The Quaker Steak and Lube Ninth Annual Dirt Track Heroes Show opened Sunday, March 6 to much fanfare and enthusiasm as the Phillipsburg Mall filled up with racing fans and a panel of legendary racing stars who came out to chat about their racing exploits and to honor Hall of Fame racer “The Belvidere Bandit” Carl “Fuzzy’ Van Horn. The “Golden Era” of racing came roaring back to life as the great panel of driving stars talked of their triumphs and more importantly the many friendships they gained through their association with racing. Van Horn was honored by Harmony Township, New Jersey Committee-man Richard Cornely with a proclamation officially naming March 6th, 2016 “Carl Van Horn Day” throughout the township. Van Horn enjoyed a fantastic racing career as a driver, owner, builder, promoter, track owner and innovator.

With the eclectic Quaker Steak & Lube Restaurants the lead sponsor of the event, the excitement and the pulse for the week long show quickens with each day as the diverse schedule of the week long show offers a bit of everything to all racing fans. The 65 stores making up Quaker Steak & Lube annually sell more than 80 million wings per year and “The Lube” is recognized as “The best wings in the USA.” The Phillipsburg location has also been dubbed “The Official Restaurant of the Dirt Track Heroes” show. To contact the restaurant, call: 908 454 2900 or check out their website at: www.thelube.com Before or after the show head to Quaker Steak & Lube and get recharged and refueled in a great sports setting. Request a table underneath the Bob Pickell number 300 Modified for an additional racing experience.

The 9th annual edition of the show will continue through March 12th with amazing sponsorship support through headline sponsor Quaker Steak and Lube restaurant chain and associate sponsors IRCO Community Federal Credit Union, Smith Fabrications/Stage One Modifieds, Jeff’s Automotive, Premio Foods, Alex’s Tire/Breidingers Speed Shop, Adams Brothers Used Auto Parts, Hamlin Speedway/S&S Speedways, Searock Fabrication and Speed Supplies, R&F International Muffler and Brake, Murante Auto Repair, Penn Jersey Food Marts, Martocci Automotive, Dean Autosports, Carl’s Auto Sales and VRP Shocks. Nightly driver interviews and race cars of all types provide the race fan a full appetite of racing fun before the regular racing seasons begins. The Phillipsburg Mall, located on Route 22 East in Phillipsburg, NJ, has proven to be a popular setting for this special event and offers a multitude of race cars, racing memorabilia, collectibles and photos on display throughout the course of the show. The show continues to be free of charge to the mall traffic and the 2016 edition of the show is the trend setter of the many shows that are scheduled during the year.

After many long hours of planning and scheduling, the show kicked off with a demonstration of the Stage One Modified race car hosted by Richie and Joel Smith and presented by Murante Auto Repair located in Nazareth, Pennsylvania. Emcee Steve Pados opened the show with Jeff’s Automotive as the event sponsor and thanked all of the sponsors, drivers and fans for their loyalty and support of the show and for their dedication to racing. Pados followed by introducing IRCO Vice President Greg Collins to the crowd. Collins thanked the local racing community for their support and talked about how the show came together nine years ago with the show staff and all are still on board with the show. Event organizer Bob Miller also thanked everyone involved with the show for all of their efforts in putting together a successful event. Co-Emcee Ed Pados gave an emotional prayer to the many drivers or racing people who passed in the last year and the show proceeded with the driver interview session.

Ed and Steve Pados, Bobby Stull and Justin Beltrame interviewed a great panel of driving legends. With former Nazareth Speedway, Nazareth National Speedway and Dorney Park drivers on board, they all had trading fun stories back and forth with the honoree Carl Van Horn. Drivers and personalities taking part included Tighe and Neil Scott, Richard Marinelli, Bill Wilson, Bob Rossell, David Van Horn, Jimmy Horton, Dave Van Horn, Ray Bossineau, Glen Ehrhardt, Tommy Vroom, George Wambold, Danny Huston, Jack Zeiner, Gerry and Vicki Robison, Billy Tanzosh, Ricky Rutt, Vince and Sue Valeriano, John Bright, Rich Yetter, Butch Riddle, Bill Cooper, Frank Varhu, Bob Snyder, Mel Stettler, The show was quick moving with plenty of great stories and laughs from the drivers on hand and the Pados Brothers reached out into the audience for an additional question and answer period with Carl Van Horn.

