After a long coronavirus hiatus and a successful 2020 season debut last Friday, Lernerville Speedway turns to an annual tradition as it hosts the 14th annual World of Outlaws Late Model Series Firecracker 100 Weekend.

The three days of racing begins Thursday and runs through to Saturday’s main event that pays $30,000 to the winner.

“I was part of the team who helped launch the event back in 2007, so to see where it started and where it has come to, it’s a special event every year,” Lernerville track announcer Eric Westendorf said. “We’ve built this to be not just a race but an event.”

Weather permitting, gates open at 5 p.m. Thursday and Friday and at 4 p.m. Saturday. Racing starts with hot laps at 6 p.m. each evening.

The finale will be broadcast live at 9 p.m. on the CBS Sports Network. It is the World of Outlaws 2020 debut on national television.

“It’s a great opportunity for our track to be seen on a national stage,” Westendorf said. “It’s a great opportunity for our drivers and sponsors. It’s a unique opportunity we haven’t had before.”

Westendorf said while the finale has been a 100-lap race for the first 13 years, Saturday’s final will be 50 laps because of television time constraints.

“When we first announced that, there was some backlash and people upset about it, but I think it has the potential to be a better product because 100 laps is a long time,” he said. “When you have just 50 laps, you can’t really sit back and wait. You really have to go for it.”

Westendorf said local drivers such as Michael Norris, Jared Miley, Greg Satterlee and others have a good chance to win it going up against the national drivers Saturday night.

“The $30,000 payday for one of our local guys in front of a national audience would really be huge,” Westendorf said.

Leading up to Saturday’s finale, there will be $6,000-to-win preliminary events Friday and Saturday.

The RUSH Late Models Bill Emig Memorial (with a $10,000-to-win purse) and the Uncle Sam 30 (with $3,000 to win) also will be Saturday.

The three days of racing will be available on DIRTVision, the official streaming partner of the World of Outlaws.

For the safety of fans, drivers and staff, Lernerville officials are asking fans to fill out and sign a covid-19 waiver at Lernerville.com and have a printed copy of the signed waiver with them at the gate. Copies also will be available at the track.

Drivers and staff will have their temperatures scanned. Fans attending the races are required to wear masks upon entering the track and are asked to wear them at the concession stand, in the bathrooms and other common areas. Wearing of masks in the grandstands is encouraged but is at the fans’ discretion.

Ten champions have been crowned over the first 13 years the Firecracker race, one of the premier events on the dirt late model schedule.

Scott Bloomquist is the lone three-time champion, having taken home the $30,000 prize in 2007, ‘12 and ‘16. Darrell Lanigan finished runner-up four times from 2008-12 and was third in ‘13 before breaking through to victory in ‘14.

Chris Madden dominated the field for the win in 2018. He placed second to Bloomquist in 2007.

Tim McCreadie won the $30,000 last year.

In addition to the racing action, fireworks are scheduled for Friday, and Saturday will feature a driver autograph session.

A group of 81 engines revved at Lernerville for the first time in the 2020 season last week with a good weather evening for Peoples Natural Gas Sprints, Precise Late Models, Diehl Modifieds and Millerstown Pic-A-Part DIRTcar/RUSH Pro Stocks.

Jack Sodeman Jr., Russ King, Garrett Krummert and Mike Miller found victory lane in their respective 20- and 25-lap features as part of the Fab4 Revved Up with Marburger program.

“It was really kind of surreal,” Westendorf said. “Our offseason is so long anyway, and then to wait two more months. We stayed positive the whole time and stayed in touch with local and state leaders. The doubt was starting to creep in if we were even going to have a season.

“The fans are such a big part of what we do, and those who were there were very excited to see racing return. They were pretty cooperative and understanding with everything. The track was great. It was just a great night of racing.”

It was announced last week that several Feb4 events lost since April will be added to the end of the season and take racing fans to the DIRTcar Roundup Steel City Stampede set for Oct. 15-17.

The Fab4 Revved Up with Marburger Championship Night will be Oct. 9.

For more information on the three-day World of Outlaws event, check out lernerville.com or the speedway’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages.

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