SPRING VALLEY, Minn. -- Thousands of race fans and more than 150 of the nation’s elite open-wheel dirt modified drivers are locked and loaded for Thursday night’s kickoff event at the Deer Creek Speedway for the 15th Annual Featherlite Fall Jamboree – the undisputed marquee event for Modifieds.

Set for Thursday-Saturday, Sept. 19-21, more than $200,000 in prize money will be up for grabs in this year’s blockbuster event, with as much as $15,000 or more possible to win over the course of three nights for the USMTS Modifieds.

The Iron Man Challenge featuring USRA B-Mods will share the spotlight each day, racing for a top prize of $500, $600 and $750, respectively. Fans will witness a complete show all three days with 150 to 200 top-flight teams turning more than 300 laps each night.

Wednesday’s Test ‘n’ Tune Notebook:

• More than 100 drivers turned practice laps Wednesday night at ‘The Creek.’ Drivers got a little taste of just about every track condition they might encounter throughout the weekend. The first group on the track at 6 p.m. had to tackle a somewhat slimy and slick surface which quickly packed in for a hammer-down, peel-the-rubber-off sticky surface for the next hour of testing. By the end of the night, a cushion remained on the top of the high banks while the middle groove began to slick off.

• While each combatant will be squarely focused on garnering his share of the loot this weekend, three drivers will have one eye on claiming the title of USMTS National Champion. For the sixth straight year, the Hunt for the USMTS Casey’s Cup will be decided at the Featherlite Fall Jamboree with a $15,000 payday awaiting the 2013 series titlist. After 17 of 18 ‘Hunt’ races, Johnny Scott of Las Cruces, N.M., sits atop the standings with Jason Hughes of Watts, Okla., just seven markers back and Happy, Texas, hotshoe Rodney Sanders a mere one point behind Hughes. Stormy Scott is fourth and just 33 points ahead of Jeremy Payne (1326 to 1293). Sixth through tenth are Zack VanderBeek (1209), Kelly Shryock (1152), Ryan Gustin (1145), Lucas Schott (1112) and Dereck Ramirez (1103).

• For fans unable to attend this year’s Featherlite Fall Jamboree in person can catch every lap live online at www.RacinDirt.TV. The experts at RacinDirt provided race fans with live coverage of the 3rd Annual World Modified Dirt Track Championship in July, and have served up unparalleled on-demand video coverage of USMTS events throughout the 2013 campaign. Subscribers will witness a complete program of heat races, B-Mains and A-Mains in both the USMTS Modifieds and Iron Man Challenge USRA B-Mods each day. A three-day subscription to the pay-per-view event is just $74.95. Single-day subscriptions are $24.95 on Thursday and Friday or $29.95 for Saturday’s finale. All major credit cards and PayPal are accepted.

• The entry list as of Wednesday night was 92 USMTS Modifieds and 44 USRA B-Mods. Five of the twelve former Featherlite Fall Jamboree champions are entered for this year’s event: Ron Jones (1999), Kelly Shryock (2004), Jason Hughes (2005, ’09, ’10), Terry Phillips (2011) and Joey Jensen (2012). One provisional will be awarded to a past champion that fails to qualify for Saturday’s “A” Main, and any past Saturday “A” Main winner gets a $1,000 bonus to win Saturday’s “A” Main.

• More USMTS main events have been staged at ‘The Creek’ than any other racetrack. Thursday’s Featherlite Fall Jamboree opener will be the 74th race here in the 15-year history of the United States Modified Touring Series and 34 different drivers have graced victory lane here. Of those former feature winners, 18 are pre-entered for this week’s Featherlite Fall Jamboree.

• Zack VanderBeek turned some heads Wednesday night at practice when he showed up in a black-trimmed car. Even more noticeable was the fact that he was driving an LG2 Chassis by Jimmy Owens with a ProPower Racing engine under the hood. VanderBeek publicly announced last night on Facebook that he will be driving for Bryan Rowland Racing for the remainder of the season and into the future. It was on the eve of last year’s World Modified Dirt Track Championship at Deer Creek that VanderBeek announced the end to a ten-year span of driving Skyrocket Chassis and switched to a Hughes Racing Chassis which, ironically, he purchased from Rowland.

• First-time competitors at the Featherlite Fall Jamboree include Aaron Turnbull, Kerry Davis, Tyler Vandekamp, Lance Town, Travis Peery, Tracy Denby Jr., Rick Duerr, Mark Gartner, Steven Bowers Jr., Ken Schrader, Darron Fuqua, Jeff Conner, Darren Bennett and Bob Sammann.

Thursday's USMTS Modified main event carries a $3,000 top prize and pays a minimum of $450 to each of the 30 starters. Grandstand gates open at 4 p.m. and the first green flag waves at 6:30 p.m. The night will wind down with entertainment from Dueling Pianos following the races.

On Friday, the USMTS Modified feature will pay $4,000 to the winner and $550 for each of the 30 starters. Gates open for the fans at 4 p.m. and the first green flag waves at 6:30 p.m. The day will kick off with the annual golf tournament in the morning. Fans, drivers, crews and families will put a lid on Friday’s festivities with the return of The Dweebs performing live on stage following the races.

The annual Bean Bag Tournament begins earlier in the day on Saturday. Saturday's explosive finale will feature the hottest dirt modified pilots in the nation battling for one of 30 spots in the USMTS Modified main event that will take the green flag three cars wide and ten rows deep. Drivers will battle for a $6,000 top prize and at least $900 just to take the green flag.

And if that isn’t enough, drivers failing to make Saturday’s finale will have a chance at one of 30 spots in the annual Non-Qualifiers Race which carries a $2,000 top prize and pays $400 to start ... that’s more than most modified races pay to win their main event.

On Thursday, Friday and Saturday, breakfast will be served by the Bear Creek Lutheran Church in the hospitality area from 8-11 a.m.

The Deer Creek Speedway is a high-banked 3/8-mile clay oval which sits on 60 acres with one of America’s most popular state-of-the-art racing complexes and an adjoining campground. For more information visit www.deercreekspeedway.com online or call 877-DCS-RACE.

To learn more about the United States Modified Touring Series, visit www.usmts.com online or call 515-832-7944. You can also like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/usmts, follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/usmts or check out our YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/usmtstv.

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