New Era of Lonesome Pine Raceway Begins  

(Coeburn, VA) The weather finally cooperated and the much anticipated 2008 season of "Racing The Way It Used To Be!" got underway at ASA sanctioned Lonesome Pine Raceway Saturday, May 10th with an evening of racing excitement presented by FOOD CITY. Ladies entering the grandstand area were presented with carnations and the first 250 men entering the stands were given commemorative key chains as the fans filed in to see some of the many improvements which the new management team has already made to the historic Lonesome Pine Raceway facility. The grounds were neatly mowed and manicured, the smell of fresh paint was in the air. The suites had been put back in impeccable condition and well stocked with good food and soft drinks. There were new billboards and signage in place representing the many new sponsors who have come on board, with some of those being sponsors who have now returned after an extended absence from the LPR scene.  

The largest number of fans to attend a weekly event at LPR in quite some time heard LPR General Manager Harold Crook and LPR Vice President Jeff Roark announce during pre-race ceremonies their 3-year plan for improvements in facility and competition. With a big smile and a wave of his arms, Crook told the fans and competitors, "Jeff and I have been working on this plan for quite some time, and trying to get all the pieces of the puzzle fit together. It all finally came together during the off season, and I want to assure you that we intend to be here for the long haul".  

Roark added, "This has been a personal dream of mine for a long time. Harold and I, and our entire team, have a long range business plan in place to get Lonesome Pine Raceway back to the level it used to hold, and then take LPR on beyond that. We just ask that all of you, fans and competitors,  join in with us and stick with us as we make progress with the plan. I can promise you that we have some big things planned for LPR and that you are going to like what you see!"  

The opening event of the evening's racing competition featured the new LPR Chargers Division, a totally new class of race cars developed by LPR utilizing Late Model type race cars with a spec motor, spec shocks and spec carburetor. The "spec" connotation means that all those components are built to certain specifications and are as identical as possible. The Chargers Division is a claimer class, which means that any competitor (or the track) can claim any other competitor's engine, shocks and/or carburetor for a specified fee. Freddie Taylor, Jr of Abingdon, VA, became the first pole winner of the new class with an afternoon qualifying run of 17.918 seconds to earn the top starting spot over long-time LPR crowd favorite "Nasty" Jones, Mitch Gibson, Kevin Wolfe and Caleb Roark.  Taylor lead the 25-lap event from start to finish, but there was plenty of action behind him. Roark, the 15 year-old 2007 LPR Hornets Division Champion, had experienced a mysterious miss in his engine all through practice and qualifying which had relegated him to the last starting position in the 5-car field. When the race took the green, he quickly moved around Wolfe to take fourth, and just as quickly the persistent miss got worse.After struggling along for nine laps, Roark brought the # 7 JohnBoy & Billy Black Angus Beef Burgers/Buchanan Paint & Decorating/Big Tom/Pro Image Monte Carlo to the pits for the evening.  As Mitch Gibson tried a turn three pass underneath "Nasty" Jones on lap eleven, the two cars collided with Jones spinning, Gibson continuing on taking over 2nd position. Jones slowed and retired to the pits with no brakes in the races closing laps. Gibson made a move, almost identical to his lap-11 pass of Jones, as he tried unsuccessfully to overtake Taylor in turn 3 & 4 of the final lap. This time Gibson ended up spinning as Wolfe picked up the second position at the finish.

  "Nasty" Jones (13) and Mitch Gibson (49) tangle in the debut race for the new LPR Chargers Division.

