Northern California’s premier traveling sprint car tour, the Golden State Challenge, will open Calistoga Speedway’s 2006 racing season with two nights of racing over Memorial Day weekend on Saturday and Sunday, May 27 and 28.

The holiday weekend “doubleheader” will pit more than two dozen of Northern California’s top sprint car drivers against a couple of champions who will be returning to the Calistoga half-mile after focusing their racing elsewhere over the last few years.

The biggest challenge of the entire field will be to stop Jonathan Allard from Chico, who is the hottest driver in the early stages of the Golden State series.

Driving a sprint car owned by Morrie Williams of Oakhurst, near Fresno, Allard has claimed three of the series’ first four main events, his win streak broken only by a second place finish last weekend at Silver Dollar Speedway.

“We have the same car and we’re doing the same things as we did last year,” said Allard. “But traveling last year and getting more laps helped us. I found my niche in the race car and Morrie lets me do that.”

But some of Allard’s stiffest competition will include a former track champion who will travel overnight across the country to race in Calistoga. Since winning the Calistoga Speedway title in 2002, Fresno’s Jason Meyers has been racing across the nation, finishing second in the prestigious national World of Outlaws championship last year.

On Memorial Day weekend, Meyers will fly from Columbus, Ohio, where he will be racing in the National Sprintcar Tour, to race both nights at Calistoga.

“I always enjoy racing in Calistoga because we have sponsors and fans out there,” said Meyers, who won three main events in his championship year. “We’ll be using another car we keep in the shop in Fresno just to race in California.”

But another former Golden State Challenge Series titleholder, Ronnie Day of Salinas, will be returning to the Calistoga half-mile as he makes a run to reclaim the title he held in 2000.

“It’s a fun and fast race track and it’s easier to drive wide open than getting off the gas,” said Day, the 2004 Kings Speedway champion, about the Calistoga half mile that’s renowned for its long straightaways and triple-digit speeds.

A full racing program is scheduled both nights, including heat races, a dash for the fastest qualifiers, a semi-main event and a 30-lap feature race on the half-mile oval. Racing begins each night with qualifying at 6:30 p.m.

Ticket information is available on the fairgrounds new web site, www.napacountyfair.com, or by calling the fairgrounds office at 942-5111.

The weekend marks the beginning of Calistoga Speedway’s 2006 racing season, which will include seven nights of sprint car action throughout the summer. The schedule includes two races featuring the Civil War series for “360” sprint cars on June 17 and Aug. 12, and the traditional Harvest Classic featuring the World of Outlaws national tour over Labor Day weekend, Sept. 2 and 3.