February 9, 2019 – Goshen, IN…The Supermodified Ultimate Pavement Racing Series, (SUPRS), racers are set to start their month long “Winter Western Swing” with the SUPRS Copper World Classic XV presented by Kern Motorsports on Tuesday, February 12, 2019 at Phoenix International Raceway.
Copper World Classic Has Rich History
This event is modeled after the popular Copper World Classic held annually at PIR, (now called ISM Raceway), from 1977-2009. With Phoenix International Raceway, (now known as ISM Raceway), being built specifically to be the home of open-wheel racing in the west, it was only natural that the mighty supermodifieds would eventually find a home there.
The supermodifieds were a part of the Copper World Classic from 1984 to 2002 with one year off in 1991. On a couple of occasions the supermodifieds ran without wings, and on others both wing and non-wing supers could be seen on track at the same time. So the SUPRS version tries to give fans the best of both worlds by running both types of cars on the same night.
Davey Hamilton has the most Copper World Classic wins with five and Troy Regier has the record for most wins in a row at three. Doug Saunier was the very first winner and Lonnie Adamson was the last supermodified winner of the Copper World Classic.
Curt Kern’s Deep Roots in Supermodified
Involved as an official for many years, Curt Kern of Kern Motorsports, has sponsored the SUPRS Copper World Classic since 2007.
In 1987, Kern and Ed Williams started the Northwest Supermodified Racing Association, (NSRA), after the United States Auto Club, (USAC), unexpectedly pulled out of sanctioning regional racing.
In 1992, Curt Kern formed the Western States Supermodified Tour, separating the supermodifieds from sprint cars, which continued to race under the Northwest Supermodified/Sprintcar Racing Association.
Copper World Stressful for Kern
Eventually Kern also found himself working in an official capacity during the Copper World Classic. “Some years I was on the ground in the pit area and a couple of years in the tower running race control for the supers,” explained the Washington state native.
“For me, then, it was a pretty stressful position, but I looked forward to the five days in Phoenix every year. I also dreaded it at the same time,” he said.
Second Year for Kern’s Supermodified Reunion
While Kern’s active involvement with the real supermodified division wound down to an end in the late 1990’s, he has stayed involved, albeit from a distance and has never completely walked away from the division.
For the second year in a row Curt Kern is heading up the Supermodified Reunion at Meridian Speedway for western states supermodified racers young and old May 31-June 1, 2019.
“I posted on Facebook about a potential supermodified reunion to be held at Meridian Speedway on May 26, 2018,” began Kern. “The response was pretty good so I decided to take the next step and brought it up to Adam Nelson at Meridian to see if we were on the same page.”
“We’ve lost a lot of supermodified greats since I got out and I thought it was time to remember them and get everyone else back together. Adam was all for it and now we’ve got it scheduled for then end of May, first of June this year,” stated Kern.
Many States Represented at Reunion
The west coast supermodified sanction list reads like an alphabet soup and stretches from British Columbia through Washington down to California over Idaho and includes Colorado and Utah. With all those states and sanctions represented, this reunion could be one of the largest ever organized for supermodified racing.
A gathering of this size and magnitude deservers to be remembered and a poster and t-shirts are planned as well as an owner/drivers only social gathering. For more information and to be added to the supermodified reunion Facebook Group, former drivers, owners, crew members and fans should contact Curt Kern via email curtkern@yahoo.com or Adam Nelson via the Meridian Speedway contact page.
Kern’s Continued Support of SUPRS
It was only natural for Kern to gravitate to the online version of supermodified racing. After hanging up his sim racing helmet Kern was the SUPRS Race Director for a couple of years and since 2007 Kern Motorsports has been a sponsor of the SUPRS Copper World Classic.
“I’m honored to still be involved with SUPRS and their version of the Copper World Classic and consider Bobby and John both good friends,” he said. “I only wish I could get set up and come back and get in everyone’s way again,” joked Kern. “The event at the time was the supermodified communities version of the Indy 500 and to have SUPRS continue to run that event is pretty cool. Good luck to all and thank you for allowing me to be a part of the show.”
