Heywood Approaching Record Fourth Consecutive Airborne Park Speedway Title
Saturday’s Huntley Trucking Night sets up championship finale on September 5
PLATTSBURGH, NY – Airborne Park Speedway race fans may be a part of history as the 2015 stock car racing season draws to a close. Modified stock car driver Nick Heywood is nearing his fourth consecutive track championship in the J&S Steel Modified division for the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series presented by Yandow Sales & Service and John Deere. The hometown driver is chasing an unprecedented milestone never before achieved since racing began at the Plattsburgh, NY track in 1954.
Heywood holds a comfortable 52-point lead on Bucko Branham entering Huntley Trucking Night on Saturday, August 29 – the next-to-last race of the season – and has been the point leader following all but one race in 2015. Heywood’s No. 29 Budweiser/After Hours Imaging machine won the FedEx Ground 100 to open the year on May 2 and has finished sixth or better in 14 of the season’s 16 feature races since.
Only two other drivers have won three consecutive Airborne titles; Steve Miller won the Flying Tiger/Late Model Sportsman crown in 1990-92, and Kevin Boutin won Renegade championships in 2010-12. Airborne greats Charlie Trombley, Bob Bruno, Dick Nephew, C.D. Coville, Brent Dragon, and Patrick Dupree were each multi-time champions, but none approached the four-in-a-row mark that Heywood is chasing.
In the other current Airborne point battles, Richie Turner of Fairfax, VT won last week’s Key R-D Trailer Sales Renegade feature to break a three-way point tie, and now leads Robert Gordon by 11 markers and Shawn Duquette by 18. Chris LaVair of Gabriels, NY has a 44-point advantage on Kris Clark in the Busch Beer Mini-Modifieds as he aims at his first title.
Discount admission pricing continues at Huntley Trucking Night on Saturday, with tickets only $8.00 at the gate for adults and seniors; kids age 12 and under are always free. Gates open at 5:00 p.m. with racing at 7:00 p.m. The event is jam-packed with action for the Modifieds, Renegades, and Mini-Mods, in addition to several specials. The Mini-Mods will have a ladies-only “Powder Puff” race, and the Renegades will wrap up the popular Ernie’s Discount Tools “King of the Hill” elimination tournament series. The event also features the Champlain Valley Classic Cruisers with a car show and intermission burnout contest.
The championship season draws to a close next week on Saturday, September 5 at an early 6:00 p.m. start. The format has been changed to a one-day event highlighted by four extra-distance races – Modifieds will run a pair of 50-lap features, and the Renegade and Mini-Mod classes will each race 50 total laps.