Kankakee County Speedway News & Notes

SMITH SCORES TWO NEW CONTINGENCY SPONSORS

Tom Smith has been hard at it this week securing new sponsors for the upcoming 2012 racing season. On Wednesday, Feb. 1st, Smith came to terms with both Falcon Transmissions and Winters Performance Products, who specialize in quick change rear-ends. Every driver who finishes in the Top 12 in points in Super Late Models, Pro Late Models, Modifieds, and Stock Cars will receive a $100 product certificate towards the purchase of new equipment or replacement parts.

This brings the total of new contingency sponsors to ten along with KRC Power, K&B Carbs, Appleton Rack & Pinion, Butlerbuilt Professional Seat Systems, Schoenfeld Headers, Great Lakes Lifting Solutions, Country Chevrolet of Herscher, and Gandrud Chevorlet of Green Bay, WI.

K&B CARBS TO SUPPORT PRO LATE MODELS

Promoter Tom Smith announced today that K&B Carbs out of Maumee, OH has agreed to come onboard to sponsor the new Pro Late Model division at Kankakee County Speedway, which is already approaching double digits as far as car count. We are thrilled to have K&B Carbs as a contingency sponsor for the 2012 campaign. K&B Carbs will present a $50 product certificate each week to one deserving driver.

PRO LATE MODEL BUZZ IS TALK OF THE TOWN

With the recently completed Custom Rides Car Show and the Simply Suspension Open House, the pre-season talk has focused primarily on the addition of the Pro Late Model class at Kankakee County Speedway. Not only does it offer drivers an option to stepping up in the Late Model ranks, but also will make Super Late Model drivers' used equipment more valuable in the near future. All while keeping racing affordable for those who don't have the deep pockets. As many as nine drivers have already commited to the class for 2012. A list of those names will be comprised soon. If you are a driver and are not listed, please email Paul Bayne to get your name added to the Pro Late Model roster. Drivers will compete for UMP points throughout the year at KCS and have a choice of using either the 602 CT350 or 604 CT400 crate motors available at either Country Chevrolet in Herscher or Gandrud Chevrolet out of Green Bay, WI.

DRIVERS SHARE IN SEASONS SUCCESS AT BANQUET

The 2011 KCS racing season officially came to a close this past Saturday night with a near capacity crowd on hand and several very special guests as well to honor champions in five divisions of racing at Kankakee County Speedway. Promoter Tom Smith was pleased with the strong showing of support at the banquet but also that Kankakee County Speedway was one of very few tracks to shutout Mother Nature during the summer of 2011, having completed 25 nights of racing without a rain out.

Several special awards were presented at the onset to the awards ceremony including lifetime achievement awards presented to long time pit steward Jim Corsaro. Corsaro, who is perhaps best known more for his bark rather than his bite, gave an emotional acceptance speech that brought many of the near 400 guests to their feet. Corsaro also quipped that he would keep coming back to serve Kankakee County Speedway as long as the drivers kept coming to race.

The Daily-Journal's racing correspondent Dennis Yohnka, who has covered local stock car racing for several decades, also was honered with a lifetime achievement award.

Track champions honored included Mike Provenzano of Grand Ridge, IL in the UMP Late Model division, having claimed his third track title in the past four years, despite only one trip to victory lane last summer. Nick Allen of Wheatfield, IN claimed his first UMP Modified track championship and finished third nationally after collecting some 17 feature wins in 2011 including four at KCS. With three wins on the year, Lee J. Hall of Oxford, IN earned the UMP Stock Car track championship in a battle that see-sawed back and forth throughout the year with several drivers. Hall also was the track's recipient of the highly acclaimed Sportsmanship Award, having taken over the duties of that award from Jason Klopp in 2010, and Darrin Kohler in 2009. Mike Kingma of Lowell, IN captured the I-Mod track title over last year's champion, Adam Williams. Kingma scored six wins on the season to Williams' five as the duo dominated the division all season. Finally, Dave Polak Jr. of Alsip,IL, claimed the UMP Sport Compact title over Joe Tsilis in another battle that was not decided until the final night of the year, following a disqualification that virtually ended Tsilis' title hopes the week prior.

