RICHEST RACE IN RUSH HISTORY COMING TO PITTSBURGH SATURDAY; "JOOK GEORGE STEEL
CITY CLASSIC" PRESENTED BY ZARIN TO PAY A MINIMUM $10,010 TO-WIN, $500 TO-START
FOR SWEENEY RUSH LATE MODEL TOUR; $1000 BONUS IF WINNER CONTRIBUTED TO THE EVENT
By Mike Leone
August 7, 2019 FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
(Imperial, PA)…This Saturday
night (August 10), Pittsburgh's PA Motor Speedway will host the richest event in
the history of RUSH and the richest crate engine event ever run in the
Northeast. The "Jook George
Steel City Classic" presented by Zarin Truck & Automotive and coordinated by
Branden Lockwich will pay a record $10,010 to-win and a minimum $500 to-start
for the Sweeney Chevrolet Buick GMC RUSH Dirt Late Model Touring Series!
In addition, if the winner financially contributed to the event, he or
she will receive a $1,000 bonus compliments of Miley Motor Sports and Lockwich!
Warm-ups being at 6 p.m. on Saturday night.
The event carries a rain date of August 11 with one hour earlier starting
times although clear conditions are forecasted for Saturday.
Starting in 2015, Lockwich took up the effort to make the "Jook George Steel
City Classic" the biggest race in the tri-state area for the RUSH Late Models.
The event has grown in stature every year. In 2017, the event was under
the Sweeney Tour banner for the first time and drew 43 cars with Mike Pegher,
Jr. capturing the $4,010 win. Last year, Jacob Hawkins scored the event's
richest payday, worth $5,010, that attracted an event record 51 cars.
Thanks to Zarin Truck & Automotive coming aboard along with both the George
Family and Miley Motor Sports increasing their contributions even more, and so
many others stepping up to make this an unbelievable payout of what is expected
to be over $42,000 for just a one-day show!
The entire purse as of August 6 is posted below, and will still increase.
"On behalf of the Jook George
family, we wanted to do something extra special this year since it's the 30th
anniversary for what used to be called the 'Fall Classic' at Pittsburgh's
Pennsylvania Motor Speedway," expressed Dana George. "Jook and his #10
race team looked forward to this race every year so we have contributed
additional funds so that the first place prize money will be a grand total of
$10,010! Good luck to all of the competitors in making this a race to
remember!"
Miley Motor Sports and Lockwich then came up with the idea to award the 50-lap
feature winner an additional $1,000 bonus if he financially contributed to the
event. Any driver that still would
like to contribute a minimum of $50 to expand the purse and be eligible for the
bonus can contact Branden on Facebook or at 412-639-3723.
The fastest overall in "Shock the Clock" qualifying will receive $200 with $100
from FK Rod Ends and another $100 "In loving memory of Tanya Lee Flinner from
John, Taylor, and Pap Flinner". FK
Rod Ends heat races will pay $25 to-win.
The "John Beatty Memorial" Dash will be run to determine the beginning of
the feature line-up that will pay a record $404 to-win with $100 for second, $50
for third, and $25 for fourth through sixth!
The Zarin Truck & Auto "$500 Club" drawings will take place during the drivers
meeting. The top 15 in PPMS track
points will be eligible to win the five $100 drawings.
The possibility exists for one driver to leave Pittsburgh on August 10
with $11,739 in earnings!
"Miley Motor Sports is ecstatic about the 30th edition of the RUSH Dirt Late
Model Series 'Jook George Classic', which is set up to be the biggest and best
ever to honor our great friend of racing, Jook George," expressed PPMS promoter
Matt Miley. "We can’t thank Brandon, the RUSH Team, and all who have
contributed enough. It’s a win, win, win, win- racers, fans, sponsors, and the
Speedway."
"This is the type of thing that energizes Miley Motor Sports to keep
Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway alive," continued Miley. "It’s
been a long ride, 31 consecutive seasons! Age and what comes with it take a
toll on us. We simply can’t do everything ourselves. Younger folks who love
the sport stepping up and making some of our best events is unbelievably
refreshing. It energizes an old ownership team. A very sincere Thank You from
all of us at Miley Motor Sports!"
"It's really amazing how this event has grown and how so many people have gotten
behind it to make this all possible," expressed RUSH Director Vicki Emig.
"Branden has led the efforts of transforming this from a special weekly
event to a record breaking major Touring Series show.
We can't thank the George Family, Miley Motor Sports, Branden and so many
others for their amazing contributions and allow us to present this as RUSH Late
Model Touring Series event with it now being the second $10,000+ to win show of
the season. To think that one driver
has the ability to win well over $11,000 is pretty incredible."
Defending Series Champion, Jeremy Wonderling, leads the Sweeney Tour to
Pittsburgh. After a pair of fourth
place finishes in last year's Tour events at PPMS, Wonderling was leading the
feature on July 20 during "Manufacturers Night" only to suffer engine woes that
shrunk his lead over Michael Duritsky, Jr. to 28.
Duritsky already has a win this year at PPMS in Sweeney Weekly Series
competition and finished sixth on July 20. Kyle Lukon, who owns 35 career
wins at PPMS including the July 20 win, is third in points with Braeden
Dillinger and Ryan Frazee rounding out the top five. Logan Zarin, Bill
Kessler, Jason Genco, Max Blair, Kyle Murray, Brian Knowles, and Sam Pennacchio
complete the top 12 points paying positions.
The Sweeney Tour has completed 12 events this season with Blair leading the way
with five victories. Wonderling won his three races in consecutive events
in New York. Charlie Sandercock swept the "Quebec Invasion" events at
Autodrome Granby and Le RPM Speedway.
Logan Roberson won the Winchester portion of the "Battle of the Bay"
Speedweek presented by Wehrs Machine, and Lukon captured his first Tour victory
in six years at the last event.
