Staff report

Five feature contests are slated for tonight as Southampton Motor Speedway (SMS) continues its 2003 NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series schedule with Hot Tamales/Perry Auto Group Night.

Pit gates open at 3 p.m. Front gates open and practice begins at 4:30. Time trials start at 6:40 and racing gets under way at 8.

The lineup includes: RaceWorld.com Late Model Stock Cars (100 laps); Mike Duman Auto Sales Limited Late Models (50 laps); Rick’s Rock Cafe Pure Stocks (25 laps); Ukrop’s Mid-Atlantic Champ Karts (20 laps); and, Baby Grands (25 laps).

Tickets are $12 for adults and $4 for youths (6-12). Children under 6 are admitted free when accompanied by an adult. Active-duty military (with ID), senior citizens (65+) and teens (13-19) receive a $2 discount off the adult admission price.

&uot;Come hungry. Leave happy.&uot; That’s the slogan for IHOP, the official concessionaire at Southampton Motor Speedway. And, on Friday, someone will be leaving even happier.

Each person who makes a minimum purchase of $5 at the concession stand on Friday will be entered to win two tickets to Paramount’s King’s Dominion theme park. The winner will be chosen, via a drawing, later in the evening.

The INEX Little Race Cars Legends race on Friday, Aug. 22, has been designated a regional qualifying event. Drivers will be competing for an invitation to this year’s Legends Asphalt Nationals, schedule for Oct. 23-25 at Southern National Speedway in Kenly, N.C.

Winners from last Saturday’s Scale Racing League National Championship Series event at SMS included: Ray Kantowski of Virginia Beach (Arena-Cup); Kevin Moore of Winchester (Mini-Cup); and, Amanda McDermott of Broad Run (Junior Truck).

Reportedly, the results of the Arena-Cup feature were being held up, pending the completion of an inspection of Kantowski’s winning entry. As of Tuesday evening, SMS had received no word from SRL officials on the outcome of their inspection.

In conjunction with the Norfolk Tides baseball club, SMS will be holding its fifth annual car display at Harbor Park on Tuesday, Aug. 12. Cars and drivers will be stationed at various points around the stadium to greet fans arriving for that evening’s game between the Tides and the Indianapolis Indians. Game time is 7:15 p.m. For ticket information, call (757) 622-2222.

Mark Friday, Aug. 15, on your calendar! That’ll be &uot;Turkey Hill Dairy/CHKD Kids Night presented by Fox 43&uot; – one of the highlights on the SMS schedule.

Fans attending that night’s racing program can look forward to sampling ice cream and beverages from Turkey Hill. Youngsters will get a chance to take a low-speed lap or two around the track with their favorite driver. Turkey Hill’s huge mascot cow is also expected to make the trip down from Lancaster County, Pa., for the event.

The Kids Night promotion is SMS’s biggest charity fund-raising event of the year with donations going to Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters in Norfolk.

The balloting in National Short Track magazine’s Second Annual &uot;Sounds Good&uot; Contest to find America’s favorite short track announcer has entered its final month and SMS’s Neal Steele is lobbying for your vote.

To cast your vote, go to www.nst1.com. The deadline is Aug. 25 and randomly selected voters will be eligible for prizes, including tickets to the upcoming Winston Cup and Busch Series races at Rockingham and subscriptions to National Short Track.

The &uot;Lucky Spark Plug&uot; is making a comeback! Starting this Friday, check your copy of On Track This Week, the track’s official weekly program, closely. If you spot the Lucky Spark Plug in this week’s edition, you’ll win an SMS T-shirt and bumper sticker. OTTW giveaways will continue for the remainder of the `03 season.

In its fourth season under the NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series banner, Southampton Motor Speedway is a 4/10-mile, paved tri-oval, similar in configuration to Richmond International Raceway. The track is located on U.S. Highway 58, one mile west of Capron and 17 miles east of I-95 (Emporia exit).

To learn more about SMS and its schedule of upcoming events, fans may call the Speedway office at (434) 658-RACE or visit the track’s Web site at SouthamptonMotorSpeedway.com.

Here is the schedule for Langley Speedway Racing at 7 p.m. Saturday night: Late Model Sportsmen – 75 laps, Grand stocks – twin 25 laps, Legends – 30, Race Truck Series – 50 laps.

In the Late Model Division, the top eight qualifiers will redraw for starting positions. Mark Wertz returned to his winning ways last week, beating second place Shawn Balluzzo by as much as 12 seconds. Wertz has already been singed to drive for Coore Light again in 2004.

In the Grand Stock Division, twin 25 lap features (forced by rain) will be run to help the drivers get the required starts to compete in the NASCAR Grand Stock Division.

Chris Barrow leads the points race over Elton Nurmi and David Gray, and Robert Ellis will try for his second-ever win this week after getting his first last week.