5/30-31: COMP Cams Murphrey Memorial $10,000-to-win with NO entry fee!!!

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It's a GO, GO GO! Cya tomorrow, race time 7:30pm FRIDAY THIS night!

The Murphrey family and Ark-La-Tex Speedway welcome COMP Performance Group as a marketing partner for the 8th annual Doug Murphrey Memorial Modified Race! It's the first year of a multi-year deal with COMP and they have already added over $4000 in product & discount certificates to this year's event through three of their companies -- Quarter Master, Driven Oil and COMP Cams!

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Here's some more of the details that were just added to & summed up in the original flier in the first post...

A-main purse is the same as last year as far as cash goes. Add...

to 1st place - $500 in product certificate from COMP Cams
$250 in product certificate from Quarter Master
$250 in product certificate from Driven Racing Oil

to 2nd place - $250 in product certificate from COMP Cams
$125 in product certificate from Quarter Master
$125 in product certificate from Driven Racing Oil

to 3rd place - $125 in product certificate from COMP Cams
$75 in product certificate from Quarter Master
$75 in product certificate from Driven Racing Oil

A-Main Hard-Charger Award - FULL Modified wrap from Superior Graphix
of Haughton, Louisiana


***Here's what is the big news in my mind this year...help spread the word please...

COMP Performance Group NON-QUALIFIER Award Drawings!

Right after the COMP Cam A-Qualifiers are run on Saturday night, drivers who didn't make the A can enter this drawing for the following prizes:

- ONE starting spot (24th) in the A-main worth a minimum of $500! If you had a car that was running well and just didn't have any luck...now you have some! Take your shot a $10,000 with the rest of the A-main starters! (same as last year)

- FIVE $400 CASH Awards! $2000 worth! **New**

- FIFTEEN $100 product certificates from COMP Cams! **New**

- FIVE $100 product certificates from Quarter Master! **New**

- FIVE $100 product certificates from Driven Racing Oil! **New**

That's 31 NON-qualifiers that will benefit from this drawing as a 'thank-you' for running the two nights with us at the #Landof3wide and having tried to make the DMM VIII A-main. All thanks to the folks at COMP! This is worth a minimum of $5000 right there and there are STILL NO entry fees for THIS RACE!!!

Of course there are also still the 23 A-main spots open to qualifying in one way or another and the first 23 positions of that A-main will pay nearly $30,000 as well!!! ($29,800 to be exact with another $1000 for 24th & 25th place)

And in continuing with the Doug Murphrey Memorial tradition... The 25th starting spot will be auctioned off to the highest bidder!

Might as well make the trip this year and get a feel for Ark-La-Tex Speedway because this event will get even bigger in 2015, 2016 & 2017!!!

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Modifieds racing TOMORROW NIGHT 5/24 7:30 at Ark-La-Tex Speedway! $500 to win/$100 to start (no entry fee), $30 pit pass (extra $250 to highest finishing Barksdale FCU Member), last race before COMP Cams presents Doug Murphrey Memorial VIII -- a $10,000 to win/$500 to start, NO entry fee Modified Event!!!


Passing mid-May and Memorial Day weekend has officially begun in places like Wheatland, Missouri and the dirt tracks of Iowa. Business has picked up in all the classes including of course, Open Wheel Modifieds...

52 USMTS Modifieds did battle at Lucas Oil Speedway last night in support of the Show-Me 100 weekend with Sparta, Missouri veteran Stephen Muilenberg getting the win over former USMTS Champion Jason Krohn in 2nd. Trevor Hunt, defending USRA National Champion Terry Schultz (started 17th!) and Jason Pursley rounded out the top 5. Shawn Nations -- who has competed in a ProMod at Ark-La-Tex Speedway -- was 6th.

They had 27 USRA Modifieds at LOS back last Saturday, 5/17. Mentioned earlier than John Allen won that one after a top 5 with USMTS at Lawton one week ago. Allen finished 11th last night. Finishing 2nd on 5/17 and 9th last night was #52 Mitch Keeter who was a 2013 entry at the Doug Murphrey Memorial.

Finishing 3rd at LOS on 5/17 after starting 20th!... And then 6th last night out of those 52 cars was young West Plains, Missouri racer Logan Martin. Logan has 4 B-Mod wins this year and one A-Mod win so he's starting to pick this up!