Pittsburgh meanwhile has had seven different winners in eight events to date in
2019 with John Mollick being the only repeat winner.
Past PPMS Sweeney RUSH Tour winners include Ryan Montgomery (3), Daryl
Charlier (2), Lukon (2), Colton Flinner, Mollick, Mike Pegher, Jr., and Jacob
Hawkins. The Tour will return to PPMS for the "Bill Hendren Memorial" on
October 4-5 paying a minimum of $4,000 to-win.
Precise Racing Products will
award a $100 gift card for the "Pedal Down" Hard Charger that passes the most
cars in the feature. The TBM Brakes “Tough
Brake of the Night” will award three bottles of
Xtreme6 Racing Brake Fluid valued at approximately $45 along with a certificate
for a discount off any TBM Brakes purchase. RUSH Late Model Series Officials
will also determine the Dirt Defender "Defensive Drive" to the driver that best
defended his position throughout the event, and will receive a $40 product
package. The feature winner will receive a Sunoco 5-Gallon Race Jug.
Ontime Body & Graphic's "Spoiler Alert" will award a $150 spoiler to the 13th
place finisher on Saturday.
50-lap Feature
Payoff
(as of 8/6/19): 1.
$10,010* 2. $5,000
3. $2,500
4. $2,000 5. $1,500
6. $1,300
7. $1,100** 8. $1,000
9. $900 10.
$800 11. $700
12. $650 13.
$625 14.
$600 15. $580
16. $550 17.
$540 18. $530
19. $520 20.
$510 21-26. $500.
(*If the feature winner contributed
financially to the event, he will receive a $1,000 bonus compliments of Miley
Motor Sports & Branden Lockwich)
(**An additional $107 has been posted for 7th place "In memory of Dave Nicholas"
from Jake & Scott Gunn)
Non-Qualifier
Payoff
(as of 8/6/19): 1.
$400 2. $225
3. $200 4.
$195 5. $190
6. $185 7.
$180 8. $175
9. $170 10. $165 11-24. $160.
Tow $125.
"John Beatty
Memorial" Dash Payoff: 1. $404 2. $100
3. $50 4-6.
$25.
2019 Sweeney RUSH Late Model Touring Series points
(only Tour
members receive points): 1. Jeremy Wonderling 978 2. Michael Duritsky, Jr.
950 3. Kyle Lukon 946 4. Braeden Dillinger 917 5. Ryan Frazee
879 6. Logan Zarin 834 7. Bill Kessler 825 8. Jason Genco 787
9. Max Blair 766 10. Kyle
Murray 685 11. Brian Knowles 579 12. Sam Pennacchio 537 13.
Darrell Bossard 498 14. Chad Sines 492 15. J.J. Mazur 472 16.
John Waters 446 17. Ross Robinson 368 18. Jared Kane & Jamie
Wrightsman 366 20. Scott Gunn 320
21. Logan Roberson 286
22. Dale Hollidge & Matt Latta 254 24.
Jason Knowles 244 25. Trever Feathers 243 26. Cody Dawson 233
27. Paul Norman 217 28. Cory Sines 215 29. Dale McDonald, Jr. 210
30. Jon Rivers 171 31. Beamer Guzzardi 80 32. John Mollick 73
33. Al Shawver, Jr. 70.
The pits will be open all afternoon on Saturday.
Registration and pre-race tech will begin by 3 p.m. with the drivers
meeting scheduled for 5:35 p.m., warm-ups at 6 followed by qualifying and then
racing at 7. You do not have to be a member of RUSH to compete only to
receive Weekly and/or Tour points. The entry fee for the event is $100.
AMB/MyLaps transponders will be used. Driver radio will be channel
454.000.
William Thomas "Jook" George had a brief driving career himself, but as he
turned to car owner he chose and had for most of his racing career the #10 and
that was in honor of his racing hero, Lou Blaney, who drove his car on a couple
occasions. Other highlights of his career was being nominated as the
Sportsman of the Year at PPMS, being nominated into the Pittsburgh Circle Track
Hall of Fame, winning the track championship at PPMS in 1990 with John Beatty
behind the wheel, and winning the Fall Classic in 1993 with Bill Yakin, also at
PPMS. His most dominant stretch as a car owner came in the late ‘70s when
Earl Teeters was his driver.
Pittsburgh’s PA Motor Speedway is a ½-mile dirt track with a GPS address of 170
Kelso Rd, Imperial PA 15126, which is located just off the Noblestown exit on
Routes 22/30. For more information, check out their website at www.ppms.com or call
412-279-7223. The track number on race day is 724-695-3363 or
724-695-0393. As for their social media outlets, you can like their page
on Facebook at www.facebook.com/PittsburghsPennsylvaniaMotorSpeedway or follow them on
Twitter @PAMotorSpeedway.
RUSH Racing Series is brought to you by Sweeney Chevrolet Buick GMC & Pace
Performance along with the support of Hoosier Tire, Bilstein Shocks, Sunoco Race
Fuels, Bazell Race Fuels, Insinger Performance, MSD Performance, Holley
Performance Products, Hovis Auto & Truck Supply, FK Rod Ends, Wehrs Machine &
Racing Products, Schoenfeld Headers, Jones Racing Products, TBM Brakes,
Performance Bodies & Parts, Racing Electronics, Dirt Defender, Wrisco
Industries, Frankland Racing Supply, Landrum Performance Spring, Ontime Body &
Graphic, Trailer-Alarms.com, Bonnell's Rod Shop, Zarin Truck & Automotive,
Sherwood Wheels, Alternative Power Sources, Precise Racing Products, Lincoln
Electric, Velocita-USA, Classic Ink USA, CrateInsider.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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