Two of the heavy hitter’s of Central New York racing have thought outside the box and teamed up for one of the most anticipated shows in quite some time. Oswego Speedway begins their 58th consecutive season on May 4th. This summer, the Empire Super Sprints organization celebrates their 25th year of competition. During the winter months, officials from both factions discussed the possibility of a sprint car show at the historic lakeside oval. The end result is possibly the most discussed upcoming Central New York event of the 2008 season.
Saturday, June 28, the ESS will make it’s first ever trip to Oswego Speedway for the “Assault on Asphalt”. A full compliment of qualifiers will be run, with the night culminating with a 25 lap A Main. The inaugural event will be a 20 car race, by invitation only. All the stars of the ESS group have indicated that they can’t wait for the race, and are highly anticipating running at Oswego.
One driver with longtime ties to both Oswego Speedway and Empire Super Sprints is the driver of the orange #36 sponsored by Mike’s Drive In, Ron Buckner Engine’s and Vi Comp Graphics, Mike Stelter. Stelter knows all sides of the racing game, with vast experience both turning wrenches as well as seat time.
Mike first came to the Oswego pits in the 1970’s, as part of his step-father Ron Bucker’s owned, Chuck Ciprich driven potent #36. The team won 16 Oswego features, as well as the 1978 and 79 Oswego International Classic. From there, he went on to work at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Buckner’s Indy car effort.
In 1995, Stelter decided it was time to get behind the wheel of a race car. In the last dozen years, he has racked up an impressive resume. He has over 10 wins in ESS competition, won the Rookie of the Year in 1995, and has consistently been in the hunt in the point title year in and year out.
“This is going to be a great show!” Mike exclaimed recently. “We all can’t wait to get to the track and figure out what we need to do! We’ll be there for the open practice on May 3. Matter of fact, look for a lot of sprint cars to show up that day. We all want track time, as we really want this show to be a huge success. Coincidentally, we have a race at Fulton that night, so we can practice at Oswego in the afternoon, and then haul 10 minutes up 481 and race at Fulton on dirt that night.”
“We’re running with the wing on the big track,” Stelter added. “We originally talked about doing something on the short track, but we all said that we needed the wings on the big track, for the safety aspect more than anything. We needed the stability the wing provides for us. It will be a learning experience for all of us. We have no idea what the cars will do. They are made for dirt, and the frames are made to flex. The idea is to keep the cars dirt based. We don’t want to have specialized asphalt cars, like the direction the dirt modifieds went to when they had their asphalt series. We want to keep this a unique event. Dirt cars are made for dirt, and asphalt cars are made for asphalt. The cars are really not made to go that fast on asphalt, so the wing will really help us. The stress will be on the right front of the car.”
Looking ahead to the race itself, Stelter is ready to go now. “There will be racing 2, 3 maybe even 4 wide!,” he exclaimed. “We’re running hard tires, so the tires will be squealing all race long. There will be guys racing hard all throughout the pack. I’m guessing we’ll be running laps about 18 seconds flat, or close to it. There will be a lot of passing. The fans really will enjoy the show. It really is a historic one, as Oswego Speedway and ESS both have memorable backgrounds, and putting the two together should be a home run show!”
The NORA small block super will tag team the show with the ESS, in the night sponsored by another stalwart of Central New York racing, Gater Racing News.
Year by year there are some shows that are just a must see event. June 28, usually graduation weekend, is one of those shows. Dirt sprint cars are running on asphalt, and not just any sprint cars and any asphalt track. Empire Super Sprints and Oswego Speedway, two of the legendary names in Northeast racing, have come together and signed on for the first ever “Assault on Asphalt”.