ON AUTO RACING: LUCRATIVE DUQUOIN EVENT ATTRACTS BIG NAMES

Sunday's lineup for the Summernationals event at the DuQuoin (Ill.) State Fairgrounds already was expected to include some of the nation's top dirt late model competitors.

Now the $10,000-to-win event has caught the eye of two of the sport's most recognized heavy-hitters.

NASCAR Winston Cup veteran Ken Schrader and short-track racing ace Scott Bloomquist of Mooresburg, Tenn., both said this week that they'll compete Sunday for their share of the posted $50,000 prize money. The race, the 14th stop of the 26-event, four-week Summernationals series, is among the richest on the tour.

The track is 22 miles north of Carbondale, Ill., or 60 miles north of Cape Girardeau.

Race coordinator Bob Sargent said Schrader's appearance is a boost for the early afternoon event, only the second for late model stock cars in the track's history.

"I'd anticipate his appearance alone will draw a large crowd of fans," Sargent said, "but it seems to have had an effect on drawing other drivers as well."

A field of 50 late models is expected, thanks to Schrader's addition, the payout and the track itself. The DuQuoin Fairgrounds features the only 1-mile track on the Summernationals schedule, and its top speeds of 120 mph are considerably quicker than the speeds reached on the series' more typical quarter-mile or half-mile tracks.

Arkansas' Billy Moyer, who won the only other late model racing event at the track in 1999, also has entered, as has sprint racing's Jack Hewitt of Ohio and Bob Pierce from the Chicago area. Southeast Missouri racers are expected to be among the field.

General admission is $25 for adults, $10 for children 10 and under.

Two other events in the region will provide rich lead-ins to Sunday's race.

Paducah (Ky.) Raceway hosts the Summernationals series for a $5,000-to-win event today. Admission is $20 for adults, $5 for children 5-11, free for children under 5.

The series goes to I-55 Raceway near the St. Louis suburb of Pevely on Saturday. That event features a top prize of $10,000. Admission is $20 for adults, free for children under 12.

Pierce and Bloomquist won Summernationals events at Benton's Missouri International Racepark --now the Auto Tire and Parts Racepark --in 1991 and '92.

Here and there

* Mike Abney of Viburnum, Mo., ended Keith Adamson's winning streak of 12 races in Friday's late model feature race at Fredericktown Raceway. Adamson, of Poplar Bluff, Mo., won the previous 12 events in which he entered -- qualifying heat races, dashes and feature races -- over four weeks.

Among local racers Friday, Gene Kay of Perryville, Mo., was fourth in the pro street class and Ron Welker of Marble Hill, Mo., won his heat race in pure stocks.

* The Southern Missouri Dwarf Cars will hold its first of three planned programs at ATPR on Saturday. The group, which has scheduled 20 events in Missouri and Illinois, returns to ATPR July 28.

* Thanks to ATPR photographer Tonya McFall for an uncredited photo published last week. Her racing photos are available each Saturday at the track or by calling (573) 264-1000.

Jamie Hall is the Southeast Missourian's editor of graphics and design. Reach him at (800) 879-1210, or at jhall@semissourian.com