Story By: JIM BALENTINE / MICHAELS MERCER RACEWAY – MERCER, PA – Michaels Mercer raceway will return to racing competition on Saturday July 20th and also the “Mercer kids club” will return after promoter Mike Mathieson and Jim and Donna Balentine discussed ways to bring the club back.
Each week every child under the age of 13 will receive a ticket as they enter the grandstand gate. Prior to hot laps 6 tickets will be drawn at random behind the grandstands and the children with the matching tickets will hop onto the Mercer kids club limo kart and will be driven through the pit area to see the cars and drivers up close while safely in the limo kart at all times. They will return to behind the grandstands for their parents to pick them up. Each winning child will receive a Mercer raceway racing gift bag to take home.
The other tickets not chosen will be held until intermission and one lucky child chosen at random will be able to meet each feature winner on the front stretch as the “Mercer fan of the night.”
“As I have always said about everything..it’s all about the kids and we have to get the kids involved and keep them coming with their parents to the race tracks to keep the sport alive.” Says announcer Jim Balentine..”The former Mercer kids club was such an important and popular event that it’s time to bring it back and to be able to go into the pits and see all the cars up close along with the drivers is something I wish I could’ve done as a youngster back in the day… kids weren’t allowed in the pits when I was growing up so I had to sit in the stands with my mother to watch the race car that my dad worked on, so this is a great way to be able to see the drivers and the cars up close and some of them with the engines running should provide a thrill for these youngsters.”
Grandstands will open up at five and the lucky winners will be drawn approximately 530 to go into the pits so be sure to arrive early for your child to have a chance to ride in the limo kart.