WEST HAVEN, Vt. — The future of dirt track racing is bright at Devil’s Bowl Speedway. Car counts are at the highest levels in more than 15 years, and fan support has been exceptional. A key ingredient to the recipe has been the rise of the Limited Sportsman division at Devil’s Bowl.

As the lead support class at weekly Saturday-night events, the limited division was created in 2018 to coincide with the opening of the new half-mile dirt surface. The racing machines are the same open-wheel cars, engines and tires as the headline sportsman modifieds, but with restrictions on drivers based on experience. Weekly races pay $250 to win, $125 for a fifth-place finish, and $75 to finish last; the limited winner’s purse is equivalent to a seventh-place finish in the Sportsman class.

The limited sportsman division is designed for racers who are trying to get a feel for the top-tier cars before taking on the top-tier drivers, and it is where the next generation of talent is cultivated. The division averaged 24 cars each week in the second half of last season, and early estimates put it closer to 30 this year. The range of drivers spans age 14 to 60-plus, and from raw rookies to drivers who will soon wrap up their careers.

Brent Warren, Joey Roberts, and David Boisclair have each graduated from the division to win races at the sportsman modified level, and other strong alumni have included James Hanson, Adam Piper, and Sprint Cars of New England feature winner Travis Billington.

“The limited sportsman division is about learning how to race modifieds without feeling a ton of pressure running with the veterans,” Promoter Mike Bruno said. “It’s not a participation trophy class; we’ll have enough cars that not everyone will qualify for the feature. But it’s a place to get some quality experience in a more relaxed setting, rather than throwing a new racer out to try to run with Demetrios Drellos or Adam Pierson in the top class.”

This season will see the top three drivers from the limited sportsman point standings make the jump up to the sortsman modified wars, as champion Johnny Bruno, runner-up Anthony Warren, and third-place Matt Bilodeau take on the veterans. The three have combined for 16 victories at Devil’s Bowl and are expected to put on an entertaining battle for roookie of the year honors.

In the meantime, the chase for the limited sportsman championship is wide-open. While many second and third-year racers return, a major influx of talent from other divisions, and tracks is also expected to shake things up. Returning drivers who will be likely title contenders include Anthony Ryan, Evan Roberts, Scott FitzGerald, and Larry Gallipo, while other solid runners include Randy Ryan, Jeff White, and Devil’s Bowl newcomer Craig Wholey.

First-time limited competitors include mini-stock winner Katrina Bean, 500cc mini-sprint champion Cody O’Brien, super stock veteran Russ Farr, former Devil’s Bowl asphalt racers Bob Kilburn and Justin Lilly, road racer Jason Quenneville, and second-generation racer A.J. Munger.

Drivers who have tested the limited sportsman waters and are ready for a full season include Dakota Green, Bryon Linendoll, John Gosselin, and Ralph Reynolds Jr. As many as a dozen more drivers are expected to register before the season begins on May 1.

The limited sportsman division will have several special events. Feature races will pay a healthy $500 to win on May 22 and on both nights of a doubleheader weekend Aug. 7-8. The limiteds also take center stage on opening night of the Vermont 200 Weekend with a “Win & You’re In!” qualifying race Sept. 4, in which the winner is guaranteed a starting spot in Sunday’s 200-lap, $10,000-to-win main event.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Judy Stropus still gets a kick sharing the story.

A longtime voting member of the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America, Stropus vividly recalls receiving the ballot to decide the induction class of 2017. The esteemed list included all sorts of racing greats representing everything from sports cars to stock cars, motorcycles to hydroplanes; from legendary contributors to the hard-working veterans who have left indelible marks on the sport in some fashion.

And there among the sports car nominees, Stropus quietly read her own name. Understandably moved, the longtime pit road veteran – the “master” of timing and scoring, a skilled racer and a highly-respected public relations guru – Stropus did not waver on who she would select.

“When I filled it out, I wrote on the ballot that I’m going to vote for me,’’ Stropus explains deadpan. “And If I’m not allowed to vote for myself, then I vote for Scott Pruett.

“Of course, he won, and I joked with him, I hope you didn’t win by one vote,’’ she laughed.

Pruett did earn the honor in 2017, but Stropus received word this winter that she will now be joining the IMSA champion as an esteemed 2021 inductee at the Hall of Fame located at Daytona Int’l Speedway.

“I said, ‘No way, this is the sports car category and there are all these famous drivers, how does this happen?’” Stropus recalled. “I was pretty humbled by the news and had to keep it secret for months.’’

