This weekend should be a great one for racing!  It is one of my favorite weekends: Bullring Bubba Night! 

I will never forget the year that we had a semi-truck full of live sheep drive around the track!  It was hilarious!  Being as close as I was to them, they didn't smell all that great, but it was funny to see the sheep sticking their faces out of the truck to see what was going on. Too funny!  

I can't wait to see what happens this year on Bullring Bubba Night.  We will have all of our divisions racing so it is going to be a great show.

I hope to see everyone out this weekend. Come out and enjoy a night with family and friends, enjoy some great racing and see what crazy things happen this year on Bullring Bubba Night.

Have a terrific Friday and as always...see ya at the races!!

It seems like everyone has gone social.  Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Blogger- the world has gone social networking nuts.

It's rare nowadays to find someone who doesn't have a profile or page with a social networking site- unless you are deep within the confines of my family and then it's rare to find someone who has heard of these sites.

Recently, the Las Vegas Chapter launched our new Facebook page and Twitter.... ummm.... tweet. I can't think of a better way to connect with the Las Vegas community, the racing community, and the nation as a whole than utilizing these digital tools that are at our fingertips. The National office launched a Facebook group a few months back and I was amazed at the reach we had in getting our information out to the public. So why, then, do another Facebook page?  Our chapter wanted to be able to also target our local community with our events, updates, breaking news, etc.- going right at those who are benefiting from the work we do as well as help us positively impact so many lives.

The phenomena that is Twitter is so hard to explain to those who aren't familiar with it. I had wrestled with the idea of having a Twitter for the charity, not sure how many people would follow us or what we would gain from using the site.  Well, in just 24 hours of using Twitter, we have been contacted by a few companies wanting more information about our organization and have also been able to get some additional information about our upcoming events to interested people. It's a direct line of communication to those who want to know- it's short, simple- to the point. Will we be monetarily impacted? Only time will tell.  But currently, there are 25 people/companies/groups that now know or are more aware that Speedway Children's Charities exists and we can effectively spread our message and mission statement.  

Want to join us? 
twitter.com/SCCLV
or
Speedway Children's Charities-Las Vegas on Facebook

We'll see you in the social networking universe....

Hey race fans!  Oh, how the week is flying by and we go racing in just two short days!  I was completely off from the track  last weekend, so I am looking forward to this weekend's events!

I hope everyone had a great Mother's Day! I spent the day with my family from Vegas, Texas and California and we had a great day!  I got the best present from my nephews. They went to Build-A-Bear and made me a stuffed dog named "Flag Girl Dog."  What a great name, I love it! My oldest nephew came up with the name since I wave the flags at the track. As you can see from the picture, it's awesome!

This weekend at the track should be great.  I always love when the Super Modifieds come to town. They are wicked-fast. So Friday we have 600 Racing events and Midnight Mayhem Presented by MetroPCS, Saturday, we have Quarter Midgets at the gokart track and racing at the Bullring. Sunday, I'll be back at The Strip working and catching races featuring some very cool cars!    

Well,  everyone enjoy the rest of your week and I hope to see you out at the track this weekend.  Until next time, see you at the races!

This is my third attempt to start this week's blog. I had a lot of good ideas for a story to keep everyone entertained but it appears that I'm running out of time. We are in the final preparations for a nice weekend of racing that is sure to entertain racing purists as well as the new fan.

This Saturday night's Bullring event is highly anticipated as it marks the return of the Super Clean Modified Series to the 3/8-mile oval. The Super Clean Modified Series was put together by our friends at Lucas Oil a few years ago to showcase some of the best regional racing in the country. The Super Clean Modifieds basically take elements of the East Coast tour-type cars and combine them with various aspects of the economy-based IMCA modifieds that are popular throughout the West. With a basic 'run-what-ya-brung' mentality on the motors combined with a very competitive tire from Hoosier, you get some cars that are always skating on the edge of control.

The folks at Lucas and Super Clean saw the value in a full field of these cars and are now showcasing them on their television broadcasts. Seventy-five laps with these cars produces some great racing and a very entertaining show. Several local racers are chasing the tour this season and the fact that it is in Las Vegas makes it even more appealing to the Northern California, Idaho and Utah racers. We're expecting more than 30 cars to be on hand to compete for just 24 starting positions. Twenty-four modifieds taking the green flag on the Bullring is going to be exciting and a show that I've been looking forward to since last season.

The modifieds are just a part of race No. 5 for the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series. Our Super Late Model division is getting even more competitive with drivers such as Dustin Ash, Justin Johnson, Taylor Barton, Dusty Davis, Jeff Connors, Robert Ewing, Steve Anderson and Jimmy Parker Jr. all being contenders. Defending track champion Scott Gafforini is still struggling to find the right combination to win, but as the weather gets hot, he could easily break into victory lane. It's an exciting night of action that is much better than anything you'll see on television.