Other awards for Rookie of the Year went to Mike Spatola (Late Models), Darrin Kohler (Modifieds), Joe Steurer (Stock Cars), Chris Balazs (I-Mods), and Mike Grabe (Sport Compacts). Those earning Most Improved Driver hardware included Glen Thompson (Late Models), Steven Brooks (Modifieds), Jeff Riley (Stock Cars), Rich Gynn (I-Mods), and Jessica Summar (Sport Compacts).

Several very special guests were on hand to take part of the festivities. Sam Driggers, President of the UMP sanctioning body, was on hand to not only congratulate Kankakee County Speedway and it's racers, but to also inform all as to the current state of UMP as a whole, and how it has grown to what it is today. Promoter Tom Smith welcomed a pair of new sponsors for the Pro Late Model division in Country Chevrolet of Herscher, as well as Gandrud Chevrolet of Green Bay, WI. Gandrud representative Don Shryock was on hand to talk about their intended involvement with the incoming Pro Late Model class. He also brought brought new "crate motors with him on his trek south, of which two of them were raffled off during the night. Jim Barkus of St. Anne, IL was the lucky winner of the 604 motor, while Travis Cooley of Monticello,IN claimed the 602 motor as the night neared conclusion. Mike Warshauer of the Ohio Technical College in Cleveland, OH was also on hand to discuss their partnership with Kankakee County Speedway and nearby Illiana Motor Speedway in Schererville, IN. The program will provide interested students an opportunity to earn degrees in many aspects of the motorsports performance industry.

Several new sponsors reached tentative agreements with KCS over the past few weeks and they included ServPro of Kankakee County, Fastlane Graphics, and Coyote Canyon / Jimmy Jo's BBQ, who also catered the hungry crowd.

The future looks bright for Kankakee and it's racers, with six division of cars set to do battle, and an increased work load forthe I-Mods and Sport Compacts, Smith also announced that he had reached agreement with the Kankakee County Fair Board through 2015. See you in the spring!

KCS SET FOR SMORGASBOARD OF RACING IN 2012

The schedule is now out and upon closer examination, one would agree, that's a whole lot of racing planned for 2012. Of course, like most tracks believe it or not, we may be at the mercy of Mother Nature, but nonetheless here's how the 2012 campaign shakes out.

Let's start off by saying that the UMP Modifieds and Stock Cars will compete in all 25 nights of racing in 2012. Both classes are the heart and soul of Kankakee, and have been for several years. No where in the state, will you find a more competitve field of feature cars than in these two divisions on any given Friday night.

The UMP Super Late Models will compete in 23 nights of action with the only nights off being June 25th when the Winged Sprints come to town, and also during the Kankakee County Fair. The newly added UMP Pro Late Models will join the Super Late Models on all but five nights (20) of action, including the final nine weeks of the season. When competing with the Supers, the Pro Lates will be scored separately from the Supers in both track and UMP points. When we have 11 or more Pro Lates, they will run a stand alone program with heats and a feature.

In a bit of a surprise, the UMP Sport Compacts will be competing every night (25) of the season except for when the Illinois Vintage Racing Series joins us on July 13th. This includes being added to the Kankakee County Fair races. Furthermore, the I-Mods will run all but three nights (23) this coming season including the final 10 weeks of the season. Both groups had eight OFF nights last year, so this will give these competitors more opportunities to showcase their talents.

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A RECAP OF IMIS... AS KCS SEES IT

With the 2011 IMIS show now in the books as being the biggest and best yet, Kankakee County Speedway promoter made his way around the Indiana Convention Center meeting with dozens of series officials, track promoters, drivers, industry leaders, and a childhood idol who has agreed to come out to have a little fun with us next summer.

As we arrived inside the amazing complex that is now home to the International Motorsports Industry Show, the first person we dealt with Lucas Oil Series Race Director Ritchie Lewis. Lewis and track promoter Tom Smith seemingly share the same philosophy when it comes to producing a quality show when it comes to out of pocket expenses for the promoter. The duo agreed to continue talks towards a future date, which will no doubt be a tremendous shot in the arm for racing in Illinois.

