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Perris Auto Speedway
18700 Lake Perris Drive
Perris, CA 92571
(951) 940-0134
http://perrisautospeedway.com/
For further information contact Scott Daloisio mailto:[email protected] or (909) 226-7768
For Immediate Release
LEGENDARY WALLY PANKRATZ RACING AT PERRIS ON SATURDAY!
(Perris, CA, May 22, 2019) Perris Auto Speedway fans will get an extra treat at the annual “Salute to Indy” this Saturday night, May 25th. Legendary West Coast open-wheel driver Wally Pankratz will be making his first appearance in two years at the famous Riverside County clay oval in The PAS Senior Sprint Cars.
Pankratz, the son of former racer and Indy Car builder Bob Pankratz, has been racing open wheel cars for 49-years. He has competed in and won across the country in sprint cars, super modifieds, midgets and silver crown cars. He has won championships in the USAC Western Midget Series, the old Super Modified Racing Association, Hanford Speedway Sprint Cars, Ascot Super Midgets and two years ago, at the young age of 71, in the Ventura Senior Sprint Cars. All told, he has won 114-main events in his career and he was inducted into the National Midget Racing Hall of Fame in Belleville, Kansas in 2006 (one year before his father).
About a dozen years ago, Pankratz, now 73-years-old, officially retired from racing. However, someone apparently forgot to tell him that in order to retire, you must stop driving in races. Even though he announced that he was done, he just kept on competing.
“I actually did retire for a couple of years,” the Orange resident said with a laugh. “I was trying to get my driving school off the ground, and somebody had a friend who wanted to get into racing and take the school, but they had never heard of me. I told my wife maybe I should start racing the Focus Midget to keep my name out there. She went for it and I am still racing today.”
These days Pankratz confines most of his racing to the Senior Sprint Car Series (drivers 40 and older) at the Ventura Raceway. He drives for car owner Ray Swann and says he will keep on driving for as long as Swann wants him to.
“I keep driving because of Ray Swann,” Pankratz said. “He is 84-years-old, and he just loves it. His crew guys say he beams when they go to the races. At the end of last year, he asked me if I wanted to do this again. I told him if he wanted to, yes, I would do it. So, we are back at it again. My wife Barbara is on board and she loves Ray. As long as he wants to do it, I will do it too.”
A former defensive back at Fullerton Junior College and Idaho State, Pankratz attended training camp as a free agent with the San Diego Chargers in the 1960s. He once joked that the size of the players in camp convinced him to get into racing. Joke or not, he fashioned a wonderful career. One of the goals of his was to race Indy Cars and he did get the opportunity in the early 1980s driving for former CRA driver Norm Hall at Phoenix International Raceway and Riverside Raceway.
If Pankratz ever stops racing himself, the family name will still be around. His daughter Randi began her racing career at the old quarter midget track in Pomona in the early 1980s. Competitive like her father, she progressed from the quarter-midgets to the now-defunct USAC Three-Quarter Midget Series. For more than two decades now, she has been a regular, and one of the most popular drivers, in the USAC Western Midget Series.
All active and retired California Highway Patrol Officers will be admitted to this Saturday’s race free. All they have to do is show their CHP badge or id at the ticket window and they will be given a free ticket.
Spectator gates for Saturday’s race will open at 5:00 P.M. and the first 200 fans through the front gate will receive a free stadium cup courtesy of the American Cancer Society. The first race will take the green flag at 7:00.
Tickets for Saturday’s race are $25.00 for adults. Seniors 65 and over get in for $20.00. For active military with proper id and their spouse or date, it is $5.00 each. Teens 13-18 with their school id and kids 6-12 get in for $5.00. Children 5 and under are free. Parking on the fairgrounds is $8.00.
Camping on the fairgrounds opens at noon on Friday. Tailgating on the grassy area outside of turn four begins at 1:00 P.M. on Saturday.
Advance tickets for all Perris Auto Speedway events are available 24-hours a day online at https://bit.ly/2Aa50Lj or by calling 1-800-595-4849. If you do not wish to buy tickets in advance for any race, there will be plenty of tickets for everyone at the ticket window on race night.
Perris Auto Speedway is conveniently located on the SoCal Fair and Event Center (home of October’s Southern California Fair), approximately one hour east of Los Angeles and one-hour North of San Diego. To get to the track, take the 215 freeway, on the Ramona Expressway and go three miles east to the fairgrounds. For directions on MapQuest, the address to enter is: 18700 Lake Perris Drive and the zip code is 92571.
