If you’re an automobile racing fan living in the Susquehanna River Valley, this is the perfect time to take in a race — or several — as multiple-high level events will be taking place within an easy drive of the region.
On Sunday night, Super Late Model Appalachian Mountain Speedweek wraps up with a race being contested at the Selinsgrove Speedway.
And while one dirt-based series is wrapping up its Pennsylvania speedweek, two others gear up for action.
While the USAC Sprint Car Series Eastern Storm won’t include stops in Selinsgrove or Bloomsburg — as it has in the past couple of years — there are still big-league USAC races being contested close by as part of the storm. The series got underway this past week with stops at Grandview Speedway in Bechtelsville and Big Diamond Speedway in Pottsville. Tonight, the series races at Williams Grove Speedway, Mechanicsburg ,before wrapping up with races Saturday at Port Royal and Sunday in Kutztown.
And just as USAC’s Eastern Storm wraps up, Pennsylvania Sprint Speedweek — featuring 410 sprint cars and the Pennsylvania Posse — will begin. The high-profile series of races includes: June 23 and 30, Williams Grove; June 24 and 26, Lincoln Speedway, Abbottstown; June 25, BAPS Motor Speedway, York Haven; June 27, Grandview Speedway; June 28, Hagerstown, Md.; July 1 and 3, Port Royal; and July 2, Selinsgrove Speedway.
In addition to a bevy of dirt-track racing events, other forms of motorsports are also in action close by in the coming weeks. An event I have attended multiple times in the past — IMSA’s six-hour endurance classic in Watkins Glen, N.Y. — is slated for Sunday, June 25.
A sense of excitement typically permeates around the Watkins Glen race as a number of the teams and drivers in action are competing after having just returned to the United States from racing in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, in France.
The final big-league racing weekend to be completed close by during this summer stretch comes July 21-23 as NASCAR’s ARCA, truck, Xfinity and Cup divisions will be in action at Pocono Raceway. I’ll have more on that in a few weeks.
While those are major events taking place within a roughly two-hour drive of our area, there are other events upcoming which also fall within a reasonable drive.
Assuming the event isn’t canceled by the wildfires, Formula 1 races in Montreal this weekend. That’s just a seven-hour drive from Milton, and the closest F1 race to our region — in spite of the series racing three times in the U.S. Montreal is geographically closer than Miami, Austin or Las Vegas.
The closest IndyCar race to Milton will take place Sunday, July 2, in Lexington, Ohio. While I have taken the five-hour drive to Ohio in each of the past two years, that race isn’t on my schedule this year. I do, however, have my fingers crossed that I’ll be able to make another IndyCar race, later this summer.
NASCAR’s truck series races in Lexington less than one week later, on Saturday, July 8.
The New England states are also a reasonable drive from our area. Tony Stewart’s all-star SRX series kicks off Thursday, July 13, with a race on the short track in Stafford, Conn. That’s a four-and-one-half-hour drive from Milton.
That race is being held just prior to the NASCAR weekend in Loudon, N.H., a six-and-one-half-hour drive from Milton.
SRX will then compete in Barre, Vt., July 20 and Radford, Va., July 27. The Vermont race is roughly a seven-hour drive from this region, while Radford is six hours away.