Wartburg Speedway Brags Big Purse

The Wartburg Speedway in Tennessee has come a long way in a short time. Despite the fact that the track recently went through a rough patch, it seems set to make a full recovery with a greatly improved winning purse for this racing season.

The Wartburg Speedway in Tennessee has come a long way in a short time. Despite the fact that the track recently went through a rough patch, it seems set to make a full recovery with a greatly improved winning purse for this racing season.

The Advance Auto Parts Thunder Series will return to the Wartburg Speedway this year in a big way. Previously this race was called the ‘Tennessee Thunder DirtCar Series’, but this has changed due to massive sponsorship from Advance Auto Parts. The change is fitting, since it is mainly due to this sponsorship that the series has been able to increase its purses from $15,000 in cash awards and $5,000 in contingency awards to almost $30,000 in cash awards and $20,000 in contingency awards in just three short years. Other sponsors have certainly also helped with this alluring increase.

The racing series is just three years old, having been started at this very race track on 28 March 2005. However, things have not always been ideal and the track went through a period of decline between 2005 and 2007. At its lowest point vandals attempted to destroy the concession stands, and scoring and media tower. Fortunately this tragedy was turned into a triumph shortly after the track made its way back into the hands of its original owners, Scott Greene and Jot Raymond in 2007. The pair used the opportunity to make several improvements to not only the concessions stands, but also to the track surface and retaining walls. New equipment has been installed to assist drivers and the officiating crew from Atomic Speedway has been brought over to oversea the racing action. The grounds now look brand new and they’re getting ready for the upcoming season.

The introduction of a $5,000 cash prize event is expected to draw some big names and fans are expecting to see the likes of Anthony White of Clinton, Rick Rogers of Knoxville and Tommy Kerr of Maryville – to name only a few. The big race will take place on Saturday, 26 April 2008 and fans can buy their tickets at the gate. Make sure you don’t miss out on this great racing spectacle!