SELINSGROVE, Pa. – Selinsgrove Speedway will present back-to-back two-race weekends Aug. 23-24 and Aug. 30-31. The final four events of the month will feature six different divisions of automobile racing at the historic Snyder County oval.
The speedway will host a four-division program of 358 sprint cars, late models, pro stocks, and roadrunners at 7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 23, sponsored by Reinhart Food Service.
The 410 sprint cars will make their third appearance of the season at the Snyder County oval at 7 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 24, in a 25-lap main event paying $3,000 to win and $300 to start. Joining the 410 sprint cars on Sunday night’s card will be the late models in a 25-lap feature paying $2,000 to win and $200 to start. Drivers will draw for their starting positions in qualifying.
Over the Labor Day holiday, the speedway will present another four division show of 358 sprint cars, late models, pro stocks, and roadrunners at 7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 30.
The following night, Selinsgrove Speedway will present the Fifth Annual Selinsgrove Ford Paul Long Memorial for Late Models co-sponsored by Jeff’s Auto Body & Recycling Center at 7 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 31.
Time trials, heat races, and a B-main will be the format for qualifying for the 50-lap A-main that will pay $10,000 to win out of a $34,000-plus purse. The race will pay $5,000 to finish second, $1,000 to finish tenth, and $500 to start the main event. The Middleburg IGA is sponsoring the championship trophy.
The pro stocks and Tobias Speedstrs will share the racing card with the late models. Track gates will open at 5 p.m., with time trials slated to begin at 7 p.m. The rain date is scheduled for Monday, Sept. 1, at 6 p.m.
The Long Memorial will be a full points race for the late model division. 2008 Selinsgrove Speedway late model rules will be in effect for the race. Rules can be viewed on the track’s Web site at selinsgrovespeedway.com. There will be no pre-registration for this year’s race.
In the 2004 inaugural Long Memorial, track champion Jeff Rine, of Danville, started the 63-lap event in the sixth position and made the winning pass by Jeremy Miller, of York Haven, on the 30th circuit. Rine collected more than $6,300 in prize monies and contingencies.
In the 2005 race, fourth-place starter Rine passed polesitter Dustin Hoffman, of Evandale, for the lead on the second circuit. Rine, who went uncontested for the duration of the event, won more than $11,000 for the victory over Scott Haus, of Hamburg, and Ricky Elliot, of Seaford, Del.
In the 2006 edition, which drew 49 entries, Rine was seeking a three-peat in the speedway’s biggest late model race of the year. Rine started the event in the seventh position and passed Elliott on the 25th circuit, only to have his race car come to a stop on the frontstretch in a cloud of smoke. Elliott resumed the lead until lap 50, when his engine expired. Gary Stuhler, of Greencastle, inherited the lead at this point and went to win the $10,000.
Last year’s race drew 37 entries and saw second-place starter Elliott power into the lead at the start of the 63-lap event. Elliott maintained the lead until a lap 34 restart, when fifth-place starter Nick Dickson, of Lewistown, took the lead with a pass on the backstretch. Dickson went on to win the biggest race of his career by a mere .86 of second over Alan Sagi, of Hagerstown, Md., and Steve Campbell, of Danville.
Paul Long, of Middleburg, died at the age of 66 shortly after the 2003 racing season at Selinsgrove Speedway ended. Long was one of the most popular late model drivers in central Pennsylvania throughout the 1960s and 1970s. At the start of his career, he drove his own No. 5 that was black and turquoise in color. His most recognized entry was the orange and white No. 63 that carried the Selinsgrove Motors banner.
In 1966 and 1973, Long won Selinsgrove Speedway late model track titles. He’s listed sixth on the all-time career win list with 32 career victories at the Snyder County oval. He’s a former late model champion at Williams Grove Speedway as well, where he also made a brief stint in a sprint car until a bad crash in 1969 put him back in late models for the duration of his career.
Long was a 1955 graduate of Middleburg High School. He served in the U.S. Army from 1960-1962, serving with the 101st Airborne. For 37 years, he worked as a mechanic at Selinsgrove Ford.
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