Stropus is the kind of person, the kind of larger-than-life personality whose real-life story and contribution to the sport can’t be done justice in 1,000 words. She is the intrigue at a dinner party, the personality magnet in any room.

Stropus has worked for racing greats such as Roger Penske, Dan Gurney and Bud Moore, timed the Indianapolis 500 before women were allowed in the garage and has been a respected stalwart at IMSA races for decades.

Born in Kaunas, Lithuania, in 1943, she and her mother emigrated to the United States in 1949, establishing a home in New York. Even while learning a new language and settling into a new way of life, Stropus was smart enough – and motivated enough – to graduate from her New York-area Catholic high school a full year early.

Her boyfriend at that time had a 1950 Jaguar XK120, which he used to teach the teenage Stropus how to drive. And it was during this time, her life would veer into the fast lane. Permanently.

“My boyfriend Paul and I were just standing in line for a movie one time and talking about cars and the people behind us ask, ‘Hey, you guys were talking about cars?’” Stropus said. “We were like, ‘Yeah, we have a Jaguar XK120 and a ‘57 Chevy.’ And they said, ‘You should join the Queens Sports Car Club on Long Island.’

“So we got involved. He was racing and I got involved with being editor of their newsletter, and I learned how to time there.”

It was the genesis and development of talents that would serve Stropus well for decades – propelling her into an unexpected career and ultimately into a revered position in the hall of fame.

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WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Officials from the International Hot Rod Ass’n have announced the schedule for the IHRA Sportsman Spectacular presented by Hagerty and Moser Engineering.

The Sportsman Spectacular series will feature an expanded 15-race schedule this season that will make stops at new venues along the way.

Top (Box), Mod (No Box / Footbrake) and Junior Dragster competitors who are members of IHRA will have the opportunity to compete for the prestigious IHRA Ironman at each event as well as the coveted oversized championship checks. This season’s iconic IHRA Ironman will be the special edition 50th Anniversary model. IHRA members will also be in the running for the limited-edition Sportsman Spectacular commemorative medals and round prizes from IHRA sponsors Sunoco Race Fuels, Moser Engineering and Summit Racing Equipment in addition to their winnings.

“This season is more about celebrating IHRA’s 50th anniversary so each Sportsman Spectacular host venue will be creating the event that best suits their market ensuring no two events will be alike” said IHRA Vice President Skooter Peaco.  “We wanted to get to some locations this season that we have not been to as a part of an event to try and reward as many of our IHRA members as possible.”

The IHRA Sportsman Spectacular presented by Hagerty and Moser Engineering will kick off the 2021 season March 20 at Edinburg Motorsports Park, Edinburg, Texas.

2021 IHRA Sportsman Spectacular Schedule 

March 22: Edinburg Motorsports Park, Edinburg, Texas

March 27-28: Farmington Dragway, Mocksville, N.C.

June 12-13: Onawa Dragway, Onawa, Iowa

June 19-20:  Empire Dragway, Leicester, N.Y.

June 26-27:  Mo-Kan Dragway, Asbury, Mo.

July 10: Music City Raceway. Goodlettsville, Tenn.

July 31-Aug 1:  Beacon Dragway, Paducah, Ky.

July 31-Aug 2:  Grand Bend Motorplex, Grand Bend, On., Canada

August 20-22, Maryland International Raceway, Mechanicsville, Md.

Additional dates will be added to the schedule in the coming weeks.

LE MANS, France – Officials from the Automobile Club de L’Ouest have released the 62-car entry list for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which will be held on Aug. 21-22 at Circuit de la Sarthe.

The field includes the 33 full-time World Endurance Championship entries as well as several teams who are utilizing automatic entries following successful 2020 seasons.

The 2021 edition of the legendary event will see the debut of the Hypercar class, with Toyota Gazoo Racing and Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus each set to field a pair of cars in the class.

Joining them will be the Signatech Alpine squad, which will field a LMP1 Alpine A480 Gibson that has been grandfathered in. Only five cars are entered in the headline class.

The LMP2 class will feature 25 cars, with 11 of those being full-season WEC entries. Teams entered in this class include United Autosports, G-Drive Racing and PR1 Mathiesen. Risi Competizione is set to make its LMP2 debut at Le Mans, fielding an ORECA entry for Ryan Cullen and Oliver Jarvis.

