Ryan Litt Geared Up For AVSS Season Opener

Courtesy Ryan Litt Racing P.R.

After what has seemed like an interminate off-season, Ryan Litt and the OTC/SPX Tools, BS&B Radiator #07 Sprint Car team from Lyons, Ontario, Canada will finally get their season started at the Auto City Speedway near Flint, Michigan this Saturday night, May 6th. The event will be the first of a full schedule of 21 events for the Auto Value/Bumper to Bumper Super Sprints series in 2006. Ryan and the #07 car will be racing in all 21 of these events in the hopes of claiming the Rookie of the Year title, and hopefully some feature wins too.

Ryan and the team are excited about their plans for this season, and a few of the events especially. Ryan had an excellent 7th place finish in the prestigious Little 500 at the Anderson Speedway in Indiana last May – narrowly missing the rookie of the race award in the process - and would like to improve on that this time around. The Little 500 is the world’s richest pavement sprint car event and has been held the night before the Indianapolis 500 each year since 1949. Little 500 festivities have already begun in fact, but will get underway in earnest on Wednesday, May 24th with a 50 lap USAC National Sprint Car event, followed by time trials on Thursday and Friday and the grueling 500 lap race on Saturday night, May 27th. The Little 500 is the only place in the world where you can see 33 sprint cars taking the green flag in 11 rows of 3, on a tight high banked ¼ mile track no less. Pit stops are also a critical element of the Little 500 – something which doesn’t exactly occur in your average sprint car event. The Indy 500 may be the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing”, but this isn’t far behind.

The Berlin Raceway in Grand Rapids, Michigan will also be a highlight of the team’s schedule as the AVSS will visit this historic track, which is co-owned by NASCAR driver Johnny Benson, 3 times in 2006. In Ryan’s first AVSS event there last June, and only his 3rd start ever in a winged sprint car, Ryan took home a 2nd place finish and led the feature race in the late stages before being passed by eventual series champion Cameron Dodson. The first visit to Berlin is less than 2 weeks away, scheduled for May 13th.

Another event Ryan is excited about is a return visit to his hometown track, the Delaware Speedway in Delaware, Ontario, just outside of London. Last season’s event at Delaware was Ryan’s debut in a winged sprint car and he performed admirably, but is definitely looking to improve this time around now that he has some experience under his belt. The AVSS tour stops at Delaware on June 9th. Ryan, the team, and the car have been present at a variety of different events and shows in conjunction with Delaware Speedway in recent weeks in the London area, which should help to augment the team’s already strong local fan base, as well as the local fans’ appetite for open wheel racing.

Visits to the historic Winchester Speedway and Salem Speedway also highlight Ryan’s schedule this season. Salem and Winchester are two of the fastest and highest banked paved short tracks in the world and have tested the mettle of some of the world’s greatest racers over the better part of the last century, including such famous names as Andretti, Foyt, Johncock, Stewart, and Gordon. The AVSS visits Salem on July 8th and Winchester on July 23rd. The Winchester event will be held in conjunction with the Hoosier Outlaw Sprint Series and will crown a true “King of Wings” at the treacherous oval.

For Canadian fans interested in catching the season opener, the Auto City Speedway is located slightly North of Flint, just 80 miles West of the Blue Water Bridge border crossing at Sarnia/Port Huron. Other than Ryan’s home track, Delaware Speedway, Auto City is the closest AVSS venue to the #07 team’s headquarters near London, Ontario. The AVSS will visit Auto City twice more this season, on June 10th and July 15th.

What: Auto Value/Bumper to Bumper Super Sprints Season Opener. www.SuperSprints.com

Where: Auto City Speedway, 10205 N Saginaw Rd. Clio, MI, 48420. www.AutoCitySpeedway.com

When: Saturday May 6th, 2006. Pit Gates open at 2:30 p.m., racing at 7:00 p.m.

Notes and Quotes from Ryan regarding the season opener:
“This will be my first time racing at Auto City. Last year it got cancelled (due to rain) as we were sitting in the parking lot, so hopefully this time we get to race. I’m very excited to get this season underway. Everything this winter has gone great and the car is the best it has ever been: Everything is fresh or new and with the support of our sponsors I think this year will be a blast.”

Ryan and the team would like to thank their many loyal sponsors for helping to put the Claxton powered Beast chassis #07 Sprint Car on track this season, including OTC/SPX Tools, BS&B Radiator, Velocity Wings, BRR Media, BOC Gases, and Leaf Racewear.

For more information on Ryan, the car, and the team, including schedules, photos, merchandise, and contact information, please visit Ryan’s official website at www.RyanLitt.com.