the Pure 4 championship. Mission accomplished, as the 29-year-old parlayed four feature wins and 15 overall top-five finishes into winning the title driving The Nutty Java of Kingsport/Signs & Designs Dunn Right/No. 99 Chevrolet Cavalier.
Finishing second through fifth in Pure 4 points were John Ketron of Kingsport, Asheville’s Lewis Slagle, James Mills of Wise and Kingsport’s Bill Coleman.
Ketron led the Pure 4 division with five feature wins, while both McCrary and Kingsport’s Chris Neeley each visited victory lane on four occasions. Keith Helton of Kingsport recorded two feature wins, while Dean Slagle and Greg Stephens, both from Asheville, each scored one victory.
Jeff Woodward of Rosedale, Va., driving the DJ’s Tire & Auto Sales/FM 94 Radio of Marion, Va./Washington County Moose Family Fraternity #1966/Shentel/Auto Zone/Pepsi/Buchanan Oil Corp./Pro Image Racing Graphics/84EXPO.com/No. 94 Ford Fusion captured the Limited Sportsman championship.
Finishing second through fifth in points were Derek Woodward of Rosedale, Kingsport’s Austin Peters, Paul Shull of Church Hill and Lindsey Holman of Abingdon, Va.
The 41-year-old (Jeff) Woodward and his 18-year-old son Derek, along with Peters and Holman, all captured Limited Sportsman feature wins.
Week-in and week-out the best car count at the track was Pure 4. To help give valuable seat-time to racing newcomers with relatively little experience, the Rookie Pure 4 division allowed females Cortney Roark (14 years old) and Pie Short to outrun the boys and capture victories. Austin Crigger, Jeremy Hughes, William Hale, Eddie Smith, David “Animal” Trent and Brad Ball also recorded wins.
Another exciting NASCAR Whelen All-American Series sanctioned season of racing will get cranked up at Kingsport Speedway in March.
Kingsport Speedway is located at 2961 North John B. Dennis Highway. For more information, call the office at (423) 288-5992, track promoter Robert Pressley at (828) 215-2077, or visit the Web site atwww.NewKingsportSpeedway.com.
