Steel Valley Super Nats, weekend cruise at Salem

Steel Valley Supernationals 2009

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By D.A. WILKINSON

wilkinson@vindy.com

SALEM

The Quaker City Weekend Cruise is a new event, but it will involve elements from the past.

“It’s a stand-alone event,” said Steve Andres, Salem’s safety and service director. There are, however, other events taking place during the weekend.

The cruise starts at 4 p.m. Thursday and ends at 7 p.m. Sunday.

Ongoing at the same time is the fifth Steel Valley Super Nationals north of the city at the Quaker City Raceway, 10359 W. South Range Road.

Both events have been linked in past years.

Mayor Jerry Wolford, Dan Swindell, who owns the raceway, and promoter Corey Ward of Austintown, who has been running the Steel Valley Super Nationals at the raceway, had a falling out earlier this year but then got back together.

The biggest events may be a car parade and a motorcycle parade from the drag strip, around the city on the bypass, that will start at state Route 14 and West State Street to the east side of the city.

The car cruise is at 6 p.m. Friday, and the motorcycle parade will start at 6 p.m. Saturday.

Andres said there would be a police escort for the parade.

Swindell said that he was going to ask Ward to allow the drivers of the vehicles taking part in the cruise to drive down the racetrack each night before heading into Salem.

Andres said, “If the weather is good, it could be a really crazy weekend.” That’s crazy as in “good time.”

The weather may be the biggest problem.

The event has had bad weather in the past that cut into the crowds and profits, and this year the weather has not been cooperative overall for outdoor events in general, Swindell said.

Only a few events have been rain-free.

Want more cars? There will be an antique-car show from 4 to 8 p.m. Friday in Centennial Park that will collect canned goods for the Salem Food Pantry.

There will be two major music stages: One will be at Broadway Avenue at East State Street.

The second will be at the city parking lot at East Pershing Street and Lundy Avenue and is called the Howells & Baird Engineering Stage.

Like small cars? There will be an indoor race at 6 p.m. Friday of miniature, radio-controlled stock cars on a three-eighths-mile track at Donnell Ford Lincoln Mercury service department parking area at 152 Continental Drive.

Want to burn tires? The Stadium GM Super Store, at 292 and 214 W. State St., will again be featuring its burn-out pit. Ward will have drags from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday at the racetrack.

At the raceway, Ben “Cooter” Jones from “The Dukes of Hazzard” television show will be appearing with the General Lee car and signing autographs from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday.

Ward said that a new event this year will be a fireworks show at 9 p.m. Saturday at the racetrack.

The city took over the events in the program this year after confusion over financing and last-minute scheduling. Andres said that the change meant that the plans were set well before the event — good for participants — and all the spending records will be available to the public.