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Monday, June 22, 2020

PA Speedweek Jan Opperman/Dick Bogar Memorial Is Sunday At Selinsgrove! 305 sprints also race in Sunday special



6/21/20

Selinsgrove, Pa – Selinsgrove Speedway will stage the third race of the 30th annual Pennsylvania Speedweek Series coming up Sunday night, June 28 at 7:30 pm when the Modern Heritage 410 sprint cars compete in the 30-lap Jan Opperman/Dick Bogar Memorial, paying $5,099 to win, presented by Middleswarth Potato Chips.

The race is another Slivinski Law Offices Super 7 Series Event at Selinsgrove Speedway.

The only track that Opperman ever won an oval title at will pay homage to the sprint car racing legend, and his No. 99 car owner Luke "Dick" Bogar Jr. when gates open at 5 pm.

In honor of famed No. 99 Opperman car owner Dick Bogar, the Bogar family is paying an extra $99 to win and $90 to the Opperman/Bogar Memorial hard charger.

The Apache Tree Service 305 sprints are also on the racing program that will begin the Independence Day holiday week.

So far this season, Modern Heritage 410 sprint car winners at the track have been Kyle Reinhardt (May 31) and Freddie Rahmer (June 12).

The Jan Opperman Memorial began at the track in 2002 when Middleburg’s Todd Hestor scored the popular win aboard the Middleswarth Potato Chips No. 7M.

And the list of winner’s of the race is a virtual who’s who of area and national sprint car talent.

The late 2014 loss of Opperman’s car owner, Dick Bogar, found his name joining Oppermans on the memorial race beginning in 2015.

Opperman passed away in 1997.

Subsequent memorial winners have been: Greg Hodnett, 2003, 2011; Fred Rahmer, 2004, 2005, 2008; Doug Esh, 2006; Sean Michael, 2007; Chad Kemenah, 2009; Daryn Pittman, 2010; Lance Dewease, 2012; Brent Marks, 2014; Stevie Smith, 2015; Danny Dietrich, 2016; Rico Abreu, 2017; Lucas Wolfe, 2018; Dylan Cisney, 2019.

The race fell victim to rain in 2013 and has been run as a leg of the wildly popular Pennsylvania Speedweek series since 2005.

California hippie Opperman moved East in the early 1970’s and was hired by Selinsgrove businessman Luke “Dick” Bogar Jr. to drive his now famous orange and white No. 99 in the region and across the nation beginning with the 1972 season.

The team piled up wins across the nation during two and a half seasons together including a mind-numbing 44 checkers in 90 races entered in 1972 to go along with 26 more in 1973.

Opperman and Bogar scored the 1973 Selinsgrove Speedway track title as the only title either men ever etched their names on and that only occurred after the pair opted to strictly focus on Selinsgrove part way through the season while they were amazingly leading Saturday night points at both Selinsgrove and Port Royal Speedways, simultaneously.

Bogar’s ties to the track reach back to the 1940s when his fathers lumber company earned the contract to erect the oval’s historic covered grandstand and as such, Bogar Jr. helped supply the lumber still in use today as well as to dig the post holes and pour the cement that is the foundation of the structure.

Adult general admission for the show is $20 with students ages 12 – 17 admitted for $10. Ages 11 and under are always admitted for FREE at Selinsgrove Speedway.

Keep up to date with all the latest speedway news, results, information and race status by visiting the speedway’s official website at www.selinsgrovespeedway.com or follow the track on Twitter and Facebook.

~ Selinsgrove Speedway ~ A New Identity In Twenty-Twenty

www.selinsgrovespeedway.com

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