SKYLAND, NC :: After falling victim to rain in April, the Super Cup Stock Car Series will begin their 2014 season headlining this Saturday’s evening of racing at Jennerstown Speedway. The Western Pennsylvania .522-mile track is ready for weekly racing for the first time since 2008.
Despite the speedway being closed for the last five years, several drivers that are expected have prior experience at the track. A few previously ran regularly at the facility before their Super Cup careers launched.
2013 eighth place points finisher Jeff Zillweger ran 4-cylinder Hobby Stocks there around a decade ago. He also has an accomplishment that no other confirmed entrant can claim at Jennerstown; a feature win, which came in 2004. There still will be a slight learning curve with the Super Cup car going into Saturday.
“We’ve never raced on the new asphalt,” Zillweger mentioned. “We went Saturday for their open practice but there were not enough cars to get rubber on the track, and then it rained.”
Zillweger still feels confident that he will be comfortable come race day.
“Just knowing how to get around the track will be important,” Zillweger said. “It’s like going home, you know.”
Rookie Bill Ashton has many laps around the speedplant. Although he has yet to race in a Super Cup car to date, the Hopwood, Pennsylvania driver has competed all over the East and Midwest parts of the country in a Street Stock for many years. At Jennerstown, he had a career best fifth place points finish in 2006.
For veteran driver Lou Ansel it’s a return to a place he visited for many years. “I went there as a kid when it was dirt,” explained Ansel. “When it was paved a friend of mine bought an old asphalt car and I raced it three or four times in the early 1990s.”
The McClellandtown, Pennsylvania resident has additionally served as crew chief for NASCAR Modified Tour and formerly known as Busch North teams back when some marquee series traveled to the track, and he also helped a friend at the track with tires throughout the mid-1990s. “I have several thousand laps drying the track,” Ansel noted. Those services will hopefully not be necessary this upcoming weekend.
2013 champion Todd Peck even has a number of laps of experience at Jennerstown. Peck has eight Pro Cup starts and before that competed many times in Allison Legacy cars for a few years. In addition, his uncle and former NASCAR Nationwide Series driver Tom Peck ran on both dirt and asphalt with much success in years past. Series regulars JJ Pack, Brent Nelson, and Kevin Kromer have each turned laps on the flat track surface as well.
Drivers such as Codie Rohrbaugh, Harvey Harrison, Brian Harrison, Kyle Kromer, Rob Morris, Mike Senica, Chris Wenzel, and more all look to gain experience in a short amount of time in order to contend for the victory on Saturday night.
Jennerstown Speedway co-owners Bryan Smith, Rob Beck, and John Taylor have big plans for the Grand Opening weekend. A parade through town and pit party on Thursday evening, a carnival throughout the entire weekend, a stunt show on Friday night, and a monster truck showSunday afternoon all will support the Saturday evening of racing with local divisions and the 75 lap Super Cup Stock Car Series feature. On Saturday fans will be treated to an on track autograph session, a four-wide salute, and post-race fireworks as well.
The full race day schedule can be viewed at www.supercupstockcarseries.com, and updates throughout the weekend will be available on the official Facebook page www.facebook.com/SCSCSRacing.
