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Nutter throws his hat into the NSCS ring
Andrew Kunas, NSCS Publicist
CENTRAL POINT, Ore. – Former Northern Sprint Tour champion Billy Nutter of Oregon has announced that he intends to go after the inaugural Northwest Sprint Challenge Series championship.
With so much spot light on the Northwest's younger drivers recently, the popular Central Point driver, who will soon turn 45, will be looking to teach the youngsters how to do things on the dirt tracks of Washington and Oregon. Nutter has over 20 years of racing experience to back him up, including the last 15 in a sprint car.
Nutter's quest for the NSCS championship begins Friday and Saturday, April 27 and 28 at Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma, Wash. Nutter has seen success at the high-banked, 3/8-mile clay oval before, scoring a main event win at Elma in 2004 and again last July 1.
As he did last year, Nutter will run his own operation in 2007 again piloting a Zeitler. Nutter has an ASCS-legal motor of his own, along with a Vondersecht motor from Nebraska. Nutter did have trouble with one of the motors last year, but took advantage of a play day earlier this month at Southern Oregon Speedway near Medford and has it running good again.
"There are no big changes," Nutter said. "I've got a lot of confidence in Zeitler Chassis. I feel really good about it. We're pretty jacked up about racing this year."
After joining Nutter last year, Doyle's Harley-Davidson will return as a sponsor of the long familiar and very popular No. 3n car, joined by Combined Transport and Pacific Pipeline.
Nutter has six sprint car titles to his credit, including track championships at Cottage Grove Speedway (then known as Riverside Speedway) in 1994, 1995 and 1996 and at Medford in 1997. He even picked up a title on the pavement at Douglas County Speedway in Roseburg in 1995. Then in 2005 Nutter climbed to the top of the mountain and won the Northern Sprint Tour championship.
All of Nutter's accomplishments came after he had a rather late start in racing compared to many of today's rising stars. Nutter didn't start racing until he was 23 and wasn't competing in sprint cars until he was 30. One can only imagine where he could be had he started racing ten or fifteen years earlier in his life.
Outside of the NSCS, Nutter expects to race a bit at Cottage Grove and Medford, with possibly an occasional trip to California. He also wants to race at Elma and Skagit Speedway before the big NSCS events at those tracks. If he is able to get motor help, Nutter is also interested in participating in August's Brodix Tournament of Champions at Knoxville Raceway in Iowa.
Nutter kicked off last year's final NST season with a victory at Willamette Speedway in Lebanon, Ore., two years after winning another NST event at the same track. Nutter eventually finished third in the points. He is hoping to have another strong start in 2007, this time with the NSCS.
"I just want to start off winning some races, trying to run up front," Nutter said. "We try to win, qualify well, without tearing stuff up."
The NSCS will race in Nutter's home state of Oregon nine times in 2007. The first trip to the Beaver State will be the traditional three-race Memorial weekend swing. Willamette will host the NSCS on Friday, May 25. The race teams will drive south on I-5 toward Medford on Saturday, May 26 to race at Southern Oregon Speedway. The NSCS then heads north back up I-5, stopping just short of Eugene as it completes its weekend at Cottage Grove on Sunday, May 27.
More information on the Northwest Sprint Challenge Series can be found online at www.racenscs.com.
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NSCS: The Northwest Sprint Challenge Series
www.racenscs.com
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