Last night at Port Royal Speedway, the United Racing Club 360 Sprint Cars capped the night off with Josh Weller winning the A-Main. Weller was fast throughout the night and led wire-to-wire. Anthony Macri was able to rebound for a podium finish.
There were a lot of conversations about the URC guys circulating on Twitter, as an unfortunate accident saw two drivers have synchronized flips in their heat race. The video (below) started some conversations about the URC guys and it brought back some great memories for me. Both drivers in the accident were able to walk away.
The year was 2007, my Mom and I were pulling into the parking lot at Bridgeport Speedway for Saturday night racing. The URC Sprint Cars we’re on the schedule, which always made for an exciting race at the old 5/8 mile. Just as we were walking to the entrance, I saw a sprint car flipping through the air as high as the light poles. It was Greg Coverdale and his car had suffered a mechanical issue in hot laps that sent him for a wild ride. The car exited the turn one fence and broke one of the light poles in half. Coverdale ended up in the hospital, but was thankfully able to walk away.
Most of my URC events were spent at Bridgeport. I would beg my parents to take me to the merchandise trailers so I could get a new T-shirt or die-cast car. My favorite car was always the Tasty Kake no. 39, that I believe was driven by Tim Hogue at the time. Others were Kramer Williamson in the 84 and Sean Michael in the BK Leasing 99.
I am too young to remember the likes of Gary Gollub, Glenn Fitzcharles, Dave Kelly and Fran Hogue, but those are four drivers that will forever be URC legends, as well as Sprint Car legends in general.
For me, it was always Sean and Curt Michael. It seemed like one of them was always in victory lane when I was watching. They both wheeled the beautiful no. 99 car at different points in their careers. Curt would later driver the Bill Gallagher no. 5G, a car that was an absolute rocket ship.
A few other names I can think of off the top of my head include Brian Seidel, Mike Haggenbottom, Dave Ely, Ed Aikin, Chris Coyle, Becca Anderson and of course, Dave McGough in the no. 669. Ely could really rip the top and was always fun to watch. Coyle was behind the wheel of the iconic red team 56 car, that many URC drivers piloted over the years.
Over the years, I kind of forgot about the URC Sprint Cars, as I am usually more focused on the 410 races. Last night, I was happily reminded that they are still around and providing entertainment for us. Check out more historic photos of these cars and drivers here. http://www.urcsprintcarseries.com/history/
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