The Strip takes a step back in time this weekend with the second annual Las Vegas Speed Spectacular. The nostalgia-style cars of the NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Series make their only Las Vegas stop of the season. Old school nitro-burning Funny Cars, fuel altereds, A-fuel dragsters, Gassers and more than 200 hundred sportsman cars are showcased at the event.

Out in the midway the great folks at the Las Vegas Cruisin' Association are putting on a classic car show that will attract some of coolest cars in the region. Rockabilly DJ Flat Top Tom will be spinning his interesting mix of music that will make you think you walked into a scene from American Graffitti. The action begins with a test 'n' tune on Friday night, qualifying on Saturday at 9 a.m. and eliminations start Sunday at 9 a.m. The fire-breathing nitro cars make their runs at 12 and 4 p.m. daily.

Only in Las Vegas can you get such an interesting mix of events at the same facility on the same weekend. That's what makes this place so special.

We're going to slow it down a notch for the Memorial holiday weekend. While everyone else has their attention on that action at the Brickyard or at the Coca-Cola 600, our staff is doing a little prep work on some of our summer events. The only track in action next weekend is The Strip which will host a special Saturday morning edition of Street Wars followed by the first-ever Jr. Dragster night race at LVMS. The Jr's are the only thing in action on Sunday morning as they log another chapter in the Short Line Express Markets/Chevron Jr. Drag Racing Series.

We have a great month of June on tap at both The Strip and The Bullring that showcases the best in local racing. Then our focus turns to July when the Bullring pulls out all the stops on Thursday, July 2 for "Night of Fire" and The Strip is transformed into the 'Las Vegas Drifting Arena" for the Formula Drift Series. Keep a close eye on LVMS.com for up to the minute news on each event. From time-to-time we'll also be putting up some online coupons you can use for our events. Unlike the chicken chains that ran out of product during their promotions, I guarantee you that our online coupons will be valid and we won't run out of our number one product...which is FUN!

For those of you now entering into the world of Twitter you might want to keep an eye on Las Vegas Motor Speedway and the work of Aubrey Hall in our P.R. Department. According to P.R. Director Jeff Motley, the LVMS Twitter site has more than 1,400 followers and is one of the largest, if not THE largest, in all of racing. He was proudly boasting today that Las Vegas Motor Speedway has more people following it on Twitter than the Dallas Cowboys! (That doesn't surprise me too much...please insert joke about Dallas Cowboy fans being technologically challenged here.) I think those guys are still waiting on Al Gore to tell them how to flip that switch on that internet thing he invented.

With that, I am out of here. See you at the races.

The subject of my last blog was the sheer insanity of the person who scheduled all those events at The Strip and The Bullring this past weekend. It's now the Wednesday after and I'm proud to say that the weekend was a success.

The staffs of both The Strip and the Bullring are made up of mostly part-time employees who come out here on the weekend for the simple fact that they love racing. They bust their butts for us and everyone at Las Vegas Motor Speedway appreciates their efforts. We had a couple of folks at The Strip who performed 'Ironman' duties this past weekend. They worked Friday night's test session and Midnight Mayhem, Saturday's Junior Dragster event in the morning and bracket show at night and then came back Sunday for another bracket race. Keep in mind that this is after working a full week at their regular jobs! Their driving force and motivation is because they just love racing (...or they just can't resist my warm and charming personality).

One of the best parts of this job is getting to know the behind-the-scene stories of the people who race at our track. On any given Saturday, we'll have more than 250 people racing at The Strip and close to 100 people racing at the Bullring. All of them are there for their love of the sport as well as their own unique motivation for racing. Some are living out childhood dreams, some are hoping to become a professional racer and some are just doing it because they are really, really bad at golf and need to find a way to spend their money. Whatever their reason for being there, everyone has something that motivates them and this week we got to see three people who are motivated by a cause take a well-deserved win.

At the Bullring on Saturday night, Dustin Ash returned to the Super Late Model division and proceeded to win in his very first night back. Dustin is an amazing talent and is one of two or three drivers at the Bullring who have the talent to go to the upper echelons of racing. Dustin scored the Nevada NASCAR title back in 2007 but had to sit out of Super Late Models for the 2008 season due to a lack of sponsorship support. Now he's back with an impressive new team that may serve as the launching pad that he needs. Dustin also announced that he's going to donate 25 percent of his race winnings to Speedway Children's Charities and will soon announce his "Race-a-Thon" program for the charity. Fans can sign up to sponsor Dustin's racing efforts and make pledges for each lap he completes during the 2009 season. (More details will be coming soon). Dustin has a strong desire to win, has proven that he can drive anything and is doing something to benefit others.