Vince Valeriano, from VRP Shocks, gave a demonstration of his great shock line to a nice gathering of drivers hoping to get a better grasp on how the various shock packages make the cars react to the track surfaces and set-ups. The demo was a great addition to the successful show. Contact Vince at: www.vrpshocks.com

The great fan base of racing can come out to this grand Mall event and be transported back to a time when they could hop into their family jitney and travel less than a half hour to witness the excitement of a night at the races. All historical racing groups including Reading, Flemington, Harmony through Greg Collins, Tri State, Remembering Nazareth, Bob Snyder Photos and Snyder Video, Mike Ritter Photos, Big Mike’s Videos and Mocatek Memories through Justin Beltrame have their memorabilia on display and their many scrapbooks open for the fans to take another long look at the glory years of racing and possibly find a picture or two they want to purchase as a keepsake from past glory or racing exploits. More information is available regarding the show by calling: 443-513-4456.

On display at the Mall include big and small block Modifieds, Sportsman, Micro-Sprints, ARDC Midgets, 360 and 410 Sprints, TSRS Sprints, Late Models, go-karts, quarter midgets and a broad variety of vintage and restored race cars and drag racing cars. New Egypt, Grandview, Big Diamond, Bridgeport, Hamlin, Accord, Action Track USA, Mahoning and Snydersville will again be among the many speedways involved with the 2016 show. The week-long event will set aside one evening to salute the “Stars of Tomorrow” with a special night set aside for the budding young racing talents competing with the many quarter midget clubs in the area and this night has proven to be one of the highlights of the week as many will be giving their first ever interviews to a sizeable crowd.

Monday night will feature a salute to Drag Racing in the local area with the evening sponsored by Alex’s Tire/Breidinger’s Speed Shop located at 102 Commerce Way in Stockertown with a phone number to reach them at: 610-759-8743.. A good group has been assembled to talk straight line fever from the past and the current times.

The Quaker Steak and Lube Dirt Track Heroes Car Show has a must have event T-shirt done exclusively for the show. The great keepsake event souvenir program book has many great articles regarding our racing heroes and how the Dirt Track Heroes became a reality. The Phillipsburg Mall is open Sunday 11 AM to 6 PM and from Monday through Saturday from 10 AM to 9 PM. The event offers race teams a great opportunity to promote their sponsors and announce their racing plans for the upcoming 2016 racing season.

Ninth Annual Quaker Steak & Lube

Dirt Track Heroes Car Show

2016 Schedule of Events

Monday- March 7 – (6:30 PM) – Alex’s Tire/Breidinger’s Speed Shop presents Straight Line Fever Drag Racing Night featuring Island Dragway, Harmony and Mountain View Dragway

Tuesday- March 8 – (6:30 PM)- Adam’s Used Auto Parts presents the “Stars of Tomorrow” featuring all Quarter Midget Clubs: Blue Mountain, Lehigh Valley, West End Raceway, Keystone, Oaklane, Phoenixville, South Jersey and Garden State Quarter Midget Clubs

Wednesday- March 9 – (6:30 PM) – Hamlin Speedway/S&S Speedways and Smith Fabrications/Stage One Modifieds presents Hamlin Speedway all divisions, Snydersville Raceway, Mahoning Speedway, Accord Speedway, Orange County Fair Speedway

Thursday- March 10- (6:30)- Searock Speed & Fabrications and R&F International Muffler presents New Egypt, Bridgeport Speedway, Grandview Speedway, Big Diamond Raceway and X-Cel Modifieds

Friday – March 11 – (1st Show (4 p.m.) – Premio Foods and Penn Jersey Supermarkets presents Special Edition “The Legends of Racing” with many legendary stars from Reading, Nazareth, Harmony and Flemington expected to participate with Special Tribute to “The Old Master” Frankie Schneider

Second Show- (6:30 PM)- Martocci Automotive/Dean Autosports/Carl’s Auto Repair presents Salute to Open Wheel Racing Divisions-Thunder on the Hill, ATQMRA, ARDC Midgets, Action Track USA, TSRS and Sprint Cars, 358 and 360 Sprint Car Divisions

Saturday – March 12 – (1:00) –Premio Foods presents Special Tribute to Stan “The Man” Ploski, Flemington Speedway & Flemington Speedway Historical Society, Harmony Speedway and Nazareth Speedways

Mall Hours: Sunday 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Saturday 10 a.m.-9 p.m. –

*Schedule subject to change