ONA, WV-It’s hard to believe but the 2024 season at the Ona Speedway has already reached it’s mid-way point. In a season that has already saw 21 different drivers win feature races at the track and lots of incredible racing, the second half of the season is full of can’t miss races. The first of those will be Saturday’s American Legion Post 177 Mid-Season Championships, the only event held at the speedway during the month of July.
The racing card Saturday will be jam packed. All Season’s Powersports Late Models, LG Pressure Washing Modifieds, Haunted Majestic Street Stocks, Contempo Trophy & Awards UCAR’s, Three Sixteen Motorsports INEX Legends Car Pro, Three Sixteen Motorsports INEX Legends Car Semi-Pro, Brody Nash Century 21 Crown Vics, and Crazy Compacts will all be on the racing card for feature races. The UCAR division will also run a 10 lap Dark Horse Dash that will feature drivers who have never won in the division or drivers who haven’t won since before the 2020 season. In addition to all of the great racing action, there will be a Pre-Race Track Walk from 6:30-7:00 pm where fans will be allowed to walk the historic 7/16ths mile oval that once hosted NASCAR Cup Series races.
With the second half of the season starting, points battles will start to take center stage. The Modified, Street Stock, and UCAR divisions are currently the divisions that have the tightest points battles. Saturday starts the run of the final 5 points races for each Ona Speedway division.
No points battle is tighter than the one in LG Pressure Washing Modifieds between Jeremy Cooper and Wes Smith. After a slow start to the season, in part to having to debut a new race car after losing their primary car in a wreck at the Bristol Motor Speedway, Jeremy Cooper has won the past two Modified feature events and currently holds a 5 point lead over Wes Smith, the winner of the first feature event of the season. With the average car count in the division and the speed shown by these two drivers, what will likely settle the championship is which driver wins the most races and scores the most fast time bonus points in these final 5 points races.
The Haunted Majestic Street Stock championship battle see’s the top 4 drivers separated by only 10 points. Ona Speedway legend Kenny Chapman currently holds a 6 point lead over Tommy Rowe, 9 point lead over Mike Christy, and a 10 point lead over Marty Powers. The Street Stock division has had the most parity of any division at the speedway with an impressive five different winners in five races. The amount of competition and hard, exciting, clean racing in the division has been one for the record books. With the competition level and number of races remaining, it’s a toss up which one of these four drivers will win the championship in September. What is for certain is each remaining race will be crucial in this battle for the championship.
Nick Fowler currently holds a 16 point lead over Jake Burgroff and a 20 point lead over Jay Workman in the battle for the Contempo Trophy & Awards UCAR track championship. While not as close as the other two championship battles, this battle holds much intrigue. First, Fowler has been a strong contender from the start of his driving career at Ona and is chasing his first career track championship. Fowler found a lot of speed this season and has held the points lead since the second race. Then you have Burgroff, who many see as perhaps the next driver to get their first career win, in the second position. Burgroff was a model of consistency the first three races, but is coming off of two DNF’s in a row.
Then we get to third place points runner, veteran driver Jay Workman. Workman has been at all 5 races this season, but didn’t get to start the first race after a crash in practice, earning Workman zero points. With Fowler and Burgroff having essentially a one race jump on Workman, Workman has fought back to only be 20 points out of the lead. Part of how he has done it has been four fast time bonus points plus he is the only driver with more than one win. Workman would of made up even more points had he not broke from the lead the last race on June 29th. This all sets up an intriguing battle as Fowler looks to hold on to his lead, Burgroff looks to make up points from two DNF’s, and Workman hot on their heels making up points. With a strong car count weekly in this division, large point swings can happen in just one night should one driver have trouble. This is sure to set up an epic run to the West Virginia Lottery Season Championships in September.
Racing will start Saturday at 7:00 pm. General admission is only $15 for ages 13 and up and FREE for ages 12 and under. All access pit passes are $35 for ages 13 and up and FREE for ages 12 and under. The speedway will also host American Legion Post 177 Test N’ Tune Night on Thursday, July 18th with open practice from 5:00 pm until dark. Thursday’s practice costs are $25 for a race car and driver and $10 for a pit pass.
For more information visit www.onaspeedway.com.