Smith also talked extensively with Bill Long of the Michigan Dirt Cup series in hopes that an effort will be made to bring the best drivers from the State of Michigan here to Kankakee on an invitation only basis. The same sort arrangement would then travel to Michigan the following year. Smith shared his enthusiasm of the idea with UMP President Sam Driggers who also liked the idea and hopes to have a similar arrangement made at Eldora Speedway during the UMP Fall Nationals in the future.

World Racing Group chairman Tom Deery, who has been a longtime friend of Smith's, assured us that the World of Outlaws Late Model Series, or perhaps the Sprint Car series, will work something out in the future. Now that Smith has signed on as promoter for an additional three to four years, the stability is there for such major organizations to take Kankakee seriously.

Finally, Smith (and I) had an opportunity to meet with one of his all-time childhood idols upon entering the IMIS floor. Ricky Johnson, who is best known as a motorcycle racer who has competed in AMA Motocross and Supercross. During the 1980s, he won seven AMA national championships. He retired from motorcycle racing at the beginning of the 1991 season. At the time of his retirement from motocross racing at age 26, he was the all-time leader in Supercross victories. Johnson was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1999.

After his motocross career, Johnson went on to have success in off-road racing and stock car racing. He took wins in the famous Baja 1000 twice and was American Speed Association stock car series Rookie of the Year in 1999, driving for Herzog Racing as a teammate to unrelated El Cajon, CA off-road racer Jimmie Johnson. Johnson ran twelve races in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series from 1995 to 1997. In 2010, he won the Pro 2WD Trophy Truck championship in the Traxxas TORC Series.


Johnson founded the Traxxas TORC Series for the 2009 season. He sold the series after the season to the United States Auto Club (USAC) and he concentrated on being a driver. Ricky Johnson won the TORC Series Pro2WD Championship in 2010 after a season long battle with Rob MacCachren, the defending champ.

Johnson has verbally agreed to be our guest next summer and try his luck behind the wheel of a full blown Super Late Model. We're excited to have Johnson join us and see how he stacks up with our local talent here at Kankakee.

KCS WELCOMES NEW CLASS SPONSOR

It's been the topic of discussion for some time now, and something Promoter Tom Smith firmly believes in to make racing affordable again for those who have found themselves outmatched by this tough economy. Brent Manau of Country Chevrolet of Herscher has come onboard to sponsor the Pro Late Model class, a division we hope will be well received and continue to grow over the next few years. The Pro Late Model class will run a GM 604 crate motor and get additional rules breaks to make them competitive with the Super Late Models, when necessary.

In fact, Smith and Manau are raffling off a brand new 604 GM crate motor at this year's awards banquet to be held in January. Only 52 tickets will be sold and someone is going to be taking home a brand new engine. Two other engines will be on display as well in front of the stage, and will be for sale.

Already drivers have jumped at the chance to buy race ready Pro Late Models and are gearing up to compete weekly at Kankakee along with Super Late Models. However, on nights when there are 11 or more Pro Late Models, the class will run by themselves for their own purse and will be scored separately from the Super Late Models, and will be competing for their own track championship as well as accumulate points towards the UMP National Championship. Any night when there are fewer than 11, they will be competing with the Super Late Models and qualifying as well. The top finishing Pro Late Model driver each night will earn an extra $100 on top of his earned Super Late Model pay.

LaSalle and Lincoln Speedways are also said to be initiating similar programs at their facilities for the coming year. The hope is to bolster racing as a whole throughout the region, and give guys who want to drive a Late Model a chance to do so at an affordable rate. Word is one driver from California will be here competing with us all next year as long as his plans don't fall through. Several other drivers are making the jump up to the Pro Late Models from more entry level divisions, while still some others simply want to get back into racing with a program that won't drain their wallets.


EVER WANTED TO DRIVE A REAL DIRT LATE MODEL?

If you or someone you know, have ever had the itch to climb behind the wheel and circle the high banks, now's your chance to strut your stuff, and feel what it's really like behind the wheel of a 650HP+ Dirt Late Model. No more trash talking from the grandstands, no more saying you can't afford it. All you got to do is put your money where your mouth is... whether it be on race night competition or a scheduled practice time. If you want to drive by the seat of your pants, here's your chance. For more information call Smitty at 708-417-6018 and he'll fill you in on all the details. Serious inquiries only please.


