The race is being named after Joe Weatherly, most will remember Weatherly as a two time NASCAR Grand National Champion (now Nextel cup) but before racing on four wheels Joe was an accomplished motorcycle racer with over 200 wins and earned three American Motorcycle Association (AMA) Championships before he started racing stock cars. Joe Weatherly was a leading AMA racer of the late 1940s and early 1950s. During his brief, five-year professional motorcycle racing career Weatherly won three AMA nationals, including the prestigious Laconia Classic 100-Mile road race in 1948 and 1949. Weatherly was from Norfolk, VA where his widow still resides.

AMA sanctions many racing series, but the oldest and most traditional is flat track, sometimes referred to as “dirt track” racing. Dating back to post World War II, flat track is the uniquely American type of motorcycle racing. Riders finesse their machines sideways through the turns, just inches apart from each other, at speeds over 100 mph. In short, motorcycle flat track racing provides one of the most thrilling spectacles in motosports.

Bill Sawyer’s Virginia Motor Speedway, an ASA Member Track affiliate, is a 1/2-mile, dirt oval. The track is located on U.S. Route 17, eight miles north of Saluda, VA and 25 miles south of Tappahannock, VA. The speedway is just a short drive from Richmond, Fredericksburg, Southern Maryland and the Hampton Roads area.

To learn more about Bill Sawyer’s Virginia Motor Speedway and its 2006 schedule of events, fans and competitors may call the Speedway office at (804) 758-1VMS or visit the track online at www.vamotorspeedway.com.