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.
