Moving forward to next year, many plans are in the works to continue to provide our fans and racers with a fantastic racing experience.
Tickets are currently on sale for the Annual Bedford Awards Banquet. The banquet will be held on Saturday night, January 27th 2018 at the Bedford Elks Ballroom. Awards will be distributed to the top ten in points in the Late Models, LM Sportsman, Semi Lates, Modifieds, Pure Stocks and Four Cylinders. Tickets are $37.00 per person and must be ordered from the speedway office in advance, the banquet is always a sellout and no tickets are sold at the door.
Late Models: The Late Models will again race weekly at Bedford, with a similar schedule to last season. The 2018 schedule tentatively has 20 Late Model races on it. In addition to the slate of Friday night races the Late Models can look forward to extra distance, extra purse specials on each of the three summer holidays, the $8200 to win Billy Winn Classic in July, as well as a Fall Fest Special.
Bedford has also partnered with the local tracks to organize several weekend tours to benefit the local racers.
In the absence of an overall Late Model Speedweek Series in 2018, Bedford, Port Royal Williams Grove Speedway will take part in the three-race Tri-Track Late Model Challenge Series presented by KRS Grahics, in June on the traditional Speedweek dates. The Tri-Track Late Model Challenge Series presented by KRS Graphics will crown the three-race series champion at the Williams Grove Speedway program in early June. All three series races will pay points towards the overall point fund with each feature event paying a minimum of $3,000 to win.
Bedford will also be teaming up with Winchester, Hagerstown, Potomac, Georgetown and US 13 for the six-race Clash for Cash Series, with each event paying $3,000 to win. All six races will pay towards the overall point fund.
As always, there will be no entry fee for any of the extra- purse Bedford series races.
Additional details for some incentive programs for the Late Models are still being finalized and will be released over the winter months.
Modifieds: The biggest news for 2018 is that Bedford has teamed up with the local Saturday night tracks Cumberland and Path Valley for the modifieds. All three tracks will now be operating with the same rules, which will continue to allow teams to travel outside the area to regional and national events. All three tracks have worked together on scheduling to ensure that they are not racing against each other. With the Saturday night tracks locally (Cumberland & Path Valley) working together on scheduling, racers will have a Saturday night track to race at almost every week during the season
The benefits of this three track alliance include guaranteeing that the modifeds locally have a solid schedule of events, with a consistent rule package, with tracks cooperating on scheduling.
Bedford, Cumberland and Path Valley will also be working together on a series of shootout races. Points will be counted between the three tracks and drivers will have the opportunity to race for a season ending point fund.
One of the biggest benefits of the modifieds is that their rule package is relatively consistent across the county, allowing racers to travel pretty much anywhere they want. In the five seasons since Bedford introduced them locally in 2013, our goal has been to keep a consistent rule package with the modifeds nationally, so that with only minimal changes, a Bedford racer can take his car to any track in the country.
Late Model Sportsman: For the new season several of the local tracks in conjunction with the Mason Dixon Series have gotten together to agree on a standard rules package. The Bedford rules have been adjusted slightly to conform to the standard Mason Dixon rules. This will allow racers to travel between the local tracks easily without worrying about being legal at a new track. It is our goal that racers can race as much as they want, at as many tracks as they want, as easily as possible.
Additionally the local tracks have worked together on scheduling to ensure that conflicts between tracks racing LM Sportsman while impossible to avoid, will occur as infrequently as possible.
On the 2018 schedule, the Late Model Sportsman are scheduled for approximately 14 events, with three of those being Mason Dixon Tour races.
Semi Lates: The Semi Lates have long been one of the most popular divisions at the speedway, with close competitive racing. The reason that this division has survived this long, and in this form, is due to a rules package that has kept the cars stock based; preventing them from evolving the way that they have at many other places into something resembling a late model. The 2018 rules will give the racers additional options in body materials, as that is what they request. However this will continue to be a stock based division. Racers are expected to have stock appearing bodies, with stock measurements, racers who wish to turn their cars into something modeled after a late model will not be welcome.
The Semi Lates continue to have a home at Bedford because our rules have permitted the class to survive while it has largely collapsed elsewhere. In most of the region where rules have been “opened up” the class has largely collapsed. The continued survival of the class rests on the racers continuing to keep their cars within this model.
Pure Stocks: The focus of the Pure Stock division will continue to be a rules package that permits the most fun racing at the lowest cost possible.
Over the years many have seen fit to escalate the cost of area racing by utilizing rule loopholes and lobbying for advancements in technology that have been detrimental to the health of local racing. That will not happen here. The Pure Stocks will not be allowed to evolve into a more expensive car that is filled with racing components. For that reason we regulate and outlaw products or tricks which may serve to upset the cost ratio of this division.
As has been proven over and over again, allowing more performance parts into a division only serves to drive up the cost of racing in that division. The key to cars that are low cost is keeping them stock- factory based. Our intention with the Pure Stocks is to maintain the healthy, competitive division that has thrived over the past several years. It is our goal to keep this class affordable to as many racers as possible.
This year the Pure Stocks will have the option of having their engines sealed by the tech department. This is an option available to racers, not a requirement. Allowing racers the option of having their engine sealed saves them the hassle of having their engines teched the races.
Four Cylinders: The four cylinders are an entry level division for guys wishing to get started in racing on the most economical budget possible. The rules reflect this goal of keeping the cars as inexpensive as possible; this is a division for inexpensive cars only. The Four Cylinders will not be allowed to advance away from this original concept. Cars built with racing components that increase speed, performance, and most importantly, cost are not what this class is all about. While our four cylinder rules are largely compatible with the area tracks, we will not be opening up rules to allow for any further performance modifications on the cars.