Finishing 13th last night was Louisiana's own Josh Beckham who obviously has more laps around ALT than any of the other 51 at Lucas Oil Speedway last night. He was a DMM entry last year and has had several good runs at ALT in Limited Modifieds & Modifieds.

NASCAR's Kenny Wallace was 20th last night and 2011 Doug Murphrey Memorial Champion Johnny Bone, Jr. was in the field on 5/17 at LOS but also had early problems in the A-main.

Meanwhile in Iowa last night... Gulf Coast Modified Series point leader (USRA sanctioned) Jeff Hoegh from New Caney, Texas (Houston!) and a fellow Texan from nearby Katy, Marcus Berndt (9th in Gulf Coast Modified points) have taken a little trip. They raced with the USMTS NORTHERN Region. That series is in Minnesota the next three nights. Perhaps a stop by Vivian, Louisiana Thursday thru next Saturday is part of their schedule on the way home??? Hmmmm...??? Currently, the Gulf Coast Modifieds' next scheduled event is on June 14th is Gator Motorplex in Willis, Texas!

Meanwhile again..., in other racing action last week back down south...

Adam Willis of Ten Mile, Louisiana (#10M with a Monster Energy logo on the side I believe) topped a 12-car field at Leesville 171 Speedway last Saturday, 5/17. You take the Lewis Logging #4 and Kyle Cummings's #31 and you get car #431 -- Cummings's (Sibley, Louisiana) ride for 2014. He ran 2nd to Willis with Tracy Denby, Jr. #51 of Vidor, Texas finishing 3rd. Willis was at the DMM last year and missed the A by 3 spots. Cummings missed it last year by 2 spots (not as bad as when he missed the 2013 Pelican 100 by a few feet though). Kyle had a top 10 finish in the 2012 Doug Murphrey Memorial so he can most definitely get around Ark-La-Tex Speedway and he's won here before. First SUPR Late Model win I believe came at ALT too! Denby had a good car at the 2012 DMM but missed the A-main. Don't think Tracy has been up here since the 2013 USMTS race.

Over at Jackson, Mississppi, Noah Daspit -- who's been doing a lot of Crate-Late racing -- scored the Modified win over another field of 12 cars at Jackson Motor Speedway. He's always been one of Mississippi's best in the Open Wheels. Not sure if Noah has ever raced his #34 at ALT before. Finishing 2nd was Greg Hollingsworth #008 of Lake, Mississippi. Greg was part of the DMM in 2010 and his brother Kent Hollingsworth who lives in West Monroe, Louisiana (Raptor Racecars) made the A that year. Kent's also had good runs in the Tootsie Smith Memorial Limited Mod shows at ALT. Finishing 3rd at JMS was Mike Ladner -- another strong Mississippi coast competitor. I don't believe Ladner has raced here before.

Caleb Dillard, Manuel Williams II and Alex Ashley all scored wins over small fields on 5/17.

Caleb, the younger Dillard from Robeline won another Modified feature at their home track, Sabine Motor Speedway with Stanly Kraly making the long tow from New Orleans and 2nd generation Shongaloo, Louisiana racer Conner Williams getting 2nd & 3rd. All 3 of these guys have laps at Ark-La-Tex -- Dillard the most including the last 2 Doug Murphrey Memorials.

Manuel Williams II of Genoa, Arkansas is on a bit of a roll right now and he has won in a Modified at ALT Speedway before too. Last Saturday, he outran dad Manuel Williams and Gladewater, Texas racer Billy Jack Brutchin for a feature win at Texarkana 67 Speedway. 'Little Man' as he's known had a 4th at Ark-La-Tex at our last race on May 10th behind Dustin 'Tater' Hyde, David Winslet & Chris Huckabay. 35 cars. Before that on May 3rd he had a fifth in a field of 25 at Diamond Park's Max Adams Memorial behind Hyde, Dallas Everett, Ronald Pilkington and BJ Moore with Chris Henigan running 6th that night. All these folks have plenty of laps at ALT!

Alex Ashley of Zachary, Louisiana scored the win at Thunder Valley Speedway. Not sure if Alex has run ALT before but his father David had a SUPR win here. This year's Doug Murphrey Memorial would be a great time to start because it's only going to get better the next 4 years!!!

