Story By: JOHN SNYDER / ORANGE COUNTY FAIR SPEEDWAY – MIDDLETOWN, NY – The DIRTcar-sanctioned Big-Block Modifieds will share top billing with the United Racing Club (URC) Winged 360 Sprint Cars Saturday, July 15 “Construction Night” on the five-eighths-mile clay-surfaced Orange County Fair Speedway in Middletown, New York.
Drivers in both racing forms will compete in qualifying races that will set the fields for their respective feature events—30 laps for the Big-Block Modifieds and 25 laps for the URC Sprint Cars.
In addition, Orange County’s super active Sportsman division, often drawing nearly 50 entries, will complete the evening’s program with a full slate of qualifying races and a 20-lap feature event.
Construction Night honors the building trades and offers contractors discount admission tickets for their employees. Contact the Speedway Office 914-342-2573 up to Friday, July 14 to take advantage of the discount pricing. The night’s sponsors are Rapid Tire of Montgomery, New York, Orange & Rockland Utilities, Inc., and UDIG-NY.
URC is among the country’s oldest sprint car racing organizations, tracing its roots to 1947. Over the years, URC has raced at Orange County 72 times, fifth most among the 141 different tracks where the club has raced. Among his 920 career victories, Brett Hearn, Modified racing’s all-time winning driver, owns a pair of URC sprint car wins, both at Orange County.
Orange County’s 2023 strong contingent of Big-Block Modified drivers includes seven current and former division point champions. They are Matt Sheppard, Anthony Perrego, Brett Hearn, Jimmy Horton, Tommy Meier, Jerry Higbie, and Rich Eurich. Collectively they’ve won 367 feature races and 30 Modified point titles at the historic Middletown speedway.
On July 15, the Pits will open at 3:00 pm; the Drive-In and Stands at 4:30 pm. Racing begins at 6:30 pm
General Admission and Drive-In for the July 15 racing program is $20.00/$16.00 Senior and Military. Drive-In parking is $1.00. Party Deck $35.00 (2 person minimum, 4 maximum per table). Tower seats (if available) are $50.00 each. Children 12 and under are always free. Pit passes are $30.00 member, $35.00 non-member.