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Grundy County Speedway and Memorial Day Monday Equal
8th Annual George Appleton Memorial 125
May 25, 2006
By ASA Late Model Series
Lexington, Michigan (05/25/2006): The ASA Late Model Series Presented by GM
Performance Parts is getting ready to celebrate the Memorial Day Holiday
weekend with two events over the four-day holiday weekend.
After the televised ASALMS Challenge Division event, the Miller Lite 200 at
the Madison (WI) International Speedway on Friday and Saturday May 26-27,
several teams will be sticking around the area over the holiday weekend for
one of the biggest shows of the season for the companion Northern Division.
The ASALMS Northern Division competitors as well as those who plan too double
dip, will make the almost three hour trip South to the Grundy County (IL)
Speedway in Morris, Illinois on Memorial Day Monday, May 29th for the running
of the 8th annual George Appleton Memorial 125 Presented by Rod Baker Ford and
100.7 RXQ “The South Lands Classic Rock”.
“I am pumped about the upcoming 8th annual Appleton Memorial 125 at Grundy
County.” Stated ASALMS Northern Division Director, Steve Einhaus. “With
the Televised ASALMS Challenge Division race just two days before on Friday
and Saturday in Madison, you’ll see a great number of teams sticking around
to join us for the North Series race at Grundy.” Einhaus added.
“Memorial Day events at Grundy County Speedway had always been a historic
weekend for the old ARTGO Series.” Continued Einhaus. “We want to give the
fans something they will remember. I can’t thank Grundy Promoter Frank Welch
enough for letting us bring our show back to the Chicagoland area.” Einhaus
stated.
In the ASALMS only appearance at the 1/3 mile semi-banked paved oval back in
2004 in what is now the ASALMS Challenge Division, current NASCAR Busch Series
Rookie contender, Todd Kluever took the win after a dual with Jason Setser
back on June 19, 2004! Kluever won over Mike Satkowiak, Scott Baker, Ryan
Tedesco, and Tony Rosebrugh the Top Five. 33 machines were on hand.
Also with many teams traveling from Madison or just for Grundy County, the
ASALMS Northern Division is having a get together at Ebbey’s Goerge’s Bar
and Grill in Morris, Illinois on Sunday, May 28th from 5pm to 9pm. This will
be a meet and greet for teams, sponsors and officials in a relaxed setting
while watching the NASCAR Nextel Cup event, the Coca-Cola 600 from Charlotte,
North Carolina.
“Grundy is very similar in style to Lake Geneva and I think you’ll see
quite a battle on Memorial Day Monday, especially from the guys who ran Geneva
last weekend. There isn’t a whole lot to change over from either track!”
Added Einhaus.
“It’s been a pleasure working with Rod Baker Ford for the last three years
and we’re happy to have him back with us again. It’s also a great honor to
have George Appleton’s name on this race for all of our competitors.”
Einhaus ended.
Heading into the third event of the 2006 season for the ASALMS Northern
Division, 16-year-old Jesse Smith leads inaugural Northern Division feature
winner, Jack Smith by 20 markers heading to the Morris, Illinois speed
plant.
The last event winner for the ASALMS Northern Division last weekend at the
Lake Geneva (WI) Raceway, Eddie Hoffman, is also a two-time winner of the
Appleton Memorial and is considered by many observers as the odds on favorite
for a third title!
Peter Cozzolino, Jason Setser, Jeff Bozell, and a slew of Challenge Division
favorites will attempt to double dip over the weekend as; Bill Tomlinson, Doug
True, and Pete Vanderwyst look to challenge as does Columbus, Ohio veteran,
Robbie Pyle and teammate, Greg Usher.
Grundy favorites will look to challenge the Smith boys as well as the crafty
veteran Hoffman in the extra distance affair. A normal ASALMS Northern
Division feature is 100 laps, but for this event only, the distance has been
extended to 125 orbits around the 1/3 mile semi-banked paved oval.
Rookie contenders are abound in the 125 lapper as current ASALMS Northern
Division Rookie Points Leader, Michael Annett will lead an outstanding cast of
freshman that includes Lorz Motorsports teammate, Alison Quick, the first
female driver in ASALMS to win an event when she took the GM Performance Parts
Shootout last weekend at Lake Geneva.
More rookies include; Fast Qualifier at Lake Geneva, Kelly Bires as well as
Kyle Hinrichs, Mike Osgar, Danny Ouderkirk, and Jason Taghikhani.
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Grundy favorites such as defending track champion, Bill Knippenberg Jr., who,
along-with Hoffman, will headline a stellar car of Prairie State contenders
including; Ryan Carlson, Rick Corso, and Anthony Danta, hot off his fifth
place showing at Lake Geneva.
