SWEENEY RUSH SERIES ANNOUNCES KEY STAFF WRITER ADDITIONS; ZUFULL, DONALD & YEAGER TO EXPAND PR OF GROWING SERIES

By Mike Leone

November 14, 2013             FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Pulaski, PA)…With the inaugural season for the Sweeney Chevrolet Buick GMC RUSH Dirt Late Model Series in the record books, directors Vicki Emig and Mike Leone have been hard at work signing on Potomac and Winchester Speedways as well expanding RUSH to include the Sportsman Modifieds under the umbrella.  With the continual growth, the Series is proud to welcome on three well-known individuals in the racing world to its public relations department.

Jim Zufall, Mike Donald, and Rich Yeager will assist Leone in creating stories and publish the latest happenings in the Sweeney RUSH world.  Zufall has been a familiar face at the regional speedways penning stories for various publications.  Donald has become a recognizable voice behind the microphone at speedways all across the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and South including RUSH-sanctioned Roaring Knob Motorsports Complex.  Yeager, a former promoter at McKean County Raceway, joined the RUSH staff this season as an official on the Touring Series.

"We have an obligation to continually promote our speedways and racers," acknowledged Emig.  "With our Late Model Series growing and the addition of the highly-anticipated Sportsman Modified division, it's too much for one person to properly handle along with his (Mike's) other duties.  There are a lot of interesting stories that we look forward to telling about our racers and feel it is very important to inform our fans on a weekly basis throughout the season about all of the exciting happenings of RUSH at their weekly events.  We’re very excited to have these three individuals be part of our staff."

Look for stories soon from each of these three individuals as well as Series PR from Leone.  Zufall will focus on both speedway and sponsor coverage while Donald and Yeager will concentrate on the drivers articles.       

Jim Zufall has been a fan of several forms of motorsports most of his life thanks to his father.  He grew up going to North Hills Raceway and Lernerville Speedway in western Pennsylvania.  Zufall became involved in the Western Pa. racing media when he was brought on to the staff of "Motorsports Fan Report” which was inside the “Truck Mart” magazine in 2001.  Since then he's wrote columns for Motorsports Fan Report, Fire on Dirt.com, Racingweb.com, Dirt Track Digest.com, Dirt America Online.com., Linda Fennell’s Motorsports World, and Racingweb.com. 

In 2003, Zufall joined the rotating co-host staff of Don Gamble’s "Rappin’ on Racin" radio show, and was a contributor and co-host of the KDKA Radio Show, “Car Radio” in 2005-2007.  He's also emcees several events including Daytona 500 Charity events and an annual “Town Hall” meeting for the Car Show/Car Cruise community.

A former U.S. military air-traffic controller, Mike Donald recently completed his sixth season as an auto racing announcer.  The Hagerstown, Maryland resident has announced at 26 tracks in seven states, and he has announced races for 18 different racing series.  Donald is a writer for Dirt Late Model and Dirt Modified Magazines and covers the region's dirt track racing with his website, www.ontrackwithmike.com.  Prior to his announcing career, he worked as a sportswriter, general news reporter and photographer for his hometown newspaper for several years.  During that time-frame, Donald was assigned as the publication’s auto racing writer, and he spent many days on location at NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and Nationwide Series races.

Additionally, Donald has held the microphone in front of the camera, too; he has appeared on many regional television broadcasts and internet video shows. After working for the” Turn5Turnaround” internet video show for multiple years, Mike acquired ownership of this outlet. He merged “Turn5” with his own show,” In the Dirt with Mike”, to form his current brand, “On Track with Mike”.  In total, Donald has spent 29 years working within the racing industry.   Among the awards he’s include the Natural Bridge Speedway (VA) Newsman of the Year (1988) and Eastside Speedway (VA) Sportsmanship Award (2012).  

Rich Yeager’s love for racing began at age seven.  Years later he assisted his father, who was Pit Steward at Bradford Speedway in the mid-1970s, and then was a crew member for Super Late Model driver Dave Lundgren in the 1990s

Yeager, of Little Valley, New York, brings a wealth of experience and expertise in various aspects to the Series.  He is the current VP of Lending with Olean Area Federal Credit Union with about 25 years of banking experience, and most recently was one of the four partners at McKean County Raceway (2006-2012).  Yeager was responsible for all financial aspects at the race track, was Race Director on race day, and designed the successful Ultimate Race Fans concept for all “Fall Classic” events.  Yeager developed a race night lineup program for McKean and other series, including RUSH in 2013.  He’ll again be in charge of that program on race nights in addition to various pit steward roles and other important functions in 2014.

2013 RUSH marketing partners include Sweeney Chevrolet Buick GMC, Pace Performance, RainEater Wiper Blades, Hoosier Tire, Sunoco Race Fuels, Bazell Race Fuels, Precise Racing Products, ARbodies, The -Brake Man, K&N Filters, Lincoln Electric, TurboStart, K1 RaceGear, Beyea Headers, FK Rod Ends, Bobby Lake Motorsports, Wrisco Industries, High Gear Speed Shop, Utsinger’s Towing, RockAuto.com, and Valley Fashions.

E-mail can be sent to the RUSH Racing Series at [email protected] and snail mail to 4368 Route 422, Pulaski, PA 16143. Office phone is 724-964-9300 and fax is 724-964-0604. The RUSH Racing Series website is www.rushracingseries.com. Like our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/rushlatemodels and follow us on Twitter @RUSHLM.

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