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CRSA Has Bright Outlook for 2010 |
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| posted by Admin
on 03/30/10 |
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AARN Article by Toby LaGrange
In 2005 Fonda, New York’s Brian Grisel followed a dream – to create an economical sprint car series to compete in New York. As a former racer himself Grisel new first hand the amount of time, dedication and money it takes to field a 360 Sprint Car team. He chose the RaceSaver© 305 engine package to power his series.
The Capital Region Sprint Car Agency or CRSA came to life at the start of the 2006 season. That first year was a lesson in how to get a series off the ground as disagreements over purse money, structure and basic operations persisted between track promoters and teams.
Steve Lapine would go down in the history books as the first CRSA Series Champion. Despite the early struggles, the series moved forward to a more successful 2007 which saw Middletown, New York’s Chuck Alessi crowned champion. The 2008 season would see Jeremy Quick of Kerhonkson, New York become the third different series champion.
In 2009 Brian was able to add the one event he had been looking to put on his schedule since the series started – the Fonda Speedway. A total of 28 cars showed up on Saturday night April 25th for that first Track of Champions show. The feature event was pushed back and when the checkered flag flew Dylan Swiernik ended up in victory lane.
“This win means a lot to me,” Swiernik said from Fonda’s victory lane. “I came here and practiced a couple of weeks ago and ended up in the wall. We came back this week with the same setup as we had in the car for the rained out event last week and this week I got a good start and didn’t let Matt (Demitraszek) get away at the drop of the green.”
Matt Tanner was crowned the 2010 CRSA Series Champion. He also claimed the D & D Auto Supply Southern Tier of New York Championship.
As the series moves into their fifth season, optimism is high for a very successful season.
“I think this is going to be a fun year” Grisel said while standing in the series’ booth at the 24th Annual Motorsports Expo and Trade Show in Syracuse, New York this past weekend. “
“This season will be dedicated to our fans” Grisel continued. “My plan is to get the drivers in the stands, meeting and greeting the race fans at every show”.
The 2010 season will kick off on Saturday April 24th in a return visit to the Ric and Laura Lucia’s Fonda Speedway. After a weekend off, the series returns to action at the Orange County Fair Speedway for their first of four visits. They return to the hard clay on July 17th and August 28th before returning during Eastern States Weekend for their season finale. This will be the second consecutive year their season will end during the prestigious Eastern States Weekend.
The Utica-Rome Speedway will play host to the series on two occasions. The first will be on Sunday May 16th with the second on Thursday night June 24th. This special Thursday night event will see the CRSA sharing the card with the Thunder on the Thruway Modified Series (contested between Fonda and Utica-Rome) and see legends Jerry Cook and Dick Waterman honored.
A total of three events will be held at Andrew Harpell’s Five Mile Point Speedway. The first will be on May 23rd, with the second on July 3rd and the final on August 21st. A $500 bonus will be awarded to the driver that earns the most points during these three races. This bonus is being provided by the Five Mile Point Speedway.
On August 20th the CRSA move to the Penn Can Speedway where the winner will receive a guaranteed starting spot in the annual RaceSaver© Nationals at Fork Mountain Speedway in Virginia on September 3rd and 4th. The Fonda event will also earn a guaranteed spot.
The series awards banquet will be held on November 20th at the Holiday Inn Express in Schoharie, New York. This schedule is still being put together as more events are expected to be added.
“I am still working on the schedule” Grisel said. “There are at least three more tracks interested in securing a date.” Those tracks look to be in New York’s Southern Tier – the Skyline Raceway, Black Rock Speedway and Woodhull Raceway.
One of the goals that Brian set out to accomplish with the creation of the CRSA was to put together a plat form for drivers to move on to other sprint car divisions, such as the 360’s and 410’s.
“We will have eight or nine new guys running with us this year” Brian said. “We did lose a couple of guys who have moved up but that is what this club is about, allowing guys to move up and have new, fresh faces come in”.
K&N Filters, Triple X Race Co., Vertex Magsarus Ignitions, Pancho’s Racing products, Kelly Racing Fuels, Peak Racing Equipment, Holiday Inn Express – Schoharie, NY, Bob Hilbert Sportswear, Checkers Out Speedway, D&D Auto Supply/NAPA and ProFab Engineering have all come aboard to help with the 2010 season.
While the CRSA may not have the bigger, faster and more expensive engines they do one thing that all fans should enjoy – put on an entertaining, fan friendly program at each of their events. |
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