Also Mid-American Stock Car Series ace, Dave Gentile Jr., as well as Illinois
pilots; Joe Einhaus Jr., Wes Griffith Jr., Mark Hartline, Mike Heiss, Troy
Hintzsche, Dan Lensing, Mike Marden, Josh Nelms, Derek and Nick Neville, and
Steve Vaughn.
History, tough competition, and a big pay day have always attached itself to
this event in memory of George Appleton. George was a long time innovator in
the field of late model stock car chassis and components.
Appleton, who passed away in 1998, was the founder of Appleton Rack and
Pinions, Inc,. in Minooka, Illinois. Appleton built numerous stock cars during
his lifetime, but set the Midwestern stock car racing scene on its ear when he
debuted his state-of-the-art “Junkyard Dog Camaro” with Larry Schuler
handling the driving chores in 1976.
Featuring coil over shocks and rack and pinion steering among other new racing
ideas, the Appleton creation carried Schuler to three track championships in
three states with the young champion winning a season-high 43 main events
during the 1976 season.
Also joining the ASALMS Northern Division will be the widely popular,
Mid-American Stock Car Series. This will be the second event of the 2006
season for the Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin based series. In addition, Grundy
County also runs the Mid-American Series type cars as a weekly division, which
should elevate the car count for the Memorial Day Monday event!
For more information about the Mid-American Stock Car Series, log onto their
website which is located at: Mid-American Stock Car Series
The Grundy County Speedway Fairgrounds was originally located at Mazon,
Illinois and was built at the turn of the century. The original track was a ½
mile, racing the old A.A.A. sanctioning body. For years, the greatest race car
drivers in the US, participated at the Grundy County Fair. Such drivers as,
Wilber Shaw, Mauri Rose, and the late Tony Bettenhausen.
In 1941, the Midget Race Car became the popular. So the 1/2 mile track was
torn up and a 1/4 mile asphalt high-banked track was built. This track was
known all over the country as the Mazon Speed-Bowl. In 1970, the Grundy County
Fair Board was faced with a situation where the fairgrounds were obsolete and
there was no adjacent land available for expansion.
That was when the fairgrounds was moved to Morris, Illinois. The new
fairgrounds opened in May of 1971 with Stock Car Racing and has continued
until the present time. The track is a 1/3 mile with a asphalt surface.
The racing surface is 60 feet wide with 22 degrees banking in the turns and 12
degrees on the straights. With speeds in excess of 80 MPH. Midget Driver,
David Gough holds the track record of 14.427. The track is surrounded by 144,
1500-watt Quartz lights for a total of over 216,000 watts of lighting. The
grandstands are made of all steel construction with aluminum seats and wooden
steps with a capacity of over 4000.
Grundy County Fairgrounds and Speedway is located on Route 47 just North of
I-80 in Morris, Illinois. Racing at the Morris, Illinois speed plant will go
on until Labor Day Weekend every Friday night with special events scattered
throughout the season.
A regular Friday night Regular Racing Program consists of Late Models as their
premiere division while the Mid-American Stock Cars Division, Street Stocks,
and Mini Stocks fill out the card on Friday nights.
During the 2005 season, Bill Knippenberg Jr., won the Late Model track
championship while Jerry Einhaus Jr., took the Mid-American championship. Chad
Proctor won the Street Stocks title and Jason Claypool won the Mini Stocks
championship.
On Saturday events, the UMARA Midgets organization call the Morris, Illinois
speed plant home, while on Sunday afternoons, the Grundy County Karting and
Motorsports Association takes control of the speedway.
Also of note, the 1/3 mile semi-banked paved oval is rentable by contacting
Promoter, Frank Welch at: 1 (815) 942-2510. On a regular Friday night, the Pit
Gates Open at 4:30pm with Qualifying set for 6:45pm and the first race goes
off at 8pm.
For more information about the 2006 season at the Grundy County Speedway, log
onto their website at: Grundy
County Speedway
To learn more about the 2006 seasons with the ASALMS Northern Division, as
well as the ASALMS Challenge and Southern Divisions; You can also call the
ASALMS home offices during normal business hours Monday through Friday
(9am-5pm Eastern Standard Time) at: 1 (800) 385-2503.
Also please note that the ASALMS home offices will be closed from May 26-30 as
the management and officials from the entire ASALMS will be on the road over
the Memorial Day Holiday weekend.
You can also log onto any of the three websites for more information. For the
Challenge Division, go to: ASALMS
Challenge Division For the Northern Division, log in at: ASALMS
Northern Division and finally for the Southern Division click on: ASALMS
Southern Division
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