Portsmouth Raceway Park
Fast Facts: Rhino Ag Dirt Track World Championship
By Robert Holman
DirtonDirt.com weekend editor
38th annual Rhino Ag Dirt Track World Championship
(Complete DTWC coverage)
Dates: Oct. 18-20 (modifieds only on Thursday; Late Model prelims on Friday; modified and Late Model features Saturday)
Track: Portsmouth (Ohio) Raceway Park (high-banked 3/8-mile clay oval).
Purse: $100,000-to-win Late Model feature and $3,000-to-win feature for non-qualifiers.
Sanction: Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
Last year’s winner: Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va.
Tickets: $60 for three-day general admission ($40 for ages 12-17 and $25 for ages 7-11); $70 for three-day pit pass (cash only). All pre-sale tickets must be picked up at the will-call window at the general admission gate. For more information, call (740) 858-6661 or email portsraceway@hotmail.com.
Websites: lucasdirt.com or portsraceway.com
Track phone: (740) 354-3278
Primary race sponsors: Rhino Ag and Optima Batteries
Pay-per-view: Via subscription at Lucas Oil Racing TV
Notes: The Rhino Ag Dirt Track World Championship is the season finale for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series. … For the fourth year in a row, the Carl Short-promoted race pays a race-record $100,000, matching the season-high first-place purse for Eldora Speedway’s Dream. … Jonathan Davenport of Blairsville, Ga., has clinched the Lucas Oil Series championship. … Jason Jameson of Lawrenceburg, Ind., and Brandon Sheppard of New Berlin, Ill., won Lucas Oil Series races at PRP earlier this year. … Scott Bloomquist set a track record of 13.840 seconds (114 mph) in September. … Double sets of heat races Friday will use passing points to set up the feature lineup. … The top-26 drivers who fail to transfer into the DTWC (via preliminary events) will be eligible to start the $3,000-to-win the non-qualifiers race. The winner of the non-qualifiers race has the choice of keeping their $3,000 winnings, or forfeiting their earnings to start last in the main event. … The non-qualifiers’ race is known as the Jim Dunn Memorial, honoring the late first winner of the DTWC who rallied from the rear for a stirring victory in 1981 at Pennsboro. … Eddie Carrier Jr. (track champion) of Salt Rock, W.Va., and Brandon Fouts (2018 Gator 50 winner) of Kite, Ky., both have guaranteed starting spots. … The DTWC has had 25 different winners. … Portsmouth is the seventh track to host the DTWC; this marks the race’s seventh straight year at PRP. … There have been four winners in the six DTWC events held at Portsmouth. … Brandon Sheppard and Scott Bloomquist have two victories each, Josh Richards and Jimmy Owens have one apiece. … Sheppard is the race’s youngest winner at 20 in 2013. … Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky., is the only home-state winner to capture the DTWC, earning $60,000 for his 2003 victory at Bluegrass Speedway in Bardstown, Ky. ... Though 21 of the 37 DTWCs were held in West Virginia (18 at Pennsboro and three at West Virginia Motor Speedway), Richards is the first West Virginia native to win the race. … The track seats 4,000 spectators with 300 more seats in the pits. … The modified feature pays $4,000-to-win. … A complete program for legends cars is on Friday’s card.
DTWC winners
1981: Jim Dunn, Roseville, Ohio
DTWC purse
16.-26. $200
