Salem, IN (June 29, 2008) – Champion Racing Association will kick off the July 4^th Holiday Weekend as part of a huge racing event at Angola Motor Speedway on Thursday night, July 3^rd. The CRA Super Series has become a tradition at the Northern Indiana track on the July 4^th Holiday competing in the Hargus Mullins Memorial 125 presented by EMF Corp. and Centennial Wireless. The Howe CRA Sportsman Series will also compete on the same night in the Ashley Transport 75, it will be the first race ever for the Sportsman at Angola Motor Speedway owned by Angola businessman Dick Poe.

Thursday’s event will be the 13^th CRA Super Series event at the highly competitive 3/8-mile high-banked oval. Current series point’s leader and two time series Champion Scott Hantz has the most series victories at Angola with a total of three wins, but Hantz, an Angola native, has been shut out of victory lane at Angola since the series event on July 4^th, 2003. The Muller Motorsports Team has gotten the last two series victories at Angola with Eddie Van Meter claiming his first ever series win in 2006 for owner Ken Muller and 1997 series Champion Brian Rievley got the win last year for Muller in a very exciting event that saw him battle with local favorite Jack Landis for several laps before taking the lead on lap 117. Second place through sixth place Hantz were separated by less than one second.

Rievley is entered to try and defend his win as is Hantz who has built his current points lead with back to back wins in the series first two events of the 2008 season, followed by two third place finishes and a season low seventh place finish at the series last event at Illiana Motor Speedway. Hantz is chasing Brian Ross for the series all-time series victory lead, Ross has 22 wins to Hantz’s 20 wins to date.

Other top series driver entered include former Angola series winners JR Roahrig, Jeff Lane and Kenny Tweedy. Also entered are series regulars Rick Turner, Boris Jurkovic, Jason Dietsch, Terry Fisher Jr., Jason Shively, John VanDoorn, Sean Matthuis and Rich Segvich. Current K & N Filters Rookie Of The Year point’s leader Zach Taylor leads a strong group of series rookie competitors that are entered including Aaron Pierce, Robert Maynor, Adam Purdy, Donald Karr Jr. and Tommy Cook.

Several part-time series competitors are entered with local ties including Jack Landis, a former champion at Angola and winner of the Stan Perry Memorial event for the Angola Speedway Outlaw Late Models on June 14^th. Landis will have a teammate for Thursday’s event, Brian Nester, who competed in a few series events several years ago for owner Tim Burkett. Nester finished second to Landis in a team car in the Stan Perry memorial.

Current Angola Motor Speedway Outlaw Late Model point’s leader Brent Jack will make his CRA Super Series debut on Thursday. Jack has several Outlaw Late Model wins at Angola and has been a strong competitor in those type cars through out the region. Other part-time drivers entered include local racer Mike Kugler and Brandon Fagin in his second ever series event.

The Howe CRA Sportsman Series is ready to return to action for the first time ever at Angola Motor Speedway in Thursday’s Ashley Transport 75. The series last two scheduled events on June 7th and June 21st at Baer Field Speedway were both canceled because of weather. The series has not been in action since May 24^th’s event at Plymouth Speedway that was won by Lou Stremme, father of NASCAR racer David Stremme of South Bend, Indiana. The Howe CRA Sportsman Series will return to Baer Field Speedway for an event on the 3/8’s mile track this Saturday, July 5^th.

Series rookie competitor Tony Dager remains on top of the series points after opening the season with a record four straight victories, including back-to-back wins at Baer Field Speedway on May 17^th and May 18^th. Dager had his streak end at the series last event, he was making a charge to get to the lead and was running fourth when a flat tire caused him to spin after contact from Rick Rinehart. Dager fought back to get a ninth place finish in that event.

Rick Rinehart comes into Thursday’s event second in points, he is 35 points behind Dager. Rinehart is looking to get back into victory lane in 2008 after scoring victories in each of the series first two seasons. Rookie Justin Alsip is third in series points, trailing Rinehart by 34 points. Alsip is coming off a series high third place finish in the series event at Plymouth.

Charlie Hanna is currently fourth in series points, 10 points behind Alsip. Hanna is also still looking for his first series win of 2008, he led the series in victories last season with three. Hanna is coming off a great second place run at Plymouth, it was his best finish of the season so far. 2007 series Champion Billy Hutson is fifth in points, just three points behind Hanna. Hutson is also looking for his first victory of 2008, he got two series victories last season.

Series rookie Nick Lay is sixth in series points and has been the Holley Performance Products Fast Qualifier at two series events so far this season. Eric Barkus is seventh in points, Bob Dumke is eighth, rookie Rick Pfeifer in ninth and the Rick Pfeifer owned truck is tenth in points, it has been driver by Mark Soots and most recently by John Wicks. To date the series has already had 61 different participants score points this season.

There will be an open practice at Angola Motor Speedway on Wednesday, July 2^nd from 5 to 9pm. Pit gates will open on Thursday for CRA competitors at 2pm. Practice will begin at 4:15pm with qualifying at 6pm. The race program will begin at 7:30pm and will include the CRA Super Series in the Hargus Mullins Memorial 125 presented by EMF Corp. and Centennial Wireless, the Howe CRA Sportsman Series in 10 lap heat races and the Ashley Transport 75. There will also be a $1000 to win Modified feature and a $500 to win Street Stock feature. The CRA Family Fun Zone will also be at Angola with games and prizes for all the children attending Thursday’s event.

More information on Thursday’s event is available at www.angolamotorspeedway.com. Additional information for the CRA Super Series and Howe CRA Sportsman Series is available at www.craracing.net.