Perris Auto Speedway wants to thank its corporate partners for the 2019 season. All Coast Construction, Austin Hutchinson Realtor, Battery Systems, Brass and Bass Firearms & Fishing Supplies, Budweiser, Bud’s Tire Pro, Chris’ Hauling, City of Perris, Daytona Boat & RV Storage, Ed Moore Bullet Proof Driveshaft, Flowdynamics, HD Industries, Hoosier Tires, Inland Rigging, K2 Displays, Living Water’s Hospice, LKQ Pick Your Part, Luke’s Transmission, Pepsi-Cola, Pole Position, PrintItNow.com, Rainbow Bolt & Supply, Shaver Specialties, Square H, Sunoco Race Fuels, Sunstate Equipment, Trench Shoring, Varner Construction, VIA RV Service and Vista Paint.
To keep up with all the latest Perris Auto Speedway news, photos, gossip and receive special offers, please use the following links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Perris-Auto-Speedway/113876798686480?ref=hl
Twitter: Perris Auto Speedway on Twitter.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/perrisautospeedway/
Website: http://perrisautospeedway.com/
Video and DVD productions of all racing sprint cars events at Perris Auto Speedway are available from Loudpedal Productions. For more information on these productions you can contact them by calling (805) 844-3854, E-mailing mailto:[email protected] or you can visit the website LoudPedal Productions.
DVD’s of all the PASSCAR/IMCA racing and Nights of Destruction at The PAS are available from Fourvideos. For more information call (714) 225-9500.
[email protected] is the only authorized Internet address to issue official media news released from The Perris Auto Speedway or Oval Entertainment.
2019 Perris Auto Speedway Schedule
May 25th “Salute to Indy” Amsoil USAC/CRA Sprint Cars, PAS Senior Sprints and PAS Young Gun Sprints American Cancer Society Night Benefiting the “Up Down ‘n Dirty 4 a Cure Mud Run
June 1st LKQ Pick Your Part Presents Night of Destruction III: Demo Cross, Figure 8’s, Trailer Figure 8’s, Mini Stocks, Double Deckers, Formula X Autocross and Cross Karts American Cancer Society Night Benefiting the “Up Down ‘n Dirty 4 a Cure Mud Run
June 15th PASSCAR Super Stocks, Street Stocks, American Factory Stocks and IMCA Modifieds
June 29th Amsoil USAC/CRA Sprint Cars, PAS Senior Sprints and PAS Young Gun Sprints
July 4th FIREWORKS SPECTACULAR LKQ Pick Your Part Presents Night of Destruction IV: Demo Cross, Figure 8’s, Trailer Figure 8’s, Mini Stocks, Double Deckers, Formula X Autocross and Cross Karts American Cancer Society Night Benefiting the “Up Down ‘n Dirty 4 a Cure Mud Run
July 13th Amsoil USAC/CRA & USAC Southwest Sprint Cars, PAS Senior Sprints and PAS Young Gun Sprints
July 20th PASSCAR Super Stocks, Street Stocks, American Factory Stocks and IMCA Modifieds
July 27th LKQ Pick Your Part Presents Night of Destruction V: Demo Cross, Figure 8’s, Trailer Figure 8’s, Mini Stocks, Double Deckers, Formula X Autocross and Cross Karts
August 17th “California Racer’s Hall of Fame Night” Amsoil USAC/CRA & USAC Southwest Sprint Cars, PAS Senior Sprints and PAS Young Gun Sprints
August 24th PASSCAR Super Stocks, Street Stocks, American Factory Stocks and IMCA Modifieds
August 31st LKQ Pick Your Part Presents Night of Destruction VI: Demo Cross, Figure 8’s, Trailer Figure 8’s, Mini Stocks, Double Deckers, Formula X Autocross and Cross Karts
September 14th PASSCAR Super Stocks, Street Stocks, American Factory Stocks and IMCA Modifieds
September 21st “Glenn Howard Classic” Amsoil USAC/CRA Sprint Cars, PAS Senior Sprints and PAS Young Gun Sprints
September 28th LKQ Pick Your Part Presents Night of Destruction VII: Demo Cross, Figure 8’s, Trailer Figure 8’s, Mini Stocks, Double Deckers, Formula X Autocross and Cross Karts
November 6th Budweiser Oval Nationals Presented by All Coast Construction Practice Session
November 7th Budweiser Oval Nationals Presented by All Coast Construction USAC National, CRA and Southwest Sprint Cars
November 8th Budweiser Oval Nationals Presented by All Coast Construction USAC National, CRA and Southwest Sprint Cars
November 9th Budweiser Oval Nationals Presented by All Coast Construction USAC National, CRA and Southwest Sprint Cars
November 16th “Champions Night” PASSCAR Super Stocks, Street Stocks, American Factory Stocks and PAS Modifieds
*** Schedule Subject to Change
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