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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

By Lyndal Scranton

Wheatland, Missouri (March 23, 2016) - Dave Eckrich has been driving race cars for more than two decades. His heart rate still gets pumping a bit faster as the green flag waves on a new season.

"You're anxious," Eckrich said recently from his race shop in Cosgrove, Iowa. "You don't get quite as crazy as you used to. When you're young, it's like having buck fever. Race fever. But yeah, we still get pretty excited about it."

Eckrich, 46, is eager to see what happens in his first full season in a Black Diamond Race Car after switching to the hot brand late last year. He gets going this weekend at the Thaw Brawl in LaSalle, Illinois.

Moreover, Eckrich is hoping to contend for a championship on the Lucas Oil Midwest Late Model Racing Association Series, which opens its schedule April 1-2 with the Spring Meltdown at I-80 Speedway in Greenwood, Nebraska.

This after a disappointing ninth-place finish in MLRA points as Eckrich returned to the circuit in 2015. He's a past MLRA feature winner at the series' flagship track, Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland.

"We're going to start our racing the MLRA and see how it goes," Eckrich said of his 2016 plans. "We'll make a judgement sometime in June and decide whether we're going to stay on it throughout or hit and miss."

Eckrich, who comes from a racing family with brothers Denny and Andy also long-time dirt-track competitors, said last season "was kind of disappointing as a whole."

"We didn't have that many good runs and it seems like when we did have a good run, we had some breakage," he said.

The switch to Black Diamond for the final five races did not produce any victories, but it did spark some renewed optimism.

"It was real encouraging," Eckrich said. "We learned a little bit with it, then went down to Florida and helped a few guys and learned a little more. We're encouraged and hopeful that we can start off on the right foot."

Eckrich, who builds and sells race cars out of the family's Precision Performance Racing shop, said keeping pace with rapidly technology in the Late Model world is challenging.

"The aerodynamics plays a big part of the game right now," Eckrich said. "There's some rules that need to be addressed about aerodynamics. It's really hard to keep up with all the stuff unless you're full time and don't do anything else."

That doesn't mean Eckrich is backing down from big goals. He would like to win an MLRA championship, but knows it'll be tough with the like of reigning series champ Terry Phillips and last year's runner-up Jesse Stovall around.

"We have to have everything go right," Eckrich said. "To race against Terry on his home race tracks is kind of hard sometimes. But that's our goal, to win the MLRA championship."

Sponsors, along with Precision Performance and Shocks by Precision Performance include BDI Loctite and Noel's Tree and Crane.

"If we can go to (I-80) and get off to a good start, pull off a top-five or maybe win one of them, that would be a big jump start," Eckrich said.

For all of the latest news and information fans are encouraged to visit the series website at www.MLRARacing.com.

Fans may also "like" the Lucas Oil MLRA Facebook page by clicking www.Facebook.com/lucasoilmlra or follow us on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/MLRA.

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Circular Insanity Picks Up this Week after Promotional Go

Lonnie Wheatley, DU QUOIN, Ill. (March 23, 2016) – The “Circular Insanity Tour” was limited to just one race this past weekend.

That 30th race of the year for Bryan Clauson in his pursuit of 200 race events in 2016 very nearly could have been win number eight on the year if not for unknown engine issues while leading early on in the USAC Midget “Shamrock Classic” at Du Quoin’s Southern Illinois Center.

While the on-track result wasn’t what Clauson and the Dooling Machine/Cancer Treatment Centers of America/Jonathan Byrd’s Restaurant and Hospitality Group No. 63 Midget crew had ultimately hoped for, Clauson’s first promotional success of the event was a resounding success.

“Overall it was pretty successful, I think everyone was pretty happy with,” Clauson said of the Shamrock Classic. “There were maybe a few kinks we’d like to iron out next time, but for a first go it went well.”

“Circular Insanity” resumes with four scheduled events this week beginning with double duty tonight at California’s Placerville Speedway in World of Outlaws action aboard Matt Wood’s Elk Grove Ford/Cancer Treatment Centers of America No. 17w Sprint Car as well as USAC Western States Midget competition in the Jerome Rodela-owned machine.

Action continues on Friday night with a Winged 360-ci Civil War Sprint Car outing at Chico’s Silver Dollar Speedway before jetting back to Indiana for Saturday’s $7,500-to-win “No Way Out 40” at Brownstown Speedway in the Cancer Treatment Centers of America/Jonathan Byrd’s Restaurant and Hospitality Group No. 63 non-wing Sprint Car.

Race 30

While Clauson was busy handling the promotional side of Saturday’s season-opening USAC Midget event at the Southern Illinois Speedway, he still had time to mix in some racing in the Dooling Machine/Cancer Treatment Centers of America/Jonathan Byrd’s No. 63 Midget.

And it was going pretty well with Clauson winning his heat from third and then rallying from sixth to win his qualifier to earn the pole for the 50-lap main event. He gunned into the early lead only to suffer race-ending mechanical problems just six laps in.

“We missed a lapped car that was spinning right before that, never even touched her though. We’re not exactly sure what happened, just race-ending engine problems.

Clauson looks forward to getting the “Circular Insanity Tour” back on track during Wednesday’s double-dip at Placerville Speedway. “I’m ready to get back to just racing,” Clauson commented.

Wednesday marks Clauson’s first competitive laps at Placerville, a track at which he grew up watching his father race.

Clauson made his first Silver Dollar Speedway appearance during World of Outlaws action last year while has last Brownstown Speedway outing resulted in a victory at the 2014 edition of the “No Way Out 40”.

2016 Circular Insanity Tour Quick Stats: 30 races, 7 wins, 14 top-fives, 22 top-tens.

Up Next:

Wednesday – Placerville (CA) Speedway double-duty with World of Outlaws Sprint Cars (Elk Grove Ford/Cancer Treatment Centers of America No. 17w) and USAC Western States Midgets (Jerome Rodela-owned Midget)

Friday – Civil War Sprint Cars at Chico, California’s Silver Dollar Speedway (Elk Grove Ford/Cancer Treatment Centers of America No. 17w)

Saturday – Non-Wing 410 Sprint Cars “No Way Out 40” at Indiana’s Brownstown Speedway (Cancer Treatment Centers of America/Jonathan Byrd’s No. 63 Sprint Car)

Keep Track: Keep track of Bryan Clauson’s 2016 Circular Insanity Tour at www.bryanclauson.com, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/bryanclausonracing/?fref=ts and on Twitter at @bryanclausoninc.

If you would like Bryan Clauson “Circular Insanity Tour” press releases e-mailed directly to you, send your e-mail address to Lonnie Wheatley at lonniewheatley@gmail.com.

Penning the recurring series of “The Wheatley Chronicles” articles on www.sprintcarmania.com, Lonnie Wheatley provides media, public relations and more for select tracks, drivers and events. For more information, Wheatley may be contacted at lonniewheatley@gmail.com.