DRUMS, Pa. — In the beginning of October, we had a unique situation take place on the central Pennsylvania sprint car circuit.
We had three traveling winged 410 sprint car series compete within a five-day period at two tracks only a few hours apart.
Bridgeport Motorsports Park in New Jersey and Pennsylvania’s Port Royal Speedway are each about two hours from my home — in different directions.
The High Limit Racing Series was making its second eastern visit with an Oct. 3 stop at Bridgeport. The World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series had a two-day show at Port Royal on its schedule Oct. 6-7. Finally, when the All Star-sanctioned Tuscarora 50 was postponed by weather in September, it was reset for Oct. 5, right between the other two shows.
It offered a great opportunity for fans to see many of the best drivers in the country from three different series. Plus, with big money on the line at all four shows, there was some nice cash to be earned by the drivers and teams late in the season.
Eighty different drivers participated in at least one of the four shows. Fifteen drivers or teams ran all four, with the Macri No. 39 team using two different drivers.
Bridgeport attracted 33 entries with Rico Abreu coming out as the winner over Kyle Larson for a $23,023 payday. Of those 33 entries, 16 only ran there and did not visit Port Royal. A few of those High Limit teams towed a long way to only run one show.
After a night off, the Tuscarora 50 was up at Port Royal’s half-mile track, paying $62,000 to the winner. Brian Brown has been spending September and October in Pennsylvania for a few years and he finally got the big victory he has been chasing.
It was his first All Star win of the year and possibly will be the last All Star triumph for anyone with the series having been purchased by the High Limit Racing Series in late October.
The next two nights, the World of Outlaws were at Port Royal for the Nittany Showdown. Fifteen teams that ran the night before in the All Star event did not return, but many of the Outlaws drivers who were unable to participate the night before, were entered. As a result, 49 cars participated at Port Royal.
Two-time All Star champion Tyler Courtney has been fast at Port Royal Speedway recently and he showed speed again by claiming the $10,000 victory on Friday night.
On Saturday, a few more teams did not return and there were only 41 cars in the pits. The All Stars beat the Posse and Outlaws on both nights with 2023 All Star champion Zeb Wise grabbing the $15,000 triumph on night No. 2.
With six-time Knoxville (Iowa) Raceway champion Brown topping the Thursday show, not an Outlaws or Posse driver made it to victory lane during the three-race Port Royal weekend.
I don’t expect this three-series situation to happen again next season, but I do expect the High Limit tour back at Bridgeport and the World of Outlaws to return to Port Royal Speedway.
It will be interesting to see if the Tuscarora 50 at Port Royal Speedway is sanctioned or returns to independent status.
This story appeared in the Nov 8, 2023 edition of the SPEED SPORT Insider.
