28TH ANNUAL "JOOK
GEORGE STEEL CITY CLASSIC" RETURNS TO PITTSBURGH ON AUGUST 12; 1ST TIME AS A
SWEENEY RUSH LATE MODEL TOURING SERIES EVENT
By Doug Kennedy
March 29, 2017
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Imperial, PA)...For
2017, the "Jook George Steel City Classic" race, held annually at Pittsburgh's
PA Motor Speedway, will become a Sweeney Chevrolet Buick GMC RUSH Dirt Late
Model Touring Series event. The
August 12 event is financed by contributions from a number of people, companies,
race teams, the speedway, and racing organizations including RUSH.
The bulk of the promotion is handled by 33-year-old Branden Lockwich of
Imperial, Pa.
The race is special for Lockwich because Jook was a friend
of the family for a number of years.
“I know his family very well and this event takes on a personal feeling….
it’s not just another event,” said Lockwich.
As a youngster, Lockwich attended a number of races with
his parents, but found that one track was the one they visited the most. “I
guess you could say that PPMS was our home track,” said Branden.
“I wanted to do what Vince Laboon did for his dad (Ed),”
said Lockwich. For the last five
years, Laboon has promoted the "Ed Laboon Memorial".
That race will happen this year at PPMS on June 3.
I guess the question for some is, who is William Thomas
“Jook” George and why has he been honored for nearly three decades?
His son, “Little Jook” explains. “He was always Big Jook and then when I
came along, I was Little Jook. If
anyone ever called him William, he wouldn’t respond because he was always Jook.”
"Dad had a very brief racing career, in fact it was one
race,” said the 42-year-old William “Little Jook”.
“He started drag racing in 1964 at PID (Pennsylvania International
Dragway) when he was a senior in high school.
Then in 1965, he bought his first circle track car.
His one and only race was at Clinton Motor Speedway.
He was claustrophobic and couldn’t handle all the race cars around him so
he hired Davey Gallo to drive for him.”
Gallo was actually a friend from Midway, Pa., the place
where Jook was born and died. The
number he chose and had for most of his racing career was the #10 and that was
in honor of his racing hero, Lou Blaney.
There was a race at the Butler County Fairgrounds in the late ‘70s that
had the Sprint Car drivers race in Late Models and Lou drove Jook’s car that
night. “He was pretty proud of that
said “Little Jook”.
Other highlights to 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.
“They won a bunch of races in that black and yellow car,” said “Little
Jook”, who works as a manufacturer of industrial signs for Precision Sign and
Awning in
Other tracks that they competed at were Jennerstown,
Motordrome, and Lernerville. “We
ran Lernerville 13 times and came back on a wrecker in 12 of them.
It wasn’t our best track.”
"Big Jook" passed away from cancer in February of 1996.
There are a few connections as well with Daryl Charlier and Branden
Lockwich and the George family. Besides
being neighbors in Midway Pa., Daryl’s dad, Dale, drove a couple of races for
Jook and Branden’s dad, Pete, used to hang out in the pits with Jook and his
crew.
“Branden is a phenomenal promoter,” said “Little Jook”
“He took it to the next level.”
As for his dad and his love for the sport, “Little Jook”
said, “He loved racing- that was his thing.
He was competitive, but was about fairness.
He just enjoyed the sport.”
Last year’s winner of the "Jook George Steel City Classic"
was Michael Reft, who took home a cool $4,110 to win.
The $10 was added onto the purse because
that was always Jook’s car number (10). The
2016 event would turn out to be the richest event in the RUSH region all of last
season. Reft was a weekly racer at
PPMS, who didn’t tour, but came home with a big win over several of the top RUSH
Touring drivers. To say the least, the
win was nothing short of a storybook ending.
“It was incredible,” said the 23-year-old Reft.
“It’s the craziest racing moment I’ve ever had.
That field was stacked with drivers like
Wayne Robertson, John Mollick, and a lot of others.
For us local guys, it’s the biggest race
for us. And it’s also for Jook
George. Just to have our name on
the winner’s list is awesome. We’ll
definitely be back to defend our title.”
Reft, who lives in the South Hills section of
Reft’s season ended last year at the Pittsburgher in turn
one on lap one in a major accident that destroyed Reft's #9R.
What resulted for Reft was also a broken
arm that required two plates, ten screws, and four to five months of rehab.
The accident also forced him to drop out
of CCAC where he is going to become a nurse in radiology.
“The mobility is not quite there,” Reft said, “but I’ll be
there for round two this year.”
Lockwich, whose nickname is “Cleetus”, is a database
administrator who works for Premier Comp Solutions.
