'Big R': Sid and Carol Jeffery Memorial set for July 23 at Ransomville

The Sid and Carol Jeffery Memorial night is one of the highlights on the Ransomville Speedway schedule. The 2021 edition will take place Friday, July 23, with the Krown Undercoating Modifieds running a 56-lap race paying $2,000 to win and the Investors Service Sportsman running a 40-lap race paying $1,000 to win.

“Whatever we can do for the drivers is what we will do,” Mike Jeffery said. “In 2019, we brought our customers and vendors to the race, some of which have never been to a race and it opened their eyes.”

Sid and Carol Jeffery were both instrumental in helping others in racing.

“The 2020 race was supposed to be the first one without mom, but with COVID-19, that never happened,” Mike Jeffery said. “She (Carol) was very much the leader behind the Sid Jeffery Memorial. She was the driving force behind my brothers, Shawn and Kyle, and myself. She backed all of our racing careers.”

He added, “The race in 2020 was actually going to be on what would have been their 55th wedding anniversary (July 24). So, this year, the Modifieds will race a 56-lap race to honor their anniversary.”

The Modifieds and Sportsman will be joined by the Ki-Po Motors Street Stocks, Sunflowers of Sanborn Mini Stocks, and the Kevin’s Carpet Cleaning Novice Sportsman.

Sid Jeffery was well known in the Ransomville racing community as he helped a number of racers, including Jim Borget, Mike Jeffery and Greg Martin. The father-son combination of Sid and Mike Jeffery won throughout the area in the 1980s and 1990s at tracks, such as Ransomville, Humberstone, Merrittville, Genesee, Tri-County and Perry, and won the DIRT Rookie of the Year title in 1988.

Scott Jeffery, who serves as crew chief for Larry Wight and Billy Decker on the Super DIRTCar Series, got his start by turning wrenches on the Mike Jeffery racers. Sid Jeffery came back in 2010 to help Greg Martin with his Sportsman career. The duo won the 2014 Ransomville Sportsman track championship as well as the RUSH Touring Series Sportsman Championships in 2014 and 2015.

The inaugural running of the Sid Jeffery Memorial took place in 2017 for the Investors Service Sportsman with Matt Farnham scoring the win. The 2018 edition was for the Krown Undercoating 358 Modifieds, with Ryan Susice being in victory lane. In 2019, both the Modifieds and Sportsman were included as third-generation driver Erick Rudolph winning the Modified portion, and veteran Scott Kerwin, who came out of “retirement” to win the Sportsman race.

Ransomville Speedway is located on Braley Road in the hamlet of Ransomville. “The Big R” is a 3/8th-mile DIRTcar-sanctioned facility that is the “Home of the Summer Nationals.” It also features a 1/16th-mile go-kart track for action on the “Little R” on Thursday nights. For more information, visit www.ransomvillespeedway.com or call 716-791-3602 or 716-791-3611.