HYLTON CELEBRATES BIRTHDAY WITH 21st PLACE FINISH

MEMPHIS TN (August 27) - Inman SC's James Harvey Hylton raced to a 21st place finish in Friday's Ansell Cut Protection 150 at Chicagoland Speedway.  Hylton had celebrated his 76th birthday on Thursday at the track with his fellow ARCA Racing Series competitors.  "It was a great weekend," stated Hylton "I got to celebrate my birthday Thursday with some good friends and than had a pretty good run with the radon.com Ford Fusion on Friday."  The race was captured by Patrick Sheltra in the Ferguson Pipe Toyota with Venturini Motorsports driver Steve Arpin in second.  It was Sheltra's second straight victory in ARCA Racing Series competition.

Hylton heads into the September 6th race at DuQuoin Speedway in 24th place in driver points and 23rd position in owner points.  "Chicagoland Speedway is always a great place to come" stated the 76 year old racing legend "I would like to thank all the crews for the birthday cakes, gifts and well wishes.  It meant a lot to me"

ALLEN CROWE 100 PROVIDES DIRT TRACK THRILLS FOR FANS

MEMPHIS TN (August 24) - Racing legend James Hylton raced to a 25th place finish in last Sunday's Allen Crowe 100 at Illinois State Fairgrounds Speedway.  The one mile dirt oval, located in Springfield, has hosted the ARCA Racing Series since 1960 and this year's crowd was treated to an exciting race and controversial finish.  The race was dominated by Soddy Daisy, TN driver Ron Cox until he was passed during a contested restart on lap 93 by Patrick Sheltra.  Cox was subsequently involved in a wreck on lap 99 with Toyota Driver Mikey Kyle as the two raced into turn one.  An amazing 16 drivers finished on the lead lap as Sheltra took the checkered flag.  The race crowd was then treated to a post-race concert by former Hootie and the Blowfish front man Darius Rucker.

ARCA is the last major auto racing series to contest events on dirt surface tracks. Over the last sixty years, the Allen Crowe 100 has been captured by a veritable hall of fame lineup of stock car drivers.  Previous winners include A.J. Foyt, Curtis Turner, Roger McClusky, Bobby Isaac and Jack Boswsher.  The ARCA Racing Series returns to the one mile dirt oval at DuQuion Speedway on September 6th. 

Hylton Motorsports would also like to extend its thanks to Vance DeJaynes for his assistance this weekend.

MEMPHIS TN (August 17) - James Harvey Hylton entered last weekend's Garden State 150 with hopes of garnering a solid run at the 2.3 mile track located in southern New Jersey.  As fate would have it, Hylton's hopes were dashed as a head gasket failure resulted in a 27th place finish for the Inman SC native. The ARCA Racing Series event was captured by Casey Roderick driving the Bill Elliot Racing Dodge Charger.  Hylton and his 2010 Ford Fusion head into this weekend's Allen Crowe 100 at Springfield IL in 27th place in driver points and 23rd place in owner points in the ARCA Racing Series.

MEMPHIS TN (August 10) - NASCAR legend James Harvey Hylton was reunited with an old friend in last weekend's ARCA 200 at Berlin Speedway.  Hylton came to the track with "Martina", a chassis that has been in devoted ARCA Racing Series service for the team since 2003.  The chassis had previously been campaigned as a Ford Taurus and was recently reskinned by Hylton Motorsports as a Fusion.  The reunited pair qualified in 26th position for the event in route to a 25th place finish at the historic Michigan oval.

"Martina is still the same old girl," stated Hylton after the race "she still likes to kick up her heels up from time to time."  The ARCA 200 was the 30th pairing of the two veterans in ARCA Racing Series competition.  

MEMPHIS TN (July 25) - Stock car racing lost one of it's early stars last week when driver Earl Lee Brooks (at left) died on Wednesday at the age of 81.  Brooks, of Lynchburg, Virginia, competed in 262 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series events with his best finish being a fourth in the 1971 Nashville 420 in a 1969 Ford Torino.  During a career which spanned from 1962 to 1979, he amassed 3 Top-Fives and 37 Top-Ten finishes in NASCAR competition. 

Brooks was immortalized in the 1977 movie Greased Lighting by actor Jeff Bridges.  The movie was a biographical presentation of the life and time of NASCAR driver Wendell Scott.  Richard Pryor portrayed Scott while Bridges character "Hutch" was based on Brooks.

After competing against one another in 217 top division NASCAR races, competitor and fellow Virginian, James Hylton, fondly recalls his times with Brooks. "Earl was a great guy," stated Hylton, "he was a good racer and I hate to hear about his death."