Western PA Sprint Championship
The Western PA Sprint Championship is one of the most highly-regarded events in the storied track's history. The event began in 1966 with a 100-lap endurance sprint race, seeing Ralph Quarterson as its first winner. Quarterson went on to win the next three events until the race was canceled in 1970. The Western PA Sprint Championship was revived in 1971 and remained a 100-lap event until 1977, where it was reduced to 50 laps.
The 1978 Western PA Sprint Championship was sanctioned by the World of Outlaws and was won by Johnny Beaber of Gibsonburg, OH. The race dropped to 40 laps in 1981 and was run once more in 1982 before a hiatus until 2004, during which the track was closed for nearly 11 years from 1982 - 1994.
While the 2004 and 2008 races were rained out, recent Western PA Sprint Championships have provided race fans the opportunity to see an impressive sprint car field with three different winners in veterans Ed Lynch, Jr. (2005, 2007) and Brian Ellenberger (2006, 2010), and up-and-coming young driver Carl Bowser (2009).
As of 2010, there have been 21 races with 11 different winners: Ralph Quarterson (5), Bobby Allen (4), Johnny Beaber(2), Ed Lynch, Jr. (2), Brian Ellenberger (2), Kenny Weld (1), Jan Opperman (1), Buddy Cochran (1), Lynn Paxton (1), Lou Blaney (1), Carl Bowser (1).
Read more about this topic: Mercer Raceway Park
Famous quotes containing the word western:
“trying to live in the terrible western world
here where to love at all’s to be a politician, as to love a poem
is pretentious,”
—Frank O’Hara (1926–1966)