SWEENEY RUSH LATE MODEL TOURING SERIES HEADS TO MCKEAN COUNTY RACEWAY FRIDAY & SATURDAY FOR $2500 TO-WIN "FALL CLASSIC"

By Mike Leone

September 26, 2017             FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(East Smethport, PA)…After five weekends off, the Sweeney Chevrolet Buick GMC RUSH Dirt Late Model Touring Series powered by Pace Performance will return to action for the first of three straight weekends of competition to close out the 2017 racing season.  McKean County Raceway in East Smethport, Pa. will host the Touring Series in a $2,500 to-win Platinum event with qualifying and heat races at 7:30 p.m. on Friday night (September 29) followed by the remainder of the program on Saturday at 5 p.m.  In the event of a rainout on Friday, a complete $1,500 to-win Tour event including qualifying will be run on Saturday night. 

The "Fall Classic" actually gets underway on Thursday night with the $1,000 to-win "Ron Baker Memorial" rescheduled feature from July 22.  McKean is allowing new cars to tag the feature event as 17 were on hand when heat races were completed back in the summer.  In addition to Weekly Series points, the event will also finally conclude the Pace "Summer Chase" that unofficially ended on Labor Day as RUSH rules states that make-up features revert back to the weekend originally started on (except features postponed to the next season). 

This year, McKean has completed six RUSH-sanctioned events with five of them being Sweeney Weekly Series events.  Max Blair has won in both of his two starts, while John Waters, Steve LeBarron, and Brad Mesler have also earned victories.  Waters also added the $1,500 Platinum Touring Series event win on August 17.  Andy Michael leads the McKean "Track Pack" points by 12 over Kyle Murray that will end at the conclusion of the weekend. 

Meanwhile, Bryce Davis leads the Tour to McKean for race #13 of the 2017 season.  Davis, who is looking for his first Tour championship, has an eight-point lead on Waters thanks to 10 top five finishes including wins at Outlaw and Old Bradford Speedways.  Waters is in search of his second straight Tour championship.  Waters has eight top five finishes including wins at Genesee Speedway and the aforementioned McKean County Fair event.  Third place Jeremy Wonderling also has a pair of victories (Stateline and Tri-City) and with McKean being a Platinum event needs a good finish to replace a 16th place Marquee finish to climb back in the championship race. 

Brothers Jason and Brian Knowles are fourth and fifth in points as they continue to try for their first career Tour wins.  Brian Swank is sixth and is also the car owner for seventh place point man Mike Pegher, Jr.  Pegher has won two of the last three Tour events (Pittsburgh and Tri-City) and has finished in the top three in eight of the nine events he's competed in!  Completing the remainder of the top 12 points-paying positions are J.J. Mazur, Tony White, rookie Kyle Murray, Jamie Wrightsman, and Eric Wilson. 

"We're looking forward to participating in the Fall Classic," expressed RUSH Director Vicki Emig.  "Promoter Chris Zuver has always been supportive of RUSH and has even brought the RUSH Pro Mods on for his 2017 events, and in fact will have races for them on both Thursday and Friday night.  This year, Chris wanted to expand our portion and increased the show to a $2,500 to-win event; however, has given the flexibility to run it as a one-day $1,500 to-win event on Saturday if rain would happen to wash out Friday's program."

FK Rod Ends "Shock the Clock Qualifying and Beat the Heat" will be utilized (even if Saturday is a standalone $1,500 to-win show) meaning the fastest qualifier will receive $100 and all heat race winners will earn $25.  The K&N “Cold Air Induction” Dash will be run paying a $100 K&N certificate to win, $50 K&N certificate for second with $25 cash for third and fourth place.  The K&N Dash will also set the beginning of the 30-lap feature lineup for the top two finishers in the heat races if there are less than five heats or for the heat winners if there are five or more heats. 

