4/9/2014
Cottage Grove Speedway
Street Stocks Are Back For 2014 At CGS
Street Stocks Are Back For 2014 At CGS
By Ben Deatherage
(Photo Courtesy of Madman Photography)
Cottage Grove, Oregon- For the last eight seasons at Cottage Grove Speedway fans have been thrilled to watch Street Stock action. Five different champions have been produced in the eight years the class has been in action. Three drivers have managed to win the crown on two occasions one of which is the current defending champion Darin Crooks. In 2014 the division will see the Street Stocks on hand a total of sixteen times.
“The car count has been down a little bit but we changed some of our rules that hopefully will allow some other cars to run with us,” said Cottage Grove Speedway General Manager Heather Boyce, “it looks like this year we are going to have some new drivers too. It’s a class that means a lot to Cottage Grove Speedway being that Mark Howard helped to create it and several drivers got their start here too.”
During the summer of 2005 the late Mark Howard and hand full of others got together to create the original rule package for the Street Stock class. Although Mark would never see the class compete the Wallbanger Cup has been ran in his honor since 2008. Each Wallbanger Cup has been contested on the Mark Howard Memorial, with the exception of the 2008 edition, and this year it will take place on Saturday August 23rd.
In 2013 there were fourteen races with seven different winners. Daniel Ray would win five features including the coveted Wallbanger Cup. Eventual track champion Darin Crooks was the only other driver to win more than one feature as he would pick up four of them over the course of the campaign. Five drivers managed to win one race each which included Jake Mayden, Steve Begley, Ricky Ashley, T.J. Langan, and Jordan Braaten.
2012 had seven winners in nine different races. Darin Crooks would pick up his first career championship that season and would pick up the crown despite winning just one race. Ricky Ashley and Jeff Casto would lead the division in the win column as both drivers managed to pick up two victories apiece while Matt King, Steve Begley, Dustin Comer, and Andrew Langan all won once.
If there was a season that had the closest point battle it would have to been in 2011. Andrew and T.J. Langan battled eachother hard week after week. Andrew would edge out his older brother T.J. by a mere two points to win his second career championship.
Don't miss out on the 2014 Season Opener this Saturday April 12th at the Cottage Grove Speedway. We hope everyone can make it out to enjoy some wonderful racing at “The Grove”. For the latest information regarding Cottage Grove Speedway log on to www.cottagegrovespeedway.com.
Former Cottage Grove Speedway Street Stock Track Champions
2006- James Morris
2007- Robert Wohlbrandt
2008- T.J. Langan
2009- Andrew Langan
2010- T.J. Langan
2011- Andrew Langan
2012- Darin Crooks
2013- Darin Crooks
Submitted By: Ben Deatherage