Mo-Kan heats up with Memorial Day weekend events

May 23—ASBURY, Mo. — The 58th annual John Cotten Roofing Memorial Weekend Classic sponsored by O'Reilly Auto Parts gets underway Friday at Mo-Kan Dragway north of Asbury.

Gates open at 4 p.m. Friday with events featuring world championship drivers, a one-of-a-kind pyrotechnic fire engine, and jet-engine dragsters racing head-to-head.

Two-time National Hot Rod Association world champion Megan Meyer will compete against Randy Meyer's Racing teammate Deni Jensen in a nitro match race at 9 p.m.

"She (Meyer) has a lot of local fans, so we wanted to bring her and the Randy Meyer racing team in, " Mo-Kan owner Carl Blanton said.

Also on tap, Ohio's Rick Ream brings his hot rod firetruck to the dragway. The 1950 bullet-nose Studebaker firetruck will make its way down the drag strip while doing a wheelie with pyrotechnics shooting from the truck.

Friday's events also include two jet-engine dragsters from Ray Kelly's Game Exchange Jet Cars.

"That's basically a dragster with a jet engine in it," Blanton said. "It's a lot of fun. Jets are kind of a tradition at Mo-Kan — a huge tradition. You can't say Memorial Day at Mo-Kan without saying 'jets' — we always have jets."

Events continue Saturday, when Meyer and Jensen square off twice; the first matchup will be at 5 p.m. with their second race at 9 p.m.

There also will be two runs by Kelly's jet-engine dragsters and Ream's firetruck.

Gates open Saturday at 10 a.m. to allow fans to chat with drivers and check out the cars before racing begins.

"As a spectator, you are welcome into the pits to talk to the drivers and look at the cars up close," Blanton said. "They want to talk. They are happy to talk to spectators. It's kind of like a party. Everyone is here to have a good time. The feature car drivers realize that they have a job because of the spectators that come to watch them, so they want to make sure they are entertained."

Memorial Day events continue at 10 a.m. Sunday with bracket races.

'There's more'

"But wait, there's more," Blanton said of Mo-Kan's holiday schedule.

Late additions to Mo-Kan's holiday schedule include a number of funny cars that had to relocate to Mo-Kan after weather forced cancellation of some racing events in Iowa. Those include funny car driver Alex Barker in his Back in Black funny car, Mike Buchanan in his Hombre funny car, and Jordan Ballew in his Ballew Thunder funny car.

The Memorial Day event helps kick off the Dragway's 62nd year and is among a number of big weekends in store this summer at Mo-Kan.

Blanton said this weekend's Memorial Day schedule of events is "one of the biggest we've had. ... I can't think of anything we've had with more feature cars, so I think it is probably one of the bigger ones."

He said fans have a variety of choices in how to best enjoy this weekend's events.

"You can be here all day if you want to or come later in the afternoon and watch the big cars. If you're lucky enough, you can find a spot on the fence and watch from your tailgate."

Tyler West, Mo-Kan general manager, said Memorial Day weekend is a racing tradition for many.

"For some people, it's coming out to tailgate, and for some people, it's bringing their kids out, buy a T-shirt and get autographs from all of the drivers," he said.

"It's a prestigious event," West said of the weekend. "There's more than $20,000 in payout for the die-hard racers."

Blanton said there is also plenty of bleacher seating, and food vendors will be available.

In between the feature cars, there will be more than 300 regional drivers competing in everything from street cars to $250,000 race cars.

Summer events include:

—June 1, Midwest Motorcycle Drag Show and Swap Meet.

—June 7-9, The Little Race on the Prairie, which features $40,000 in payouts.

—June 15, The Titans of 10.5.

—June 29, Ford Invasion with all-Ford drag races and a car show and swap meet.

—July 19-20, Nitro Chaos, when cars will make their way down the strip at speeds in excess of 200 mph. This year's Nitro Chaos event will include a visit from the stars of Discovery channel's "Street Outlaws" — Farmtruck and AZN.

—July 27, Truck and Diesel Drags.

A full schedule is available at www.mokandragway.com.