By Jim Balentine Mercer,Pa Michaels memorial show coming up on Saturday, August 8 featuring the big block modifieds for 5000 to win and the 410 sprints for 2000 to win!! After suffering a second rain out so far in the short season Michaels Mercer Raceway roars back into action with a star studded event as we honor the Michaels family With a special 5000 to win BRP big block modified feature and also just added the 410 sprints for 2000 to win. Also on the card will be the 305 sprints, the FASTRAK modifieds, and the mighty Mercer mini stocks. The mod lites will have the night off. During its darkest day Mercer raceway sat idle from 1990 until 1994 when local businessman Howard Michaels, and his sons purchased the overgrown facility which needed a major overhaul going into 1994. The family spent the winter and early spring and every night and day cutting down weeds removing the millions of tires that were around the track and bringing it up to modern standards. The track was brought back to life and had a jam packed pit area and grandstands every night Running four divisions at the rebirth. The Michaels family sold the track for the 1997 season to Gary Butch and his family and sadly both Howard Michaels and his sons Howard Jr. ,and Harold, who drove six cylinder and big block modifieds,  passed away. Howard passed away in June of 2007 after a motor vehicle accident, Howard Jr passed in April of 2019, and Harold in 2002. The other son of Howard Michaels, Ed purchased the speedway back into the family over the winter going into 2019 having a successful first year back of weekly competition and now going strong for his second year in 2020. We honor the Michael’s family with the second annual Michaels memorial at Mercer paying 5000 to win for the BRP modified tour ..with a lot of tracks in New York State still not racing we’re expecting a lot of the New York modifieds to come down to compete for the $5000 !!! Erick Rudolph has been on a tear dominating the western Pennsylvania races… will he continue his run next Saturday night he already has one win at the speedway and other New Yorker Phil vigneri has the other …so will it be another New York State of mind at the track or wilI a western Pennsylvania resident keep the cash here in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania??? Also on the card will be the make up for the 410 sprint cars paying 2000 to win with a pill draw format for the heat races. The 410 sprints have had many races so far this season already and Adam Kekich picked up the Ralph Quarterson Memorial on opening night July 18th that paid $3400 to win defeating his friend Brandon Spithaler. Spithaler has already won a couple at Tri-City and Michael Bauer picked up his first career Lernerville win a few weeks ago. AJ Flick has won a pair already this season , Carl Bowser has graced victory lane and the fourth time track champ Jack Sodeman Jr has picked up a Lernerville win. With the closing of all New York tracks owner Ed Michaels is also allowing the 360 sprint car drivers to come down to compete in this race as well!! The 360 sprints in the past have been very competitive at Mercer and some have had feature wins against the 410s. And with the track being the shape that it is it is possible that we may have a 360 in victory Lane after Saturday night so we are expecting a contingent of drivers to venture down south to race next Saturday. Also on the card will be the 305 sprints, the FASTRAK modifieds, and the mighty Mercer mini stocks. The mod lites will have the night off. There will also be a scheduled fireworks extravaganza by Jeff Gibson from Gibson fireworks who last time around put on a bombastic show that lit up the Mercer sky. Pit gates open at 4 pm Grandstands at 5 pm Hot laps for 410 sprints and big block mods at 6:15 pm Racing at 7 pm Admission for this huge event will be just $20 for adults $17 for seniors in the grandstands; pit passes will be $35 for adults and $30 for seniors. There also be a practice on Wednesday, August 5 from 5 PM until dark pit passes only will be sold and will be $25 per person. The 410 sprint cars will draw a pill for their heat race starting positions then the top eight will re-draw on the front straightaway for their feature positions. The BRP modified tour will also pull pills for their heat races and will also have a redraw for the top qualifiers for the future event. Raceivers are mandatory in all divisions as well as the red AMBit transponders as the yellow ones will not work with the AMBit system. Drivers crews and fans can follow along with the lineups for all the heat race action and features for free with the MyRacePass app, live timing and scoring is available with a subscription. For further information visit the website at mercerracewaypark.com or our Facebook page where you can message the track for further information.