TRACK ROADSIDE SIGNS

Those of you who have taken and placed roadside track signs in front of their homes, businesses, etc. are asked to bring them indoors for winter storage. If you are unable to store the signs on your own, please call 815-953-6569 to arrange a time for scheduled pickup. Once again we thank everyone who has helped us in spreading the word about Kankakee County Speedway.

Congratulations to our 2011 Track Champions
UMP Late Models - Mike Provenzano
UMP Modifieds - Nick Allen
UMP Stock Cars - Lee J. Hall
UMP Sport Compacts - Dave Polak Jr.
I-Mods - Mike Kingma

NOTICE TO SPORT COMPACT DRIVERS

I have been asked by Chief Tech Official Brent Osterhoff to remind everyone that UMP Sport Compacts must weigh a minimum of #2400 with driver at all times. UMP does not have a weight rule in this class, however this is a local track rule that will be enforced each week. So drivers need to be aware of what their cars weigh before arriving at the track.

SPECIAL THANKS TO KROLL GRAPHICS

Tonight's trophies to the feature winners have been donated by Kroll Graphics of Chebanse. Be sure to say thanks for a job well done to I-Mod driver Dan Kroll, driver of the #01 machine when you see him at the speedway.

ATTENTION KIDS CLUB MEMBERS

The first run of Kids Club T-shirts are in! Kids Club members, come on out and be one of the first to receive your own FREE Kids Club T-shirt courtesy of our sponsors. Only the first 100 Kids will receive a T-shirt until they are gone, but don't worry, if you don't receive one this week, more are on the way. With close to 320 Kids Club members, several orders are going to have to be made to make sure everyone is taken care of. Visit the souvenir trailer to get your T-shirt. You must have been signed up prior to this Friday to receive a T-shirt. If you haven't yet signed up, be sure to do so this week as soon as you arrive and take your bus ride. I still have a few more names to add to the list before this Friday, so check and see if your name is on the list, and if not, be sure to email me at kankakeecountyspeedway@gmail.com

Also one lucky child will win an authentic autographed race helmet signed by all of our very own Kankakee County Speedway drivers. How cool is that? Plus we have more in store for all the kids throughout the remainder of the season.

If you are a driver at Kankakee, and you don't think that you make a difference in the young lives around you, coming to support you and cheer you on, you're dead wrong! Just go look at the Kids Club page and see who you might be a fan favorite of. Those young children are looking up to you at all times. They believe in you, and know you are doing your very best each week.

OCTOBER 14TH - RACECEIVERS ON SALE WHILE SUPPLIES LAST!!!

Attention ALL drivers of Kankakee County Speedway. In 2012, Kankakee County Speedway will make it mandatory for all drivers to use RaceCeivers when competing at Kankakee. Other tracks have followed suit and more will do the same. What a tremendous asset the RaceCeivers have been in speeding up shows with limited down time due to race lineups. Drivers may purchase their very own Solo II RaceCeiver unit for ONLY $100, if paid by cash, or $100 plus tax, if paid with check. Drivers may purchase them at the track any night, or before the race season begins by calling 815-933-6569. The unit feature a dual jacks and ear buds ARE included. You find a better price out there for the Solo II RaceCeiver unit.

2012 SEASON NOTICE: 2012 MEDIA REQUESTS

Media requests should be made in writing at least one week prior to the scheduled event you are wishing to cover. This includes all reporters, photographers, and videographers. Proper ID is required when signing into the pits at the track. All requests may be made by sending an email to kankakeecountyspeedway@gmail.com. Please put KCS Media Request in the subject line of your email.

While we welcome diversity, we can not guarantee all requests will be approved. Media publications may be limited as to the number of requests approved. You will be asked to provide links to any articles and/or photos from your covered event. You will receive confirmation by return email as to whether your request has been approved or disapproved. If your name and/or credential does not appear on the comp list, you will be expected to pay appropriate admission. This applies to all photographers, media members, vendors, and promotion staff from other tracks.