ERIE, Mich. (January 15, 2016) – Butler Speedway owner/promoter Denny Donaldson and promoter partners Bob and Karen Garrett have announced that the two leaders in sprint car racing in Michigan, Butler Speedway and Engine Pro Sprints On Dirt presented by ARP, will continue their partnership that began in 1982 by teaming up for two races this season.

Louis Heyward built Butler Speedway in 1952.  Louie Freeburn, along with his brother and father Virgil, bought the track from Heyward in 1957.  Butler was a dying track and they proceeded to turn it around and into one of the most successful short tracks in Michigan and the birthplace of sprint car racing in the state.  Freeburn was the promoter of Butler Speedway for nearly 25 years.

Legendary driver Denny Donaldson is now into his twentieth year as the owner of Butler Speedway, continuing the speedway’s rich history as the home of weekly sprint car racing in Michigan.

Donaldson raced for twenty years and won six track championships at Butler Speedway and 150 feature events overall before retiring in 1991.  Donaldson was a winner whether racing sprint cars, modifieds, or late models.  Denny’s father, Ralph Donaldson was also a standout driver; both Ralph and Denny are members of the Michigan Motor Sports Hall of Fame.  The next two generations, Derek Donaldson and Nick Nelson, are carrying on the family tradition, following Ralph and Denny with micro sprint careers of their own.

Butler Speedway will host Engine Pro Sprints On Dirt presented by ARP races on Saturday, May 21, and Saturday, August 13.

For more information about Butler Speedway, go to www.butlerspeedway.net.  For more information about Engine Pro, go to www.enginepro.com.  For more information about Sprints On Dirt, go to www.sprintsondirt.com.

For the first time in several years, Engine Pro Sprints On Dirt presented by ARP will be returning to Muskegon, Michigan’s Thunderbird Raceway in 2016.

Thunderbird Raceway began life in 1958 as Birchwood Speedway under the ownership of Wink Bleich.  SOD raced at Thunderbird under Roger Joneson for the first time in 1982.  SOD last raced at Thunderbird in 2008 and the track closed after the 2012 season.

In September 2015, Tom Sprague, current owner of Winston Speedway in Rothbury, purchased the track.  Dalton Township’s planning commission gave preliminary approval for a special racing use permit to Sprague, and township commissioners voted unanimously in favor of reopening the track.  Numerous updates and improvements are underway, and the township is expected to give their final stamp of approval once the racetrack is back up to code.  The track is scheduled to open in mid-May.

Sprague has turned a few laps himself.  He raced street stocks; dirt and pavement late models; sportsmans; and IMCA and Michigan modifieds.  Among the tracks Sprague raced at are Thunderbird Raceway, Winston Speedway, Crystal Motor Speedway, I-96 Speedway, Berlin Raceway, and Kalamazoo Speedway.

Engine Pro Sprints On Dirt presented by ARP will race at Thunderbird Raceway on Saturday, July 9^th.

For more information about Thunderbird Raceway, go to www.thunderbirdracewaymi.com.  For more information about Engine Pro, go to www.enginepro.com.

Owner/promoter Tim Dibble has announced that SOD will return to Hartford Speedway where SOD first raced in 1995, for two dates in 2016.

While the track may have formally become a race track in 1931, there are records of racing there dating back twenty years earlier. A YouTube circa early 1950s video titled “Building Hartford Motor Speedway” shows the beginning of the transition from the Van Buren County Fair race track to Hartford Speedway stating that Hartford Motor Speedway was born from a vision by a woman! Her name was Betty Lue Cross, now Betty Lue Burton. The speedway started as a dirt track, was eventually paved, and then converted back to its current dirt surface.

Promoters Tim and Leah Dibble were quite familiar with Michigan’s largest and fastest dirt track when they took the reins of the speedway in 2014. Tim raced factory stocks at the speedway for several years prior to taking over its operation in 2014. Under their ownership, the speedway has seen numerous improvements and in 2016 will see the track racing surface widened to 120 feet in the turns.

Hartford Speedway, home of the wicked fast half mile, 2016 dates for the ever-popular Engine Pro Sprints On Dirt presented by ARP races are Friday, May 20th and Friday, September 2nd.

The sun and surf of the West Coast of Michigan, that is.  After a two year absence, SOD will race at Winston Speedway in Rothbury, Michigan, again in 2016 on July 15^th.

SOD first raced at Winston Speedway on May 24, 1981; Ron Semelka was the feature winner.  SOD has made several appearances at the 3/8 mile track over the years.  In one feature, the leader slowed down after taking the white flag and was passed on the last lap; he thought it was the checkered flag.  On another occasion, the leader made contract with the front stretch wall at the white flag and also failed to win.

Track manager Dan Dykman is no stranger to dirt track racing himself.  He is the owner of Dykman Motorsports; the team raced 2 cars in 2015.  Dykman drove a Pro Stock and Steve McClees was behind the wheel of a Michigan Dirt Mod.  McClees won the first time driving for Dykman Motorsports.

The July 15^th SOD race will be the first race of a two-day weekend for SOD with Crystal Motor Speedway on the schedule for the following night.

K2W Precision, Inc. is located in a small Dutch rooted community which is spread across the flat rich farmland plains, of Northwest Iowa. “Keizer,” a Dutch word, with a translated meaning of “Emperor” or “Empire,” was chosen to distinguish its presence in the racing wheel industry based on performance and engineering, and backed by service. K2W Precision is and will continue to be the “Keizer” of the custom racing wheel industry.

K2W Precision has partnered with Engine Pro Sprints On Dirt presented by ARP to display the new 2016 SOD spec tires mounted on Keizer Sprint Wheels at the 2015 Performance Racing Industry (PRI) Trade Show in Indianapolis, December 10-12. Stop by booth 2801 to see the new SOD tires and the full line of K2W Precision and Keizer Racing Wheels products.

For more information or to connect with SOD at the PRI show, call or text 734-309-RACE (7223).