Skyline Raceway Park To Host Pair Of RUSH LM Events In 2018
Story By: MIKE LEONE / RUSH RACING SERIES – PULASKI, PA – Skyline Raceway Park has become the latest New York speedway to have the Sweeney Chevrolet Buick GMC RUSH Racing Series powered by Pace Performance sanction its Crate Late Model events in 2018.
Skyline will host a pair of Sweeney RUSH Late Model Weekly Series events on Sunday, June 24 and Sunday, August 26 with both paying $1,000 to-win, $100 to-start.
Former track champion Dean Catlin and his wife Donna purchased the Cortland, New York-based facility in 2016 from Frank and Audrey Payne, who had operated the 3/8-mile clay oval for 28 years; Catlin won the local pure stock title there in 1996.
“Late Models ran at Skyline from 1998 through 2008,” explained Dean Catlin. “We were looking at a way to bring the Late Models back to Skyline and felt RUSH was the way to go. We look forward to working with RUSH for the upcoming season. This will be something different for the fans, and probably a new track for most of the RUSH drivers to compete at.”
The state of New York has now grown in 2018 to include RUSH weekly-sanctioned events at Fulton, Genesee, Outlaw, and Stateline along with special events at Can-Am, Brewerton, Weedsport, and now Skyline. The events at Skyline and the July 3 Sweeney Tour show at Weedsport will be the first ever RUSH-sanctioned shows at these tracks.
“We’re excited to be able to continue to expand the RUSH Late Model brand throughout the state of New York,” stated RUSH Director Vicki Emig. “We’ve often had New York racers inquire about racing at different tracks. Dean Catlin approached us in November at the Northeast Racing Products Show in Syracuse about having RUSH Late Models at his track in 2018. We felt these Sunday dates would be the best bet as they won’t conflict with any of the New York weekly tracks nor Tour events. Skyline has stepped up to offer a great purse for these two weekly events.”
RUSH member racers will be able to participate at Skyline and accumulate points toward the Sweeney Weekly Series Championship and “Futures Cup” for those eligible teenage racers. In addition, eligible Pace Performance “Summer Chase” racers can accumulate points on the August 26 event. While membership is not mandatory to compete in any RUSH-sanctioned event, membership also includes a $100,000 excess participant accident policy, which is over and above drivers’ health insurance and speedways’ participant accident policy.
