A first time champion and the first successfully defended championship have been all but engraved on the trophies, but what about the third one. Seven points are all that separate the top three drivers in the Sportsman division. Candor, NY's Jimmy Zacharias is trying to become the first repeat open wheel champion in the three year history of the concrete half mile, but he has to have a perfect night to accomplish that feat. He is being closely challenged by John Wilber and his younger brother, T-J Zacharias. Jimmy Zacharias had a motor give out with three laps to go last Saturday night. Wilber, sold his equipment to Zacharias Racing three weeks ago, and has driven J.R. Kent's number 16 the past two weeks. Wilber trails Jimmy by six points. T-J Zacharias has driven, the past two weeks, the car that Wilber drove all season long, until the sale. Ironically, the car is the same car in which Jimmy Zacharias drove to the 2010 Sportsman championship. T-J has two wins this season, winning the season opener and last week, closing to within one point of Wilber and seven points of his older brother for his first championship. By the way, the only last name on the Sportsman trophy at Shangri-La II has been Zacharias. Rick Zacharias claimed the title in the 2009 inaugural season. Positions four through six are hotly contested as well. Bryan Sherwood is fourth in points with 420. Tony Hanbury trails his teammate by fifteen points in fifth and veteran Tom Shiner trails Hanbury by four points and is only nineteen points out of fourth.
In just fifteen days, Spalding Foundation Director, Betty Sherwood and her dedicated group of supporters transformed a fleeting idea into a successful fund raiser. Last Friday night, The Spalding Foundation for Injured Drivers hosted their first in what is hoped to be an annual event at the Seneca Grand Prix. Over 40 local and professional drivers raced with race fans in a “Challenge the Champions” family fun evening raising over $ 2,200.00 for the Spalding Foundation. Shangri-La II Motorspeedway in Tioga Center, NY along with Grafix by Billy and Wyalusing Valley Motorsports Park in Wyalusing, PA came on board to sponsor “Challenge the Champions”. Former NHL Centerman, Jason Bonsignore, owner of Seneca Grand Prix donated the track and cars for the event. Ozzies Brisket from Binghamton, NY set up their BBQ Grills to feed the attendees. NASCAR Nationwide Series driver, Mike Wallace was entertaining as he raced with his son Matt and many of the fans. Wallace’s Johnny Davis Motorsports crew all came to support the Foundation, including team owner, Johnny Davis. ARCA driver, Brent Cross was glad to be involved and had his car on display. The car was the one he raced at Pocono the week before. Local drivers represented all forms and levels of racing from dirt tracks, pavement tracks, microd and go-cart tracks were on hand. Canandaigua Speedway announcer and radio personality, Paul Szmal was joined by Shangri-La II Motorspeedway and Dover International Speedway announcer Tom Cummings for the play by play. Shangri-La II Motorspeedway’s Director of Public Relations, Watkins Glen International and New Hampshire Motorspeedway announcer Al Robinson served as Grand Marshall for the event and got things going with “Gentlemen Start Your Engines”. “I can not thank everyone involved enough” said Betty Sherwood. “ From Jason Bonsignore and Ron Hills and The Race Report donating their resources; to all of the drivers, crewmen, fans and event sponsors coming together on short notice gives me encouragement that we could make the event even bigger next year if the opportunity presents itself”.
Read more: "Challenge the Champions" Successful for the Spalding Foundation
Shangri-La II Motorspeedway in Tioga Center, NY along with Grafix by Billy and Wyalusing Valley Motorsports Park in Wyalusing , PA are proud to sponsor “Challenge The Champions” to benefit The Spalding Foundation for Injured Drivers. The event will be held on Friday August 12, 2011 at the Seneca Grand Prix Speedway 2374 State Rte. 414 Watkins Glen, NY from 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm. The track is located just 1 mile from Gate 2 at Watkins Glen International. The fundraiser for the Spalding Foundation will offer race fans the opportunity to race go-carts against local racing celebrities and quite possibly several NASCAR stars and their families as well with the proceeds going to a very worthy cause. Shangri-La II Motorspeedway’s Director of Public Relations, Al Robinson has been named as Grand Marshall for the evening. Robinson is a long time announcer at Watkins Glen, and is currently on the road to recovery from a stroke suffered in May of this year. “We can not thank the owner of Seneca Grand Prix Speedway, Jason Bonsignore enough for generously offering the use of his facility to us for the evening” said Spalding Foundation Director, Betty Sherwood. “The Spalding Foundation has worked extremely hard promoting safety this year at Shangri-La II” track manager, Amy Stilson said. “We were very happy to join this function when Betty Sherwood approached us with the idea”. This event has come together rather quickly, and is being held on the same weekend that the NASCAR Nationwide Series and the Sprint Cup series are in action at the famous road course. There is a lot of interest from the national touring drivers as the word is spreading. Nationwide Series driver, Mike Wallace and his son Matt have already stated their intention to participate. Local drivers also committing include ARCA Series driver, Brent Cross, Shangri-La II Motorspeedway 2010 Rookie of the Year, Bryan Sherwood, Justin Shiner, Jesse Kent, Duane Manzer, Tom Eiklor, Eddie White, Marshall Balzer, Daryl Barrett, Steve Williams, Mike Williams, Nick Robinson with more local and celebrity drivers are indicating their participation daily.
