O’Reilly POWRi National Midget Series Officials Announce Aggressive 2008 Season Schedule
Thirty-one events scheduled for series’ fourth season of competition

MILLSTADT, Ill. (Dec. 27, 2007) – O’Reilly POWRi officials announced today a 31-race schedule the largest in the series’ four-year history as the Illinois organization continues to see intense growth.

The series’ points-paying schedule opens in April at Morgan County Speedway in Jacksonville, Ill. and closes in October at the series’ anchor of Belle-Clair Speedway in Belleville, Ill., the same as it did in 2007, but the middle of the schedule has expanded, leaving drivers and crews with one of the busiest schedules in Midget racing. In addition, five tracks will host their first ever O’Reilly POWRi National Midget Series races in 2008.

Among those is Paducah (Ky.) International Raceway, a 3/8-mile track in northwest Kentucky owned by NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. The race will be the second held in conjunction with the Midwest Sprint Car Series (MSCS), an Indiana-based 410 Sprint car association.

Other races held in conjunction with MSCS include Friday, June 6 at Morgan County and Saturday, June 28 at Tri-State Speedway in Haubstadt, Ind.

St. Francois County Speedway in Farmington, Mo. will also feature its first POWRi National Midget Series show after previously hosting the POWRi Mini-Sprints. The 3/8-mile track will be the finale of the inaugural “Illinois/Missouri Speedweek” on June 14. The swing begins June 11 at I-55 Raceway at Pevely, Mo. and also runs June 13 at Tri-City Speedway in Pontoon Beach, Ill.

A two-race Missouri swing in May will also see two new venues. The third-mile Valley Speedway in Grain Valley, Mo. will be contested on Friday, May 16, while the 3/8-mile Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Mo. will run Saturday, May 17.

Washington Town and Country Fair in Washington, Mo. will also host its first POWRi National Midget Series race on Saturday, Aug. 9. Like St. Francois, the fifth-mile track hosted a POWRi Mini-Sprint race in 2007.

The 2008 schedule will also see several staples returning. Among those is the Dana Godfrey Memorial on July 18 at Macon (Ill.) Speedway, the Finley Memorial on July 19 at Belle-Clair, the two-night Cornhusker Midget Challenge from July 29-30 at Junction Motor Speedway in McCool Junction, Neb., the Arnie Knepper Memorial on Aug. 6 at Belle-Clair, the Bob Wente Classic on Oct. 3 at Tri-City and the Charlene Meents Memorial on Oct. 4 at Belle-Clair. The October races wrap up the 2008 points-paying calendar.

Also returning is a two-night affair at the Southern Illinois Center at the DuQuoin (Ill.) State Fairgrounds, held during the annual DuQuoin State Fair.

The schedule also honors the USAC-sanctioned “Knoxville Midget Nationals” in Knoxville, Iowa and the “Belleville Midget Nationals” in Belleville, Kan., held after POWRi’s two-night swing at McCool. POWRi points will be paid to those licensed drivers competing in the two Knoxville races.

Overall, seven states are represented on the 2008 schedule – up one from 2007 – with Illinois tracks hosting 17 races, including the final eight. Missouri is second on that list with four, all at different venues.

“Our schedule reflects extensive growth in 2008 that we have been building since our inaugural season in 2005,” said POWRi co-founders Kenny Brown and Jim Siner. “We’ve expanded our schedule to give our competitors a variety of places (16 different tracks) throughout the Midwest. This is our best schedule to date, and we hope the competition and skill level will help complement that in 2008.”

Brown said the series may add two dates in the coming weeks. The O’Reilly POWRi Mini-Sprint schedule, which features the 600cc cars, will be announced in the coming weeks.

The O’Reilly POWRi Series, based out of the St. Louis, Mo. area, is in its fourth season of competition in 2008 with two levels of open-wheel racing. The National Midget Series currently travels around the Midwest with stops in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Kentucky and Nebraska. The series races exclusively on dirt and attracts some of the top Midget drivers in the nation week in and week out. The 600cc Mini-Sprints are a stepladder to the National Midgets, where younger drivers get experience before making the move to full Midgets.

For more information about POWRi, visit www.powri.com or contact Kenny Brown at 618-476-7526.

O'Reilly POWRi National Midget Series presented by Lucas Oil 2008 schedule - Revised 2/04/08

