After months of rebuilding or replacing engines, setting up suspension and polishing paint, drivers can introduce their cars to the quarter-mile during Summit Motorsports Park’s Thirty-Third Annual Spring Warm-Up, Saturday, April 19.
The event also features a swap-meet boasting everything from pushrods to pistons and windshield wipers to wheels.
With favorable weather conditions, organizers expect more than 600 cars and more than 200 swap-meet vendors in addition to Easter-related activities for children, including egg hunts. The Budweiser side of the track will be used primarily, with additional activities on the Summit side of the track.
In addition, Pete Woodruff will offer on-site NHRA chassis inspections and drivers can register for points, as the Accel Super Series — featuring Quick Time Super Pro, Lakewood Pro, Wiseco/Cycle Tech Super Bike, Accel Sportsman Delivered on Time by TFC Transportation, Hays Stock and Bear Motorsports presented by Wiseco Junior Dragster — fires up the following Saturday, April 26.
“I’m really anxious to see everyone and get back to racing,” said Dominic Locilento, Jr. of Sunbury, Ohio, who runs his ’12 M&M Race Cars dragster to 7.60s via an APD-built 582 cubic-inch engine in Quick Time Super Pro and was named the track’s Most Improved for ’13. “In the off-season, I had some meetings about racing with Super Pro driver Chris Bear and others, and he has been giving me a lot of pointers about the mental aspects of racing, reaction times and tightening it up on the top end. I think it will be very beneficial and helpful and I can’t wait.”
Swap-meet vendors may set up at 6 a.m. and gates open at 8 a.m., with track-time scheduled for 9 a.m.-8 p.m. A 20’ X 35’ swap-meet space costs $35, which includes one adult entry. Admission to test, shop the swap or spectate is $12 for adults or free for children ages 12 and younger.
To register for the swap-meet, call the Summit Motorsports Park office at 419-668-5555, and to schedule an on-site NHRA chassis inspection, call the office and ask for Nettie Damron.
The event kicks-off a season chock-full of events at Summit Motorsports Park — which in December was named North Central Division Drag Strip of the Year during the NHRA North Central Division 3 Champions Banquet — including the Accel Super Series, Eighth Annual Mickey Mart Cavalcade of Stars, Eleventh Annual NMRA Ford Nationals, Seventeenth Annual No Box Bonanza, Eighth Annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals, Thirteenth Annual Wanda/AkzoNobel Blue Suede Cruise, Twenty-Third Annual Ames Performance Pontiac Nationals, Thirty-Seventh Annual Auto Plus Night Under Fire, Eighth Annual NMCA Muscle Car Nationals, Quick Fuel Technology Halloween Classic XLI and many more.