The GTE Pro division features seven entries, with the WEC Porsche and Ferrari squads joined by Corvette Racing’s pair of Corvette C8.Rs and the WeatherTech Racing Porsche 911 RSR.

The GTE AM class features a 24-car entry list, with 13 entries coming from the roster of full-time WEC teams and 11 additional entries from those who received automatic Le Mans invitations.

Finally, Le Mans will welcome a Garage 56 entry for the first time since 2016. The La Filiere Frederic SAUSSET BY SRT41 ORECA 07 is entered and will feature at least two drivers from the academy set up by quad-amputee Frederic Sausset that is designed to help drivers with physical impairments.

Click here to view the entire 24 Hours of Le Mans entry list.

Buffalo Sabres captain Jack Eichel has been ruled out from playing at the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night because of an upper-body injury.

Coach Ralph Krueger was unable to provide further details on the severity of the injury because Eichel is still being evaluated.

Eichel favored his neck after being checked into the end boards by Casey Cizikas with about four minutes left in a 5-2 loss to the New York Islanders on Sunday.

The injury is the latest to affect Eichel this season. He missed two games two weeks ago with a lower-body injury, and he missed the first week of training camp with an upper-body injury.

Having topped 20 goals in each of his first five seasons, including a career-best 36 last year, Eichel has scored just twice in 21 games this season and is in the midst of a 13-game scoring drought. With 16 assists, he still leads Buffalo with 18 points.

The injury comes at a time when the Sabres are on an 0-6-1 skid and are 2-11-1 over their past 13 outings. With a league-low six wins, Buffalo is already in jeopardy of extending its playoff drought to 10 seasons, matching the NHL record.

The Sabres are missing starting goalie Linus Ullmark, who is at least two weeks from returning from a lower-body injury. Buffalo's blue line has also been depleted with Jake McCabe out with a season-ending right knee injury and Will Borgen expected to miss another month with a broken forearm.

The Sabres are also hampered by a constricted schedule as a result of the team's season being placed on pause for a two-week stretch last month after a COVID-19 outbreak that affected nine players, plus Krueger. Buffalo's game against Philadelphia is its 14th in 23 days.

Krueger placed the emphasis on focusing on facing the Flyers and not on the bigger picture.

"This is all about attitude right now," Krueger said. "We've had a lot of adversity to deal with, but we're dealing with it in the same way we have with good times, as we continue to push for growth, we continue to push for an attitude that moves us forward, and we continue to push for working on these solutions together."

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – There isn’t as much room for creative expression this week at TPC Sawgrass, but Bryson DeChambeau said he’ll at least explore an alternate route to playing the 18^th hole.

After his victory Sunday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, DeChambeau teased the idea of going down the adjacent ninth hole instead of taking on the 18^th hole as it’s designed, with the dogleg left around the pond. DeChambeau said that going left, down the ninth hole instead, would better open up the green for his approach shot.

Though he hasn’t yet played a practice round, DeChambeau said he’ll likely play the finishing hole normally.

“I’ll probably give it a try (going down the ninth hole in a practice round), but it’s most likely not going to happen,” DeChambeau told reporters Tuesday at The Players. “I haven’t seen it yet, but if there’s stands there there’s no reason to go for it, when I could just drive it 100 yards from the green if I get a good wind normally. It’s not really that big of an advantage, but taking the water out of play and having an easier second shot, it may be easier, I don’t know.”

The wind during tournament week is expected to be out of the east, which for a right-hander is in a right-to-left direction. DeChambeau primarily plays a draw off the tee, which would bring the water more into play. He also said that he could simply hit a 4-iron off the tee, likely leaving him a 7- or 8-iron into a well-protected green.

The route to the left isn’t a slam-dunk option, however. After a 325-yard drive, there’s only a small, flat landing area to fit the tee shot. Any pushed drive on that line would again bring the pond into play. Anything left will likely wind up on a steep side slope and in thick rough right of the ninth fairway. Go farther left than that, and a large tree would obstruct his path to the green. The hospitality stands that DeChambeau mentioned are well ahead, beginning about 50 yards short of the green. If they are in his line of sight, he’d be entitled to free relief.

Bryson DeChambeau's thought of driving it over the lake and into the ninth fairway while playing No. 18 this week at TPC Sawgrass isn't unprecedented.

The aggressive line is already known as “The Sihota Line.”

Last September at the AJGA Junior Players Championship, Jeevan Sihota, a high-school junior from Victoria, British Columbia, played the Stadium Course's par-4 finishing hole down the ninth all three days.

