After almost going extinct one racing class has had new life given to it and is ready for this season.

The Nevada Pro Stock Association is ready to get this season rolling. And this year there are more races and should be larger car counts.

Over the past several years the class all but disappeared but thanks to the efforts of Gordon Russell Feyder and others the class has a new life.

Gordon Russell heads the Nevada Pro Stock Association. He and others are bringing the class back to life.

Asked why it almost disappeared Russell said, “A lot of what happened was the price of racing went up but the payout went down. You’ll never make money racing at this level but we want it not to hurt them too bad.”

The effort has actually been going for several years but the early results weren’t promising.

“We’ve been doing it for five years in Battle Mountain but it didn’t do too much so we took it up to Fernley,” he said. “The response was pretty good as we averaged from 12 to 14 cars but at Battle Mountain we only had four to five cars.”

He added that the small car count at Battle Mountain happened even when they offered $3,000 for a win.

“The car count was discouraging, mainly due to it being so isolated,” he said.

So to turn things around Russell began to make phone calls to get more money. And the drivers were loving the $1,000 to win prize.

Pro Stock field ready to go at Fernley 95A Speedway for one of the $1000 to races.

Last year all the races were at Fernley 95A Speedway but this year Russell figured it was time to expand.

“Kind of figured everybody wanted more and they wanted to travel to different tracks,” he said. So we contacted other tracks and were surprised at the response from them.”

At one of the Nevada Pro Stock Association events at 95A Speedway the field heads for the green flag.

He added the work on this season began right after last year’s two-day shootout at Fernley. That’s when he began to contact various people at different tracks.

Close Pro Stock action at Fernley 95A Speedway.

This year there are10-races with the usual payout for most of them.

“Eight of the races are $1,000 to win and the other two are the Dirt Track Championships and the Shootout that usually pay more then $1,000 to win.

And Russell is very pleased with the response he’s getting.

“Drivers in our area are bringing cars that haven’t seen the track in years. We wanted to get the cars out of the sagebrush. That’s working for us and five of the cars are from out of this area,” he said.

And drivers have to choices as to how they want to run in the series.

Russell explained if they want to run for points a driver must join the association but if they just want to race for the payout they don’t have to.

Looking ahead he said, “This year I thought if we don’t expand this it won’t go any further than it is now. So we made a bonafied association and it was a really good move.”

Asked about the future, Russell said he’s optimistic.

“We would like to have the series around a 10-race schedule but maybe a couple of more races at Hawthorne and Tonopah. And Lovelock is interested in next year but we want to keep it around 10 races because if you have too many you’ll start losing cars.”

For those running the entire series and association members, there is also an end of season points fund.

“The points fund right now is at $3,200 and we’re hoping with new sponsors to raise it to $5,000 at the end of the year,” he said. “Last year we paid $500 for the top points but it wasn’t not planned too well but this year we’ve planned things out a little better.”

Nevada Pro Stock Association schedule for 2016.

Starting things off on the right foot is important and this year Buehn Motorsports are sponsoring the series first race. That will be at Rattlesnake Raceway on April 2 and that is the first of four appearances at Fallon.

Gordon Russell’s car will have a new look this season thanks to Scotty Slatter at Eternal Images.

For further information check Nevada Pro Stock Association’s Face Book page. The class rules are also posted there.

OTHER RACING NEWS

• Nevada Kart Sport supports two local drivers in the Pro Kart Series. This week the event was held at Willow Springs.

Matt Koerner wound us sixth in a field of 22 drivers in the S2 field while Zachary Rivera was 11th, out of 26, in the X30 class main.

Matt Koerner (left) and Zachary Rivera are racing in  the pro kart series for Nevada Kart Sport.

• NASCAR pulled into Las Vegas just in time for a huge windstorm, a bit of rain and a brief sand storm on Sunday.

At the end of the Sprint Cup race Sunday Kyle Busch led until the final laps when his tires started going away and he wound up fourth at the line. Older brother Kury, who started on pole, had to go to the back due to a speeding in the pits penalty and ended up ninth.

Saturday’s Xfinity race was all Kyle Busch as he started on the pole, dominated the event and won. Fellow Las Vegas native Brendan Gaughan started eighth and finish 10th.

• The full season schedule for Tonopah Speedway is:

Test & Tune – May 7

1st Day Race – May 14th Starting at 2 p.m.

2nd Race – May 28th Jim Butler Days “this is our big opener”

3rd Race – June 4th

4th Race – June 18th Nevada Prostock Shoot out $1000.00+ to win

5th Race – July 2nd

6th Race – July 16th

7th Race – July 30th

8th Race – August 5th and 6th “Jim Marsh Classic 2 Day Race” Friday & Saturday Night 1000.00 to win each night IMCA Modifieds

9th Race – August 20th

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