Prior to that, he worked 12 years at
Comcast in technical support. Branden’s
main goal was to take the "Jook George Steel City Classic" race to another
level, and he has succeeded.
Lockwich never had the finances to race himself so he decided to help some of
his driving friends stay racing.
Two of Lockwich’s friends, Daryl Charlier and Tommy
Schirnhofer, were running the Crate Late Models.
It was then that Branden took a special interest in the division. “For
the last few years I have helped with sponsorships on their cars,” said
Lockwich. Cleetus Motorsports
appears on both of their cars. Both
Charlier (2014) and Schirnhofer are past winners of the event.
“I’m close friends with Branden,” said Charlier.
“He’s down at the shop every weekend.
For the last few years he has helped by putting money into our racing
program to help us continue to race.”
Charlier has enjoyed the "Jook George Steel City Classic"
ever since he was a youngster. The
families lived a half-mile from each other and Daryl went to school with Jook’s
daughter, Dana.
Winning that 2014 race was very special for Charlier.
“That was special for me because of the relationship I had with the
George family and being from the same town.
It’s nice to bring that win back to our hometown.”
But the race is all about the memory of one Jock George, a
car owner who always had good drivers behind the wheel of his racecars.
The memorial race became the biggest race of the season at PPMS for a
number of years for the Semi-Late Models, but by the late ‘90s and early 2000s,
the event had lost some of its luster.
For a race that paid $2,000 to win and had 40 laps, and a full field, the
race was cut back to 20 laps with just a normal weekend purse to win.
With all that in mind, Lockwich approached PPMS promoter,
Matt Miley, and discussed the possibility of Branden getting involved promoting
the 2015 race. “I probably didn’t get started on it until a month before the
race,” said Branden. “I didn’t have
much time but we were able to raise a good amount of money.”
Colton Flinner was the winner of the race that year and pocketed $2,100.
The 2016 event turned out to be a lot more successful since
Lockwich had more time to raise funds for the race. With the blessing of PPMS
promoter, Matt Miley, Lockwich succeeded by having the richest RUSH Late Model
purse of the season while honoring the man he admired, Jook George.
Besides Miley and PPMS, Lockwich received sponsor help from
his friend, Ben Policz. The George
family also put some money into the race; however, the big factor was receiving
an $8,000 donation from an anonymous source. All toll, the groups raised about
$12,000 for the race! “I know who
he is, but the person just doesn’t want his name divulged,” said Lockwich
regarding the anonymous donor.
What transpired last year was a event that had an
outstanding field of racers that included regional and local drivers as well as
several of the RUSH Touring drivers, all for a payday of $4,110 to win.
There were also a number of contingency awards, so not one of the 27
drivers went home empty handed. The
drivers came from
“Last year was awesome,” said Brian, the older of the
racing Knowles brothers regarding the Memorial race.
“I had never been on the track before, but it was nice to get an
opportunity to check out the racetrack prior to the Pittsburgher.
I ran so good in that race and then didn’t qualify for the Pittsburgher.
It gave me a false sense of security.
It certainly is one of the bigger places I’ve raced and for me, it was a
little intimidating.”
Brian went onto say that on the night of the Jook George
race there was a bottom to the track.
“We were mowing the grass near the guardrails and there is the wall on
the outside.”
Younger brother Jason agreed, “I never raced at PPMS before
and for that first time it was a little intimidating because of its size.
I started 16th and finished 4th, so that was pretty
good and I will be doing it again this year.”
The positive thing for 2017 is that the anonymous $8,000 is
back into the pot and Lockwich and already at a minimum of $3,000 to-win with
still five months to go to raise more donations.
His goals are to better the purse from last year and also increase the
car count. Donations are being
accepted to increase the purse as well as lap money is being sold.
“Since it’s going to be a touring race, I wanted to take it
to another level,” said Lockwich.
“By being associated with the RUSH Tour, it will give us more prestige.
I really respect the professionalism of RUSH.
With the touring guys, the PPMS regulars, and anyone else who may come
in, it will make this a great race.”
Each season, the "Jook George Steel City Classic" race is
part of the PPMS racing schedule.
The 28th running of the event will be held on Saturday, August 12.
“We are extremely excited about the 28th running
of the Jook George…it is second only to the Pittsburgher,” said PPMS promoter
Matt Miley. “It has as much
tradition as any other event we run.
Many fine racers have come through the division and we all feel Jook
would be proud of the effort Branden has made to make it a must see regional
event. The RUSH Touring Series
takes it to another level and we are proud to by flying the RUSH banner.
Jook’s family, which will include his wife, Patty, will again be our
honored guests…can’t wait.”
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.
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