{"id":13193,"date":"2012-08-22T17:14:10","date_gmt":"2012-08-22T17:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/?p=13193"},"modified":"2012-08-22T17:14:10","modified_gmt":"2012-08-22T17:14:10","slug":"gunter-davis-combine-to-bring-world-of-outlaws-late-model-series-action-to-winchester-speedway-this-saturday-night-aug-25","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/front-page-news\/gunter-davis-combine-to-bring-world-of-outlaws-late-model-series-action-to-winchester-speedway-this-saturday-night-aug-25\/","title":{"rendered":"Gunter & Davis Combine To Bring World of Outlaws Late Model Series Action To Winchester Speedway This Saturday Night (Aug. 25)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Successful Area Businessmen, Team Owners Continue Support Of Dirt Late Model Division<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"WINCHESTER, VA \u2013 Aug. 22, 2012 \u2013 Whom do fans and racers have to thank for bringing a World of Outlaws Late Model Series event to Winchester Speedway this Saturday night (Aug. 25)? Just look at the name of the $10,000-to-win race.<\/p>\n

The barnstorming WoO LMS stars and a host of regional and local standouts will compete for glory in the Ernie D\u2019s & Gunter\u2019s Honey 50, a race sponsored by two of dirt Late Model racing\u2019s biggest benefactors: Winchester Speedway owner Greg Gunter and Ernie Davis, a longtime car owner and sponsor (as well as a former driver) affectionately known as the \u2018Junk Man.\u2019<\/p>\n

It\u2019s successful, race-loving businessmen like Gunter, 65, of Berryville, Va., and Davis, 62, of Martinsburg, W.Va., who help keep the full-fender class rolling along in their home Mid-Atlantic region.<\/p>\n

\u201cGreg and Ernie are so much alike \u2013 they give back to the sport,\u201d said two-time WoO LMS champion Josh Richards, who plans to take advantage of a break in his NASCAR Nationwide Series schedule to enter Saturday night\u2019s program at the one-third-mile oval. \u201cEverybody\u2019s not in the situation where they can do that, but being that they are, and that they care enough to give back, shows what kind of people they are and shows how much they care about the sport.\u201d<\/p>\n

The owner and operator of Gunter\u2019s Honey in his hometown of Berryville since 1989, Gunter has been involved with local racing as a driver (he still periodically competes in the four-cylinder division), car owner (his 2012 effort with D.J. Myers of Greencastle, Pa., marks his 18th<\/sup> year fielding a dirt Late Model) and sponsor for decades. He entered racetrack promotion in 2007 when he leased Potomac Speedway in Budds Creek, Md. \u2013 he holds the lease there through 2018 and has an option to extend it another 20 years \u2013 and stepped up his involvement in 2010 by purchasing Winchester Speedway.<\/p>\n

Gunter has transformed Winchester during his three short years at the track\u2019s helm. He\u2019s not only made significant improvements \u2013 new additions include concrete walls (inside and outside), Musco lighting, ticket booths and the public address system, plus an update of the concession stands and a resurfacing of the high-banked track \u2013 but also established the speedway as a regular host of special dirt Late Model events like Saturday\u2019s WoO LMS spectacular.<\/p>\n

\u201cGreg has done an outstanding job revamping Winchester Speedway in the past three years,\u201d said Denise Hollidge, who manages the day-to-day operations of Gunter\u2019s tracks. \u201cThe time and money he has spent to update everything to make Winchester a top-notch facility is great, and Greg knows what it takes to race because he\u2019s a racer himself in the four-cylinder division. He looks out for the drivers and gives back as much as he can \u2013 not only to the drivers, but also the fans that support him weekly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Richards, 24, has witnessed first-hand Winchester\u2019s emergence under Gunter\u2019s guidance. He\u2019s been a regular visitor to the track for specials in recent years and has enjoyed great success, winning in eight of his last 12 starts there, including a victory in the speedway\u2019s inaugural WoO LMS event last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cGreg has put a lot into Winchester and made it an awesome racetrack,\u201d said Richards, whose plans to attack Winchester would only be scuttled if rain happens to postpone the NASCAR Nationwide Series event he is scheduled to run on Friday night at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway. \u201cThe last few years have really been a lot of fun because they\u2019ve steadily made the racing better. It seems like they\u2019re always making improvements and they\u2019re always having special shows that pay well.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to racing there again (on Saturday night). It\u2019s definitely one of my favorite places to race.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Richards plans to drive his father Mark\u2019s familiar Rocket Chassis house car No. 1 on Saturday night, all of his previous appearances at the track have come behind the wheel of Davis\u2019s No. 25. Since 2007 Richards has made most of his non-WoO LMS starts in equipment owned by Davis, making him intimately aware of Davis\u2019s support for local racing.<\/p>\n

