One of a kind Gular remembered
Rudy Gular was one of a kind. He was a true friend to this writer during his racing years. Gular was a huge supporter of racing at Grandview Speedway over the years where his career lasted well over 30 years. His first Modern Stock win came in 1970 and his last Small Block Modifieds win in 1990.
The Harleysville resident first ran in the Modern Stocks division. His first win was part of a twin 20 program on October 18, 1970. Gular won a total of three Modern Stock features before moving up to the Sportsman division (Small Block Modifieds) in the late 1970’s.
Gular won 3 SBM features in his career. His first win was on August 22, 1981, and the last was on August 25, 1990. Gular also split a twin 20’s program win with Davey Wenger on October 5, 1986.
Gular raced a season or two with a car that confused everyone by being painted one color on one side and a different color on the other side. It was the kind of paint job that left an announcer like myself talking to myself.
NASCAR drivers visited Grandview three times in the 1990’s, Gular was honored to give his car to A.J. Foyt for one of the NASCAR driver’s feature events.
Gular went to the race tracks every chance he got to support, and cheer on his son Mike Gular, who he was so very proud of. Mike is the 2018 Grandview Speedway NASCAR T.P.Trailers Modified champion. Mike also won the prestigious Freedom 76 race in 2019 and has 9 total career Grandview Speedway wins.
Grandview’s Tina Rogers was kind enough to supply us with some of this information.
Our sympathies go out to his family and many friends.
•••
According to drag racing journalist Dan Beaver Tony Stewart had done just a little bit of everything there is to do in motorsports with the exception of drag racing. After a recent trip to the Frank Hawley School of Drag Racing, he rectified that deficiency.
Accompanied by NHRA Top Fuel racer and girlfriend Leah Pruett (who provided instruction), Stewart brought a little “Smoke” to the drag strip. A camera crew was on hand to document his introduction to straightline racing in a video posted on Stewart’s YouTube channel.
First, Stewart needed to become familiar with the “Christmas tree” lighting system that starts each run down the drag strip, and he did so in a Super Comp car. From there, Stewart moved into one of the Hawley’s Alcohol Dragsters that was equipped with an automatic transmission.
“We use that setup to allow new drivers to learn the routine you would use to drive an A/Fuel [Dragster] or Top Fuel car, but they’re still plenty fast,” Hawley said at NHRA. com. “We want them to see how it steers and handles and what you can and can’t do with it. Obviously, for someone like Tony who is used to seeing the world at 200 mph or faster, that wasn’t an issue.”
Hawley is a two-time NHRA Funny Car world champion who has taught amateurs and pros how to navigate a dragster down the strip for three decades.
“He’s world-class at anything he’s ever done, so it didn’t surprise me that he had no problems,” Hawley added. “He was a great guy, easy to talk to, and very humble. What a neat guy.”
Stewart made a dozen runs in the two cars and reportedly earned a Top Dragster license. He has not announced any intention to race a dragster professionally, but drag racing fans will want to keep an eye out for “Smoke” at the racetrack.
•••
The recently announced 2021 season schedule for Pennsylvania’s Lincoln Speedway features its two premier sprint car divisions, the 410 and 358 sprints with a total of 32 appearances between the two divisions. After success in 2020, Lincoln will also feature tractor and truck pulls again in 2021 along with a Monster Truck Show. New to the schedule for the upcoming season are the PA Karting Grand Nationals.
Lincoln Speedway will host 14 different divisions during its 69th season, highlighted by 30 dates for the 410 sprints and 16 dates for the 358 sprints. The 410 sprints will start their season with the $5,000-to-win “Ice Breaker 30” on February 20th.
The midgets will return to Lincoln twice in 2021. You can catch them in the Pigeon Hills on June 5th and July 17th.
As part of their tour in 2021, the Super Sportsman will make two trips to Lincoln. They will be in action on May 8th and June 19th.
The USAC East Coast Sprint Cars will make an appearance at Lincoln on June 5th.
The 410 Sprints will race weekly for $4,000 to win, with a minimum of $400 to start the feature. There are eight dates on the 2021 schedule that offer more than the weekly purse to win.
•••
GENERAL TIRE will be the entitlement sponsor of the ARCA Menards Series East race on Friday, May 14 at Dover International Speedway, the opening race of the Monster Mile’s NASCAR tripleheader weekend set for May 14-16, 2021.
The May 14-16 NASCAR tripleheader weekend at the Monster Mile also includes a NASCAR Xfinity Series race on Saturday, May 15 and the “Drydene 400” NASCAR Cup Series race on Sunday, May 16. The “Drydene 400” will be the 103rd NASCAR Cup Series race at Dover, one of only 10 tracks in the country to host 100 or more Cup Series events.
Management of Selinsgrove Speedway and the STSS have jointly announced the Saturday, March 20, 2021 ‘Icebreaker’ event at the Snyder County half-mile oval will be part of the ’21 STSS schedule.
Both the STSS-sanctioned Modifieds and Crate 602 Sportsman will be in competition at the event.
STSS Modifieds race 40 laps for $5,000 to win, $1,000 for 10th and $400 to take the green flag from a purse totaling more than $25,570. STSS Crate 602 Sportsman will take part in a 25-lap feature with $1,500 going to the winner and $100 to take the green flag.
The event takes place one day prior to the scheduled STSS Modified 40lap event at neighboring Port Royal (Pa.) Speedway on Sunday, March 21, setting up a weekend of Modified racing in the Keystone State.
Selinsgrove Speedway is a half-mile, banked oval located at the intersection of Routes 11 & 15 and Route 35 in Central Pennsylvania.