EDMONTON, AB. – The 17th running of the Oilmen's Classic, one of Western Canada's longest running stock car events, is set for this weekend at Castrol Raceway. Northern Provincial Pipelines Late Model Series racer Travis Day competed in the very first Oilmen's race and is looking forward to Saturday nights Feature. "Over the years we've had some pretty good Oilmen's races and some real bad ones too," Day said.
The fondest Oilmen's memories for the driver of the Trappers Auto Parts #10 Chevrolet goes back to the 1994 race at Yellowhead Raceway in Hinton, Alberta. "This was the very first Oilmen's and we finished third. I remember that very well," smiles the Whitecourt, Alberta driver, "it was a major battle just to get to the Feature." Days first ever Oilmen's race unfortunately began with a bang. "I had one of my tires ripped off in a heat race crash and at first I thought that was it, we were done."
Day and his crew managed to patch up his damaged #10 Camaro in time for the Oilmen's Feature. "I think this is the first time I've admitted this but because of the crash we had no brakes in that Feature." Day indicates he was forced to come up with a creative way to slow down his brakeless race car. "Hinton has no inner walls. They had just a dirt burm to mark the inner line of the track. Just before going into the corners I would intentional go low and use this burm to scrub off some speed. It was a pretty rough way to slow a race car down but it worked." The Oilmen's Classic has been run at Edmonton's Castrol Raceway since 2001. This year the NPP Late Model Series and the Alberta Sportsman Sprint Car Series team up for two nights of action. Friday will be an open practice night for NPP Late Model Series competitors and preliminary races for Sportsman Sprint Car teams. Saturday is the big race night with the NPP Late Model Series Oilmen's Classic and the Sportsman Sprint Cars X-treme Cup races.
2010 OILMENS CLASSIC RACE WEEKEND
Castrol Raceway - Edmonton, Alberta
FRIDAY, August 20th – NPP Series optional on-track practice/test 'n' tune
SATURDAY, August 21st – Gates open at 4:00PM / Racing starts at 6:00PM
PAST OILMEN'S WINNERS
2010 - ????? -
2009 Trevor Emond
2008 Dwight Kennedy
2007 Dennis MacEachern
2006 Dwight Kennedy
2005 Wayne Gideon
2004 Dwight Kennedy
2003 Trevor Emond
2002 Trevor Emond
2001 Dwight Kennedy
2000 Larry Simpson
1999 Dwight Kennedy
1998 Dwight Kennedy
1997 Dwight Kennedy
1996 Dwight Kennedy
1995 Dwight Kennedy
1994 Dwight Kennedy
Photo 1: Image from one of the first Oilmen's
Photo 2: Day sits 7th in NPP Series Championship points
