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Obrist Readies for Championship Run as Portland Speedway Opens 2001 Season

The new era of dirt racing at Portland Speedway-“The Dirt
Track” begins Friday, April 6 with the KUPL-FM Opening Night NASCAR Friday
“Bud Bowl” featuring the Grand American Modifieds, Shortrack Sportsman,
Street Stocks, and Bumpin Bombers. Portland Speedway enters its 18th season
in 2001 as a NASCAR Weekly Racing Series track where drivers compete for
local, regional, and national honors in this prestigious NASCAR short-track
series.

The 2001 season will mark the first time the speedway has featured a weekly
dirt- racing format in more than fifty years. This new format, called NASCAR
Friday “Bud Bowl”, will be contested on a new third-mile clay oval that
replaces the old asphalt quarter-mile track.

The new configuration will bring the action closer to the fans and provide
for three-wide racing on all corners. In addition, a new state-of-the-art
MUSCO Lighting system will illuminate the speedway, a system that is
utilized by many NASCAR Winston Cup tracks.

Veteran Portland competitor Dan Obrist will return in 2001 to compete for
the Grand American Modified championship. “I think going to dirt was the
best move Craig Armstrong (speedway promoter) ever made, “ said Obrist, the
1993 track champion. “Dirt racing can be less expensive, and fans will see
real competitive racing.”

Obrist, who won the 1993 Winston Invitational in Florida where he competed
against all the NASCAR Weekly Racing Series regional champions, said that
the speedway’s new dirt track will produce some intense rivalries. “The
competition this year will be as tough as any, but I would say that Eric
Sayre is going to be the guy to beat,” Obrist said. “He has a lot of
experience on dirt. My only experience on dirt was a few years ago when I
went to Lebanon (Willamette Speedway). I rolled off the trailer and set fast
time with no practice. I won the dash, heat race, and was leading the main
event when the track point leader and I got together. He crashed and I left
immediately. This year I intend to win.”

Joining Obrist this season will be his younger brother Mike, the 1996 track
Late Model champion. Also returning after several years will be “Tiger” Tom
Pinkowsky, whose battles with Dan Obrist in the early 90’s were some of the
fiercest in track history.

Pinkowsky, the 1991, 1992, and 1994 track champion, has spent the last
several years competing on the Raybestos Brakes Northwest Series, NASCAR
Touring division, where he collected a win in 1999 at Wenatchee Valley
Raceway in Washington.

“The most fun I ever had was racing Jalopies twenty-five years ago. Then it
got serious, “ Obrist said. “I’ve raced the NASCAR Winston West Series for
several years and have done real well, but I love racing at Portland on
Friday nights because I can have the rest of the weekend off.”

Portland Speedway-“The Dirt Track” will feature a line-up of 20 NASCAR
Friday “Bud Bowl” events, paced by the Grand American Modifieds (an
front-end open wheeled stock car), full-bodied Sportsman Stock Cars, Street
Stocks, and the ever-popular Bumpin Bombers. Joining these divisions on
alternating Friday nights will be the Figure 8 cars, and a brand new
all-women’s division called WAR!, for Women’s Auto Racing, in Street Stock
and Sportsman cars.

Ticket prices for NASCAR Friday “Bud Bowl” are $10 for adults, $5 for
juniors (11-17), and kids 10 and under are free. For all NASCAR Friday “Bud
Bowl” events, front gates will open at 5 PM, with racing starting at 7 PM.