PORT ROYAL, Pa. – After 134 days without racing, the sounds of engines are set to return to the Juniata County air this Sunday as the Weikert’s Livestock 410 Sprint Cars and the Krill Recycling, LLC Super Late Models take to the track for the 80th annual Port Royal Speedway Opening Day presented by Packer’s Concessions, LLC.
In what has been a recent tradition, the speedway will again utilize a Sunday opener where the sprint cars will compete for a $5,000 winner’s share while the super late models will race for a $3,000-to-win prize.
All gates open at 11 a.m., while racing is set to kick off at 2 p.m. Adult admission is $20, while students are $10. Pit admission is $30.
Last year, Lance Dewease scored his fourth opening day triumph ahead of Kerry Madsen, Dylan Cisney, Jeff Halligan and Logan Wagner.
Wagner enters the new season as the defending track champion and is looking to become the first driver to win five consecutive track championships. Wagner’s championship last season tied him with all-time winningest driver, Keith Kauffman (1978-1981), as the only drivers to win four-straight championships. Speaking of Kauffman, Dewease sits 10 back of Kauffman on the career wins list with 119 victories and will be looking to chip away at that total with by claiming his fifth opening day trophy.
Anthony Macri earned four victories last season and tied Dewease for the winningest driver in 2020. However, unlike Dewease, he will be searching for his first opening day triumph at the speedway.Â
The last driver to triumph on opening day and go on to claim the season ending track points title was Todd Shaffer in 2008.
In Super Late Model competition, Virginia’s Trevor Feathers scored the opening day triumph last season for the second consecutive season over Tyler Bare, Ross Robinson, Colton Flinner and Dan Stone. Dylan Yoder went on to score the season championship in a nail-biter that went down to the final turn of the season over Gary Stuhler, Flinner, Jeff Rine and Robinson.
The super late models have been a part of opening day festivities yearly since 2013 and last year’s win for Feathers joins him with Andy Haus and Jason Covert as drivers with two career triumphs in the event. Other drivers to claim victory in the division on opening day are Tim Wilson, Mike Lupfer and  Rine. Rine turned his triumph into a track championship in 2018.
For the second consecutive season, the series will race for a minimum of $3,000-to-win and $300-to-start all season.