The Buckeye Outlaw Sprint Series, (B.O.S.S), will be
entering their third full season as a wingless racing series this year and series
founder/promoter Aaron Fry is gearing up for a big year while still
keeping some of the old traditions of racing alive.
There will be increased purses, tow money to help out the
tour regulars, to go with a very good race schedule that spans three states.
One of the reasons for the increase in the payouts is Buckeye
Machine http://www.buckeyemachine.com,
located in Forest, Ohio, who will come aboard at the title sponsor of the
series for 2014. The company’s owner Ray Marshall fields a couple of race cars
and is a big fan of sprint car racing.
“They are going to be a tremendous help to us having them on
board this season,” Fry said. “Ray believes in what we are doing and has
stepped up to the plate for us this year. We've been able to increase the purse
all the way through the field and increase tow money to help out our guys who
follow the tour.”
The tow money will be given to the top 10 in points the last
two seasons for the first three races of the season and then will use the 2014
points from the fourth race on. The series will pay out the top four finishers
in the heat races this year too.
The increased purse money will be a nice incentive for a series that has been very competitive. Last season there were 11 different
winners in 12 races and two years ago there was only one repeat winner as well.
“That’s not something that just happens with our series it happens
in wingless racing in general,” Fry said. “There’s very competitive racing with
a lot of teams and drivers with a chance to win each night.”
Defending series champion Tony Beaber of Gibonsburg, Ohio
will be back to defend his title. The driver of the 3T sprinter was the runner
up in 2012. His dad Johnny who is a multiple track champion and 2012
Lernerville Speedway Hall of Fame inductee will also be out on the tour.
Beaber narrowly beat out 2013 Lernerville Speedway sprint
car champion Brandon Spithaler for the title, who almost pulled off what Fry says has never
been done before.
“We did quite a bit of research and if Brandon would've won
the title he would've become the first driver to win a winged and non-winged
title in the same year,” Fry said.
Spithaler will be back on the tour this season and so will
the rest of the top 10 drivers from last year. Fry has confirmed that four new
drivers will be running the tour this year and with the series paying the top
15 drivers in points tow money he believes they will have at least 15 travelers
this year.
The season will kick off with a bang as they head to Fremont
Speedway for the $5,000 to win Mike Hensel Memorial.
From there the series will travel throughout eastern
Indiana, Ohio and western Pennsylvania. There are currently 16 races scheduled this
season including two races at Eldora Speedway.
“It’s pretty cool to get a second race at Eldora,” Fry said.
“I guess that’s a sign we are doing something right if they like what we've
done.”
The series will also make history at two tracks as Raceway 7
in Conneaut, OH and American Motorsports Park in Clearfield, PA will host their
first ever wingless sprint car event. The series will visit Mercer Raceway on May 24th, Lernerville Speedway on Independence Day and Pittsburgh's Pennsylvania Motor Speedway in June and August. You can visit http://www.buckeyesprints.com/
to find the full schedule.
While the series has continued to grow they have stayed committed
to some things that make them stand out from other sanctions other than running
without the wings. The series has an open tire rule which is something that is
important to Fry dating back to his days as a racer.
“There was a time
when I would need to have three different kinds of tires mounted up to race at
three different race tracks within a couple of hours of my house,” Fry said. “It
was frustrating from a low budget driver’s standpoint that you couldn't just go
race.”
American Racer will sponsor a heat race this year and
Hoosier Tire will be a supporter of the series as well. Other heat race sponsors
include Burdette Builders of Sunman, IN Kistler Engines of Fremont, OH and Indy
Race Parts in Indianapolis.
Another interesting part of the series is that they go with
a pill draw format for heat races opposed to time trials.
“Using the pill draw format helps save the track,” Fry said.
“When you run time trials it is usually when the sun is still out and as good as
crews are at preparing a race track they can wear out a surface pretty fast. I
tell my drivers that sometimes they will get a bad draw, but they will get good
ones too. It all evens out.”
B.O.S.S also allows their drivers to drop their worst finish
of the season. The series does this to help their drivers who can’t always make
every race.
“We’re a blue-collar series,” Fry said. “None of our drivers
are professional on the road race car drivers and they all have things to do
outside of racing. Last year if we had not done the drop the top ten in points
would have stayed the same. This also helps drivers that don’t get off to the
best start stay positive and not feeling like they are out of the running. It
keeps everyone enthused and on the trail with us.”
A fun new addition to the series will be their official
mascot Bucky the B.O.S.S Beaver.
“We are trying to get the fans more involved in the event
and it will be something for the kids to enjoy,” Fry said. “As a promoter you
are always looking to have different things at your event for the fans. We want people to walk away from the night
having had an enjoyable experience."
For updates on the series check out their Facebook page here.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Buckeye-Outlaw-Sprint-Series/121287107942681
No comments:
Post a Comment