Each of the 24 drivers who qualify for the race will be handed $100 bills by Schaefer once they are officially in the star-studded field. This means that the race will now pay $600 to start and a minimum of $5,125 to win, even before the thousands of dollars in bonuses are added in.

At the 2012 event, race winner Matt Hirschman pocketed just under $9,000 when including the bonus cash. In fact 22 of the 28 race teams who entered the SBM 125 last June earned additional monies beyond the purse payout for their efforts.

In addition to that $2,400 payout to the qualified drivers, Schaefer will donate an additional $2,000 to help bolster the B-Main payoff, which as a result could potentially surpass the $4,000 mark.

That additional purse money will also be paid to non-qualifiers of the SBM 125 before they leave the race track, as is tradition with the event. The balance of the B-Main payoff will come from a 50-50 raffle that pays four ticket winners cash prizes, plus dozens of additional winnings such as race event, dinner, plumbing, subscription, t-shirt and Boston Red Sox tickets.

"I love the Open Show format," Schaefer reasoned. "Those events at Star and Seekonk (Mass.) were two of the best races I saw all last year, and this donation is my way of thanking the race teams for supporting these events.

"I'm still today having visions of Matt Hirschman's three-wide pass at Star that helped him get back to the front after pitting for a right rear tire in last year's SBM race. As a fan, it's so much fun to see drivers from all walks of Modified life competing so hard on a track like Star."

This additional money, along with the purse payout and lap sponsorship money will no doubt swell the payoff for SBM III to more than $40,000 in all. Drivers such as 2012 Champions Doug Coby, Jon McKennedy and Jacob Dore will compete against Matt Hirschman, Ted Christopher, Mike Stefanik, Chuck Hossfeld, Ryan Preece, Dwight Jarvis and Chris Pasteryak to name a few.

More information will be available in the Star Speedway booth this weekend at "The Racers Expo and Trade Show" in Marlboro, Mass. (www.theracersexpo.com). For continuing updates on SBM III check out the Star Speedway facebook page or log onto the track web site at: www.star-speedway.com.

About 90 of the 125 laps for the race have been sponsored already at a minimum of $50 per lap. Half of the money on each lap goes to the leader, while the other half goes to another top ten driver by draw. Additional sponsorship opportunities for one of the most talked about events in New England are still available. Send an e-mail for SBM 125 related inquiries only to: StarPress2012@aol.com.