Plenty of pre-race festivities coming to Pocono
Stroudsburg natives Christian Porter and Regina Sayles, known together as acclaimed musical duo Porter & Sayles, will perform a pre-race concert prior to the start of the Gander Outdoors 400 on Sunday, July 29 at Pocono Raceway. They will perform the National Anthem before the green flag waves to start the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at ‘The Tricky Triangle’ that day.
Pre-Race All-Access Passes to the Porter & Sayles prerace concert, brought to you by ESSA Bank, and Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver introductions are now available for purchase. The All-Access Pass allows fans to be front-of-stage to witness both events, taking place on the front stretch and near the start/finish line. In addition to this pass, a Pre-Race Pit/Paddock Pass and Sunday Gate Admission Ticket are required.
Visit www.poconoraceway. com/prerace for more details and to buy one of three PreRace All Access Pass options.
Bobby Rahal, a three-time Indy Car champion and winner of the 1986 Indianapolis 500, will be among the featured guests at the 2018 Vintage Celebration at Pocono August 1718-19.
Presented by the Classic Racing Times in cooperation with Pocono Raceway and the Verizon Indycar Series, the
Vintage Celebration brings together both the historic Indy cars of years gone by and the men and women who played significant roles in American racing.
Rahal, who today is coowner of the Rahal Letterman Lanigan racing team along with TV personality David Letterman and industrialist Michael Lanigan, will be greeting fans during the Classic Racing Times’ “Autograph Alley” on Saturday, August 18, alongside others including Super Bowl winning coach Dick Vermeil, and Hall of Fame Indycar mechanic Jim McGee.
For those who enjoy the history of the sport the 9th annual Dorney Park-Mahoning Valley Speedway Reunion will take place at the America On Wheels Museum on Sunday November 4 starting at 11:00 a.m. The reunion created by Dale and Bob Snyder in 2010 has grown beyond all original expectations as an event that takes the Dorney and Mahoning community back down memory lane. The Reunion has become one of the AOW Museum’s biggest single day events will honor the stars of Dorney Park Speedway and Mahoning Valley Speedway.
Highlighting the show will be the induction of four drivers from Dorney and Mahoning to the America On Wheels Hall Of Fame. A race car show will be held on the museum grounds and all cars from any type of racing old or new are welcome to display their machines. After the HOF ceremonies there will be driver interviews.
Your typical weekend for a race fan consists of going to the races, cracking open a cold one with your friends, and cheering on your favorite racecar drivers.
As race season is in full swing in the northeast, the Pauch family is making sure their fans and sponsors are getting the full experience. The Pauch family’s biennial open house at their race shop in Frenchtown, N.J. is officially set for Sunday, July 15th from 12-4pm.
This open house gives the fans an opportunity to meet Billy Pauch Sr. and Billy Pauch Jr., catch up with them, take pictures, and see where all of the work on the racecars happen week in and week out.
The open house will be free and open to the public. The race shop will be open for everyone to walk through. The trophy room, which consists of hundreds of trophies and pictures throughout the years will be open as well as several racecars and memorabilia that will be on display.
A huge addition to the open house this year will be the Zemco Racing No.1 sprint car that made history back in 1994 by setting a new world record on The Moody Mile and went on to dominate the World of Outlaws Spark Plugs Sprint Nationals.
Brand new, limited edition, Pauch Racing apparel will be for sale.
There will also be a great collection of old body panels and racing memorabilia that will be raffled off in a Chinese auction.
The Pauch family will also be raffling off two special items to help raise money for Mike Tidaback and his family. Tidaback suffered a severe injury after a crash in Atlantic City back in January. There will be a complete side of Pauch Sr.’s race car that will be raffled off as well as a special item from the Tidaback family.
Free snacks and drinks will be available as well as a snow cone machine for the kids.
“The open house is a fun time that we look forward to every year,” said Pauch Jr.
The last time Sage Karam was strapped into a race car he was doing so at lap speeds in excess of 225 mph at the “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” running in the 2018 Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil. He finished 24th.
The next time he goes racing will be a bit extreme from Indy as he is set to run Ricky Yetter’s No. 5 Dirt Modified at the ¼-mile paved bullring Mahoning Valley Speedway in Lehighton on Saturday evening, July 14.
By contrast, Karam will be introduced to a whole new style of speed and driving as there is little comparison between an Indy Car and Dirt Modified.
Given his talented background however, it shouldn’t be hard to make the transition for the versatile Karam.
Yetter, who is the 201516 Dirt Modified division champion, made the deal with Karam just recently when his son was taking part in a wrestling camp being conducted by Karam’s father, Jody. Sage was also there serving as a coach.
“I think this is a great opportunity to have a driver of Sage’s caliber race at Mahoning Valley. He is a great talent that has raced all over the country and beyond. We’re very excited to put him in the seat of our Dirt Modified. To think that one of the stars of the stars of the Indy 500 will be racing with us will make for a special night for everyone,” said Yetter.
That same night Mahoning Valley will present a complete show of Modifieds, Late Models, Street Stocks, Sportsman Modifieds and Hobby Stocks plus the Flashback Stocks, vintage stock cars, will be in action.