{"id":20527,"date":"2016-05-02T11:30:57","date_gmt":"2016-05-02T15:30:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/?p=20527"},"modified":"2016-05-02T11:30:57","modified_gmt":"2016-05-02T15:30:57","slug":"next-era-of-racing-ready-to-begin-at-devils-bowl-speedway-in-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/2016\/05\/next-era-of-racing-ready-to-begin-at-devils-bowl-speedway-in-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"Next Era of Racing Ready to Begin at Devil\u2019s Bowl Speedway in 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"DevilsNext Era of Racing Ready to Begin at Devil\u2019s Bowl Speedway in 2016
\nNew schedule to see Vermont track host full-time asphalt and dirt racing in 50th season<\/strong><\/p>\n

WEST HAVEN, Vt. \u2013 Transformation has been almost constant at Devil\u2019s Bowl Speedway in its first 49 seasons, and the Vermont track\u2019s 50th summer in 2016 will continue the trend. Since its opening, the speedway has seen action shift from natural Slate Valley clay to asphalt \u2013 and back again \u2013 twice. As both a nod to the past and a look toward the future, the facility will host races on both surfaces on a full-time basis this year for the first time.
\n<\/p>\n

A brief history: Founder C.J. Richards built Devil\u2019s Bowl Speedway in 1967 as a half-mile dirt track before paving it in 1971. The clay returned in 1975 and remained for the next 35 seasons, and then Richards repaved the track in 2010. Mike and Alayne Bruno began promoting the track in 2012 and have grown the asphalt program as part of the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series, but also realized that many local fans missed the dirt.<\/p>\n

In response, a new 3\/10-mile dirt track was constructed inside the asphalt oval, and eight races were run during a trial period in 2014-15. After learning the quirks of the new layout, both the asphalt and dirt tracks got the green light to each hold full seasons of NASCAR-sanctioned racing in 2016 \u2013 a \u201cbest of both worlds\u201d scenario.<\/p>\n

For the 50th season, the biggest change is the schedule itself. Racing has moved to an earlier 6:00 p.m. start so that most events will end around 9:00 p.m. and allow fans and racers to return home earlier. Weekly asphalt events, 14 in all, have been moved to Saturday nights \u2013 instead of Friday nights in recent years \u2013 to better accommodate fans and racers during the work week. And in keeping with a tradition that was held for most of the \u201cdirt years\u201d at Devil\u2019s Bowl, the 13-race schedule for the dirt track will see Sunday night racing at 6:00 p.m.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always felt that if you keep doing the same things over and over every year, the product becomes boring and stale,\u201d Devil\u2019s Bowl promoter Mike Bruno said. \u201cWe have exciting racing, but we saw the need to shake things up a little bit. We\u2019re really excited to kick off the 50th season at Devil\u2019s Bowl in a couple weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rulebooks for both surfaces are virtually identical in the Sportsman Modified, Renegade, and Mini Stock divisions, and a dual NASCAR sanction means double the post-season money. Several drivers in each class have indicated that they will race full-time on one surface and at least part-time on the other, and Modified veterans Vince Quenneville Jr., Billy Lussier, and Jackie Brown Jr. have each committed to running all 27 events.<\/p>\n

The asphalt oval opens on Saturday, May 21 at 6:00 p.m., and the dirt track opens on Sunday, May 22 at 6:00 p.m. Each track will have kids bicycle races, 50-lap Modified features, and lots of other action.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Next Era of Racing Ready to Begin at Devil\u2019s Bowl Speedway in 2016 New schedule to see Vermont track host full-time asphalt and dirt racing in 50th season WEST HAVEN, Vt. \u2013 Transformation has been almost constant at Devil\u2019s Bowl Speedway in its first 49 seasons, and the Vermont track\u2019s 50th summer in 2016 will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devils-bowl","category-vermont"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20527"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20527\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20528,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20527\/revisions\/20528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}