Freehold Raceway's inaugural Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Pace took place this afternoon on the day the United States honours the great American civil rights leader
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All the drivers competing in the race were African-Americans. Martin Luther King, Jr. day is annually observed on the third Monday in the month of January.
Deshawn Sample, 30, of Greenwood, Delaware, guided CJ Blaze to a head victory in the featured seventh race.
Don Simmonds, driving Mo Mo Munny, was second in the 2:00.1 race. Finishing third with Callie’s Candyman was Jim King Solomon, who initiated the idea for the event with Racing Secretary Karen Fagliarone. Solomon had captured Monticello Raceway's Dr. King Memorial on Thursday, January 15, Dr. King's birthday.
The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Pace drew drivers from New Jersey, Delaware and New York.
In addition to Sample, the participants were Cedric M. Washington, 47, of Monticello, NY; General Washington, Jr., 69, of Mongaup Valley, NY; Jim King Solomon, 46, of Bayville, NJ; Don Simmonds, 41, of Clinton, NY; Orlando Greene, 42, of Seaford, DE and Dennis Watson, 59, of Lakewood, NJ.
Best Life, scheduled to be driven by George Polk Jr., 33, of Dover, DE, was scratched.
(With files from SBOANJ)