Jim Shampine Memorial Twin 50’s To Open Oswego’s 68th Season Of Racing

Story By: CAMDEN PROUD / OSWEGO SPEEDWAY – OSWEGO, NY – For the first time in Oswego Speedway’s rich history, a new tradition will take place on Memorial Day Weekend which this season will play host to the Opening Night of racing set to mark 68 consecutive seasons of on track action at the ‘Steel Palace.’

In 2018, two 50-lap Jim Shampine Memorial feature events will be contested on Saturday, May 26 in conjunction with a 35-lap Small Block Supermodified Tony White Memorial to be ran in between the two Supermodified mains. With the establishment of this new format, Opening Weekend marks another opportunity for fans to flock to the speedway’s steel gates with the chance to catch 100-plus laps of Super action.

A tradition that began in 1970, ‘twin’ feature races have been an integral part of Oswego’s Supermodified history. It all started with ironically, Shampine, in 1970 when the ‘8-Ball’ swept Twin 50 events in May of that year. This format stuck around for two more seasons, before track officials adapted ‘Triple 33’s’ in 1973 and 1974, a format in which Shampineswept as well, winning six out of six total races.

‘Shampine,’ now the namesake of the Twin 50’s, has more wins than any other driver in Twin competition at Oswego sitting at 17 total victories and sitting alone as the only driver to have double digit wins in twin events while Steve Gioia Jr. and Bentley Warren each have 9.

The ‘Twin 30’ format was ran just once in 1975, before the Twin 35 races got the green light from 1976 through 1998, often running twice a year, before a two year break took place in 1999 and 2000 which would later see the return of the twins in 2001 at 30-laps in distance before on and off contention up until the 2011 season.

In 2014, Twin 35’s returned once again and they have come to stay thus far, with the event being held for the past four years and taking place for a fifth season in a row in 2018 when the second twin event in as many months will be held on June 16, making this the first time since 2004 that two prior scheduled twin events have helped in deciding a Supermodified track champion. A rainout set up a Twin 45 and Twin 30 combination in 2010 as well as the latest ‘Twin 50’ event contested in 2013 which saw Pat Lavery and Kody Graham go to victory lane.

Not only will an overall champion be crowned at the speedway’s popular $5 admission Track Championship Night on August 18, but the Twin 50’s will decide two Jim Shampine Memorial Champions for the first time since the race began in 1991, creating a unique opportunity for drivers who have never earned the right to stand in victory lane on one of the most special night’s of the season at Oswego Speedway.

There’s no question that this year’s Memorial Day Weekend extravaganza will be exciting as ever, with a full field of Supermodifieds expected on Opening Night including that of defending JIm Shampine Memorial champion Keith Shampine, who is the nephew of the race’s namesake.

With a throwback ‘8-Ball’ scheme rumored to be a possibility for the Osetek Racing team as part of this special event, there’s no doubt that Supermodified fans will want to make their plans early to be a part of another key moment in Oswego’s storied history.

The full 2018 schedule for Oswego Speedway, set to open with the Jim Shampine Memorial Twin 50’s on Saturday, May 26, has been posted online at OswegoSpeedway.com. Season ticket information, pricing, and time schedules will be added after the 1st of the year. All kids 16 and under will remain FREE with a paid adult this coming season.

2018 rule changes have been sent to all Small Block Supermodified competitors with Supermodified rule adjustments being readied for distribution this coming weekend. Full rulebooks will be available online in PDF format in early January.

Payout and full race format for the Twin 50’s will be announced to teams in the coming weeks via email, with that information also set to be included on the speedway’s website.

Winter office hours at Oswego Speedway are 11am-4pm on Saturdays, with special week hours posted frequently on the speedway’s social media outlets.

For more information on Oswego Speedway, be sure to visit online at OswegoSpeedway.com. You can also FOLLOW on Twitter @OswegoSpeedway or LIKE on Facebook at Facebook.com/OswegoSpeedway.