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 Officials will choose the "Maxima Performance" Award for a driver that exhibits a performance worthy of such.  The winner will receive a free case of either Maxima Semi-Syn High Performance Racing Oil or Maxima Performance Racing Oil of your choice.  In addition, the winner will receive one can of SC-1 clear coat, one 16-oz bottle of Maxima Cool-Aide concentrate, one 32-oz quart of Maxima PSF power steering fluid, and a Maxima t-shirt.  The value of this prize package is $170!  

ARbodies will award a nose kit to the first non-qualifier part of the "Nosed Out" contingency program.  Also, CrateInsider.com will award a $25 gift certificate to the driver that finishes last on the lead lap at the finish each night. 

Feature Payoff (if Friday is completed): 1. $2,500  2. $1,200  3. $700  4. $600  5. $500  6. $450  7. $425  8. $400  9. $350  10. $325  11. $300   12. $280  13. $275  14. $270  15. $265  16. $260  17. $255  18-24 $250. 

Non-Qualifier Payoff (if Friday is completed): 1. $200  2. $150  3. $140  4. $135  5. $130  6. $125  7. $120  8. $115  9. $110  10-24. $105.

*Feature payoff (if Friday rains out & Saturday only is used): 1. $1,500  2. $800  3. $550  4. $410  5. $375  6. $340  7. $325  8. $295  9. $285  10. $280  11. $255  12. $250  13. $230  14. $225  15. $200  16. $195  17. $190  18-24. $185. 

* Non-Qualifier Payoff (if Friday rains out & Saturday only is used): 1. $150  2. $125  3. $115  4. $110  5. $105  6. $100  7. $95  8. $90  9. $85  10-24. $80. Tow $75.

2017 Sweeney Late Model Touring Series Points (Adjusted on Marquee/Platinum; only Tour members receive points): 1. Bryce Davis 866  2. John Waters 858  3. Jeremy Wonderling 833  4. Jason Knowles 787  5. Brian Knowles 777  6. Brian Swank 733  7. Mike Pegher, Jr. 688  8. J.J. Mazur 680  9. Tony White 531  10. Kyle Murray 480  11. Jamie Wrightsman 472  12. Eric Wilson 434  13. Bruce Hordusky, Jr. 386  14. Bill Kessler 372  15. Matt Latta 330  16. Chad Wright 320  17. Max Blair 198  18. Jon Rivers 171  19. D.J. Krug 147  20. Hunter Hulley 144  21. Kyle Zimmerman 90  22. John Mollick 89  23. Jamie Brown & Carl Shetler 81  25. Greg Beach 76  26. Jared Kane & Mike Franklin 70.

You do not have to be a member of RUSH to compete.  The yellow Westhold transponders will be used.  RACEceivers are always mandatory on the default 454.000 channel.  There will be a $100 entry fee or $75 if the event is run as a one-day $1,500 to-win show on Saturday.  Pit passes are $35 on Friday and $40 on Saturday.  Pits open at 4 p.m. on Friday with a drivers meeting at 7 with action hitting the track at 7:30.    On Saturday, pits open at 11 a.m. with drivers meeting scheduled for 3:30 p.m. 

McKean County Raceway is a 1/3-mile dirt track located at the McKean County Fairgrounds in East Smethport, Pa. at the intersections of Route 6 and 46.  For more information on McKean County Raceway, check out their website at www.mckeancountyraceway.net, like them on Facebook page by searching McKean County Raceway, and follow them on Twitter @McKeanCoRaceway.

RUSH Late Model marketing partners include Sweeney Chevrolet Buick GMC, Pace Performance, Hoosier Tire, Bilstein Shocks, Sunoco Race Fuels, Bazell Race Fuels, Insinger Performance, MSD Performance, Holley Performance Products, Earl's Performance Plumbing, Quick Fuel Technology, FK Rod Ends, Maxima Racing Oil, Schoenfeld Headers, Jones Racing Products, Alternative Power Sources, Precise Racing Products, ARbodies, TBM Brakes, K&N Filters, Lincoln Electric, Velocita-USA, Classic Ink USA, Rocket Chassis, Landrum Performance Spring, CrateInsider.com, 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.

###