Ross Strmiska Returns Home Searching for Repeat Marque Win

Bakersfield, CA – Just three years ago, Ross Strmiska won the biggest race traditionally held at The New Stockton 99 Speedway, when he came home first in the “Firecracker 125 featuring the Ron Strmiska Memorial”. On August 14th, Strmiska will try to bring home the checkered flag in the highest paying Spears Srl Southwest Tour Series event in Stockton’s history. The “JM Environmental Inc. Wild West Showdown – Touch Too Much 227 presented by 51 FIFTY LTM” could see one driver take home almost $30,000 thanks to JM Environmental Inc, Motor City Throwdown and 51 FIFTY LTM.

Round #8 of the SPEARS Southwest Tour Series will see the teams clawing for a $10,000 winner’s check. Lap 127 will see an added $1,000 for leading at the break. The Motor City Throwdown Challenge will pay $2,750 for anyone who can finish first, ahead of Derek Thorn Racing. And then JM Environmental Inc. will add $15,000 to the winner’s share if they qualify in the top-eight and elect to start in the back. Those numbers add up to a possible $28,750 for the victory. It is a win that Strmiska would love to put on his resume as the biggest victory of his career.

“I think it is huge for the SRL, with the help of JM (John Moore), to have this big of a race at our home track”, Strmiska commented. “It’s going to be the longest race of my career and most purse payout. Our race team has been picking up momentum with teammate Blaine (Rocha) and I’m hoping we can continue that momentum with both our cars at “99” and pick up that big check at the end of the night.”

Strmiska will team up with Blaine Rocha, in the car that Rocha drove to a second-place finish just three months ago at Stockton. It is a track that the Strmiska name is synonymous with, with his father Ron Jr. and grandfather Ron Strmiska Sr. both holding championships. The “Manteca Missile”, Ron Jr., was the 2003 SRL Champion and posses six victories in the series, three at Stockton. Ron Jr. also scored a Stockton win in the NASCAR Southwest Tour Series, after coming through the “B”-Main and then starting shotgun on the field. Ross will look to carry that tradition into next weekend at Stockton and grab the rich win.

Strmiska is coming off a season in which he finished third in the championship standings of the televised Nut Up Pro Late Model Series at Madera Speedway. He competed in eight of the nine events, with five top-five and six top-10 finishes. The driver also has extensive experience in the SPEARS SRL Southwest Tour Series participating in 59 events, scoring 16 top-five’s and 39 top-10 finishes. His SRL experience at the historic ¼-mile oval includes 12 starts, where he has finished in the top-five an impressive six times, and in the top-10 nine times, including his seventh last May. But he is still searching for that first SRL victory. August 14th would be the perfect time to find that elusive triumph.

Ross would like to thank his team and sponsors which include Masellis Drilling, Rocha’s Valley Enterprises, MASROC Farms, Nut Up Industries, Mainline Equipment, Frontier Lube and Farmers Blacksmith and Welding. He also would like to thank the entire Strmiska Racing Team “that gets it done for us to race, and my wife Rachel and my family….”.

On August 14th , Strmiska will join a hungry field of Super Late Model drivers looking to beat Derek Thorn to the finish line, to score the $2,750 bonus in the Motor City Throwdown Challenge. The winner will also receive $10,000 for the victory thanks to JM Environmental Inc. Another $1,000 will be paid out to the leader at the lap 127 break. A whopping $15,000 is available to a winner who qualifies in the top-eight and elects to start in the rear in this third round of the Wild West Shootout. Those numbers add up to a monster $28,750 payday. It would be the second highest winner’s share in the series 21-year history, behind the 2021 All-Star Showdown.

The Spears Pro Late Models presented by Sigma Performance Services will also join the action with the Legends of the Pacific, B4 Cylinders, and Jr. B4 Cylinders also on the card.

For those who cannot attend, the races can be followed LIVE on www.SpearsRacing.TV. It will be broadcast on MAVTV at a time and date to be named later.

Celebrating its twenty-first season in 2021, the SPEARS Southwest Tour Series is a regional stock car series competing on paved ovals in the southwestern portion of the U.S. “The SPEARS Southwest Tour Series…Where the Champions Race”.