Danny Dietrich (48) and Lee Jacobs (81) on the gas during the 2019 Ohio Speedweek at Muskingum County Speedway in Zanesville Ohio. (Photo submitted)
Editor’s note: This article is submitted by Todd Ridgeway, an auto racing writer and photograhper for Area Auto Racing News.
Thanks to series owner Tony Stewart, the previously cancelled annual Ohio Sprint Speedweek has been reestablished and moved to new dates.
The 2020 edition of Ohio Sprint Speedweek featuring the Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions finally will take shape, officially, on Friday July 3, at Attica Raceway Park in Attica, Ohio.
Complete with nine events over a ten-day span, visiting seven tracks throughout the Buckeye State in the process, Ohio Sprint Speedweek will be as demanding as ever.
The nine-race campaign not only boasts an action-packed agenda, but the annual spectacle will attract some of the nation’s finest open wheel competitors, all chasing a chunk of the $11,000 Ohio Sprint Speedweek points fund, $4,000 of which being awarded to the Speedweek champion.
After the Attica visit, Speedweek will continue with a doubleheader at Fremont Speedway on Saturday and Sunday, July 4-5, followed by a takeover at Wayne County Speedway on Monday, July 6.
All four programs during the opening weekend of Speedweek will award $5,000 to the winners.
A scheduled rain date of Tuesday, July 7, will separate the first four Speedweek programs from the last five with action hitting high gear once again at Brushcreek Motorsports Complex in Peebles on Wednesday, July 8.
The trip to southern Ohio will be flanked by a stop at Muskingum County Speedway in Zanesville on Thursday, July 9.
Like the first four events on the schedule, action at Brushcreek and Muskingum will award the winner $5,000.
The Buckeye State will cap off with a three-race stretch of high dollar events, the first being the coveted $15,554-to-win Dean Knittel Memorial at Portsmouth Raceway Park on Friday, July 10.
A previously scheduled Sharon Speedway doubleheader, featuring the annual Lou Blaney Memorial and the sought-after Justin Snyder’s Salute to the Troops, will conclude Ohio Sprint Speedweek on Saturday and Sunday, July 11-12.
The Blaney Memorial and Salute to the Troops will each award $6,000 top prizes.
A stout contingent of full-time All Stars will take-on Ohio’s finest, as well as a number of expected outside invaders, during the nine-race Ohio Sprint Speedweek schedule including two-time and defending All Star champion and 2020 leading winner, Aaron Reutzel with five victories to date on the season.
Cory Eliason is second in points followed by Danny Dietrich, Brock Zearfoss, Rookie of the Year contender Zeb Wise, Paul McMahan, Tony Stewart, Greg Wilson, Canadian hotshot Skylar Gee, and Josh Baughman rounds out the top ten.