IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

January 30, 2006 McCarl Eyes $50,000 Triple Crown Challenge Bonus Lonnie Wheatley GIBSONTON, Fla. (January 29, 2006) – Terry McCarl is in the proverbial catbird’s seat after topping the opening leg of East Bay Raceway Park’s 30th Annual Winter Nationals by racing to victory lane in Saturday night’s O’Reilly ASCoT presented by Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores Ronald Laney Memorial in the finale of the Eighth Annual “King of the 360’s”. With the victory, McCarl is the lone driver eligible for the $50,000 Fast Lane Apparel Triple Crown Challenge. The next step is for McCarl to master the wingless portion of East Bay’s Winter Nationals, with the O’Reilly Sprint Bandits Tour N’ Topless series bringing traditional sprint cars back to Florida for the first time in 25 years. “I’d planned on running all three parts of it from the beginning,” McCarl commented after Saturday night’s victory. “I’ve only run a wingless car just once before and that was at Knoxville a few years back, so it could be kinda interesting.” McCarl will take on a talented field of at least 40 of the nation’s top wingless chauffeurs beginning Monday night, with Wednesday night’s Sprint Bandits TNT main event offering up $10,000 to win. After that, the Sprint Car portion of East Bay’s Winter Nationals wraps up with the 410-ci Winged portion on February 2-4, with the Saturday night, February 4, winner cashing in another $10,000. If McCarl can top both the February 1 410-ci wingless Sprint Car feature and the February 4 410-ci winged Sprint Car feature, he’ll rake in the $50,000 Triple Crown Challenge bonus offered by Fast Lane Apparel. Winning one of the two remaining legs would be worth another $5,000. While McCarl drove Mark Burch’s Morgan Farms/Engler No. 1m WolfWeld to victory lane in the season opener for the O’Reilly American Sprint Cars on Tour, he’ll return to his familiar Wesmar-powered Big Game Tree Stands/Bosma Poultry No. 24 mount for the final two legs at East Bay. Complete results, recaps and coverage of the O’Reilly Sprint Bandits Tour ‘N Topless series at East Bay Raceway Park will be available at www.sprintbandits.com. Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board! or Email KARNACto send a letter to the editor!