“It’s a lot wider target to hit,” Sihota told GolfChannel.com on Tuesday. “I knew I had speeds capable of doing it, so I figured why not? It leaves you a better angle into the green and basically takes the water out of play.”

Sihota said he didn’t even attempt the unorthodox play during the practice round, but he had been struggling with his driver after gaining nearly 20 mph of clubhead speed in a sixth-month span and found himself spraying shots off the tee in the opening round.

So, when he stepped on the back tee at the difficult 462-yard hole, he decided to shoot a big tree that sits just right of the ninth fairway. The gun returned a distance of 340 yards, which solidified his decision.

“My playing competitors thought I was lining up to hit a big slice,” he said. “It’s just the target in the normal fairway is so small with driver, it didn’t make sense when I had the option of going to nine. The second shot leaves you a better angle, too; as long as you hit it solid, you’re going to clear the water. It takes the big mistakes out of play, I feel.”

Sihota birdied the closing hole in his first attempt and then followed with bogeys in each of the final two rounds. He also hit the ninth fairway all three times with a 350-yard shot that left him about 170 yards into the green.

“My ball speeds are equivalent to his, so I think he’d be right where I was,” said Sihota, whose ball speed hovers in the mid-190s during competition. “He can’t go too far left on nine, but if he goes at that tree, I doubt he’ll reach the bunker [through the fairway].”

Some have suggested that DeChambeau could drive it into a section of rough right of the ninth cart path and the water, but Sihota noted that area, though closer to the 18^th green, features a severe slope. He tried dropping several balls there, and nearly every time the ball rolled down into the water.

Sihota maintained that the only play would be to land the ball in the ninth fairway.

“It’s a blind shot because of the hill that leads up to the cart path,” he said, “but you just walk up the hill, pick a target in the background, pick a tree, get a sense of where the pin is and just make sure you have enough to carry the water.”

(It's worth noting that DeChambeau's approach shot would likely be more blind because of hospitality tents, though those don't appear to be tall enough to interfere with the ball flight and he probably could get a drop from the TIO anyway.)

Sihota said there was “a lot of buzz” when he went the aggressive route last summer. He couldn’t imagine the reaction if DeChambeau followed suit this week.

“I hope he tries it,” Sihota said. “I’d love to see it.”

Of course, just hours later, the PGA Tour announced internal out of bounds left of the water at No. 18, which would prevent DeChambeau from attempting the shot.

That means "The Sihota Line" will remain untouched at least through Sunday.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said Tuesday that he envisions the circuit’s weekly COVID-19 testing program will continue for the “foreseeable future” as the world continues to ramp up its vaccinations efforts.

The Tour’s health and safety plan has been instrumental in letting the Tour return three months after shutting down at last year’s Players Championship. The protocols have evolved over time, and in the past few weeks some of the staples – such as temperature checks at the entrance – have been removed. Others, such as charter flights between events, are expected to be discontinued in the coming weeks and months.

“We will continue to provide testing for the foreseeable future,” Monahan said, “and hopefully, as we get to a high percentage of our players that have been vaccinated, we can start to pull back from the program that we know it as of today.

“It’s hard to determine when that will be, but clearly we see light at the end of the tunnel.”

Monahan said that players are “eager” to be vaccinated, but that there is no mandate in place. The Tour has partnered with the National Ad Council and is focused on educating the membership on vaccination.

Bryson DeChambeau may have played like Arnold Palmer in winning the King's tournament on Sunday at Bay Hill, but he didn't quite celebrate like him.

While Palmer was known for enjoying his victories with a few glasses of Ketel One, DeChambeau went with a different kind of bold play.

"I went into the locker room afterwards and hung out with quite a few of the folk there," DeChambeau said. "I had a chocolate milk and I had some Arnold Palmer gummies. It was like iced tea and lemonade gummies. That was kind of funny, it was kind of a tribute to him. We had a little bit of champagne, as well, and popped a bottle."

DeChambeau said he then went over to the house of Palmer's daughter, Amy Saunders, and spent some time with her and Palmer's grandson, Sam Saunders. They talked about Palmer and what he meant to the game, and DeChambeau got to see some memorabilia around the house that he hadn't seen before.

"I think that was a moment that I'll never forget for the rest of my life," he said.

After that, it was back to his host family's house.

"They're great friends of mine and they were nice enough to host me all week in this beautiful home, and I played some pinball, funny enough," DeChambeau said. "They had a pinball machine downstairs, so I was playing that for a little while."