SUPRS Copper World Classic Details
Practice for the SUPRS Copper World Classic XV presented by Kern Motorsports begins at 7:30pm with non-wing supermodifieds. The wing supermodifieds practice from 7:45 to 8:00pm before the Drivers Meeting. Time Trials for the wing supers are at 8:15pm and non-wing Time Trials follow at 8:30pm.
The format for SUPRS Copper World Classic XV presented by Kern Motorsports is nearly identical to the old WSST, NSRA formats and has been used at Kern’s request since coming on board as a race sponsor. Racing on “The Desert Mile”begins with the eight lap, inverted wing supermodified heat races at 9:05pm and the the wing supers run their 25 lap feature first at 9:05. The non-wing 25 lapper follows.
Points for both feature finishes are added up to determine the overall SUPRS Copper World Classic XV presented by Kern Motorsports Champion.
Supermodifieds at Phoenix Shown Live
Cheer on your favorite SUPRS racers while you view timing, scoring, track telemetry , stats and live streaming video of all the racing from the SUPRS Copper World Classic XV presented by Kern Motorsports at Phoenix International Raceway when we go “Live @ 9pm est via the SUPRS LIVE! page.
Get Social with SUPRS
Fans can learn more about the supermodified division and the original supermodified sim sanction, the Supermodified Ultimate Pavement Racing Series, by visiting www.SUPRS.net. Join SUPRS active and vibrant Social Media channels by “Liking” SUPRS on Facebook, Following @SUPRSOnline on Twitter, and viewing SUPRS videos on YouTube. See us live and join our chat on Twitch.
SUPRS Copper World Classic-Wing Winners/Champions-Phoenix International Raceway
- 2005 SUPRS Copper World Classic Champion: JP Curry-PA
- 2006 SUPRS Copper World Classic Champion: John Davidson-CA
- 2007 SUPRS Copper World Classic Champion: Chuck Russell-MO
- 2008 SUPRS Copper World Classic Champion: Kris Heveron-FL
- 2009 SUPRS Copper World Classic Champion: Bobby Gangwer-IN
- 2010 SUPRS Copper World Classic Champion: Chad Phelps-NY
- 2011 SUPRS Copper World Classic Champion: Jeff Weber-IN
- 2012 SUPRS Copper World Classic Champion: Ray Sand, Jr.-NY
- 2013 SUPRS Copper World Classic Champion: John Davidson-CA
- 2014 SUPRS Copper World Classic Champion: Ray Sand, Jr.-NY
- 2015 SUPRS Copper World Classic Champion: Steve Callahan-OH
- 2016 SUPRS Copper World Classic Winner: Bobby Gangwer-IN
- 2017 SUPRS Copper World Classic Winner: Nelson Rodrigues-MA
- 2018 SUPRS Copper World Classic Winner: Nelson Rodrigues-MA
SUPRS Copper World Classic-Non-Winged Winners – Phoenix International Raceway
- 2014 SUPRS Copper World Classic Winner: Steve Callahan-OH
- 2015 SUPRS Copper World Classic Winner: Myles Maxon-NY
- 2016 SUPRS Copper World Classic Winner: Ray Sand, Jr.-NY
- 2017 SUPRS Copper World Classic Winner: Joe Achzet-NY
- 2018 SUPRS Copper World Classic Winner: Rob Warren-NY
SUPRS Copper World Classic Wing/Non-Wing Combined Champions
- 2016 SUPRS Copper World Classic Champion: Ray Sand, Jr.
- 2017 SUPRS Copper World Classic Champion: Joe Achzet
- 2018 SUPRS Copper World Classic Champion: Nelson Rodrigues
(Note: Before 2016, the winner of the wing supermodified race was the SUPRS Copper World Classic Champion)
-SUPRS-
“Supermodified Sim Racing for the Right Reasons”
since 2004
