Gary Hieber Wins Inaugural SpeedSTR by Tobias

Event at Shenandoah Speedway, Virginia

 

Former USAC Silver Crown standout

Gary Hieber of Langhorne, PA took home the inaugural SpeedSTR series victory at the Shenandoah Speedway in VA wheeling the #98 Ray Evernham owned machine, followed by Steve Hicks USA1, Willy Evernham 9, Doug Rose 95, and Ken Jones 8 rounded out the top five.

 

The SpeedSTR by Tobias series presented by Weikel Racewear made its debut at the beautiful Shenandoah Speedway in Shenandoah, VA. The weather was a bit overcast when the racers arrived but Mother Nature was very kind with the day clearing up nicely. The guys at Speedway Entertainment did a great job not just putting on a race but also putting on an event. They had signs and banners everywhere, slingshots for the first 100 youngsters and even some exciting theme music at the beginning of each event. The fans really seemed to enjoy the action the STRs provided on the banked Shenandoah pavement.

 

The STR’s lined up their heat races based on the transponder times from the 2 ten minute test sessions. Gary Hieber set fast time, followed by Rose, Evernham, Hicks, and Dave Pecko.

 

 

Hieber was just the class of the field all day, not only winning the feature and setting fast time, but winning his heat also. Steve Hicks a graduate from the Slingshot by Tobias series had a very impressive night, starting second in his heat race, winning that and running second all feature to Hieber. It didn’t take long for Hicks to get used to the bigger and much more horsepower STR.

 

The Evernham stable had a very good debut in the SpeedSTR series presented by Weikel Racewear bringing home the win with Hieber and Willy Evernham (nephew of Ray Evernham) coming home 3rd. Willy tested last weekend with the boys from Speedway Entertainment at the historic Oswego Speedway and obviously got used to an upright style cockpit race car very quickly with his impressive 3^rd place run. The hard charger of the night was Doug Rose in his number 95 STR, Rose set second fast time and led most of his heat race until pitting at halfway. Rose started 9^th in the feature and worked his way to fourth.

 

1. Gary Hieber (Evernham 98, Langhorne, PA), 2. Steve Hicks (Hicks Motorsports USA1, Doyalstown, PA), 3. Willy Evernham (Evernham 9E, Mooresville, NC), 4. Doug Rose (Amrose Motorsports 95, Temple, PA), 5. Ken Jones (Jones Racing 8, Princeton, NJ), 6. Jeff Gallup (Gallup Racing 9, Baldwinsville, NY), 7. Nick Pecko (NEP/Napa 42, Vandling, PA), 8. Dave Pecko (Tobias 17, Vandling, PA), 9. Billy VanInwegen (Future Racing 23, Sparrow Bush, NY), 10. Kevin Albert (Albert Motorsports 1, Lebanon, PA), 11. Andy Burkhart (Burkhart Bros. 87, Temple, PA), 12. Doug Sherwood (Kiwi Farms 33, Piscataway, NJ)

 

 

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SpeedSTR Series Overview

 

 

The legendary Tobias name is continuing a storied tradition in racecar fabrication. Rich “Toby” Tobias Jr. has always believed that costs of racing continue to escalate out of control while the purse structures seldom improve. Nearly a decade ago, Tobias took a vision and put it in place. He began an affordable racing division called the Slingshots and today there are over 600 cars competing in 14 different states across the country. In 2007, Tobias began to implement his next phase of “Affordable Racing Technology” from his Myerstown, Pa.-based Speedway Entertainment business: the SpeedSTR. SpeedSTR stands for Short Track Racer and is a self-starting, open wheel racecar powered by a 2.4 liter dual overhead cam Mopar engine.

 

Tobias being from a racing family that has been involved in promotions over the years looks at all aspects of his SpeedSTR series, including the track promoters. Speedway Entertainment strives to make each race night a fan friendly, exciting event both on and off the track. Plans are in motion to have the Speedway Entertainment race hauler set up as a hospitality area where the fans can come watch (up close) SpeedSTR’s get prepped for race competition, the kids can play racing video games, and fans can watch in car videos of the SpeedSTR’s on televisions. The excitement will also continue at the conclusion of the racing events with after race pit parties. On the track, SpeedSTR’s provide intense and exciting racing. Speedway Entertainment has created a vehicle that fits the affordability of short track racing while keeping the excitement and challenges in the sport. The SpeedSTR’s are so closely matched that it makes for wheel-to-wheel heart pounding action lap after lap, this combination is sure to put fans in the stands and racecars in the pits. Finally a race series that actually  “Makes Sense.”

