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Bobby Isaac Memorial Today ...

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Newton, NC ~ This year marks the 32nd annual running of the Bobby Isaac Memorial 200 and the competition looks as good as ever.  A big field of cars, young guns and old veterans, and some door handle to door handle racing is what awaits everyone who attends.

When the green flag flies who will be the car to beat?  Matt McCall will be there, and the the 2004 Hickory champion is on fire.  McCall has won the last 2 races he's attended, in a brand new 2009 Pistone LTO car, including the UARA event at Tri-County Speedway last Friday.  The other Matt ... Matt DiBenedetto makes his return to the track for the first time since blowing a tire in the July 5th UARA race at Bristol Motor Speedway, the same track where he got his biggest career win a month earlier.

DiBenedetto is the 2006 Limited Late-Model champion at Hickory and the track experience will be a plus for this talented youngster.  The hottest driver for the first part of 08', Coleman Pressley will be there, along with another tough customer at Hickory, the "Forest City Bad Boy" Jamie Yelton.  Mix in young stars; Jesse "James" LeFevers, Kyle Grissom, Lucas Ransone and the hottest driver at Hickory right now, Andy Mercer, and it should be a barn-burner.

While the racing is the attraction, the man that we are all

Photo Courtesy Legends of NASCAR Website
 Bobby Isaac's career started at the famed Hickory Motor Speedway and tragically ended at the 3/8 mile speedplant as well.

there for is the reason of the event. Bobby Isaac was a mainstay in the NASCAR ranks for years, and it all started at Hickory. Bobby started his first race at Hickory in a 1937 Ford and on lap 2 flipped the car. Little did anyone know that the guy flipping that car in his first race would go on to win 37 Cup Series races, the 1970 Grand National Championship, 50 poles, was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall Of Fame in 1996, and named one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers of all-time.

In 1977 it all came to an end where it started, as Isaac was running a Late-Model race at Hickory, he pulled into the pits during the race and passed away from a massive heart-attack. Bobby will always be a part of Hickory Motor Speedway, as he watches over it everyday, his body was laid to rest in the cemetery overlooking the track.

Come on out and enjoy this Labor Day tradition and witness some of the best racing around.  Gates open at 1 pm, qualifying at 1:30pm, autograph session at 4pm, and the green flag will drop at 5 p.m. Join us at the track, and afterwards be right here, as RACE22.com will have complete coverage of all the action from Hickory Motor Speedway in the event that officially kicks off "Big Race Season" and brings us inside a month of the country's biggest Late Model Stock Car event, the Bailey's 300 at Martinsville Speedway.