Racing Returns to Trenton

The roar of professional auto racing, which has not been heard in New Jersey’s State Capital in over thirty years, will be awakened anew in 2014.

Len Sammons Motorsports Productions has announced it will promote a two-day, indoor racing event at the Sun National Bank Center in Trenton in 2014. The event will feature top drivers from at least ten different States and Canada competing in the Fatheadz TQ Midget Racing Series.

A complete program including qualifying and feature events will be held for the TQ Midgets on Friday and Saturday night, February 7 and 8, 2014.  A different support division will join the TQ Midgets each night making both programs unique.

Trenton Speedway, on the grounds of the former New Jersey State Fairgrounds, hosted auto races on tracks of various configurations from the 1930s. A.J. Foyt, Mario Andretti, Bobby and Al Unser, N.J. native Wally Dallenbach Sr., Richard Petty and David Pearson enjoyed some of their greatest career racing successes there.

The last race at Trenton Speedway was a NASCAR Modified Stock Car event won by Geoff Bodine, who took the checkered flag on June 19, 1980. Wrecking balls and bulldozers later razed the grounds.

The Sun National Bank Center (www.SunNationalBankCenter.com) has been used for Indoor ice racing events in the past, competing on a track inside the hockey ice rink.  The Indoor course for the Sun National Bank Center races will be held on the concrete floor around the hockey perimeter.

“We are thrilled to be working with Len Sammons Motorsports on bringing this exciting new event into our venue,” said Claudio Oliveira the Assistant General Manager of the Sun National Bank Center. “We look forward to offering local racing fans the opportunity to enjoy heart pounding action right here in Trenton next February.”

The first annual event in Trenton will take place two weeks after the 12th annual LSMP-promoted Gambler’s Classic races are held inside Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J. Those race dates are set for January 24-25, 2014. Both meets will be extensively promoted at Sammons’ 29th annual Motorsports Show, scheduled for the three-day weekend of January 10-11-12, 2014 at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pa.

Indoor racing was reborn by Len H. Sammons and his staff in Atlantic City in 2003 after a twenty-two year hiatus, and has become a staple of the winter auto racing season.  Five years ago, a second indoor event was created in Providence, R.I., which, like the Atlantic City race, became an instant success. The Providence races this year are tentatively scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, December 14-15, 2013. Sammons also promoted an event in Baltimore, Md., for the first time in December of 2012.

The Trenton race will be a special one for Sammons who has been a life-long resident of the area. His father, Leonard J. Sammons Jr., started the Area Auto Racing News in nearby Hamilton, NJ in 1963 and the office remains just miles from where the races will be held. The Sammons family also sold the novelties and programs at the Trenton Speedway for many years.

The Sun National Bank Center is a relatively new venue having opened in October of 1999. The building offers first class seating and food concessions for the fans as well as several Luxury Suites for larger groups or sponsors. “Each arena has its own qualities and assets,” said Sammons, “I think this one will be perfect for exciting racing for many years.”

The central location of the City of Trenton makes it an attractive venue for race fans.  Each of New Jersey’s three weekly outdoor speedways, New Egypt, Bridgeport and Wall Stadium are within 45 minutes of Trenton.

Pre-race Trenton favorites include 2013 Atlantic City ‘Gamblers’ Classic Indoor TQ Midget winner Anthony Sesely of Matawan, NJ. Sesely, the 2011 and 2012 Modified champion at Wall Stadium also won the overall 2012-2013 Fatheadz Indoor Race series point title. New Egypt Speedway’s all-time Modified event winner, Billy “The Kid” Pauch is also a regular on the Indoor series and a former Atlantic City winner. NASCAR Modified series champion Ted Christopher of Plainville, CT, the winningest driver in LSMP promoted events, was the Coffee Cup winner this year in Providence.  Lou Cicconi, Jr. of Lester, PA, always a fan favorite, won on Friday night in Atlantic City this year.  Canadian Mike Lichty won the event held this year in Baltimore, MD.

Further details, including ticket on-sale date and support divisions, will be announced when available. Check aarn.com for details on all LSMP events. Sponsorship programs are available by calling 609-888-3618.

Global Spectrum (global-spectrum.com) manages the Sun National Bank Center, as well as more than 100 other public assembly facilities around the world. Nearly 20-million people attended more than 11,000 events in Global Spectrum venues last year. Based in Philadelphia, PA, Global Spectrum is part of Comcast-Spectacor, one of the world’s largest sports and entertainment companies. Comcast-Spectacor also owns the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League, Ovations Food Services, a food and beverage services provider, New Era Tickets, a full-service ticketing and marketing product for public assembly facilities, Paciolan, the leading provider of venue establishment ticketing, fundraising and marketing technology solutions, Front Row Marketing Services, a commercial rights sales company, and Flyers Skate Zone, a series of community ice skating rinks.

Source: Ernie Saxton Communications, Inc.