Coming this weekend to Golden Isles Speedway is the Lucas Oil Powri Southern States Division II Midget Series. The series is the brainchild of Mr. Wayne Davis. The owner and creator of the series started it back in 2010 at Marion County Speedway in Ocala, Florida. Mr. Davis himself started out in racing by racing skeeter cars, sprint cars, late models, modifieds and both asphalt and dirt. He's basically ran it all. After spending most of his life in the cockpit he decided to enter into the other side of racing as a series owner and wanting to create something affordable mixed with his love of sprint cars, the series was born. The need for the series was apparent being in the south, the heart of racing, along with how affordable it would be and how little maintenance would be required. Mr. Davis met with officials in the Midwest and a group effort created the national rules for division II midgets.
Originally started at the Winter Nationals in Florida last year, Wayne needed something to put the race into the national spotlight. After running Golden Isles last year during the year Wayne talked with Darryl Courson and Mr. Langdale the owner of the track and with the track's full support the series was brought into the schedule for the Super Bowl on Dirt this week. Golden Isles wanted to help out a growing series and since the announcement of the race taking place for the biggest week of the year they've had 5 more cars bought because of this. I know most of us have seen or heard of the Chili Bowl and while they are non-winged sprint cars there are a lot of notable differences in the two. A Chili Bowl sprint car will run about 350-380 horsepower compared to the 230-240 horsepower of the midgets but what makes the biggest difference is that Chili Bowl type sprints run specialty built engines by names like Toyota and Fontana that can cost upwards of $40,000 while the midget sprints engines can be a salvage yard engine or you can have one built for as little as $6000-$7000. The main rule of the midgets is that it can't be a specialty built engine which keeps the high price tags out of the series for these cars which are not short on excitement in the least.
The series has a bright future ahead for the year with races at Golden Isles, Needmore, Albany, Sumter, South Carolina, and in talks with Swainsboro and Cochran. Starting next year the series will be running as a regional series and will have races included in the Midwest and New England that will give points to the drivers that will be included into their regular season points to eventually crown a national champion. So you run your regular season around your area and then run the national events and if your regular season points and national event points put you above everyone else you can win a national title. It's extremely exciting and a good way to get the local guys some national attention.
Focusing on this weekend, Mr. Davis has been preparing all off season and with a huge sponsor come on board like Lucas Oil he is well prepared for the three race weekend. He says he couldn't thank his friend Earl Pearson Jr. enough for helping him get such a big sponsor like Lucas Oil and he's very grateful. It's also another reason the series has grown and with paying back as well as he does into the field, it can only get bigger. Today's race was unfortunately rained out, but Friday will continue with the regular schedule and Saturday will bring double features for everyone and for the midgets, their second feature of Saturday night will be the Jack Hewitt Classic 40 lap A main sponsored by Atlantic Powder Coating of Jacksonville, Florida for $3000 to win. If you don't know who Jack Hewitt is I suggest you go on Youtube and look him up at Hewiit Raw. It's one of my favorites of all time and I laugh till I can't breathe but the best news of all is that Mr. Hewitt will be in the house on Saturday. I can not wait to meet this man!
With all the work Mr. Davis has put into the series he says that he always wants the end result of his hard work to be nothing but pure entertainment for the fans. He says they're entertainers and there to put on a show for them because if you don't take care of the fans your series won't be around very long. He's so appreciative of the fans and makes sure to listen to each one of them especially when making decisions on the series. He wants them to be happy and satisfied they got their money's worth at the end of the night. With the way things are going for the series, starting out the series on one of the biggest stages of the year, the major sponsorship of Lucas Oil, and the national races next year it is no doubt that it will only grow and continue to thrill fans and drivers alike. The future is looking bright for Mr. Davis and the Lucas Oil Powri Southern States Division II Midget Series. Very bright indeed.
