Firecracker 100 set at Champion

Champion Speedway will host its annual Firecracker 100 - also being billed as the California Asphalt Sprintcar Association's inaugural Mike McCreary Memorial 100 - with cars from Nevada, California, Oregon and Washington on Saturday night.

The event is serving as a tribute to McCreary, who passed away on Sept. 24, 2004 after a battle with pancreatic cancer. Just six days before of his death McCreary traveled from his home in Placerville, Calif., to watch the season-ending show at the Carson City track, where his racing career began in 1964.

McCreary was a two-time Northern Auto Racing Club champion and one of the co-founders of the California Asphalt Sprintcar Association (CASA). In his final race at Champion last year, McCreary won the Dash for Cash during the Firecracker 100 show.

"This show is being held in tribute to Mike McCreary and it will be their (CASA) biggest sprintcar show of the year," Champion General Manager Les Kynett said. "We've got some cars coming down from Washington and Oregon, so it should be just a stellar field of open wheel sprint cars."

Among the featured drivers will be Pat Bliss from Milwaukie, Ore., the brother of NEXTEL Cup driver Mike Bliss. Bliss finished 10th in an ASA Northwest Sprint Car Series event last Saturday night at Idaho Motor Speedway in Eagle, Idaho.

The two front-runners in the current CASA points standings are entered: Nick Rescino Jr. of San Francisco, who won Champion's "Salute to Indy" sprintcar 100-lap feature race on May 28, and San Jose rookie Nick Green.

Among the local entrants will be Minden driver Amy Barnes, Carson City's Bob Beck and Reno's Mike Ogden. A $7,500 purse will be up for the grabs, with $1,000 going to the winner.

Saturday's show will also include Legends, Late Model Sportsman and Hornets racing. One of the evening highlights will be a military jet flyover from Fallon Naval Air Station and a U.S. Marine Corps color guard presentation for the playing of the National Anthem.

"We're going to have a flyover, I believe with F-18 Phantoms, in tribute to our country and the Fourth of July," Kynett said. "This will be the first time that has ever happened, so I'd like to encourage fans to bring out there cameras and video cameras."

n Contact Dave Price at dprice@nevadaappeal.com or call 881-1220.

TICKET PRICES

Adults: $12

Seniors 62-and-over: $10

Juniors 13-17: $7

Children 6-12: $5

Children 5-under: Free

TIMES

Gates open: 4 p.m.

Hot laps: 4 p.m.

Qualifying: 6 p.m.

Racing: 7:15 p.m.