WILEY FORD, W.VA. — The 2009 Miller Lite Series will go out with the thunder of vintage American muscle cars thanks to the introduction of a new V8 class at the seventh annual Pumpkin Carve Autocross at the Cumberland Regional Airport on Saturday, Oct. 24.

National Road Autosport has opened registration to include a special one-day competition class for American performance cars with street tires. The new class will be called “VST” — Vintage Street Tire — open to only to pre-1974 American made muscle cars.

“The idea for this special once-a-year muscle car day came from one of our regular competitors who started checking with his friends to see how many of them would be interested in bringing out their restored hobby cars for the first day of our season-ending October autocross,” said National Road president John Felten.

The response was so positive, Felten said, organizers decided to add the class as a special season-ending event. The group has a history of special one-time competition events, including the annual June Historic for vintage sports cars and the annual August Devil’s Duel Top Gun Shoot Out, which pits the Airport All Stars against to the Capital Area Cobra Club in a unique qualifier/bracket race format.

Interested competitors are encouraged to enter the special class on-line at myautoevents.com, by choosing “VST” as their class while registered for the Saturday, October 24th Pumpkin Carve event. Entry fee for the new class will be $35, same as all other Cumberland Airport Autocross classes.

Unlike cars competing in numerous other SCCA classes, VST entries will be grouped together in the fourth heat, allowing fans to see the cars run consecutively. This grouping also allows entrants to record an official result for the series in their regular autocross car during the first three heats, before taking to the course for the VST competition.

Local drivers are welcome to enter their qualifying hobby cars, subject to passing tech inspection (no special racing equipment needed) and presenting the car with street legal tires. No R Compound tires will be allowed.

More information can be obtained by visiting www.nationalroadrally.com and downloading an event entry form under 2009 Info, or by calling (301) 724-2450 during business hours.