Date Track City, State Size
Fri, April 25 Morgan County Speedway Jacksonville, IL 1/4
Sat, April 26 Macon Speedway Macon, IL 1/5
Fri, May 9 Tri-City Speedway - World Of Outlaws Granite City, IL 3/8
Sat, May 10 Belle-Clair Speedway Belleville, IL 1/5
Fri, May 16 Valley Speedway Grain Valley, MO 1/3
Sat, May 17 Lucas Oil Speedway Wheatland, MO 3/8
Fri, June 6 Morgan County Speedway - MSCS Sprints Jacksonville, IL 1/4
Sat, June 7 Belle-Clair Speedway Belleville, IL 1/5 IL/MO Speedweek
Wed, June 11 I-55 Raceway - NASCAR Night Pevely, MO 3/8
Fri, June 13 Tri-City Speedway Granite City, IL 3/8
Sat, June 14 St. Francois County Speedway Farmington, MO. 3/8
Fri, June 20 (x)Knoxville Raceway Knoxville, IA 1/2
Sat, June 21 (x) Knoxville Raceway Knoxville, IA 1/2
Fri, June 27 Paducah International Raceway - MSCS Paducah, KY 3/8
Sat, June 28 Tri-State Speedway - MSCS Haubstadt, IN 1/4
Fri, July 18 Macon Speedway - Dana Godfrey Memorial Grand Marshall Tony Stewart Macon, IL 1/5
Sat, July 19 Belle-Clair Speedway - Finley Memorial Sponsored by Fred Bach Auto Boody Belleville, IL 1/5
Tue, July 29 Junction Motor Speedway - Cornhusker Midget Challenge McCool Junction, NE 3/8
Wed, July 30 Junction Motor Speedway - Cornhusker Midget Challenge McCool Junction, NE 3/8
Fri, Aug 1 (x) Belleville High Banks Belleville, KS 1/2
Sat, Aug 2 (x) Belleville High Banks Belleville, KS 1/2
Wed, Aug 6 Belle-Clair Speedway - Arnie Knepper Memorial Sponsored by Stein Automotive Belleville, IL 1/5
Fri, Aug 15 Macon Speedway Macon, IL 1/5
Sat, Aug 30 Southern Illinois Center - DuQuoin State Fair DuQuoin, IL 1/5
Fri, Sept 12 Morgan County Speedway Jacksonville, IL 1/4
Sat, Sept 13 Spoon River Speedway - Tom Knowles Memorial Canton, IL 3/8
Wed, Sept 17 Tri-City Speedway Granite City, IL 3/8
Sat, Sept 27 Macon Speedway Macon, IL 1/5
Sat, Oct 4 Belle-Clair Speedway - Charlene Meents Memorial by Toejnes Brick Contracting, INC. Belleville, IL 1/5
Wed, Oct 8 Tri-City Speedway - Gold Crown Midget Nationals Pracitce Granite City, IL 3/8
Thur, Oct 9 Tri-City Speedway - Gold Crown Midget Nationals Granite City, IL 3/8
Fri, Oct 10 Tri-City Speedway - Gold Crown Midget Nationals Granite City, IL 3/8
Sat, Oct 11 Tri-City Speedway - Gold Crown Midget Nationals Granite City, IL 3/8

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[Andrew S. Quinn]

Finally, the schedule I have been waiting for. 2008 goals for me include being at every race at Belle Clair Speedway,Belleville, Illinois. Even if there is something else on closer that I want to see,I'll be bypassing it for Belle Clair.

I love that place!!

[Dwight Clock]

Originally Posted by Andrew S. Quinn Finally, the schedule I have been waiting for. 2008 goals for me include being at every race at Belle Clair Speedway,Belleville, Illinois. Even if there is something else on closer that I want to see,I'll be bypassing it for Belle Clair. I love that place!!

You must, and I'll trust your judgement on that. Those four races are scheduled against some pretty stiff competition for those, like you, who love to travel. The June race is against Hagerstown of the USAC Eastern Swing, the July race against Haubstadt's Sprint Week show, August the night of the Gas City midget week show, and October against the MSCS/USAC $10K to win race at the 'Burg. Must be a great place to see midgets!

[Joey Woods]

June 28th :applaud::applaud::applaud:

[Andrew S. Quinn]

Hehehe Ok I'll miss one race there,the night of Haubstadts Indiana Sprint week race.

I'll be heading west after Big Diamond rather than stay for Hagerstown.

Last yr I went to Belle Clair instead of Lawrenceburg and didnt bat an eye.

I like Gas City,but I like Little Belleville better for midgets!

[Mud Packer]

Originally Posted by Dwight Clock You must, and I'll trust your judgement on that. Those four races are scheduled against some pretty stiff competition for those, like you, who love to travel. The June race is against Hagerstown of the USAC Eastern Swing, the July race against Haubstadt's Sprint Week show, August the night of the Gas City midget week show, and October against the MSCS/USAC $10K to win race at the 'Burg. Must be a great place to see midgets!

Dwight,

Andrew is right, Belle Clair is a great track to watch midgets run. I grew up in that area and it was my normal Friday night track. Back then unfortunately they didn't run very many midget shows. It is an old fairgrounds facility that I need to get back to and see a show. The last time I was there about 5 years ago, it looked the same as when I was a kid growing up there.

A guy by the name of Don Klein raced at Belle Clair when I lived there and still competes today in a late model. That was over 30 years ago. If he didn't win the Allied Auto Racing Association championship, he had a bad year. They used to run Belle Clair on Friday, I-55 on Saturday and the now shuttered St. Charles Speedway on Sunday night. Dandy Don just dominated back in the day.

[illiNOISE]

Originally Posted by Mud Packer A guy by the name of Don Klein raced at Belle Clair when I lived there and still competes today in a late model. That was over 30 years ago. If he didn't win the Allied Auto Racing Association championship, he had a bad year. They used to run Belle Clair on Friday, I-55 on Saturday and the now shuttered St. Charles Speedway on Sunday night. Dandy Don just dominated back in the day.

Don doesn't dominate AARA like he used to, but he did win a feature last year at Belleville.:checkered: I would love to know how many laps he has run at Belle-Clair over the past 50+ years. It has to be astronomical.:eek:

Great schedule from POWRi. This series has their you know what together whn it comes to putting a product on the track.

3 shows at Jacksonville, one with MSCS there, a show at Spoonriver, and 3 at Macon, 2008 is looking a heck of a lot better than 2007 already.

[Mud Packer]

Originally Posted by illiNOISE Don doesn't dominate AARA like he used to, but he did win a feature last year at Belleville.:checkered: I would love to know how many laps he has run at Belle-Clair over the past 50+ years. It has to be astronomical.:eek:

I can't imagine that anyone would have more laps turned at a race track anywhere than Don Klein does at Belle Clair. He is truly amazing.

[Barney]

Looks like a great schedule with the Haubstat dates & joint dates with MSCS & WoO. We might get to see them quite a few times this year.:applaud::applaud::applaud: