EDMONTON, AB – Canada’s oldest open wheel motorsports event will be contested this weekend at Castrol Raceway.  First run at Edmonton’s Speedway Park back in 1954, the prestigious Jim Albert Memorial Gold Cup runs Friday and Saturday night August 17th and 18th.  Ask any driver who has raced the Gold Cup in Edmonton and they will tell you it can be one of the toughest Sprint Car races to win.  “Yes it is,” exclaims eight-time track champion Wade Fleming, “it’s hard to win most nights here but when you add in the out of town cars from the United States, it just amplifies it even more.”

NEVER AN EASY NIGHT FOR SPRINT CAR DRIVERS IN EDMONTON

The driver of the Northern Provincial Pipelines Ltd. #7 Sprint Car is the all-time Feature win leader at Castrol Raceway.  Since 1991 Fleming has had 49 trips to victory lane.  One of those victories was the Gold Cup race back in 1997.  “The competition in Edmonton is as good as anywhere,” adds the Ardrossan, Alberta driver, “I know my kids are looking forward to seeing me win my 50th. It’s a little tougher though when you’ve taken nine years off and come back.  The thought process is there (to win) but the tools are not as sharp as they once were.”  Fleming retired from the sport of ‘360’ Sprint Car racing after the 2009 season to spend more time with his family.  After some encouragement from his wife Tracy and his now grown children, Fleming returned to the sport in 2018.  “I really don’t have anything to prove to anybody else,” says Fleming, “what I wanted to do was prove to myself that I still could drive the car.”  Fleming has one Heat race win and an average Feature finish of 8th this season.  “My consistency in the Heat races is solid but you don’t realize the endurance needed to run one of these cars in a Feature.”  Fleming’s last appearance in a Gold Cup race was back in 2009 where he finished 6th.  “I made no expectations of what I was to accomplish (this season),” exclaims Fleming, “the most important expectation was to be more of a family at the track.  Everybody is in the pits now and we all work on the car together.  We are going to go out and do our best.”

CASTROL RACEWAY – Edmonton, Alberta
>Friday/Saturday, August 17th/18th
Racing @ 7pm on Friday
Racing @ 6pm on Saturday

CASTROL RACEWAY ALL-TIME FEATURE WINS
– ‘360’ SPRINT CAR –
(as of August 14, 2018)

1. Wade Fleming             49
2. Sean Moran                 38 (retired)
3. Marc Duperron           33
4. Tim Gee                        24 (retired)
5. Casey Adams               16
6. Robbie King                 15 (retired)
7. Jason Solwold             10
8. Bill Boyce                     8
Marc Huson                     8 (retired)
9. Jeff Hodgson               7 (retired)
10. Sean MacDonell       6