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Trenton, NJ – Adrianna Delliponti stole the hearts of the fans in 2023 when the 18-year-old blonde nearly pulled off an upset win in the East Coast Indoor Dirt Nationals. Returning to the CURE Insurance this weekend with greater confidence, the Norristown, PA racer is seeking to become the first female to win an Indoor Auto Racing Series event. This year she’ll get two chances with a 25-lap main event scheduled for Friday night February 23rd and the 50-lapper finale on Saturday night the 24th.
Delliponti will be one of five lady racers from Pennsylvania among the 90 drivers pre-entered. While greatly outnumbered, Delliponti, Olivia Haworth 19 from Langhorne, Shelby McLaughlin 18 from Stroudsburg, Shannon Slaughter 21 from Lititz and Lauren Stringfellow from Lewistown all have the goal of making the starting field for one if not both main events.
Delliponti, Haworth and Morgan Bealer were entered last year. Bealer had hopes of competing again this year, but she is currently pregnant. Her husband Zach, a preliminary night winner last year in Trenton and the Micro Sprint Speed Week champion in 2023, however is entered in the race.
Delliponti came to Trenton a year ago hoping to qualify for Saturday’s 50 lap main event. Her hopes nearly vanished from the start when she flipped for the first time in her career during a Thursday night practice session.
Undaunted, she returned on Friday and showed good speed in time qualifying and won her heat race but left that evening short of her goal of locking into Saturday’s A-Main.
That was the bad news, the good was that she could skip E, D and C transfer racers and begin her journey to the A-Main in one of two 15 lap B-Mains that transferred the top two to the big race.
Despite a good starting spot in the B-Main, she was involved in an early race crash that sent her to the rear of the field. Without panic, she drove back forward to finish fourth and became the first female to ever qualify for an Indoor Auto Racing Series main event!
With the pressure of qualifying gone and her pre-race goal accomplished, the real show began for the fans. In the first 35 laps of the race, 15 of which were run without a caution, she consistently moved up and took second place with passes of pre-race favorites Alex Bright and Billy Pauch Jr.
Race leader Tim Buckwalter had opened a big lead, but in the next 12 laps she tracked him down and was about to spring the pass of a lifetime when the yellow flag waved.
Before the green returned announcer, Steve Post asked the fans who they wanted to win. Despite the popularity of both Buckwalter and Pauch – their answer was clear – they wanted to see the girl win.
While she gave it her best effort, an outside pass failed and Pauch nipped her at the line for a second. Proud to join the two men on the podium in victory lane, she was overwhelmed with emotion when she heard the roar of the crowd when her name was announced as the third-place finisher.
Saturday’s doors open at 4 PM with a special autograph session on the concourse at 5 PM for drivers already qualified for the A-Main. Racing action begins at 6 PM with alphabet soup transfer races. The twin E, D & C-Mains transfer the top four. The twin B Mains are each 15 laps with top seven in each joining the back half of the 24-car field that will take the A-Main green flag.
As a bonus to fans this year, Friday night’s top ten performers will race in a new Bob Hilbert’s Sportswear $500 to win Cash Dash on Saturday before lining up in the A-Main event.
A schedule addition for 2024 finds a Friday night feature event scheduled among that day’s top performers. After four 16-car split field 15 lap qualifier races and a pair of B-Main, a 24 car A-Main will be held over 25 laps.
The top five finishers in Friday’s A-Main plus the top five drivers in points from the day not in those positions will lock into Saturday’s A-Main. At 6 PM on Friday the grandstands open with racing starting at 7 PM.
Tickets are available at Ticketmaster.com or indoorautoracing.com. Tickets are also available daily and on the days of the event at the CURE Insurance Arena box office.
For those who cannot attend, the event will be available on DirtTrackDigest.TV Pay-Per-View for $64.99 for the weekend or $29.99 for Friday and $39.99 for Saturday.
For more information about the BELFOR Property Restorations East Coast Indoor Dirt Nationals
