Ocean Speedway 360 Sprint Car Series

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Ocean Speedway signs Taco Bravo as title sponsor for Ocean 360 Sprint Car Series
By Gary Thomas
Watsonville, CA – December 22, 2009…Long-time San Jose area restaurant and business Taco Bravo has signed a two-year deal with the Ocean Speedway to become the official title sponsor of the Ocean Sprint Car Series.

The partnership brings with it a historical aspect for what should be an exciting year of competition in 2010. "We're thrilled to have Dennis Wuollet and Taco Bravo come on board as the sponsor for the Ocean Sprint Car Series," said Ocean Speedway promoter John Prentice. "Taco Bravo has a lot of history in this area and has been involved in sprint car racing for a long time so it seems like a natural fit."

Taco Bravo has been a staple in the area for a number of years featuring locations in Campbell, San Jose and Fremont. Taco Bravo has also supported multiple drivers and teams throughout the years, most recently being seen on the sprint cars driven by Gilroy's Kurt Nelson and San Martin's "Cowboy" Craig Smith, as well as the 4-banger driven by San Jose's Joey Batts among others.

The Ocean Sprint Car Series brought to you by Taco Bravo is coming off a banner year that saw strong car counts, great competition and featured eight different winners in 13 races. In the end Easton's Tommy Tarlton narrowly defeated two-time track champion Brent Kaeding of Campbell by just 12-digits for his first career title at the speedway. Tarlton will be officially crowned as the 2009 Ocean 360 champion at the Cocoanut Grove Ballroom in Santa Cruz on January 16 during the Ocean Speedway Awards Dinner.

In 2010 the Ocean 360 Sprint Cars will see 15-nights of total racing, with 13 of them being contested at the Ocean Speedway, as well as one each at the Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway and the Santa Maria Speedway. Opening night is slotted for Friday April 2 at Ocean Speedway.

For more information on the Ocean Sprint Car Series brought to you by Taco Bravo please visit www.oceanspeedway.com.

2009 Ocean Speedway GLR Investments 360 Sprint Car Series
WATSONVILLE, CA (1-26-09) – Ocean Speedway is proud to announce that GLR Investments of Scotts Valley, California, has committed to sponsor the 13-race 360 Winged Sprint Car series at the Speedway for the 2009 season.

GLR Investments is a private equity and venture capitol investment firm which was founded by John Geringer, Chris Luck and Keith Rode which in 2000.

Chris Luck is no stranger to winged sprint car racing and co-owns The Elite Racing #14 World Of Outlaws car driven by, Jason Meyers.

GLR Investments will serve as the title sponsor for the upcoming World of Outlaws Sprint Car show on March 7th, 2009.

"John Prentice and I have been friends for a long time, when he took over promotion for the speedway I told him I would support the operation in any form he needed.

We want to congratulate Ocean Speedway on a Great job improving the facility and bringing events to the track that will continue its success.", GLR Co-founder Chris Luck commented.

"Rick Wright has been a great friend and sponsor for the past two years. Without him stepping up like he has, we would have never had a Winged Sprint Car series; I can't thank him enough," Ocean Speedway promoter John Prentice said.

With the soaring popularity of the 360 Sprint Cars, Ocean Speedway has increased races from 10 to 13 this year. The average Sprint Car count rocketed from 20 to 29 per week in 2008.
"We have an extremely stout contingent of drivers running in our series," Prentice said. "We're working tirelessly to make our shows exciting for the fans."

The 2009 season will again bring a host of drivers to battle it out on the fast 1/4–mile speedway. Cagey veteran and Hall of Famer, Brent Kaeding will look to defend his series title, and battle for 2009 championship.

"I'm really excited about this season. With GLR Investments on board, I believe that we have a fantastic sponsor for the 360 Sprint Car Series. I see a lot of great things in the future for the 360 and 410 Sprint Cars here at Ocean Speedway," Prentice concluded.

Wright One 360 Series

In 2007 the Wright One 360 Series made it’s debut at Ocean Speedway, near the pacific waters in Watsonville, CA. Local contractor Rick Wright had approached track promoter John Prentice with the idea of bringing winged sprint car racing back to the south bay area after an eight year absence, following the closing of the San Jose Fairgrounds Speedway. After some discussion and wondering what the success of the idea might be, the two men agreed to share financial support to guarantee a purse that would entice racers to participate. So in March of 2007 the Wright One 360 Series began with a modest ten race calendar of events. With the launch of the series the door was then open for the return of one of the oldest run motorsports events in the country, the “Johnny Key Classic”. The race is run in honor of local racing legend Johnny Key, who lost his life in a racing incident in Ohio in 1954. The event had been run every year from 1954 to 1999 until racing was halted in the San Jose area due to the closing of the Fairgrounds Speedway. The series was welcomed by fans and teams alike and had a great two year run as the Wright One Series. Since then the series has continued to operate and grow. It has had the good fortune to not only have had a title sponsor in every year, but one that has made sure the teams have had a solid purse to run for. It has also had the much needed and appreciated support of the area fans. In 2009, GLR Investments took over the title sponsorship with the help of GLR partner Chris Luck and grew to a 13 race schedule. In 2010 a two year agreement was signed with Dennis Wuollet to lend his area restaurant name, “Taco Bravo” to the series. Also in 2010, the series would run for the first time outside of it’s Ocean Speedway setting. Two races, one in Santa Maria, CA and one in Tulare, CA would be scheduled, bringing the schedule to fifteen races.