FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 2, 2011

SSP Releases Details on Silver Spring Speedway Reunion Plans for Saturday, June 11

Newberrytown, PA – Both the Susquehanna Speedway Park and Silver Spring Speedway began racing back in 1954. Both tracks have a long history of great racing and could be considered “sister tracks” as they ran many of the same divisions throughout the years. They were even both owned and operated by members of the Kreitzer family at one time or another. Silver Spring Speedway owner’s Will Kreitzer owned and operated Susquehanna for two years (1969 & 1970) and his son Alan did the same from 1990 to 1992.

Today, Silver Spring Speedway no longer exists however many of its drivers now call Susquehanna Speedway Park home. Although the Super Sportsman are not a part of SSP’s weekly program for Stock Car Saturday night, they will make a special guest appearance on Saturday night, June 11 for the Silver Spring Speedway Reunion special event. Along with the Super Sportsman, the Late Models and Street Stocks will be on the racing card, which are all three of the divisions that raced at Silver Spring Speedway on a weekly basis before in closed for good at the end of the 1995 racing season. The PENNMAR Vintage Cars will also be racing as well as they were the club that raced at the very first event at Silver Spring Speedway on a Wednesday night in the summer of 1954 when the track held its first event.

Ground was broken for Silver Spring Speedway, a 3/8 mile clay oval in the fall of 1953, when the PENNMAR Racing Club approached Cumberland County businessman Ray Garver Sr. about building a racetrack for the club. By the following summer in 1954, the new speedway was ready for racing action and an era of great weekly side-by-side racing action was born.

Many drivers raced at Silver Spring Speedway, with some families having brothers, cousins, uncles, nephews, dads, sons and even daughters racing throughout its history. When talking to people that have gone to the track one thing keeps coming up - “Silver Spring Speedway was a family track that always felt like home to a lot of race teams.” The same can be said about the current present-day type of weekly racing at SSP.

On Saturday night, June 11, the Susquehanna Speedway Park will host the Silver Spring Speedway Reunion featuring a pre-race autograph session for all track champions in the Super Sportsman, Late Models and Street Stock divisions from Silver Spring Speedway. A list of all drivers to be invited are listed below. Each driver participating in the autograph session will receive a complimentary pit pass for themselves and a guest. Any track champion wishing to participate in the event should confirm with SSP management by contacting them at 717-292-1696 or sspracing@hotmail.com.

Super Sportsman Track Champions (Silver Spring Speedway)
Mel Kreiser (1954)
Ken Hurley (1955, 1956, 1964)
Ron Tilley (1957, 1958)
Deacon Gearhart (1959)
Lynn Weibley (1960, 1961)
Jim Sheaffer (1962, 1963, 1965)
Russ Smith (1966, 1971)
Dick Snare (1967, 1968)
Kramer Williamson (1969)
Lee Parthemore (1970)
Fred Putney (1972, 1976)
Elvin Felty (1973)
Jim Wilbur (1974)
Jerry Wolfe (1975)
John Murphy (1977, 1978, 1981, 1982, 1986)
Gary Wolford (1979, 1980)
Larry Jackson (1983, 1988, 1989)
Dwight Leib (1984)
Howie Locke (1985, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1997, 1998)
Joey Kuhn (1987)
Rich Eichelberger (1990)
Dave Calaman (1994)
Danny Hager (1995)
John Stoner (1996)
Carmen Perigo Jr. (1999, 2001)
Mark Smith (2000)
Frankie Herr (2002, 2003, 2004)
Pat Cannon (2005)

