Good news about an old friend and a new race track

A couple of items heading into the weekend:

• Former Cape Girardeau Central quarterback Mitch Craft is optimistic that he will land in the Canadian Football League soon. Craft, playing linebacker and defensive end with the Lafayette (La.) Wildcatters indoor team, has been contacted by scouts with the Edmonton Eskimos of the CFL about playing linebacker in the league. Craft just began the new indoor season with three tackles, three hurries and two knockdowns in a 44-28 loss to the Greenville, S.C., team.

• Owners of Thunder City Speedway near Doniphan will unveil the track's new configuration with a practice day in late April, followed by weekly stock car racing each Saturday. Both are changes from last season, when the track was a one-eighth mile D-shaped oval (it's been expanded to a one-quarter mile oval) and held events on Fridays after it opened in August. Pictures of the dirt track's new look are on the track's site at www.thundercityspeedway.net.