Henderson, KY. (Sept. 22, 2006) Officials of the Hoosier Tire Midwest Sprint Car Series and Lawrenceburg Speedway are proud to announce the selection of the Grand Marshall for the 2006 SK Construction Lawrenceburg Fall Classic Sprint Nationals to be held on Friday and Saturday September 29^th and 30^th. Long time sprint car owner Richard Briscoe was chosen to be honored Saturday night during pre-race ceremonies. Briscoe has fielded competitive cars at tracks all across Indiana for thirty years. Lawrenceburg Speedway often served as one of those destinations dating back in time long before there was a MSCS Series.

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The 66 year old Mitchell, IN, businessman has been involved in sprint car racing since 1976. He got into the housing business about 4 years earlier. Richard "Dick" Briscoe owns Briscoe Homes, which is on Highway 37 North of Mitchell. He is a dealer for Dutch Housing which are sectional manufactured units and also offers single and doublewide trailers on the sales lot. The site was originally an Auto Mart operated by Dick’s brother.

It was the automobile sales connection that provided Dick Briscoe the opportunity to become a trainee in the lending business. He was just 20 years old, a young man looking to establish a career. He worked for Interstate Finance arranging loans and financing cars for 6 or 7 years in cities as close as Boonville, IN, and as far away as in Illinois.The racing interest was instilled in the man as a boy, long before Richard could afford to actually purchase a car to race. "I have just always been a racing buff. We lived close enough to the old Mitchell track that as a small child I would go with my Dad to watch the races. I just never had the opportunity to do it until after I got started in the housing business." "I was about 35 years old when I bought my first race car and trailer. I purchased a Leffler car from Bob Papoy of Borden, IN. It had the number 5 already on it. I had always heard that it was bad luck to change the number on a car so I left it. I have run the number ever since. Over the years we have been very fortunate. When we didn’t win, we usually placed ‘good.’ We have been blessed in that we have blown up very few motors. We seem to be able to get more races and years out of one as anybody."

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That first year Dick Briscoe drove the car for the first couple of times. "Then I put Mike Johnson in the car." Johnson responded by winning the feature the first time he drove it. Briscoe would continue to leave the driving to others. The list of notable drivers who would race for car owner Dick Briscoe is at once lengthy and impressive. Among those drivers were Ed Angle, Fred Boso, Tom Busch, Mark Cummins, Kyle Cummins, Dickie Gaines, Buckwheat Gates, Bernie Graybeal, Danny Holtsclaw, Steve Kinser, Kelly Kinser, Larry Martin, Rodney Ritter, Derek Scheffel, Johnny Sharp, Danny Smith, and Jeff Swindell.The list continues with another group fortunate enough to collect one or more feature victories in a Briscoe sprint car. Besides Mike Johnson, winners for Briscoe included Chuck Amati, Dave Blaney, Steve Butler, Ronnie Dorsett, Dick Gaines, Joe Gaerte, Jack Hewitt, Indiana Andy Hillenburg, Kevin Huntley, Craig Keel, Randy Kinser, Terry Shepherd, Rich Vogler, and Doug Wolfgang. Wolfgang drove just once but won the feature!Briscoe Racing has been around long enough that 2 father & son drivers have been on board. Dick and Dickie Gaines along with Mark and Kyle Cummins have raced for Briscoe. Drivers enjoying more lengthy tenures at the wheel included Randy Kinser who drove Briscoe cars for 2 ½ years and Ronnie Dorsett for 1 ½ years. Chuck Amati, Jack Hewitt, and Steve Butler completed full seasons.Dick Briscoe remembers a night at Lawrenceburg when two 25 lap features were held and his car won both with different drivers. Dick Gaines won the first but elected not to run the second because of the lingering effects of a serious injury that continued to cause vision problems. "Ronnie Dorsett started at the tail in the car and won the 2nd feature."

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Kevin Huntley was driving for Dick Briscoe when Kevin Briscoe entered into his rookie season in a team car. Now some 200 victories in the Briscoe Sprinter belong to none other than Kevin Briscoe. Kevin just wrapped up his fifth track championship at nearby Bloomington Speedway. The father and son team has been going from track to track as owner and driver for 20 seasons. Most of these championships are of recent origin. Kevin’s first track championship was at Tri-State Speedway back in 1993.The Briscoe race team has a history of running where winning is the most profitable. It is simple economics that businesslike decisions about the sport certainly help pay the bills. Kevin explained, "We never won a championship until I started racing as the driver. We never committed to actually try to win a championship before the NASCAR opportunity came along at Haubstadt. We raced where we could win the most money." Father and son were also involved in the Risky Brisky Driving School in 1996 and 1997 at Bloomington Speedway. Dick not only provided the winged sprint cars but worked to help teach the recruits, many of whom went on to race sprint cars.Currently the Briscoe sprint is a Stealth chassis with a 410 FOXCO engine. With Kevin in the driver’s seat it won two MSCS features before mid season. One of those was the very first MSCS Midwest Extreme 100 at Tri-State Speedway that paid $5,000 to win. Kevin Briscoe also took the $10,000 to win the first MSCS Hoosier Sprint Nationals last season. Richard Briscoe was in victory lane for the celebration. Kevin is currently 14^th in MSCS season points and is likely to finish in the top twelve again this season with good finishes at Lawrenceburg.

