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Miller becomes NWWT leader with 2009 sprint championship
Andrew Kunas, NWWT Publicist

LAKE STEVENS, Wash. - For Kyle Miller, being a champion never gets old, and he earned his third sprint car driving championship in as many years this season. This year’s title, however, came for something different from the first two. It came without the wings, as the Eugene, Ore. resident won the inaugural championship for the IXL Metal Conditioner NorthWest Wingless Tour.

At this Saturday’s banquet at the Holiday Inn in Wilsonville, Ore. Miller will be recognized as the champion of the new series, which virtually everyone believes had a successful first season, despite having only run eight events. Miller took over the points lead during the summer and solidified it with his only NWWT victory of the season on August 15^th at Cottage Grove Speedway. He held on the rest of the way to win the title over Gary Davis by 11 points.

Miller, who still isn’t old enough to legally drink, won his first championship in 2007 when he topped the limited sprint car division at Cottage Grove Speedway. The next season Miller earned the 360 sprint car division title at the same track. Both championships came with the wings on the car, but in 2009 Miller discovered that he liked wingless racing so much that after the first couple of events he decided he would run the rest of the NWWT schedule and go for the tour’s inaugural championship in the non-wing 360 sprint car division.

As everyone now knows, it turned out to be a good decision on his part. Even when some people tried getting Miller to skip the August 15^th event to run somewhere else, Miller instead elected to stay and attempt to keep his points lead, which turned out to be an even better decision as he won the main event that night in his family’s No. 10 Springer-powered XXX.

In non-NWWT action, Miller got his first win of the season in the spring with the wings on his car as he won a limited sprint main event at Cottage Grove. On September 26^th at Cottage Grove, Miller dueled with Oregon racing legend Dale Smith and beat him to win the track’s “Northwest Wingless Championship” and a $2,500 pay check. All combined, Miller won three main events this year.

Miller finished third to Kyler Barraza in the inaugural NWWT main event at Cottage Grove Speedway on April 25^th after coming from the back of the field twice. On May 23^rd at the same track, Miller was racing for the lead with Jeff Rivers when the two cars tangled, causing race ending damage to Miller’s car and Rivers went on a hard set of flips. After that disappointing setback, Miller bounced back with consecutive second place finishes on June 6^th (to Roger Crockett) and July 18^th (to Smith) before his victory on August 15^th.

After being out of the picture for most of the race, Miller was suddenly up near the front and threatening to challenge for the lead in September 5^th’s Grays Harbor Non-Wing Challenge at Grays Harbor Raceway, the first non-wing sprint car event in the Elma, Wash. facility’s history. Miller wound up finishing third to further extend his points lead.

September 12^th saw the series return to Cottage Grove Speedway, and for the fifth time in 2009 it was Miller setting the pace in qualifying, but immediately after setting fast time something broke on Miller’s car, sending him tumbling off the track. Miller missed his heat race. but because they were chasing the championship he and his crew were still trying to repair the car in time for the main event. That main event, however, never happened as a torrential downpour hit the track and made it unsafe for racing. Miller emerged with a 19-point lead over Gary Davis going into the season finale.

The IXL Metal Conditioner NorthWest Wingless Tour closed its inaugural season on October 3^rd with the Fall Classic at Willamette Speedway in Lebanon, Ore. Miller struggled in qualifying and Davis gained six points, cutting Miller’s advantage to 13 tallies. Both drivers finished fourth in their heat races, creating no change in points going into the main event. Davis needed to finish 14 positions ahead of Miller to win the championship. While Davis, who did not win a main event in 2009, needed to finish 14 positions ahead of Miller to win the championship, he only gained two points as he finished fourth and Miller earned a sixth place finish to clinch the championship.

That sixth place finish at Willamette Speedway was only the second time in seven NWWT main events that Miller did not finish in the Top 3. It very well could have been six Top 3 finishes and possibly a second NWWT win in seven starts had Miller not crashed out while battling for the lead on May 23^rd. It was that solid of run for Kyle Miller this year, and it was during that run that Miller emerged as one of the major faces of the new NorthWest Wingless Tour.

More information on the IXL Metal Conditioner NorthWest Wingless Tour can be found online at http://www.nwwinglesstour.com.

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IXL Metal Conditioner NorthWest Wingless Tour
Top 10 points

1. Kyle Miller, 548 - 2009 NWWT 360 sprint car champion
2. Gary Davis, 537
3. Mark Nichols, 453
4. Sammy Wright, 442
5. Dylan Olsen, 420
6. Kyler Barraza, 417
7. Theo McCarty, 415
8. Mike Romig, 413
9. Keary Morris, 394
10. Jeff Rivers, 370


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IXL Metal Conditioner NorthWest Wingless Tour
2009 banquet

Where: Holiday Inn - Wilsonville, Oregon
When: Saturday, October 24th

Master of ceremonies: Andrew Kunas

Cocktails: 6 p.m. to 12 Midnight, no host bar
Dinner: 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Awards scheduled to start at 8:30 p.m.


Anyone who has questions is encouraged to call Meg Gentes at (503) 570-8803 or e-mail at [email protected]

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IXL Metal Conditioner NorthWest Wingless Tour
http://www.nwwinglesstour.com

Margeson dominates NWWT midgets in ‘09
Andrew Kunas, NWWT Publicist

LAKE STEVENS, Wash. - In the inaugural season for the IXL Metal Conditioner NorthWest Wingless Tour, if you saw the No. 50 midget car belonging to Evan Margeson in the pit area during the afternoon, you were looking at the car that would win the main event that night.