Late Models Track Champions (Silver Spring Speedway)
Bill Madden (1961)
Larry Vogelsong (1963, 1964)
Earl Clay (1965)
John Fitting (1966)
John Smith (1967, 1970)
Bob Wilbur (1968, 1969)
Ken Neiswender (1971)
Bob Moyer (1972, 1975)
John Ebersole (1973, 1974)
Don Comerer (1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1981)
Gordie Kohr (1980)
Jeff Smith (1982)
Bill Burns (1983)
Jim Shuttlesworth (1984)
Ed Jones (1985)
Harold Beinhower (1986)
Jim Bernheisel (1987, 1991)
Jeff Leiphart (1988)
Charlie Kope (1989)
Carl Billet (1990, 1993, 1994, 2003, 2004, 2005)
Smokey Frye (1991)
Mark Billet (1995, 1996, 1998)
Scott Richwine (1997)
Ron Little Sr. (1999)
Jason Covert (2000, 2001)
Scott McCann (2002)

Street Stocks Track Champions (Silver Spring Speedway)
Carl Graves (1982, 1983, 1984, 1985)
Joe Whitely (1986)
Larry Miller (1987, 1993)
Nick Loranzo (1988)
Ray Hoke (1989)
Richie Hughes (1990, 1992)
Gary Potts (1991)
Jeff Condran (1994, 1995)
Mike Brenneman (1996)
Kory Sites (1997, 1998)
Kirby Sites (1999)
Scott Dellinger (2000)
Tim Fedder (2001)
Gerry Stutting Jr. (2002)
Stan Wanner (2003, 2004)
Paul Morgan (2005)

This will be a wonderful evening for all drivers, crews and fans to remember the great racing action at Silver Spring Speedway and enjoy a night of exciting side-by-side racing action at the Susquehanna Speedway Park. More details will be released in the future as they become available.

- 2011 SSP Season Opening Weekend -
The 2011 season opener of Stock Car Saturday Night will be on Saturday, April 9, with the Late Models, Street Stocks, Xtreme Stock Cars and the PA Sprint Series. The pit gates will open at 3:30 p.m. Grandstand gates will open at 4:00 p.m. Warm-ups begin at 5:30 p.m. with qualifying races at 6:00 p.m. followed by consolation races and feature events.

On Sunday night, April 10, the Super Sprint Cars will return to SSP for the Sprint Car “King of the Hill” Spring Classic. They 410 cubic inch powered cars will be joined by the wingless ARDC midgets. The pit gates will open 3:30 p.m. Grandstand gates will open at 4:00 p.m. Warm-ups begin at 5:30 p.m. with qualifying races at 6:00 p.m. followed by consolation races and feature events. Last year, Don Kreitz won the thrilling 25-lap Sprint Car feature event over Tyler Walker.

SSP will begin its pre-season with four open practice sessions for any type of racecar on Saturday, March 26; Wednesday, March 30; Saturday, April 2; and Wednesday, April 6. The gates will open at 5:00 p.m. with practice sessions rotating for each class from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. During the season, SSP will also host Wednesday Night Test & Tune Sessions on April 20; May 4; May 18; June 1; June 15; June 29; July 20; August 3; August 17; August 31; September 14; September 21; October 19 and October 26. All Wednesday night practices will run from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. as well.

For the upcoming season, the Susquehanna Speedway Park will also continue its popular fan program called “Hometown Heroes.” On selected nights throughout the 2011 season, the Hometown Heroes Program recognizes drivers from particular cities and towns throughout Pennsylvania and Maryland. Before the races begin, the drivers have the opportunity to display their cars and meet the fans at the front gate of the speedway. The drivers will also be interviewed during the night’s racing program. Also, all fans entering the speedway from that driver’s hometown being honored will be admitted FREE to the grandstands by showing proper photo identification at the ticket booth.

The Susquehanna Speedway Park is located midway between Harrisburg and York off I-83 to exit 32, then 1.4 miles NW on SR382 to York Road, then 1.3 miles south. For more information, contact the speedway offices at (717) 292-1696 or visit online at sspracing.net. On race day, use the track phone at (717) 938-9170 for up-to-date information at the “Big Track” and (717) 932-1608 for the “Outback Track.”