 

 

Future of Racing

 

We believe “Spec Race Cars” will be our racing future. Costs have spiraled out of control for so many years. Recently our most prominent racing series, Nextel Cup, has decided to implement a Spec Race Car, “The Car of Tomorrow”. The teams at the Nextel Cup level who compete for purses in excess of a Million Dollars still can not compete on the purse structure alone. As every one has seen when a team looses it’s marketing dollars it generally folds soon after. Why? Because even their million dollar purses are still not enough for the excessive costs in auto racing. Nextel Cup realized they needed to step in and try to eliminate or at least slow down the increasing costs, so they developed the “Car of Tomorrow” (a SPEC RACE CAR) to help control the costs, help police the rules, and to advance safety, hence a Spec Race car has been implemented. The teams and the NASCAR officials have seen the success that the “Car of Tomorrow” brings to the series that they have decided instead of filtering in this Spec Car over the next few years to just bring it in full tilt for the 2008 season.

 

 

 

                   

Doug Rose # 9 (left) hard on the throttle at New Egypt Speedway, Ace Lane Photo.

Andy Burkhart # 87 (mid.) throws it sideways at Grandview, Mike Feltenberger Photo.

Steve Hicks #USA1 (right) charging hard at New Egypt Speedway, Ace Lane Photo.  

 

 

 

The SpeedSTR answers 9 common

complaints about short track racing.

 

Overall Costs Are Out Of Hand – A complete SpeedSTR Race Car costs less than most division’s entire engine packages; also the cost to compete on a week-to-week basis is designed to be more economical than most divisions. See the attached comparison sheet showing the economics of the engine, roller, shocks, tires, wheels, etc. to other divisions

 

Big Dollar Teams Always Run Up Front – You will have the piece of mind that you have what every other SpeedSTR team has on a week-to-week and year-to-year basis. No more complaining that the big dollar teams have something better than you.

 

Rules Are Different Everywhere I Go - Owner Rich Tobias will “NEVER” allow any non SpeedSTR specific racecars to compete within his series; there will be “Continuity of the Rules” at all tracks in all States. No more Track Promoters lining their pockets by making rule changes to benefit them.

 

Purses Have Been The Same Forever – One of owner Rich Tobias’s pet peeves is that drivers of yesterday and today are simply “Circus Performers”. The owners are always in the RED at seasons end, unless they have sufficient marketing dollars. Rich’s goal is to have a series where the owners can actually earn a positive cash flow with their race team. SpeedSTR Purses will be structured accordingly.

 

Can’t Pass! To Many One-Groove Tracks – It is not generally the tracks fault. The cars of today are so technologically equipped which allows them to lock down on certain areas of the track, which produces one fast groove. The SpeedSTR on the other hand uses simple basic equipment so it is up to the teams Chassis Knowledge and the Drivers Ability to make their cars competitive, allowing multiple grooves of racing. All SpeedSTR’s are created equal.

 

Dirt vs. Asphalt  - The SpeedSTR gives teams the ability to compete on both Dirt and Asphalt with out having 2 different race cars. For those of you who have aspirations on moving up to professional levels of Motorsports, you must get asphalt experience and the SpeedSTR allows you to compete on both surfaces.

 

Resale Value –Spec racecars such as the Legends and the Slingshots generally only loose 20-30% of their value where most open division cars loose 50-60 %.

 

Lack Of Time To Prepare Racecars – For those of you currently racing full body cars, there is no verbiage to express the ease of working on an open wheel car versus a full body car. For you open wheel guys, you know what we are talking about.

 

Self-Starting – The SpeedSTR is a self-starting car with a clutch system. A self-starting car provides numerous conveniences at the shop and track. For most of you full body owners you know what we mean, and for you open wheel guys you will soon see.

 

 

 

 

Speedway Entertainment 

 11 West Washington Avenue 

 Myerstown, PA  17067