FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 21, 2014
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Clair Cup Returns To Willamette Speedway This Weekend

by Ben Deatherage
LEBANON, Oregon- The Willamette Speedway will have quite a busy weekend coming up with the annual Clair Cup, this year sponsored by Les Schwab Tires, taking place on Saturday May 24th and Sunday the 25th.  Ran in honor of longtime Willamette Speedway owner/operator Clair Arnold it has become one of the crown jewel Dirt Late Model events of the Western United States producing very large car count and great racing.  The event won the “First Class Promotion Award” at the annual Western Auto Racing Promoters Association workshop in November of 2012.

Classes on Saturday May 24th will be the X-Factor Race Cars Super Late Models, Wirth Wireless IMCA Modifieds, Albany & Eastern Railroad Sportsman, and Street Stocks while Sunday the 25th will feature X-Factor Race Cars Super Late Models, Wirth Wireless IMCA Modifieds, Crocker’s Cars Super Sports, and Albany & Eastern Railroad Sportsman.  Don't forget that the weekend will be kicked off with the ASCS-Northwest Region 360 Sprint on Firday May 23rd with Street Stocks as the support class.

Although the first Clair Cup was contested in July of 2010  tribute race in honor of Clair Arnold was held on Saturday April 25th shortly after his passing.  Taking the lead on lap ten Justin Dittman would show the way the rest of the distance at the historic 1/3-mile clay oval.  Putting a clinic on the high side of the race track, Dittman would win the race by half a lap.  It would mark the first win at Willamette for both Justin and  his car owners at the time Tom and Sherry Points.

“That night I missed the trophy dash and I remember Rob Mayea doing a polish victory lap in honor of Clair,” commented Dittman, “that meant a lot to us drivers. I also  remember sitting in staging for the main event and thought how cool it would be to win my first race on that night.  The week before Russ Sell and I had a great battle for twenty laps and Russ won.  I remember Clair coming up to me and saying how he wished I would have won. I told him I’d do it next week.  And I did.”

In 2010 some big money was put on the line for the winner of the feature and was billed as the Clair H. Arnold Memorial.  The race would have a wild finish as on the last lap of the eighty-one lap main event a crash would take out some top contenders in the backstretch.  Three-time track champion and veteran Russ Sell would win the event when it was all said and done.

“That was a cool deal,” said Sell afterward, “That was probably the biggest win of my career. I remember that race was pretty exciting in the end.  Clair was a big part of what made Willamette and I feel honored to have won a race in his memory.”

The 2011 edition would see another wild installment with several lead changes taking place.  Lompoc, California's Mike Johnson, driving for Rob Mayea, would recover from an early race spin to get the lead around lap fifty-nine.  Jeremy Shank would make the pass on lap sixty-five only to lose the lead to Johnson three laps later and Johnson going on to win the race.