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It has NOT rained enough in Vivian to cancel or postpone anything just yet.

Like y'all, believe me, we are watching those forecasts too. At around noon tomorrow, we will make a decision about Thursday night's practice. Then at around noon on Thursday, will we try and make a decision about having DMM VIII this weekend. Sunday is in play if we need it. We ended up using Sunday last year to finish the show.

We do not like to keep folks hanging any longer than necessary and tie up their alternate weekend plans. We really, REALLY want to race THIS WEEKEND. Reschedules of a show like this are tough to pull off. You know how far folks will travel to watch or race at the Doug Murphrey Memorial. We've already had them from as far away as New Mexico, Iowa and Georgia and this year we got a call from North Carolina (Not a NASCAR guy but a good one none-the-less!). Just heard from another driver that a lot of you know who has never ran a DMM at ALT before too. Sure don't want to postpone or cancel... but, like you, we can't do anything about the weather but give it our best effort one way or another.

Check back tomorrow!!!


Support classes include Limited Modifieds (Southern Sport Mods), STEMS ProMods & Factory Stocks. Each one will pay $500 to win and $100 to start with no entry fee IF this stays a 2-day show.

Pit Pass:

Thursday practice (not mandatory): $20
Friday: $30
Saturday: $35

Grandstand:

Friday $10, kids 10 & under free with adult in grandstand.
Saturday JUST $15! Kids 10 & under still free with adult in grandstand.
Thursday closed.




For updates this week, 'Like' and 'Follow' the Ark-La-Tex Speedway Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ark-La...11681355569776 or just click below.

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We canceled tonight's practice yesterday just in case in got bad enough or looked bad enough to cancel the whole weekend. Didn't want to get everybody here for a practice and then cancel. That turned out not to be the case. The track is in great shape and we could have practiced tonight. The rest of the weekend is still a GO so....

GREEN GREEN GREEN! Come to Vivian folks, WE'RE RACING!

Mother nature and the weather forecasters both are trying to dampen Doug Murphrey Memorial VIII. We think that's rather rude of them to treat our new sponsor COMP Cams that way. We 'may' have a little rain dodging to do today, Friday and even Saturday afternoon possibly, but the forecast is improving for Saturday night (20%) and Sunday is looking dry with a high near 90. HEADS UP... 'IF' we have to race Sunday it will NOT be a day race. Once we start tomorrow night...we are finishing the Doug Murphrey Memorial and some Modified team IS leaving with $10,000 even if they don't get it until late Sunday night! Hopefully we catch a break and that trophy is being presented Saturday night ON SCHEDULE!!! Only .6 - six tenths of an inch of rain - has fallen all week at the track. Forecast said 2-3 inches back on Tue-Wed and they missed it by a lot in our favor! We're thinking that trend will continue.

You know, the weather keeps trying to slow us down at ALT. Last year at DMM VII, there was that 70% chance of rain predicted for Saturday night. We decided to race then too and y'all didn't let us down and we had a nice crowd and a lot of race cars and we almost beat that rain last year on the Saturday. Started. Had a delay. Ran the track in but didn't have a chance to finish Saturday thanks to the second batch of rain that hit...BUT...back we came on Sunday and Jeremy Payne left with $10,000 and Geoff Lary left with that $5000 for running 2nd.

Then our Pelican 100 faced a horrible forecast this year for the Saturday. Again, you did not disappoint us and had plenty of cars and fans even though the best move then was a 'Pelican 50' on a Friday night. This time with the weather getting better later in the weekend... we plan on getting it ALL IN and paying out that FULL PURSE!

The very next week USMTS raced at ALT with a 60% chance of rain and not a drop! And yet again at our Lucas Oil Late Model show in April... Jackson was forced to rain out Lucas on Friday, Muskogee had a horrible forecast for Sunday and they ended up raining out early too. Our Saturday forecast at ALT was bad again. 70% or so? It didn't rain a drop until the last 5 laps of our last feature. We took a chance and again, you the fans and racers did not disappoint us!

Well if you believe that much in us, we believe in you! Let's get COMP Cams presents Doug Murphrey Memorial VIII in the books THIS WEEKEND!!! READY???!!!