Jennerstown hosts ‘faster pastor’ race

JENNERSTOWN, PA (May 8, 2005) … Mixing church and state may be politically incorrect in the world of government, but that won’t be an issue this Saturday evening at Jennerstown Speedway as the half-mile paved Somerset County oval will host its inaugural ‘Faster Pastor’ race.

“The concept really took off,” said speedway general manager Larry Mattingly. “We were looking for an opportunity to offer area churches a day of fellowship at Jennerstown and decided to use the ‘Faster Pastor’ race as a way of generating interest. We expected that five or so members of the clergy would be willing to take part. We ended up having to cut off the number of interested pastors at 25!”

The area ministers will be racing entry level four-cylinder hobby stock division cars, in what has grown to become three separate contests throughout the evening.

“We were planning on using cars that were constructed by career technical education students in our ‘Racers of the Future’ program, but we have had to recruit some entries from our regular hobby stock drivers as well,” said Mattingly. “Everyone will have to share a car, but that shouldn’t be a problem with this group.”

In addition to the race events the speedway will also present a free Christian concert from 2-4 PM, featuring the group ‘Cause A Stir’.

In the on-track NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series activity, competitors in the super late model division are still reeling from the disqualification of points leader Mark Smith from last weeks twin 30-lap feature contests.

Smith has been forced to forfeit all points and prize money earned on June 4, and has been fined $1,000 for having an illegal unapproved, non-operational, part installed in his car.

The action has also cost Smith the points lead in the battle for season track championship honors. Tommy Beck, who inherited last weeks feature win following Smith’s DQ, is the new leader by two-points over defending 2004 champion Garry Wiltrout. Two-time 2005 winner Barry Awtey is third, just 14-points behind.

The super late models will again headline the five-division show, with another twin 30-lap feature event attraction in the spotlight. Also on the race card will be action for the late model, street stock, PA legacy and hobby stocks classes.

Spectator gates open at 5:00, with the first qualifying heat set to begin at 6:30 PM.