Five Stickers N' Scuffs reps set to do battle in 2024 IWK Super Race Weekend event at Riverside
- reegmacaulay
- Jul 15, 2024
- 4 min read
July 15, 2024
Five drivers who carry the Stickers N' Scuffs Podcast brand on their cars have arrived at one of the biggest race weeks on the 2024 Canadian stock car racing calendar.
Caden Tufts, Wayne Hanlon Jr., Gary Elliott, Danny Benedict, and Josh Stade will head to Riverside International Speedway on the weekend of Friday, July 19 and Saturday, July 20 to participate in the 2024 edition of the IWK 250 Super Race Weekend.
The event will feature four racing classes with two running on Friday and two running on Saturday.
On Friday, the Cross Roads Maritime League of Legends Tour will play host to the Superior Foundations Legends Challenge 50, round three of 10 on their 2024 schedule. Easy-Kleen Super Late Model Series star Cory Hall is the defending winner of the race.
Caden Tufts and Wayne Hanlon Jr. will compete in the Legends race.
Tufts, from Hubley, N.S., is in his second full-time season in the Maritime League of Legends Tour and has one career win, which came in 2023 at Oyster Bed Speedway. He currently sits seventh in points with two top-10 finishes after two races and is also second in Scotia Speedworld Legends points. At Riverside, Tufts has a best finish of seventh, which came in the 2022 running of the IWK Super Weekend event. Tufts finished 14th out of 28 entries in last year's race.
Hanlon Jr. has been in Legends competition at Eastbound Park for several years and will make his second career Maritime League of Legends start this weekend. He finished 18th out of 28 cars in last year's race.
Joining the Legends will be the Maritime All-Star Sportsman Series, which hosts the NAPA/Henry's AUTOPRO 100, round five of eight on their 2024 schedule. Chris Reid is the defending winner of the race.
On Saturday, the racing action begins with a visit by the Heart of a Champion Hot Rod Classics. Originally, the series was supposed to run on Canada Day Weekend alongside the NASCAR Canada Series, but the race was postponed to July 20 as poor weather forced the track to cancel Sunday's action and run all other races on Saturday.
After the fans get a vintage taste of stock car racing, the East Coast International Pro Stock Tour will sanction the Steve Lewis Presents the IWK 250, the 34th-annual running of the event. The race was first introduced as the 'Riverside 250' in 1977 and has long stood as the track's and region's top event of each annual stock car racing season. It's also arguably the most prestigious in all of Canada.
The IWK Foundation partnered with the Pro Stock Tour and Riverside International Speedway in 2007 to become the title sponsor of the race, and ever since, the IWK Foundation has raised over $600,000.
The race has attracted many popular and legendary stock car racing names from all over the world, including NASCAR champions Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, and Matt Crafton, and two-time V8 Supercars champion Marcos Ambrose. For the 2024 event, NASCAR Cup Series winner and 2008 IWK 250 winner Regan Smith will return for his fourth IWK 250 start and drive the #24 Cat Car for Kids entry.
Smith is one of 31 drivers on the 2024 IWK 250 entry list, which features a plethora of multi-time champions and race winners across Atlantic Canada, Ontario, and the United States. Six drivers are previous IWK 250 champions, including Smith, Cassius Clark, Greg Proude, Dylan Blenkhorn, Donald Chisholm, and Craig Slaunwhite; the latter is the defending winner of the race and the defending East Coast International Pro Stock Tour champion.
Gary Elliott, Danny Benedict, and Josh Stade will compete in the IWK 250.
Elliott, from Murray Siding, N.S., will drive the #36 Pro Stock in the IWK 250 on Saturday night. Elliott's name and resume speak for themselves with 56 years of racing across Canada, and he's currently on his way to 900 consecutive nights at a race track. His iconic Quaker State Chevrolet will easily be one of the best-looking around the high banks and always attracts fans. His 2024 campaign has been very solid as he currently has two top-10 finishes in four Maritime Pro Stock Tour starts. In last year's IWK 250, Elliott was only able to complete 229 laps and finished 17th out of 26 cars.
Benedict, from Innisfil, ON, will drive the #54B Pro Stock alongside Elliott on Saturday night. Benedict will arrive at Riverside with a solid resume within the past several years, having won three Velocity 250s at Sunset Speedway, a NASCAR Weekly Series provincial championship in 2018, a Pro Late Model championship at Sunset Speedway in 2022, and an APC Late Model Series race in 2023. Benedict has made one start in APC Late Model action this year, finishing seventh at Sunset Speedway on May 18. The 2024 IWK 250 will be his first career start in Atlantic Canada and it has been a bucket-list event for him since he first began racing.
Stade, out of Chesley, ON, will drive the #17 Pro Stock alongside Elliott and Benedict on Saturday night. Stade has raced in the APC Late Model Series since 2015 and has racked up one win, three poles, 13 top-5 finishes, and 39 top-10 finishes in 82 starts; the latter is the most all-time out of any driver. Like Benedict, Stade will make his first career IWK 250 start.
Tim's Corner TV will broadcast all four races across Friday and Saturday with a fee. Race Time Radio Live will also have live coverage for audio listeners.
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