CALIFORNIA LIGHTNING SPRINT CAR SERIES PREPARES FOR IT’S BIGGEST WEEKEND OF THE YEAR (Torrance, CA, August 26, 2024) After a seven-week summer vacation, the California Lightning Sprint Car Series is poised and ready for its biggest weekend of the 2024 season. First up will be a race on September 13th when the CLS joins forces with the legendary World of Outlaws at the Bakersfield Speedway. In addition, it will be round number two of the 2024 Civil War Series that matches the CLS versus Northern California’s Bay Cities Racing Association. Twenty-four hours later, the CLS will escape the heat of California’s Central Valley to race on the beach at the Ventura Raceway. Thanks to Bakersfield Promoter Scott Schweitzer, the CLS gets to race before a packed house when it joins the World of Outlaws show on “The West’s Fastest 1/3 Mile High Banked Clay Oval.” In addition to the thousands of fans in the grandstands at the track, thousands more around the world will be able to catch all the action live on the Outlaws Dirt Vision network. “It is huge to be the support class for the World of Outlaws,” said six-time CLS champion Bobby Michnowicz who made appearances with the Outlaws in the 1980s and 90s. “We look at ourselves as mini World of Outlaws Sprint Cars. We are just scaled down. You drive a lightning sprint with a wing, and you can jump into a winged sprint car (360 or 410), and hopefully down the road you can get to the pinnacle of sprint car racing, which, is the World of Outlaws.” “The productions that Dirt Vision puts out are second to none in dirt track racing as far as I am concerned,” Michnowicz continued from his Oak Hills, California home on Monday afternoon. “The overall production is amazing. Everything that you see on Dirt Vision is amazing, from the racing to the announcing to the officiating. It is just amazing to me, and it is an honor for us to be racing with the Outlaws on Dirt Vision.” When the CLS joined the Outlaws at Bakersfield in 2022, 17-year-old Grant Sexton stole the show when he rode the boards and only led the most important part of the race. The last six inches!!! Afterward, Sexton entertained the crowd with an exuberant post-race interview that drew praise from around the globe. The race on the 13th at Bakersfield will be the fifth of six this season for the CLS at the “Okie Bowl.” Point leader Michnowicz won the first three races there. Palmdale’s Eric Greco, who is second to Michnowicz in the championship point standings, won the last race on the longtime Kern County oval on June 15th. The race on the 14th at Ventura, which will take place just a few feet shy of the breaking waves of the Pacific Ocean, will be the third of five for the CLS at the tiny oval this season. San Diego’s AJ Bender, who will be driving one of the Dyer Motorsports cars on the 13th and 14th, won the first one on May 4th. The last time the CLS raced there was on June 8th, when Michnowicz scored his series-leading fourth main event win of the season. “We were hoping to get on the program with the Outlaws at Merced, but it did not work out,” said Michnowicz, who has been racing for over 50 years. “We took advantage of not being able to race at Merced and scheduled the race at Ventura. For the guys who come down from up north, they can get in two shows. That is why we have added money to the purse at Ventura to try to lure some of the racers to come there.” Going into the two-race weekend, ageless Michnowicz leads Greco by 78 points in the CLS standings. Newly turned 13-year-old Zate Legend of Riverside is third. Fillmore’s Connor Speir, who won the last CLS race on July 27th at Santa Maria, is fourth. Rounding out the top five is 17-year-old Seth Dyer of Yucca Valley. Six different drivers have posted victories through the first ten races of the 2024 CLS campaign. Michnowicz is at the top of that chart with four wins. The only other driver with more than one victory is Speir, who has two. Lakewood’s Aiden Lang, Jeff Dyer of Yucca Valley, Greco and Bender have one win each. The race at Bakersfield was supposed to be round #3 of the 2024 Civil War