Kroger SpeedFest TV commercial

An exclusive sneak peak of our 2009 Kroger SpeedFest TV ad can be found on our YouTube channel. It won't start airing until later this month but we wanted to share it with our friends of the facility.

When the green flag drops on the AAA Insurance 200, presented by J. D. Byrider on July 24^th it is a safe bet that the racing will be thrilling, hard fought and the winner will come from near the top of the field. In the past 14 races the winner has come from no deeper than 8^th in the field and that was done last year by Johnny Benson. In fact the winner has come from the pole position five times in the history of the race.

No matter where the winner comes from, the victory will be hard earned and the driver will have outlasted 35 other racers to get the win.

Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased by going to www.Ticketmaster.com.

Carl Edwards continues to run strong in the Nationwide Series

Carl Edwards outlasted the competition in Milwaukee on Saturday night to win the NASCAR Nationwide race even with flying back and forth from Infineon Raceway. In doing so Edwards sits in second place, just 127 points behind leader Kyle Busch as the Nationwide Series motors into a tough summer stretch.

In just 5 races the series returns to O’Reilly Raceway Park and Edwards returns to a track that he is not only familiar with but has won at during his career.

Edwards first came to the track a teen when he raced in the Baby Grands series. The Baby Grands were cars that looked like a smaller, more compact Sprint Cup style car and raced on the oval and portion of the infield chicane.

In the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Edwards has one win, in 2003 when he came from the fifth starting spot to get the victory.

With his success at the track it is certain Edwards will be looking to continue his strong finishes this year in the Nationwide series.

Tickets for all three nights of racing are currently on sale and can be found, here.

Kroger SpeedFest NASCAR weekend is rapidly approaching

The 2009 installment of Kroger SpeedFest is less than five weeks away and we are preparing to make this year’s event better than ever. Intern K is busily putting the race program together and we will offer sneak peaks of pages as it nears completion.

New for 2009 are exciting ticket packages that will allow fans of O’Reilly Raceway Park and Indianapolis Motor Speedway to take in action at both tracks and save money while doing so. Information on the promotion can be found, here.

In driver news, we found out this week that not only will Jason Leffer be behind the wheel of his Nationwide machine but he will also be racing in the USAC race. Leffler will be racing in the midget race and has 4 career victories at the track, with his last one coming in 2002. He does have a more recent victory at the track and that came in the Nationwide series in 2007. With that victory he gave Toyota their first win the Nationwide series.

Weekend Upates: June 5th-7th

Hey everyone! It's Katie, again. Just wanted to re-cap some of the exciting events that happened at the track this past weekend. Let's take a trip down memory lane...

On Friday, the 4th Annual Jeramy Schmitt Moon Light Madness Memorial drag race took place at O'Reilly Raceway Park. This event is held every year in memory of the 2005 Cathedral High School senior . Before his tragic passing, Jeramy and friends frequented O'Reilly Raceway Park's Tuesday Night Street Legals and Moonlight Madness events. To celebrate the life of Jeramy and drag racing, Friday night consisted of enthusiastic spectators, determined racers, a "Show & Shine" contest and a "Sound System" contest. Thanks again to all that came out and support Jeramy, his family and friends, and the track! All proceeds from the evening will benefit the Jeramy Schmitt Memorial Scholarship fund offered to any student that would like to attend Cathedral High School.

Another event that took place on Friday was The Race it Indy Nationals, hosted by the Mustang Club of Indianapolis. They presented their 30th annual Mustang and All Ford Show this past Friday through Sunday. Big Mustang fan, like myself?...then THAT, my friends was the place to be. Missed all of the action? No worries...here's a lil preview: http://www.indymustangclub.com/racetoindy/gallery.html

Now on to Saturday. Now I'm not sure about you folks reading this, but this event is some of the stuff that I grew up on...On Saturday the 2009 FASS Diesel Nationals came to O’Reilly Raceway Park for a day of drag racing, sled pulls, dyno competition and the crowd favorite (as well as mine)... the burnout contest. Some good stuff.. and if you couldn't go, then bummer for you. I would suggest checking out the latest schedule so you don't miss out on this great event, again!
http://www.nhrda.com/

And finally, last but not least..Sunday at the O'Reilly Raceway Park, the VP Fuels E. T. Bracket racing series returned for a full day of points racing action. Live under a rock and haven't a clue what I'm talking about? ugh...then you're going to have to check out all of the excitement yourself: http://www.oreillyracewaypark.com/apcm/templates/general.asp?articleid=18886&zoneid=94

Oh wow... so much to do, so much to say...but I'll call it quits for the day (ps. I did not try to pull a Dr. Seuss on that one, I promise) ha!

Until next time, I'm out!
~Intern "K"

Pinks All Out at O'Reilly Raceway Park

Hey everyone! Let me introduce myself…My name is Katie Gammon and I am the new Communications Intern at O’Reilly Raceway Park. I’ll have to start off by saying “wow” to an amazing start of the drag-racing season. As you may be aware, PINKS All Out (Speed TVs hit television show) has been touring the country and are visiting Indy’s own O’Reilly Raceway Park this weekend. I guess you could say as an intern, I’m in the right place at the right time. What luck for my second week on the job!

So as today’s drivers make their way to the track to test and tune for tomorrow’s show, I was fortunate enough to walk around, take in and capture the exciting and energetic atmosphere of the track this weekend. While some spectators anxious to see the cars on the strip, others more interested in the show (Seriously, I was asked about ten times if I was a PINKS crew member…ha!) But, as for the drag-race enthusiast, you couldn’t ask for a better event… the weather: beautiful, the crowd: massive and more importantly, the cars: wicked (and for those who don’t own a Katie-Glossary, wicked =awesome)

… I must be in intern heaven. Just take a look for yourself.















Intense, right? Well, there’s certainly more to come, but that’s it from me for now. I’m sure by tomorrow morning I’ll have plenty of more exciting info., updates and stories as I continue my experience at the O’Reilly Raceway Park. Oh, and don’t forget to stop by the O’Reilly Raceway Tent tomorrow from 12-8PM, and come say hi! Until then…

I’m out!
~Katie



(And now for a shameless plug: O’Reilly Raceway Park tomorrow. You’ll wanna be there. ) Details:
Gates open at 9:00 AM
Time Trials start at 11:00 AM
Main feature will begin at 8:00 PM
And don’t forget…food, drinks and exhibition run makes for an all-day event.

Bobby East looks towards TourHendricksCounty.com Night Before the 500

Bobby East completed a two day test leading up to the TourHendricksCounty.com Night Before the 500, presented by Comfort Suites of Brownsburg, and we were able to catch up with him before the test.

What are you working on and looking forward to?
We are just fine tuning a couple of things on our Ford racing Esslinger and looking forward to having a good car on a long run that is what we are going to focus on.

What are the keys to running well and winning at O’Reilly Raceway Park?
You got to handle really well because you are in the corners so long and you got to not be hard on your tires which sounds really easy to do but it’s not.

What is your best memory from racing here?
Last year was a really good year one, winning the Night Before the 500. I loved winning the Silver Crown race out here but so far last year was a pretty good one.

How has the season been going?
It has been going pretty good so far. We have two wins so far and second in the points and down a bit there but we are happy. We have a lot of confidence in our stuff and have a lot of racing left and things have been going pretty good so far.

How was being on the Bob and Tom show?
That was fun it was a cool experience those guys are cool and funny. It was just a cool deal.