Racing extravaganza coming to Adams County Speedway this weekend

QUINCY — It’s safe to say this will be the biggest weekend in the long and storied history of the dirt track 8000 Broadway.

Adams County Speedway will be hosting the Chad McCoy Memorial, which is rapidly becoming known as the Quincy Nationals, on Friday and Saturday. Sunday is being saved as a rain date, if needed.

“It’s kind of exciting, and I’ll admit, I have been a little nervous,” race director Blake Dotson told Muddy River Sports. “The weather was our biggest concern, but as of right now, everything looks good.”

Cars are expected from about 10 states, totaling somewhere between a combined 150 to 200 entries in the modified, sport mod and 4-Cylinder classes. Total prize money will be at least $63,000, including $4,525 to the winners of the modified and 4-Cylinder series. There will be a pair of sports mod main events, $1,000 to win on Friday and $2,000 to win on Saturday.

There will be various levels of qualifying, plus a plethora of heat races and “B” mains. Check the speedway’s Facebook page for updates and more details.

As an added attraction for fans and drivers alike, the speedway will have a band on hand Friday night for post-race partying and will be offering “Breakfast at the Bullring” starting at 9 a.m. Saturday.

The various admission prices are also available on the Facebook site.

Racing will begin around 7 p.m. both nights, but fans are encouraged to arrive early. Spectator gates open at 5 p.m. Friday and will be open throughout the day on Saturday. Weekend itinerary also includes a variety of other fan friendly activities, including a silent auction, bags competition and a pit crew challenge.

“Everything looks good,” Dotson said. “We’re set up for success. It’s going to be a big weekend.”

Dotson said a safe bet for the number of 4-Cylinders would be in the 60 to 80 range, but he feels that figure could easily surpass 100.

“We know there are at least 10 4-Cylinder cars coming from Florida,” Dotson said.

Dotson is estimating at least 50 sport mods and 35 modifieds will be in the pits, but says both of those numbers could be much higher.

“We’ve got early entries from Kansas, Wisconsin, Indiana … most of the nearby and surrounding states,” Dotson said. “But we’ll never really know about the final counts until the majority of the cars actually come through the gate.”

Dotson is expecting a strong representation from the speedway’s weekly regulars, including three-time 4-Cylinder track champion Kim Abbott. Abbott is coming off a runner-up finish at the 40th IMCA Boone (Iowa) Super Nationals earlier this month, an event that attracted 91 4-Cylinder drivers from 16 states.

Abbott’s runner-up finish at Boone was the best ever by a female driver at the Super Nationals, bettering her third-place showing in the 2016 event.

Other local 4-Cylinder drivers expecting to be threats are reigning track champ Jeffrey DeLonjay, Jimmy Dutlinger and Jaden DeLonjay.

Among the local modifieds, current track champ Austen Becerra and four-time track champ Dave Wietholder should be strong contenders. 

The sport mods could be especially entertaining. Cars from the HART tour, which has appeared twice at Quincy this season, will be on hand both nights, plus a strong representation from the track’s deep and talented sport mod division. Expected to headline the local talent are track champion Adam Birck, Tanner Klingele, Logan Cumby, Dakota Girard, A.J. Tournear and Reed Wolfmeyer.