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Dick Briscoe is certainly a fitting choice as the Grand Marshall for the upcoming Lawrenceburg Fall Classic Sprint Nationals. His continuing efforts and ongoing success as a sprint car owner are widely known and respected throughout the Midwest. And he has shown us all that racing can be and is a family sport. The Briscoe family includes Dick’s wife Charlotte. Kevin also has a sister Mary Ann. And there are four grandchildren: Kristin, Jonathan, Chase, and Abigail. It looks like the Briscoes will be around sprint car racing for another generation. Chase Briscoe is already racing in the Micro Sprints. It is his first year to compete. He won a feature in just his second outing. The victory came in micro sprint number "5."

The MSCS Championship Battle Heads to Lawrenceburg

By Eldon Butcher

Oakland City, IN (Sept. 18, 2006) Kyle Cummins has been turning in steady performances in the Hoosier Tire Midwest Sprint Car Series this season. He has held the runner-up spot to Alex Shanks after each of the last three races after climbing steadily through the standings. With just two races to go he is still in that enviable spot of the challenger but he is not alone. Chris Windom is now tied with Cummins in a points battle that is now about second, third, and first. All are title players in a match-up headed to the realm of the "decision-maker!"

The decision-maker waits! It is a fast, get on it and strive to stay on it, quarter mile track. This single track will hold not one of but both of the last two 2006 MSCS races. The Legendary Lawrenceburg Speedway now holds all the cards that will shape the outcome of the sixth season for the highly competitive MSCS race teams. Promoter Tom Weick has given some MSCS supporters and fans their opportunity to attend a race at Lawrenceburg. Likewise Lawrenceburg Speedway fans will have their first exposure to the collective talents of the Extreme MSCS racers.

Kyle Cummins has confirmed that he plans to be at Lawrenceburg Speedway for both nights of racing. Even though 18 year old Kyle is now attending classes at Vincennes University he anticipates being able to hit the road to Lawrenceburg after morning classes that Friday. True to his vocational interests, Cummins is training in tool and die making in a three-year course of study for a C.N.C.

Kyle grew up watching his father race. Mark Cummins won the track Championship at Tri-State Speedway three times during the years that wings soared around the place weekly. Kyle took to the wheel early. At age 10 he was racing go carts at Seedtick Raceway and on the county fair circuit. He then ventured into the Pro Four Modified ranks where he found success earning two track championships, the series title, and a rookie of the year title. He put his Ford Mustang bodied car in victory lane 14 times in one year. The combination was virtually unbeatable!

Kyle was a freshman at Princeton Community High School when the first sprint car opportunity came along. He drove the Gary Cravens 1C the last race of the ’02 season at Paragon. Then in 2003 Kyle Cummins competed in the sprint cars for a full season. He won 4 features that season. One of those came very early - in just his 4^th race in a sprint car. He also won the Paragon Speedway Rookie of the Year Title. More wins followed including one last season at Lincoln Park Speedway.

This season Kyle Cummins has been a top performer at MSCS races. He has been in the feature at every race the team has entered. He has been in the top ten after the feature in those all but 3 times. The ultimate first MSCS win has proved evasive. A 410 Cummins engine provides the power. Raising expectations more is that this season’s new Ultra Max sprint car is performing better. "We changed the car again before Mt. Vernon.

Race after race we were never quite good enough. This time I think we got the car figured out!"

Cummins continued. "We had plans to go to Lawrenceburg last weekend and practice a little bit. We reconsidered and stayed home. It is 4 hours. And I have raced there before. I ran one of Briscoe’s cars there. I ran my own car there at the end of last season. But I have not been there with the current car. This weekend I plan to race at Kokomo in the WoO and All-Star Show. I have been also driving for Alan Harpe of Tipton, IN, in the IH winged sprint this season. I have raced the car about ten times this season. We will also probably take our car to Kokomo too since they plan to run non-wing cars also."

The red Cummins’ 3c sprint car familiar to MSCS fans has its share of supporters and sponsors. Trusses by Hobgood is a valued sponsor. PRC is another. They are located in Boonville and do custom radiator work. Kyle also wanted to issue a special thanks to Tim Mason of Remax/Midwest Branch, Princeton, IN. Jay and Jason Shoultz form the pit crew. Friends Ken and Greg Hedge add the shine and even help during the week. Their pit spot always draws a lingering crowd of visitors following the races.

Is it all about the Excitement? The question was expanded. Why does Kyle Cummins choose to race sprint cars? " It has always been in my blood. I have always watched it. It could be the speed. There are so many things! It is really exciting to drive and to watch. There are no boring points in sprint car racing at all." Remember that the answer comes from an athlete who somehow found time to add racing to a high school sports agenda that included the complete schedule of existing fall, winter, and spring seasons.

And how about those MSCS title hopes? "I’d really like to win the 2006 MSCS title. Reality is that the champion is not likely to be me- or Chris Windom. For either of us to win a lot of unusual things are going to have to happen! The problem is that I was not at all the MSCS shows this year." The reference is to a provision in the MSCS rules which awards drivers with 100% participation an extra 50 bonus points at season’s end. So far 3 top five drivers have raced at all events. They are Alex Shanks, Hud Cone, and Jerry Ruble. Sixty-seven points separate the 5 drivers and a perfect sweep of a program is tallied at 63 points. At Lawrenceburg that is a 126 points maximum point gain over the two nights.

So reality is that on September 29^th and 30^th the driver’s seat is going to be the hot seat for a number of MSCS drivers. Showings both good and poor could shake the final standings deep into the core of season performers. Kyle Cummins has earned his shot at the title, whatever the odds. He remains optimistic beyond this year and his years. He is confident. He remembers leading 28 laps of the very first $10,000 to win Hoosier Sprint Nationals last year. With the Cummins Racing team now at the top of their game, opportunity beckons. Reality could yet be spelled opportunity! Lawrenceburg Speedway is not only the decision-maker, the legendary track has become the land of opportunity!