Content Provided By
VRA Media Contact
Lee Elder
VENTURA RACEWAY’S FALL CLASSIC HONORS MITCHELL
VENTURA, Calif. (Nov. 5, 2009) – Ventura Raceway has long
been an important player in the United States Auto Club’s West Coast
midget racing. Since the track’s founding, no track in the United
States has hosted more USAC events than Ventura.
So when Raceway promoter Jim Naylor says the Nov. 21 ARP presents
The J.W. Mitchell Fall Classic for USAC Midgets might be the most
important USAC race his venue has ever hosted, you have to pay
attention.
The Fall Classic is more important than the 18 nationally televised
races the track hosted in the early 1990s? Yep. More important than
races here that were part of the USAC national midget series? Yep.
Here’s why: The race is in the memory of the man it is named after, the late J.W. Mitchell.
“I want to make people aware of his racing career, his love for the
USAC Western Midgets,” said Nick Mitchell, the brother of J.W. “It’s
called a Classic but I think it’s more of a memorial to remember J.W.
We want to put on a good show and promote a good West Coast midget race
on dirt.”
The Classic’s purse, $16,875, pays a hefty $5,000 to the winner and
$300 just to start. The money and the fact that the race is slotted a
few days before the Turkey Night Grand Prix at Irwindale, when most of
the top midget teams in the country are expected to be in Southern
California anyway, is expected to attract a large entry.
Naylor said this week that midget teams from all over the country have expressed interest in the Fall Classic.
USAC’s Ford Focus Midgets and Junior Focus Midgets will also be on
the card. Spectator gates open at 3:30 p.m. and racing starts at 5:30.
Special event ticket prices will be in effect. They are: $18 for
general admission, $15 for seniors and military and kids aged 12 and
under get in free when accompanied by an adult.
J.W. Mitchell recorded his best USAC finish, ninth place, at
Ventura in 1999. Later that year he suffered severe injuries in a race
at Hanford Speedway. He succumbed to those injuries a few months later.
“We lost J.W. in a midget at Hanford,” Nick Mitchell said. “He
passed away in 2000. We just want to do something here for him, for
J.W. This is the ninth year since his passing.”
Nick Mitchell lives in Yorba Linda, Calif. and is himself a former
midget racer. His son, Matt Mitchell, now competes on USAC’s Western
Dirt Track Series and is expected to compete in the Fall Classic.
More information about Ventura Raceway is available at www.venturaraceway.com. More information about USAC is available at www.USAC.com.
