East Coast Indoor Dirt Nationals To Feature Main Events Both Nights

Trenton, NJ – When the BELFOR Property Restoration sponsored East Coast Indoor Dirt Nationals return to the CURE Insurance Arena in Trenton, NJ on February 23-24 there will be one driver hoisting the trophy each night.  For the first time in event’s five year history the exciting wingless 600cc Sprints  will be competing in a thrilling main event on both Friday and Saturday.

Thanks to a schedule modification for 2024, Friday night action becomes as much a “Must See” as on Saturday when the program has traditionallly ended with a 50 lap, $5,000 to win championship feature.

Split qualifying races that headlined previous dirt events on Friday night in Trenton will now be followed by a 24-car A-Main. The 25 lap race will cap off the program featuring the days best performers with one driver shining over the rest in victory lane.

The fifth East Coast Indoor Dirt Nationals will begin on Thursday night with open practice held from 5 PM to 8 PM. The grandstands are closed for this event, but pit passes are available. Following the event, happy hour specials will be available at renown sports bar Chickie’s & Pete’s in Bordentown, N.J.

On Friday afternoon two rounds of practice will be held. Times from the second set  will be used to set the line-ups for evening qualifiers. At 6 PM on Friday the grandstands open with racing starting at 7 PM.

Drivers who timed from 61 to 90 in the group qualifying session will race first in two 10 lap Last Chance Qualifiers. The top two in each moves on to join the top 60 from group qualifying in Four 15 lap races which transfer five in each to Friday’s A-Main.

The non-qualifiers then line-up in two 15 lap B-Mains that will add four more cars to the 24 car Friday night feature. The top five finishers in Friday’s A-Main plus the top five drivers in points from the day not in those positions will lock into Saturday’s A-Main.

Saturday’s doors open at 4 PM with a special autograph session on the concourse at 5 PM for drivers already qualified for the A-Main. Racing action on the banked clay oval begins at 6 PM with alphabet soup transfer races, offering drivers the opportunity to advance from the E-Main all the way through to the A-Main.

The E, D & C-Mains transfer the top four. The twin B Mains are each 15 laps with top seven in each joining the top ten from Friday in the 24 car A-Main.

As a bonus to fans this year, Friday night’s top ten performers will race in a new Bob Hilbert’s Sportswear Cash Dash on Saturday before lining up in the A-Main event.

Since it’s inception in 2017, the dirt race in Trenton has produced extreme excitement. At the first event dirt 600 regular Whitey Kidd of Staten Island, NY (the late Rob Vivona) pulled of a late race pass of Alex Bright to take the win despite fighting a battle with cancer.

In 2018 dirt Modified star Erick Rudolph from Ransomville, NY likewise took the win with a late race charge forward. The memorable 2019 race found south Jersey Micro Sprint driver Jon Keller rebounded from a Friday night flip by advancing from the E to the A-main. With everyone cheering for him, he then advanced from the tail of the field to pull off an unbelievable victory.

The event then bowed to Covd-19 for two years, but the great racing action returned in 2023. Race winner Timmy Buckwalter went to the rear on lap 12 of the 50 lap feature after an early race spin, but drove back to take the lead during a stretch of an incredible 36 laps of non-stop racing!

A new star was born a year ago  in 18-year-old Adrianna Dellaponti, who won the hearts of the big crowd on hand. After becoming the first female to qualify for the race in the B-Main, the Norristown, PA driver advanced from a 19th starting spot to second late in the A-Main.

She then ran down a big lead Buckwalter had enjoyed while he fought lap traffic. Had the third and final yellow not been waved with three laps left, she might have won the $5,000 to win race. Going for the win on the final restart, she ended up third when Billy Pauch Jr. passed her coming to the finish line.

There was no doubt, however, that Dellaponti had become the fan favorite when she received huge cheers prior to the restart and afterwards when he she joined the podium finishers in victory lane.

The entry list of 90 cars, which is filling quickly, already includes last year’s top three of Buckwalter, Pauch and Dellaponti. The big question is who will be the driver that becomes a new house-hold name following the great two-day weekend.

After the events biggest crowd attended last year on Saturday and witnessed such great racing, tickets for the 2024 event are selling at a record pace. Good seats are currently available through a link to Ticketmaster at indoorautoracing.com. Tickets are also available daily and the days of the event at the arena box office.

For those who cannot attend, the event will be available on DTD Pay-Per-View for $64.99 for the weekend or $29.99 for Friday and $39.99 for Saturday.