Story By: DAVE BUCHANAN / LANCASTER SPEEDWAY – LANCASTER, NY – With the long overdue arrival of spring in Western New York, it is finally time for the gates to swing open for the 60th season of racing at Lancaster National Speedway & Dragway. WNY’s Premier Motorsports & Event Facility gets in high gear with four events slated for the first week of the 2018 schedule.
It all starts Wednesday night with the first Cruise Night of the year. This weekly attraction at LNS&D is popular with automotive enthusiasts of all ages. General admission is free for anyone that enters through the front gate. Fans can check out the cars on display or watch the grudge drag racing. You can also take your own car down the drag strip for just $5. All of the security policies and procedures that were enacted last season will be in effect once again this year. The fun starts at 6 p.m.
Thursday night the stock car oval will come to life for the first time for an open practice session. All stock car teams are welcome to come out and shakedown their rides before opening day. Practice will take place from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Any fans wanting to come check out practice can sit in the grandstands for free. Limited concessions and the 12 Gates Brewing Beer Stand will be open for fans.
The Franco’s Pizza IHRA Drag Racing season starts Friday night with Test & Tune and Tech Inspection for all competitors at 5 p.m. This event is also free for all fans that want to sit in the grandstands. IHRA points racing starts on Friday, May 18 for all weekly classes.
Opening week at Lancaster culminates on Saturday with the season-opening event for the X-Press Signs Stock Car Series. The Queen City Clash 75 for the Race of Champions Modified Series features some of the top Modified teams in the region going head-to-head in the lid lifter for the 2018 Stock Car campaign. The RoC Super Stocks, Advance Auto Parts Street Stocks and Roaming Buffalo 4-Cylinders are also on the race card.
The competition should be wide open for the groundpounders as four different drivers won RoC Modified Series events at Lancaster last season. With addition of a fifth RoC race to the 2018 schedule, it means the road to the series championship is rooted at the home of Modified racing in WNY.
Pit gates will open at 2 p.m. on Saturday to allow teams enough time to get through tech inspection before practice begins at 4. Racing starts at 6:30 p.m. Admission for adults is $22, students are $10 and children 11 and under are free.