Because of weather, the NWWT midgets only ran six events in their inaugural campaign and Margeson, out of Tacoma, Wash. was forced to miss one of those races due to work commitments. In the five races he did show up to, he won all five main events and went on to become the first midget car champion in the NWWT’s short history.

Driving his family’s No. 50 Esslinger-powered Beast, the mild mannered Margeson was racing midgets on the dirt for the first time in 2009. A former champion of the Washington Midget Racing Association on the pavement, Margeson’s past success easily translated to the dirt as he was rarely challenged and gave a handful of dominating, jaw-dropping performances.

The NWWT’s 360 sprint car division went at it alone on April 25^th, so it was not until May 23^rd that the NWWT midgets got their start at Cottage Grove Speedway. Margeson’s presence made a bit of a stir, with many people wondering how he would do on the dirt. The 21-year-old showed everyone he would be a force to contend with as he proceeded to sweep the entire evening, setting quick time in qualifying, winning his heat race and dominating the main event.

On June 6^th, the NWWT midgets had company as a number of potent cars from the Bay Cities Racing Association visited from California, including the legend Floyd Alvis and champions John Sarale and Justin Grant. Margeson wasn’t near as dominant as he was in the prior race, but was still up to the challenge as he held off the very strong Grant to win the main event.

On the 4^th of July, while the NWWT was taking some time off, Margeson went down to Placerville Speedway to race against the BCRA itself, and won again. Margeson also continued racing from time to time with the WMRA on the pavement four times, winning three main events - May 16^th at South Sound Speedway, June 13^th at Ephrata Raceway Park and June 20^th at Agassiz Speedway in British Columbia.

On Labor Day weekend, when Cottage Grove Speedway looked it would rain out for sure, which it did, Margeson also ventured down to race with the USAC Western States midgets at the two-night Louie Vermeil Classic at the half-mile monster known as Calistoga Speedway. Despite never racing on a dirt track that big and fast before, Margeson did just fine as he came home with fourth and third place finishes.

Back on the NWWT trail, Margeson was at it again on July 18^th, as it was only ignition issues in his heat race that kept him from completing another sweep. Starting fifth in the main event, Margeson only needed two laps to take the lead and never looked back from there, winning the race by more than half a lap. That dominating performance gave him a 51-point lead in the NWWT standings after just three races.

Margeson was forced to miss the August 15^th race due to work commitments, and his points lead disappeared as Mitch Hoffses completed a clean sweep of his own. On September 12^th, Margeson was back in full force, making a second clean sweep that included his fourth NWWT main event win. Margeson was only able to cut his deficit to Hoffses to five points though with the October 3^rd finale at Willamette Speedway remaining.

Though most people still favored Margeson to win the NWWT championship despite being five points back of Hoffses, Margeson caught a break when Hoffses crashed out in a non-NWWT event at Cottage Grove Speedway on September 26^th and was unable to get his car back together in time for the finale, virtually handing the championship to Margeson.

At Willamette Speedway’s Fall Classic, Margeson again set fast time and blew away the field in his heat race. With the 21-car field being the largest for the NWWT midgets this year, the NWWT threw in some bonus money into the event for the midget car division, making it $600 total to win the main event. With the championship locked up, Margeson was told he would earn another $100 if he started at the back and could still win it. Being the competitor he is, Margeson decided he would try to put on a show for the fans and accepted the challenge.

Margeson got part of the way through the field, had problems and had to return to the tail end of the field. Margeson was unfazed by the mishap and proceeded to drive back up to second place. Margeson then had to deal with Seth Hespe, Grays Harbor Raceway’s Ford Focus midget champion and a winner of five main events himself this year. The very talented Hespe put up a strong fight with his less powerful Ford Focus motor but Margeson was eventually able to get around Hespe and win the race, giving Margeson a $700 payday.

Margeson’s win that night was his fifth with the NWWT and at least his ninth total in 2009, a season in which he and his very potent No. 50 were rarely beaten. Margeson won races in three U.S. states and one Canadian province this year.

This Saturday night, October 24^th, Margeson will be recognized as the first NWWT midget champion at the IXL Metal Conditioner NorthWest Wingless Tour’s banquet at the Holiday Inn in Wilsonville, Ore. With the NWWT schedule likely to be bigger next year with increased car counts, many are anxious to see if Margeson’s success will continue in 2010.

More information on the IXL Metal Conditioner NorthWest Wingless Tour can be found online at http://www.nwwinglesstour.com.

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IXL Metal Conditioner NorthWest Wingless Tour
Top 10 points - midget car division

1. Evan Margeson, 413 - 2009 NWWT midget car champion
2. Steve Dickenson, 388
3. Mitch Hoffses, 342
4. Glenn Bittrolf, 315
5. Doug McVae, 305
6. Tyler Steenslid, 294
7. Mike Gehringer, 269
(tie) Dallas Melby, 269
9. Peter Bittrolf, 268
10. Steve Veltman, 246

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IXL Metal Conditioner NorthWest Wingless Tour
2009 banquet

Where: Holiday Inn - Wilsonville, Oregon
When: Saturday, October 24th

Master of ceremonies: Andrew Kunas

Cocktails: 6 p.m. to 12 Midnight, no host bar
Dinner: 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Awards scheduled to start at 8:30 p.m.


Anyone who has questions is encouraged to call Meg Gentes at (503) 570-8803 or e-mail at [email protected]

- - -

IXL Metal Conditioner NorthWest Wingless Tour
http://www.nwwinglesstour.com