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AKA Manistee County Dragway
Eighth-mile dragstrip in Manistee County. Owned & operated by Tom & Sharon Ledford. Track managers Wayne & Brian Ledford. Track first opened Memorial Day 1970. TSI timing system. Fully lighted for night racing. 30 acre paved expansion spring 2017. 120' new concrete launch pad for 2016 season. New concrete burn boxes, expanded staging lanes and tower expansion in 2018. Complete resurfacing of race track from 60' to finish line in 2021 in addition to more paved pit roads, return roads and staging lanes.
Update - 06/02/2023 - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Kaleva-
This past weekend's 9th Annual running of Northern Michigan Dragway's Bonfire Salute was the largest on record. The Memorial Day weekend event tallied 567 entries, up from 501 last season. The record total also beat the 527 record from 2019, when a generous donor put up a dragster chassis to the overall event winner, and many racers entered more than two classes.
Tim Heiges of Traverse City set a new track record with a 4.13 second elapsed time in first round of Top Doorslammer. Though he missed Saturday's qualifying, he carried his momentum for three elimination rounds. His 1963 Corvette earned the $2,000 class win with a final round victory against his brother, Bill Heiges. Travis Mardlin of Kaleva was the top bracket money-winner on the weekend with $1650 in winnings with a Saturday win and a semi-final finish Sunday. He vaulted himself to the top of the Bracket II points standings.
Dan Snyder of Houghton Lake netted $1,500 for Sunday night's Bracket II win. Bracket I winners for $1,200 were Steve Tennant of Muskegon on Saturday, and Bill Fluette of Interlochen on Sunday.
NMD is idle this weekend and will be back in action June 9th and 10th for the next WTCM/Statewide Towing Street Night event Friday and Authentic 231 Race Series event #5 Saturday.
A full schedule and points standings can be found at NorthernMichiganDragway.com
This time, it's Ford's turn to take on all other contenders. A great forecast has racers eager to get on track with this weekend's Blue Oval Battle 10.0 at Northern Michigan Dragway.
This Ford vs. World scorecard has been a nail-biter the past few seasons. Last year's event ended in a tie score, as an 8th-round Pro Trophy final decided the outcome.
Sponsored by C. Petersen and Sons Trucking and Excavating, along with Manistee Ford, this event will determine the championship for NMD's Top Doorslammer 2022 season.
Sean Nagy of Houghton Lake took a convincing championship at Mopars Against the World last month, setting another new track record for doorslammers. With his Ford Mustang's victory and bonus points for being #1 qualifier, Nagy moved into 3rd place in the season standings with 51 points. Ron Brow of Belmont is holding onto the lead in the class with his "Blue Mamba" '66 Chevy II, while Bill Heiges of Beulah is currently 2nd with his classic '37 Chevy. With up to 41 points up-for-grabs in the $2,500 to win race, any of the top 6 racers in the standings have a legitimate shot at taking the championship. Two qualifying rounds will take place Friday evening, and the 3 round main event goes down throughout Saturday evening.
A whopping $10,000 will go to the winner of Bracket II on Saturday evening, and $3,000 to the Bracket I winner. Friday evening will have great competition in both classes, as each competes for $2,000 to win. Over $40,000 in total payouts is set to be disbursed.
Action begins on Thursday evening with time trials starting at 4 pm for all classes, and will feature eliminations for Street Trophy and Junior divisions. Friday and Saturday both feature an 11am start time, with eliminations set to be underway at approximately 2 pm each day.
More info can be found on the NMD website at NorthernMichiganDragway.com. NMD is located three miles north of Kaleva on Potter Road.