Cayuga Racers to Run for NHRA Wallys This Season  

Sportsman Racing Series Competitors Run for NHRA’s PRESTIGIOUS WALLY’S at Cayuga Dragway/TMP in 2012….Junior Dragster Competitors will race off for Special Jr Challenge Trophy….

 On July 28 and September 15 racers in the DSE Automotive Sportsman Racing Series (DSE SRS) at Cayuga Dragway (Toronto Motorsports Park) will race for “Special Edition” Wally Trophies

The Wally Trophies are named in honour of Wally Parks, the originator of the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) who passed in 2007. Saturday July 28 will see the first Wally Trophy presented during the “Summit King of the Track” race, which pins the winners from Modified and Super/Pro that day in a Run-Off for the Trophy. Then on Saturday September 15, each competitor in Modified, Super/Pro, Super/Bike & Sled, Super/Gas, and Quick 12 will have an opportunity to win their very own “National Dragster Challenge” Wally.

Offered exclusively at NHRA sanctioned facilities, both the NHRA ”Summit King of the Track” program and the NHRA “National Dragster Challenge” will be great additions to the racing at Cayuga this summer.

“Cayuga Track Manager Neale Armstrong was very influential in the addition of these prestigious trophies to the series” stated Series Director Andrew Stirk. “I can’t thank Cayuga and Neale enough for the support and commitment they are providing for the 2012 DSE Automotive Series” Stirk added.

 “It’s been too long since Southern Ontario/Western New York racers have had a chance to race for an NHRA Wally in Ontario. NHRA had a few sample Wally’s at the Division One Banquet and NHRA Track Operators meetings this January, in Hershey PA, and they looked exceptional, but they will look even better in the DSE/Cayuga Winners Circle this summer,” said Track Manager Neale Armstrong.

“It’s great to be back with NHRA, with all of these fantastic new racer programs” Armstrong stated.

“With the help of Bob Lang and Dave Mohn at the NHRA Division One office in Pennsylvania, and Andrew heading up this great new series, I can’t see anything but a great success for us, and the DSE Sportsman Series in the future. This is something I envisioned happening with the local bracket programs, and I am sure we have the best person out there looking after it. I have nothing but the utmost support for his program, Andrew wins on the track regularly, and he will win with this, I am sure of it,!” Armstrong added.

Not to be forgotten on the 20^th Anniversary of it’s inception, the Jr Dragster category, which is organized at Cayuga by Louie Ramundo, will have their chance at winning their own “sought after award” in NHRA hardware on July 28 when they compete in the NHRA Jr Drag Racing League Challenge.

These 1/2 scale dragsters allow kids 8 to 17 years of age to participate and learn the sport at a young age, with some of the more mastered drivers having vehicles that can reach close to 85 Mph in the 1/8^th of a mile.

As an added bonus all racers who join the points program and qualify through the DSE Series, will have the opportunity to represent “Team Canada” (Cayuga/Napierville/Luskville combined team) at the NHRA Division One Bracket Finals September 19- 22, 2012 at Lebanon Valley Dragway in New York State.

Each champion in Super/Pro, Modified, Street and Bike/Sled will win their own Division Championship Wally thousands of dollars in cash prizes and have the opportunity to race at the NHRA World Finals in Pomona California to compete for a NHRA World Championship in November.

About the DSE Automotive Sportsman Racing Series

The DSE Sportsman Racing series was created at the end of the 2011 racing season as a way to promote grassroots level sportsman drag racing in Southern Ontario. The series features five Championship Sportsman classes ranging from Super/Pro and Modified, to Super/Bike & Sled, Street Eliminator and Jr. Dragster. Each class pays back 100% of the racer tech card fee.  Super/Gas and Quick 12 will also be featured in the series this season.

Sponsored by DSE Automotive LTD which is managed David and Andrew Stirk in Brampton Ontario, DSE Sportsman Racing Series is dedicated to creating a competitive series for sportsman level drag racers to participate in which is fun and cost effective, while still providing an excellent racing program for fans and spectators to enjoy.

Visit www.sportsmanracingseries.ca for more series information.

About Cayuga Dragway/Toronto Motorsports Park
Cayuga Dragway/Toronto Motorsports Park in Cayuga, Ontario, is the oldest running dragstrip in Canada, and has been the home of Premier drag racing in Canada for 58 years (since 1954). Located on Kohler Road (Regional Road 8), just outside of Cayuga, Ontario in Haldimand County, it started as a Sunday-only operation as the Kohler Airstrip, sharing the asphalt runway with a former WWII fighter/light bomber training base. Since its origin, the track has had many distinguished names and has had many upgrades, and is now recognized as one of the finest racing facilities in North America, and is currently sanctioned by the NHRA.

In 2000, a three-kilometre (2 mile) road course was added to Toronto Motorsports Park. The facility now provides an excellent venue for a wide range of motorsports competition beyond drag racing, and is open 6 days a week, 12 months a year, with the road course offering driving schools, test days, winter driving basics, as well as basic and advanced driver instruction. A professionally designed Motocross track with a central watering system for dust control was added in 2010.

Cayuga Dragway was also influential in being the birthplace to many of Canada’s premier touring Drag Racing Series such as the Pro Modified Racing Association (PMRA), NAPA Quick 32 Series, Pro Bike and Sled Series (PBSS), Canadian Sub-Compact Series (CSCS), DSE Automotive Sportsman Racing Series (DSE SRS), National Drag Racing Association Funny Car Series (NDRA), Ontario Street Car Association (OSCA), TNT Super Series (TNTSS) and the Can Am Stock-Super Stock Series.

Some of Drag Racing’s finest have raced at Cayuga, such as NHRA’s first Female Top Fuel World Champion Shirley Muldowney who also obtained her competition license at Cayuga. The list of racers who have run at Cayuga also include “Big Daddy” Don Garlits, “TV” Tommy Ivo, Don “The Snake” Prudhomme, Tom “The Mongoose” McEwen, Don Schumacher, Frank Hawley, “Grumpy” Jenkins, Connie “The Bounty Hunter” Kalitta, Jack Roush and Bob Glidden. Current NHRA star, Jeff Arend, began his career at Cayuga.

Toronto Motorsports Park has also been featured in many TV shows and movies. Both Timothy Hutton and Sylvester Stallone have shot movie scenes at the facility, as well as The Red Green Show, Dream Car Garage, Sports Car Evolution and Hard Drive TV have all done segments for their shows at Cayuga.

Cayuga also features a 3000 sq/ft sheltered outdoor licensed patio bar named “The Black Cat Pub”, which was built in 2011. Access to the Black Cat Pub is always open to the public on race days with  purchase of track admission.

Cayuga Dragway opens every season on the first weekend in April.

Visit www.torontomotorsportspark.com  for more track information.

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