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Sharon Speedway hosts Fan Appreciation Night
By charles grove
Sharon Speedway is opening its doors to all this Saturday for Fan Appreciation Night, when everyone can get in for free.
The event will feature a full night of racing, including heats and feature races for modifieds, including big blocks, stock cars, mini stocks and econo-mods as well as an on-track autograph session with drivers and their cars.
Grandstands open at 5 p.m. with racing at 7 p.m. Pit gates, which you can enter with a pit pass for $30, open at 4 p.m. Parking is also free.
“Fan appreciation night always brings in a good-sized crowd,” Sharon Speedway spokesperson Sue Simpson said. “It’s a family thing and a family sport. It’s easy to go out there and have a great time.
“Despite it being a dirt track, it’s good, clean fun.”
The 3/8-mile track, which opened in 1929, is among the oldest continuously running racks in the United States.
The driver autograph session is typically a hit with the crowd, according to Simpson.
“Many of the drivers bring bio cards with their pictures of the cars to sign or you can bring whatever you want to have them sign,” Simpson said. “Some of they also bring candy for the kids too.”
Gone are the old, rickety wooden grandstands that needed replacing. Now the facility has two levels of seating and suite-style seating as well.
“The seating was getting a little old and a little dangerous,” Simpson said. “But it’s really like a brand new facility now.”
Local drivers will include Austintown’s Steve Haefke, who is in the midst of a career-best season winning four of the last six econo-mod features. Haefke also has gone 14 straight races where he’s finished no worse than second.
Steve Walker II, a Greenville, Pa., native, will also try to capture the mini-stock championship, which will be his first since the inaugural 2010 season.
This leads up to Aug. 13 when the 410 sprint cars will be at Sharon Speedway along with the stock cars, econo-mods and mini stock cars.