The racing for a cause theme isn't just for the stock car crowd. We also saw some highly-motivated individuals score wins at the drag races this past Saturday and Sunday. Super Pro driver Becky Phlegar was racing for a couple of causes of here own. Becky's father, Ron Landram, paid a special visit to the Speedway to say goodbye to the friends he raced against for more than 30 years. Ron has retired from racing, sold the E-Z Money Camaro that carried him to thousands of round wins and is moving to Idaho. He came out to the track in hopes of seeing his little girl follow up her season-opening win in the Wicked HP series. Becky didn't let Ron down as she raced to her second win in four races this season. That alone is pretty special, what's even more special is that Becky is back behind the wheel after missing most of last season because she was pregnant! Her son, Mason, popped out on January 12 (a great day to be born I might add - he shares a birthday with Rush Limbaugh, Howard Stern and me) and as soon as Becky got behind the wheel she started winning again. With two wins in four races and only seven more events to go, Mason might be the good-luck charm for Becky in the championship chase. Becky gave her dad a great going-away present and proved that she made the right decision when she strapped back in to her Chevelle.

John Randell, who won in the Junior Dragster Thunder class on Saturday, is another driver who is racing for a cause. John found out last season that he had juvenile diabetes. Since that time, he's been on a mission to find out as much about diabetes as he possibly can while educating others. John designed and produced brochures that he has been distributing at the races and car displays throughout the region. At 12 years of age most kids are very shy and don't want to draw attention to themselves and the challenges they face. Not John! He's been aggressive in his efforts and secured a printing sponsor to produce his D.E.A. (Diabetes Education Awareness) information kits as well as a vinyl graphics sponsor to do a special themed D.E.A. wrap on his car. John is doing an incredible job and all of us at LVMS are proud of what he has accomplished so quickly. He's an inspiration for everyone. His win on Saturday morning was his first since being diagnosed with diabetes and it completes another chapter in the very interesting story of a unique driver.

That's three examples of three winners who were racing for a cause this weekend. Just as author Malvin Wald stated that there are "Eight million stories in the naked city," there are probably just as many interesting stories floating around in the various pit areas at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The only way you can really find out is to experience it for yourself. Sometimes you have to do a little digging to get to know the colorful characters but it's much better than being force fed your entertainment through the television set.

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Back to pushing tickets...

The Bullring is off this weekend as the drivers and crews repair their cars from all the carnage from this past weekend's rolling demolition derby. Those guys get back at it on May 16 when the Super Clean Modified Series headlines another great weekend of Whelen All-American Racing Series action.

This weekend The Strip is active with a test 'n' tune on Friday night, the Wicked HP Championship Series on Saturday night and the Western States Corvette Council Drags and Street Wars on Sunday. Admission each day is only $10 for adults and just $5 for kids 6-12. 5 and under are always free.

Saturday's Strip event is a great night to get out of the house and just relax at the races. We're hosting our "Hot Rods, Hot Dogs, Bikes and Budweiser" Cruise Night in the Club Nitro area. Local car and motorcycle clubs will be on hand displaying classic street rods, old race cars, custom projects and unique choppers (it's free admission if you bring your classic car or motorcycle out to The Strip). Smack dab in the middle of the car show you'll be able to buy a $1 hot dog and $1 Budweiser while looking at the cars or just chatting with your friends.

The action on the track this weekend is very special to us as we host the second annual Jason Whitenack Memorial Motorcycle Shootout. Our local motorcycle class pays tribute to our late, great class champion with a special purse, special trophies and great memories of the guy who helped build motorcycle drag racing in Las Vegas. Jason's father Dave and the entire Whitenack family have worked hard on this event and we expect a tremendous turnout of racers from all across the region for this special event.

With that, so long for this edition of Blair's Blog and I hope I can come up with something special for next week. We have the NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Series invading The Strip with more than 200 nostalgia racers as well as an incredible car show produced by Art Kam and the Las Vegas Cruisin' Association. I'm trying to come up with some "American Graffiti" themed story to get you in the mood for some old school racing action.

P.S. -

For more information on John Randell's D.E.A. campaign you can shoot him an e-mail at prandell@juno.com -or- you can call 702-812-0621.

For more information on Speedway Children's Charities, visit the website through the link at LVMS.com

Hey race fans!  I'm just sitting in the pits at the Bullring on a Saturday afternoon.  Bryan is handling the first-half of practice and then, come 4 p.m., it will be my turn in the flagstand.

I spent my morning with the Quarter Midgets at the go-cart track. They are very fun to watch! If you ever get a chance to watch them, I highly recomend catching a race or two. I think I might have to get in one someday.  

It is cool to watch what goes on in the pits on race day.  Being in the flagstand during practice, I am usually not able to see what happens down here before the driver's meeting. It is controlled caos!

Well, I am going to go and get ready for practice.  Hope to see everyone out here tonight!  Gates open at 5 p.m. tonight.  Don't forget, we are running a rare Sunday day of racing tomorrow.  Gates open at 11 a.m.

See ya at the races!!