Special to the News-Herald

Due to inclement weather, Friday evening’s NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series program at Southampton Motor Speedway was canceled.

SMS will resume its 2003 schedule on Friday, Aug. 15, when WVBT Fox 43 presents Turkey Hill Dairy Kids Night to benefit Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters (CHKD).

Pit gates open at 3 p.m. Front gates open and practice gets under way at 4:30. Qualifying begins at 6:40 and the first feature contest goes green at 8.

The lineup includes: RaceWorld.com Late Model Stock Cars (100 laps); Mike Duman Auto Sales Limited Late Models (50 laps); Rick’s Rock Cafe Pure Stocks (25 laps); Ukrop’s Mid-Atlantic Champ Karts (20 laps); and, Hillco Building Maintenance Super Fours (25 laps).

Tickets are $12 for adults and $4 for youths (6-12). Children under 6 are admitted free when accompanied by an adult. Active-duty military (with ID), senior citizens (65+) and teens (13-19) receive a $2 discount off the adult admission price.

Internet-connected SMS fans can go to the track’s Web site, SouthamptonMotorSpeedway.com, and print out a coupon good for a $2 discount off the price of an adult general admission ticket to the Aug. 15 program.

In addition to the racing action on Friday, fans can look forward to ice cream and beverages from Turkey Hill, a visit from the company’s huge mascot cow and race car rides for the kids.

The annual Kids Night promotion is the track’s biggest fund-raising event of the season. The tie-in with CHKD is now in its sixth year.

Friday’s rainout will give drivers and teams an opportunity to get their cars extra shiny for the track’s fifth annual car display at Harbor Park in downtown Norfolk, slated for Tuesday, Aug. 12.

Several drivers and their machines will be stationed around the stadium to greet fans arriving for that night’s game between the Norfolk Tides and the Indianapolis Indians. Drivers will also be making a pace lap around the field during the evening.

The game will mark the scheduled end of a rehab assignment for All-Star catcher Mike Piazza of the New York Mets, so a large crowd is expected.

Game time is 7:15 p.m. For ticket information, call (757) 622-2222.

SMS General Manager Brad Skelding has announced that 25-lap races for the U-Car division have been added to the track’s lineup for Aug. 22 and Sept. 19.

The U-Car class is designed for beginner-level drivers and features strictly-stock, four-cylinder cars. Other than modifications for safety, very few changes to the cars are permitted.

Track officials will be keeping a close eye on the weather in the upcoming weeks with the end of the NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series season closing in.

To be eligible for regional and national honors, drivers in a track’s featured division (Late Model Stock Cars at SMS) must compete in a minimum of 18 events before the Sept. 21 cutoff date. With five races left on the schedule, SMS’s Late Model drivers have 14 races in the books.

The margin is even closer for SMS’s Limited Late Models, the track’s designated NASCAR ShorTrack Division. Needing 16 races to qualify for regional and national plaudits, they have run 11 to date and have five to go.

With one more rainout, twin races could be in the offing for both divisions.