~ photo by Shawn Peters/84expo.com ~  

Next up in the order of events were the always exciting Pure-4 cars. Linton Perry of Yuma, VA, had set fast qualifying time earlier in the afternoon with a fast lap of 20.778 to take the number one starting position in his #1 Honda. Perry, who had said in the pre-race ceremonies that he was racing this season in memory of his late wife Betty, took the lead at the drop of the green flag, and never looked back as he drove to a convincing win over his competitors. Behind Perry there was a race long heated battle for the 2nd through 5th positions by Marion Guy, Kenny Nix, Steve Skeen and Jeff Bobo. Skeen saw his hopes go up in smoke and flames on lap 8 when his #17 Honda erupted an engine in turn four spinning off the banking and onto the track apron. The LPR safety crew and fire personnel were quickly on the scene to extinguish the fire as Skeen climbed from his car, disappointed but otherwise unharmed. When the racing resumed, Jeff Bobo and Marion Guy began a nose-to-tail and side-by-side duel  for third which lasted lap after lap until the race's finish. Bobo made one final attempt to pull past Guy off turn 4 coming to the checkers, only to fall inches short and settle for 4th place.

Steve Skeen's run in the Pure-4 event comes to an end after a mechanical failure in turn 4.

~ photo by Gigi Good/84expo.com ~  

Abingdon, Virginia's Rocky Yates set fast time in the Mod-4 Division with a time of 18.355 beating out Hershel "Burgerman" Robinette (18.447) for the pole. Yates took the lead at the green and maintained the lead to the finish. The hard charger of the event was David "Copperhead" Brown of Hurley, VA, who started shotgun on the field and quickly moved forward to battle with T.J. O'Quinn, Freddie Taylor, Jr and Jodi Bostic for the 3rd through 6th positions. On lap 11 the #37 of O'Quinn spun in the middle of that pack off turn four, did a full 360 and kept going. By lap 17 Brown had moved past Bostic for 3rd, and on lap 19 took 2nd from Robinette. Five laps later, on lap 24, Robinette retired to the pits with mechanical problems. Yates took the win in this black #3 Fusion, sponsored by Rocky Yates Trucking, Hi-Lo Burger, Discount Food Company and Pepsi. 

Rocky Yates at speed in his #3 Mod-4 Ford Fusion.

~ photo by Shawn Peters/84expo.com ~  

The Street Stock Division saw the return to LPR of St. Paul, Virginia's Tony Vance, and Vance promptly set fast time of 18.075 in qualifying his #07 Camaro to take the top spot over Terry Stone of Dante, VA. David Brown, Roger Neece and Doug Austin completed the top five qualifiers. Stone's #34 car came up light in post qualifying tech, and was relegated to the rear of the field for the start. At the drop of the green Neece wasted no time in showing the superiority of his #22, moving quickly to the front and maintaining the front spot the rest of the way as the field battled behind him. Brown and Vance kept Neece in sight as they contested 2nd position while spirited battle for 4th through 7th was waged throughout the entire 35-lap event between Doug Austin, Rob Austin, Jeff Counts and Terry Stone (who advanced quickly from his last place start to as high as 6th). Neece took the win in his Johnson Chevy-Buick-Pontiac sponsored #22, with Brown, Vance, Rob Austin and Doug Austin completing the top five.  

In the Late Model Division, Nate Monteith of Bluff City, TN took the top qualifying spot over 2007 LPR Champion Wayne Hale, but it was Hale who nosed ahead from his outside front row starting spot to hold the lead for the first couple of laps as the two raced side-by-side for the top spot. The already small field of Late Model cars was shortened even before the race began as the # 5 of Wayne Salyers suffered mechanical problems during afternoon practice and the #75 of Steve Wright had to be pushed back to pit road after a mechanical problem during the parade laps. As the field crossed the start-finish line to begin lap 4, Monteith was able to finally get clear of Hale on the inside, and then opened up a lead of perhaps two car lengths which he maintained for the next nine laps before he, too, was sidelined by a mechanical problem. Monteith's #44 suddenly slowed on the track and came directly to pit road with a broken throttle linkage. On lap 18 Josh Hale attempted to make a pass under the #40 of Brian Blevins entering turn three, then spun his car to keep from collecting Blevins as his own car lost traction. A spin by the #55 of Mardy Roberts gave the 3rd position back to Hale, and the cars ran that way to the finish with Hale taking another feature win, followed across the line by Blevins, Josh Hale and Mardy Roberts.  

2007 LPR Late Model Champion Wayne Hale on the way to another feature win at LPR

~ photo by Shawn Peters/84expo.com ~  

Racing action will return to LPR on Saturday, May 24th with a full schedule of racing and other activities.

