EDMONTON, AB – The much anticipated return of the Northern Provincial Pipelines Late Model Series to Drumheller, Alberta is on hold for at least another year. The NPP Late Model Series is cancelling its scheduled Canada Day long weekend appearance (July 1st/2nd) at Dinosaur Downs Speedway. “We’ve got a car count problem,” exclaims series announcer Gord Craig, “we saw it at our season opener earlier this month in Rimbey. Unfortunately the car count was not going to improve for Drumheller.” Only five NPP Series teams made the journey to Central Alberta Raceways for the June 10th and 11th event. “The teams that showed up [in Rimbey] put on a terrific show but the lack of cars on the track was glaring.” From 2005 to 2014, the average NPP Series car count for race events in Rimbey was sixteen. At the NPP Late Model Series debut/2007 season opener in Drumheller (at Hidden Valley Motorsports Park), twenty-one teams were on the property. The scheduled event in Drumheller, Alberta on the 2013 Canada Day long weekend was unfortunately rained out.

The current state of the Alberta economy is getting a lot of the blame for the depleted car count. “Many of our drivers are business owners,” says Craig, “they’ve told me they are feeling the pinch when it comes to the major slowdown of the economy.” Cancelling a race event is always a last resort for race officials. “Before the Drumheller cancellation, we’ve only had to cancel four scheduled appearance since 2001. This is the first ever two-day race cancellation.” The NPP Late Model Series is not the only Alberta based racing class that is experiencing a competitor shortage. “I think we are the only ones publicly admitting it,” exclaims Craig, “I’ve been to several tracks already this year and car counts are down across the board.” NPP Late Model Series officials are carefully examining the remaining race dates for 2016. “With the Drumheller cancellation, we have quite the gap in our schedule. Right now our next scheduled race date isn’t till the middle of August. All options are on the table.”