Wednesday, November 29, 2023

Here’s the 2019 schedule for Langley Speedway

Denny Hamlin will return to Langley Speedway in 2019 to defend his title in his annual charity race. (Photo courtesy of Langley Speedway)
Denny Hamlin will return to Langley Speedway in 2019 to defend his title in his annual charity race. (WYDaily/Courtesy of Langley Speedway)

Twenty-six regular racing dates, two Days of Destruction events and the return of the Denny Hamlin Short Track Showdown could add up to an unforgettable 2019 season at Langley Speedway.

“A lot of it is much of the same. We’ve got a good thing going here so we like staying with it,” said Curtis Hughes, the assistant manager and assistant promoter at the Hampton track.

The season will open March 9 with the spring Day of Destruction and ends Oct. 19 with the fall Day of Destruction. In between, there will be lots of action featuring 11 divisions.

Hamlin’s annual charity race, which was held at Langley for the first time this year, kicks off three big Late Model races in four months at the four-tenths of a mile paved oval.

That 200-lap race is set for April 11, which is the Thursday before the NASCAR races in Richmond.

The CARS Tour is making a stop June 8, and the 11th annual Hampton Heat races are set for July 20.

Hughes said the Hampton Heat event is the “prestige race” at the track, adding there usually are more than 30 cars for the race, which offers a $10,000 purse.

While a lot of things are the same for 2019, there are two big changes in store: There will be a Monster Truck event the first weekend of June, and the length of the Late Model races will vary.

The details on the former will be announced at a later date, Hughes said, but he does have specifics on the latter.

Last season, the twin Late Model races were always 75 laps each. This year, there will be two 200-lap races, three 100-lap events and the remaining dates will be 70-lap twin races.

“We varied that up a little bit to give a little bit more diversity to our schedule,” Hughes said.

The changes were at the suggestion of drivers and fans.

“We poll everybody at the end of the year to see what they thought about things,” he said. “You just want to change things every now and then. The twins worked out well, but some people miss the 100-lap races.”

The first night of regular action will be March 30, and the final night of points racing is set for Oct. 12.

There is no Snowball Brawl on the schedule yet, but Hughes expects to release details as they become available.

John Mangalonzo
John Mangalonzohttp://wydaily.com
John Mangalonzo (john@localdailymedia.com) is the managing editor of Local Voice Media’s Virginia papers – WYDaily (Williamsburg), Southside Daily (Virginia Beach) and HNNDaily (Hampton-Newport News). Before coming to Local Voice, John was the senior content editor of The Bellingham Herald, a McClatchy newspaper in Washington state. Previously, he served as city editor/content strategist for USA Today Network newsrooms in St. George and Cedar City, Utah. John started his professional journalism career shortly after graduating from Lyceum of The Philippines University in 1990. As a rookie reporter for a national newspaper in Manila that year, John was assigned to cover four of the most dangerous cities in Metro Manila. Later that year, John was transferred to cover the Philippine National Police and Armed Forces of the Philippines. He spent the latter part of 1990 to early 1992 embedded with troopers in the southern Philippines as they fought with communist rebels and Muslim extremists. His U.S. journalism career includes reporting and editing stints for newspapers and other media outlets in New York City, California, Texas, Iowa, Utah, Colorado and Washington state.

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