UFO's in racing? Powerful forces in the Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia regional Super Late Model scene have unified to bring an exciting new concept to fans and drivers in 2008.

The Unified Force Race Championship's goal is to provide Late Model Racing with increased purses that minimize travel. Pittsburgh's Pennsylvania Motor Speedway and the Challenger Raceway have announced a new alliance linking six major spring/summer events and two of the premier fall events in the Eastern United States.

The new UFO Race Championship will tie these high-profile races into one season-long points championship with common rules and procedures. More than $308,000 in race prize money, plus a year-end, multitrack points bonus, will be offered to Super Late Model teams in the region.

The UFO Race Championship has joined with Comcast to televise two events on a tape-delay basis on Comcast CN-8 and On Demand.

Mall race car shows introduce new fans to the sport and give everyone a preview of the latest designs and fresh color schemes that the teams have devised over the winter.The annual Lernerville Speedway car show will be held Thursday through Saturday at Clearview Mall.

Lynn Geisler's Late Model crew has been hard at work during the offseason. Not only have they put together their own Late Model, but they also have been working on plans for a new driver development program.They have chosen the 2007 Lernerville Pure Stock champion, Mike Pegher Jr., to drive a Geisler-owned Late Model for the 2008 season

Track owners Vicki Emig of Mercer Raceway Park, Ron Neilson of Raceway 7 and Mike Graham and Roger Crick of Tri-City Speedway reached an agreement to offer a standardized sliding scale payoff for FASTRAK Late Models.If there are 19 cars or fewer, the FASTRAK winner will receive $500. If there are 20 to 24 cars, the victor will win $600. If there are 25 cars or more, the feature winner will be awarded $700.McKean County Raceway and Dog Hollow Speedway, which were pioneers of this system, hosting events in 2007, will join the above three tracks with a FASTRAK National Weekly Point Series. The champion will be awarded $10,000. Also, the Northeast Touring series champion will receive $5,000.

Carl Murdick of Butler was inducted into the Pittsburgh Circle Track Hall of Fame.He began racing in 1960 and just completed his 48th season. Murdick multitasks as driver, owner and mechanic. He started in the Hardtop division, which evolved into Coupes and later into Modifieds. He also has raced Late Models, Semi-Lates, Pure Stocks and 6- Cylinder Modifieds.In 1970, he won the point championship at Lernerville in Coupes while also competing in Late Models. He was nicknamed "Mr. Consistency'' for many years because he rarely finished out of the top 10 in points while racing in two divisions at multiple tracks.For years, he raced three to five times a week. Since Lernerville opened, Carl has been in attendance all 40 years. He will be there opening day for his 49th season of racing.