Click on the "Results" tab at the top of this page to see full race results.

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LPR's 2008 Opening Event

Presented by FOOD CITY

Saturday, May 10th

50-Laps of Late Model Racing

35-Lap Street Stock Event

30-Lap Mod-4 Event

25-Lap LPR Charger Event

25-Lap Pure-4 Event

Main Gates open at 5:00pm

Qualifying at 5:00pm

Racing Starts at 7:00pm

Pit gates open at 12:00 Noon
Practice starts at 2:00pm
Practice schedule for each division will be as follows:

First Practice  

Pure-4 .............. 2:00 - 2:10

Mod-4 .............. 2:12 - 2:22

Street Stock ..... 2:25 - 2:35

Chargers .......... 2:38 - 2:48

Late Model ....... 2:50 - 3:00  

Second Practice  

Pure-4 .............. 3:02 - 3:10

Mod-4 .............. 3:12 - 3:22

Street Stock ..... 3:25 - 3:35

Chargers .......... 3:38 - 3:48

Late Model ...... 3:50 - 4:00

Drivers' Meeting at 4:45

Qualifying Begins at 5:00

Pure-4 .............. 1 Lap

Mod-4 ............. 2 Laps

Street Stock ..... 2 Laps

Chargers .......... 2 Laps

Late Models ..... 2 Laps

Cars MUST go directly to the scales after qualifying run.

DO NOT go to the pit area!

All Late Models which take the green flag in the Late Model feature

this week are guaranteed a minimum of $100 tow money.

_______________________________________________

Carnations will be presented to the first 300 women through the main gate

Key Chains will be presented to the first 250 men through the main gate

Admission Prices:
$10 for adults
Children under 12 FREE

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ATV Drag Racing On Tap Saturday May 3rd

After two consecutive rainouts, the 2008 season of Lonesome Pine Raceway's

ATV Dirt Drag Racing is scheduled to get underway this Saturday, May 3rd.

Sign-in Gate opens @ 11:00 a.m.

Practice 12:00-1:00

Drivers' Meeting @ 1:00

Racing Starts @ 1:30

ATV Drags for 4/26/08 Cancelled Due to Weather, Racing Scheduled for 5/3/08

The weather forecast is for 60% chance of rain in the Coeburn area for tomorrow, Saturday, April 26th.... much the same as last weekend. Because of that, Ronnie has decided to go ahead and call the ATV Dirt Drag events scheduled for tomorrow. The regular weekly ATV Dirt Drag Racing schedule will be on tap next Saturday, May 3rd.

Season Openers Rescheduled Due to Rain

This weekend's season opening oval track event was rained out, and has been rescheduled for Saturday, May 10th.

The season opening LPR Dirt Dragway event was also rained out today and has been rescheduled for next Saturday, April 26th.

Oval Track Rain Update - 4/19, 3pm

The rain continues to fall in patches. Looks like the track won't be dry to practice, but still trying to get ready for races.

Please keep checking at http://www.racerslounge.com/forum for more information.

LPR Dirt Drags are Postponed Due to Rain - 4/19

Due to continuing scattered showers this afternoon, which have left the dirt dragway too wet for competition, the season opening ATV Dirt Drag Racing events at Lonesome Pine Raceway have been postponed until next weekend.

Practice for April 5th Has Been Cancelled

The open practice session scheduled for Saturday, April 5th, has been cancelled on the basis of the latest information from the National Weather Service. 

The next scheduled open practice session will be next Saturday, April 12th. Times will be same as scheduled for this weekend.

OPEN PRACTICE SESSIONS

Saturday April 5th & Saturday April 12th

Gates open @9:00 a.m.

Practice is scheduled 11:00a.m. until 5:00 p.m.

$10 per person in the pits

Spectator admission in grandstands FREE

ASA license forms will be available at the back gate.

Car Number Registration Information

For information on car number registration for the 2008 race season and a list of the current registered cars and numbers, please click here.

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