\u201cErnie is awesome,\u201d bottom-lined Richards, who departed the WoO LMS as a regular in April to pursue his NASCAR dreams on the Nationwide Series. \u201cObviously he\u2019s been a car owner for me for quite a few years now, and I couldn\u2019t ask for a better relationship between Ernie, Connie (Davis\u2019s wife) and Keya (Davis\u2019s daughter) and myself personally. They\u2019re great friends of mine and I feel like they\u2019re part of our family now.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re die-hard race fans and racers, they\u2019ve always had really good cars over the years and they\u2019ve always given back to dirt Late Model racing,\u201d Richards continued. \u201cThey\u2019ve done a lot of things behind the scenes just to help the racers in different situations. Ernie\u2019s always putting up money to keep all the racers going, and that shows how much him and his family care about the sport, and how much it means to them.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou couldn\u2019t ask for better people, and everything they\u2019ve given back is very well appreciated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hollidge has similar praise for Davis, who maintains deep roots at Winchester Speedway. As a driver he won dozens of features and the 1992 dirt Late Model championship there (he stopped racing after suffering a back injury in a 2000 crash at Maryland\u2019s Hagerstown Speedway and transitioned to his current role as a car owner), and in the mid-1980s he even briefly co-owned the track with Doug Timmons.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think words can describe what Ernie has done for the sport of dirt track racing,\u201d said Hollidge. \u201cErnie has given so much over the years, not only to many speedways but to many drivers along the way. Ernie has a heart of gold and so much passion when it comes to racing. It\u2019s hard to believe that one man could do this.<\/p>\n

\u201cErnie always has that smile and a \u2018hello\u2019 for everyone around. He\u2019s a great man, and it\u2019s a shame auto racing doesn\u2019t have more Ernie Davises.\u201d<\/p>\n

Davis, who sold his namesake Ernie\u2019s Salvage Yard business several years ago but still oversees several other business interests, will co-sponsor Saturday\u2019s WoO LMS race and field a car in the action. Former WoO LMS Rookie of the Year Austin Hubbard of Seaford, Del., is scheduled to steer Davis\u2019s No. 25 at Winchester.<\/p>\n

Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky., will lead the WoO LMS charge to Winchester. The points leader and new single-season victory record holder (13 to date) enters the event tied with Richards for the top spot on the national tour\u2019s alltime win list, at 39.<\/p>\n

The WoO LMS roster will also include defending champion Rick Eckert of York, Pa., whose long history of success at Winchester includes two Winchester 200 victories and the 2010 Appalachian Mountain Speedweek event; 1998 Winchester 200 winner Chub Frank of Bear Lake, Pa.; 2006 series champion Tim McCreadie of Watertown, N.Y.; Georgians Clint Smith of Senoia and Shane Clanton of Fayetteville; Tim Fuller of Watertown, N.Y.; Vic Coffey of Caledonia, N.Y.; Pat Doar of New Richmond, Wis.; and Rookie of the Year contenders Bub McCool of Vicksburg, Miss., and Kent Robinson of Bloomington, Ind.<\/p>\n

The field will also feature talented challengers from throughout the region, including Myers, Winchester points leader Kenny Pettyjohn of Georgetown, Del., Jeremy Miller of Gettysburg, Pa., Dan Stone of Thompson, Pa., Jamie Lathroum of Mechanicsville, Md., Greg Satterlee of Rochester Mills, Pa. (Appalachian Mountain Speedweek winner at Winchester in June) and Winchester\u2019s Ronnie DeHaven Jr.<\/p>\n

General admission for Saturday\u2019s racing program, which also includes Winchester\u2019s Pure Stock and U-Car divisions, is $25 for adults and $5 for kids 6-12. Pit passes are $40.<\/p>\n

Gates will open at 3 p.m. with hot laps scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. and time trials to follow.<\/p>\n

Additional info on Winchester Speedway is available by logging on to www.winchestervaspeedway.com<\/a> or calling 301-481-8855 (office) or 540-667-8143 (raceday).<\/p>\n

For more information on the WoO LMS, visit www.worldofoutlaws.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Fans can also follow the WoO LMS on Twitter at Twitter.com\/WoOLateModels <\/a>and Facebook at Facebook.com\/WorldofOutlaws <\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Successful Area Businessmen, Team Owners Continue Support Of Dirt Late Model Division WINCHESTER, VA \u2013 Aug. 22, 2012 \u2013 Whom do fans and racers have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"publish_to_discourse":"","publish_post_category":"","wpdc_auto_publish_overridden":"","wpdc_topic_tags":"","wpdc_pin_topic":"","wpdc_pin_until":"","discourse_post_id":"","discourse_permalink":"","wpdc_publishing_response":"","wpdc_publishing_error":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[22,3,59,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","category-front-page-news","category-lucas-oil-late-model-dirt-series","category-upcoming-events"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13193"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13193\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13196,"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13193\/revisions\/13196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}