Staying a little closer to home for most teams, the Pro Cup Series rolls into legendary Hickory Motor Speedway this coming weekend. I can't imagine that you can find a race fan who has not heard of Hickory. “The World's Most Famous Short-Track” stands alone with a long list of history and tradition. The 2010 race season marks the 59th season of competition at the .363 mile bullring. Hickory Motor Speedway is the oldest professional sporting venue in Catawba County and is the oldest continually operated motor speedway in the country. We love going there every year!

One thing to be excited about for this race will be the weather. A typical Pro Cup race takes place at Hickory in July or August and it can be a scorcher for teams and fans. With the schedule change this year, conditions should be ideal to enjoy some great action at the track. The WIX Filters 250 raceday program is jam packed this year too, with 4 other racing series running races in support of USARacing. The USAC Ford Focus Midgets, Allison Legacy Series, RTM Modifieds, and ISCAR Dash Series will all be on putting on a show for the fans, so get to the track early and enjoy a full day!

Saturday update - It's raceday now and temps are at 80 degrees and it's only 8am. Hauler parking should happen soon. We'll post more news later this morning.

Thursday afternoon - We made the 475 mile journey south and are sitting in the hot sun trackside! It's only in the high 80's right now but feels much worse with high 90's expected for Friday and Saturday.

Over the years, 500+ drivers have raced in the Pro Cup Series. I got to wondering where they all came from and did a little research and came up with this table below!

They've come from 31 different states, two foreign countries, and 1 unknown place. I was surprised to see that 12 drivers from Canada had raced at least one race, but it was not a great shock that North Carolina led them all with 147 different drivers taking a green flag.

If anyone knows where Eddie Sharpe, current age 44, who raced one race in 1997 in the #64 car at Lakeland, was born - drop me a comment so I can get rid of the pesky blank space next to his bio on www.ProCupDigest.com

The 12th season of USAR Pro Cup racing is in the books. It's time to take a look at a few of the things that defined this year and stuck in our memories.

There were 18 races run at 15 different race tracks. Back on the circuit after a year or more without a race was the Milwaukee Mile and Jennerstown Speedway. New to the series in 2008, Rockingham Speedway re-opened for racing and hosted the USAR 2008 season finale.

During those 18 races, 85 different drivers raced in at least one race. The drivers came from 19 different states! Fans saw 10 different winners, with 5 first-time winners (Danny Abold, Derek Kale, Mikey Kile, Caleb Holman, Hunter Robbins). The Series Champions, Benny Gordon, led all drivers with 6 wins. The race pole was won by 9 different drivers, with Benny Gordon leading that category with 5 pole awards.

A grand total of 3,994 laps of racing action took place. 192 yellow flags flew and those laps accounted for 1,122 of total laps or only 28%! During the season, drivers swapped the lead 92 times with Myrtle Beach and Rockingham each treating fans to 11 lead changes. It's no surprise that Benny Gordon led the most laps during 2008, crossing the start/finish line in first place 898 circuits. Mark McFarland ran the most races during the year (16) so it's also no surprise that he would complete the most laps - 3484.

By Lou Lauer, USARfans.com

Normally you would hear that phrase near the end of a long journey. It's not something most Pro Cups fans would be heard mumbling this season. It's hard to believe that the regular season is over already and the Championship Series swings into action this weekend at Mansfield. With just eight regular season races per division and two of them being combination races, it didn't take long for the 18 race season to race on by! I know for me that it sure feels like it just got started!

But that facts are that four races remain and 55 drivers are eligible for continue racing and competing for the title. Five of those are past USAR Hooters Pro Cup Series Champions! As if the normal Pro Cup race field was not full of enough quality drivers and teams, we're getting ready to kick it up one more notch beginning with the Charlie Campbell Memorial.

Mark McFarland (#81s) and Benny Gordon (#66n)have an advantage over the rest of the drivers with their divisional titles giving them a 40 point buffer before the green flag even flies. You would think that would be enough to pretty much guarantee the Championship to one of them with just 4 races for the field to catch them, but all it will take is one mediocre finish and that lead is all but gone.

I put a poll up on the website asking for the readers pick and expected it to be landslide for Gordon and McFarland, but have been quite surprised by the "someone else" choice holding it's own! Who could you all be thinking about that was not listed? Could this not be as cut and dried as it seems? It got me to thinking, always a dangerous avenue to venture down, and here's a few of my thoughts about what's set to unfold.

It's a gorgeous Friday afternoon here in Jennerstown, PA. The kind of weather that makes you want to play hooky from work, which is exactly what we did!

Cheryl and I are extremely happy to have the Pro Cup Series back at one of our favorite tracks, Jennerstown Speedway. After a year away, the series returns to the track where they had run 15 other races over the years. If tomorrow's weather is anything close to today, you should be making every effort possible to try and get to the track and enjoy some great live short-track racing in a classic setting.

Short-track racing is certainly a blue-collar sport and Jennerstown is about as blue collar and small town America as you'll find anywhere. From the lawn chair here under the camper awning I can see no less than 6 home proudly flying the American flag while right in the backyards, literally, is a fast half mile track poised for action. With one main traffic light marking the center of town, this is the kind of place that reminds me of where I grew up - everyone knows everyone and your door is probably not locked at night.

I have no idea if this is worthwhile or not, but here's a comparison of last years major race stats versus those from this past season. They are purely unofficial and accurate to the best of my ability. It's the off-season and there is not a whole lot of excitement in the racing world at the moment. Perhaps a 2007 driver/team silly season changes chart will be next...

It's nearly time for the USAR Officials to release the schedule for next season. I thought I'd beat them to the punch and have a little fun in the process by offering up my "Ideal Schedule" just in case they needed any help making those important decisions! I'm sure they will give this input the maximum attention it deserves and will incorporate many, if not all, of these suggestions. We have that kind of power you know....

O.k. so maybe there is not much of a chance at getting this in place, but I can daydream a bit can't I? Don't go getting all bent out of shape if some of the selections or changes don't fit into your ideal schedule, it's just for fun! What would your ideal schedule look like? To see mine, click HERE!

Tune in to the USAR website of our split-screen feature (right column -->) for all of today's action. We're not at the track and also won't be able to man the computer tonight. We'll be sitting in the rain for the Navy football season opener against East Carolina. Hopefully the rains will hold off for today's racing action from Lakeland.

Football update - Navy sinks the East Carolina Pirate's ship - 28-23!

Yesterday at South Boston, to steal a phrase from a friend - if it got any hotter, Satan would be coming out of the ground. Today is much better for teams and fans alike, with current temperatures only in the mid 80's, a virtual freezer compared to yesterday's 101 mark.

Normally teams practice in the heat of the day only to have the track change completely by the time the race gets underway in the evening. That's not likely to happen today and track temps and conditions should be pretty stable all day. That means fast now will be fast later, and the fastest so far after 3/4 of the practice has run is last weeks winner, Jeff Agnew.