Orange Show Speedway star Shackleford doing
double duty in pursuit of titles
SAN BERNARDINO – (April 18, 2007)
It won’t be hard to find Mark Shackleford in the Orange
Show Speedway pit area late Saturday night. He’ll be the guy sitting
there after most everyone else is gone, looking physically exhausted
and trying to find enough energy to go home.
It
will be the first time in about 12 hours that he’s been able to
sit still. In the interim, he will have driven about 50 miles on the
highways and about 100 laps on the tracks in two different cars at two
different speedways.
Shackleford, 38, of Riverside , is competing for
championships in both the Hype Manufacturing Super Late Model series
at Orange Show Speedway and the PASSCAR Super Stocks at Perris Auto
Speedway. And when the schedules conflict, as they do this weekend,
it means Shackleford must play short track racing’s version of
a baseball doubleheader.
He’ll start his day at Orange Show Speedway,
the quarter-mile paved oval at the National Orange Show Events Center
. A three-time track champion, twice in the Stock Pony class and once
in the Super Late Models, Shackleford will practice and qualify at Orange
Show, and then make the 24-mile drive to Perris. He’ll drive in
a heat race and the Super Stock main event on that half-mile dirt oval,
then make the 24-mile drive back to Orange Show Speedway for the Super
Late Model feature.
That race will be part of a program that includes
the ASA Pro 4’s, AFLAC Factory Fours, Mini and Jr. Mini StocKars
and a Demolition Derby.
Spectator gates will open and qualifying will begin
at 5 p.m. with the first race at 6:30 p.m. Admission is $10 for adults,
$8 for seniors (62 and over) and juniors (13-16), and $2 for children
(6-12). Active military personnel and veterans with military identification
are admitted free of charge. Parking is $4, with entry through Gate
3 off Mill Street .
The AFLAC Factory Fours main event will be the featured
race on the weekly “Orange Show Speedway Live” radio program
on KTDD (AM 1350). However, the broadcast that normally airs at 8 p.m.
will not begin until the conclusion of the NASCAR Nextel Cup race at
Phoenix at approximately 8:30 p.m. But the Internet webcast on www.nixacountry.com
will begin at 8 p.m.
This will be the second of four such Saturdays this
season for Shackleford, and when you ask him why he does it he says,
“Well, I’m not very smart,” and laughs.
“I love racing, that’s the biggest
part, and obviously I’ve got responsibilities to my sponsors,”
said Shackleford, who drives his own Bud’s Tire & Wheel Chevrolet
at Orange Show Speedway and a Chevrolet owned by Jerry Dodd at Perris,
where he is the defending Super Stock champion.
“I like driving for Jerry and I want
to perform well for him, and I want to do the same in my own stuff.
The tracks are so close together, why not – especially when both
facilities are working with you (on scheduling for the evening) to make
it happen.”
In addition to the officials of the two tracks, Shackleford
also has the assistance of his brother, Paul, and Gary Patton, who tend
to business at Orange Show Speedway while the married father of one
son is at Perris, where neighbor Craig Stone takes care of all the preparations.
Shackleford said there are times when he’ll
climb into one of the race cars and forget which one he’s in.
That isn’t surprising, even though the cars are completely different,
the Perris car set up to produce the horsepower necessary on the dirt
surface and the Orange Show car fine-tuned for the handling required
on the pavement. Completely different driving styles are needed, too.
“It’s like driving a Hyundai and
then driving a Mercedes,” Shackleford said. “The asphalt
car is the Mercedes. A lot more work goes into driving a dirt car than
an asphalt car.”
The work required to drive both on the same night
is what takes the toll on Shackleford.
“At the end of the night I’m pretty
much wiped out,” he said. “By the time I get off the adrenaline
(momentum) and get everything loaded up, I start hitting the wall.”
Racing at Orange Show Speedway is sponsored by Lucas
Oil, Blackhawk Protection, Hype Manufacturing, Del Taco, AFLAC, KTDD
AM radio 1350, Leno’s Rico Taco, Soboba Casino, Budweiser, Hoosier
Racing Tires, Frank’s Radio Service, Parker Pumper/BSR West, Eibach
Springs, JP Striping, Center Chevrolet, Pepsi, Matich Corporation, La
Salle Medical Associates, L. Curti Truck and Equipment; One Stop Landscape
Supply, Extreme Exhibits & Logistics and the San Bernardino County
Sun newspaper.
For further information, contact Jim Short at 951-203-2649
or jimshort65@sbcglobal.net, call 909-888-6788, X438, or visit the web
site at www.nosevents.com.
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