Barfield, DMS relish opportunity for national TV exposure

DILLON — In just a short time, Dillon Motor Speedway has become known to fans around the Pee Dee. Now, the rest of the country will get a chance to see the second-year track.
DMS will host its first nationally-televised taping with the running of the Seneca Tobaccoville USA 100 on Saturday night. The event will be shown on SportSouth locally and nationally on other regional sports networks on a tape-delayed basis in two or three weeks.
“This is one of the biggest events we have hosted,” DMS owner Ron Barfield said. “This will help bring us more notoriety to Dillon Motor Speedway and to the area.”
Barfield was approached last November about the idea of hosting a TV taping and didn’t hesitate to accept. The former Busch Series driver said he is expecting a standing-room only crowd of 3,000 people to come out.
Barfield said the biggest crowd this season was more than 2,500 when the Sprint Cars were at the track He also wants fans to get involved and is encouraging them to being signs in hopes of getting caught on TV.
With a TV audience looking on, Barfield said there has been more of an attention to detail such as painting the walls and replacing some light bulbs to make the track “shine.” If things go well Saturday, Barfield knows he will be able to line up even bigger events to come to the track.
“We have other series that want to run here and getting a chance to be television will show what we have to offer,” Barfield said.
The main attraction of the event will be the ASA Southeast RC Cola/Moonpie Series, a first-year series based out of Georgia. The cars, which weigh 2,800 pounds, are similar to the Limited Sportsman cars and are the biggest full-body cars to ever race at the .4-mile track.
This is the seventh-race of the series’ 18-race schedule, 10 of which will be televised. There hasn’t been a repeat winner this year. Jay Middleton leads the points by 46 over Taylor Satterfield.
The event also will include the Pro Challenge cars, which are similar to the Allison Legacy Cars and two of the track’s local classes — Chargers and Four Cylinders.
Racing will begin at 7:30 p.m.
A free practice will be held today beginning at 5 p.m.