Series. However, Mother Nature won the first race on April 13th when she rained on everybody's parade. That made the first race of the year the July 27th affair that Speir won at Santa Maria. Thus, he sits on top of the CWS standings. He has a 10-point lead over Legend. Cody Meyer of Placerville, one of only two BCRA drivers in the top 10, is third. Greco and Dyer are fourth and fifth. Advance tickets for the World of Outlaws/CLS show are available now at the following link https://worldofoutlaws.com/sprintcars/ The track is located at 5001 North Chester Ext. Ave., Bakersfield (93308). The track website is bakersfieldspeedway.com and the office phone number is (661) 393-3373. Joining the CLS at Ventura will be the USCS Sprint Cars, USAC Western Midgets, IMCA Sport Compacts, and the VRA Hobby Stocks. Adult tickets are $22.00. For seniors 65 and over, it is $18.00. Military and Students with id also get in for $18.00. Kids 12 and under are free when they are accompanied by an adult. The track is located on the Ventura County Fairgrounds at 10 W. Harbor Boulevard (93001). The website is http://venturaraceway.com/ and the office phone number is (805) 648-RACE. The CLS would like to thank the following companies for being partners in the 2024 season. Extreme Mufflers, RacingJunk.com and Hoosier Tire. California Lightning Sprint Car Series Points 1. Bobby Michnowicz, Oak Hills, CA … 1102 2. Eric Greco, Palmdale, CA … 1024 3. Zate Legend, Riverside, CA … 943 4. Connor Speir, Fillmore, CA … 904 5. Seth Dyer, Yucca Valley, CA … 894 6. Cody Nigh, Camarillo, CA … 893 7. Jon Robertson, Torrance, CA … 873 8. Jeff Dyer, Yucca Valley, CA … 813 9. Clay Byers, Bakersfield, CA … 510 10. Pat Kelley, Chino, CA … 493 CLS vs BCRA Civil War Points 1. Connor Speir, CLS … 134 2. Zate Legend, CLS … 124 3. Cody Meyer, BCRA … 121 4. Eric Greco, CLS … 120 5. Seth Dyer, CLS … 114 6. Leland Day, CLS … 101 7. Jon Robertson, CLS … 98 8. Clay Byers, CLS … 86 9. Matt Land, BCRA … 84 9. Bobby Michnowicz, CLS … 84 2024 CLS Lap Leaders Michnowicz, Bobby … 92 Speir, Connor … 33 Greco, Eric … 28 Dyer, Jeff … 25 Dyer, Seth … 17 Lange, Aiden … 16 Bender, AJ … 15 Dyer, Seth … 9 Nigh, Cody … 4 Dennett, Greg … 1 2024 California Lightning Sprint Car Series Schedule March 1 Imperial Valley Raceway Mid-Winter Fair Aiden Lange March 2 Imperial Valley Raceway Mid-Winter Fair Connor Speir March 9 Bakersfield Speedway CLS Bobby Michnowicz April 13 Merced Speedway CSL vs BCRA Civil War #1 Rained Out April 20 Bakersfield Speedway CLS Bobby Michnowicz May 4 Ventura Raceway CLS AJ Bender May 18 Bakersfield Speedway CLS Bobby Michnowicz June 8 Ventura Raceway CLS Bobby Michnowicz June 15 Bakersfield Speedway CLS Eric Greco July 6 Santa Maria Speedway CLS Jeff Dyer July 27 Santa Maria Speedway CLS vs BCRA Civil War #2 Connor Speir September 13 Bakersfield Speedway CLS vs BCRA Civil War #3 September 14 Ventura Raceway CLS September 28 Ventura Raceway CLS October 5 Merced Speedway CLS vs BCRA Civil War #4 Albright Memorial October 26 Ventura Raceway CLS November 15 Placerville Speedway Hangtown 100 – No Points November 16 Placerville Speedway Hangtown 100 – No Points November 26 Bakersfield Speedway CLS To keep up with the CLS online, please visit the website at http://racecls.com/ and follow on the club’s Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/californialightningsprints. PAST CALIFORNIA LIGHTNING SPRINT CAR CHAMPIONS 1994 Tony Everhart, 1995 Gary Sexton, 1996 Rob Sczymczak, 1997 Jon Rahe, 1998 Chris Rahe, 1999 Brent Sexton, 2000 Greg Bragg, 2001 Greg Bragg, 2002 Greg Bragg, 2003 David Cardey, 2004 Keith Janca, 2005 Johnny Bates, 2006 Donny Gansen, 2007 Shane Rossen, 2008 Brent Sexton, 2009 Stuart Hielschier Sr., 2010 Jarrett Kramer, 2011 Tim Brown, 2012 Bobby Michnowicz, 2013 Stephen Limon, 2014 Bobby Michnowicz, 2015 Bobby Michnowicz, 2016 Bobby Michnowicz, 2017 Bobby Michnowicz, 2018 Jarrett Kramer, 2019 Jarrett Kramer, 2021 David Gasper, 2022 David Gasper, 2023 Bobby Michnowicz This press release was produced by Scott Daloisio Sports (909) 226-7768 mailto:sdaloisiosports@gmail.com.