Bill Nelson, a race car owner and promoter heavily involved in United Midwestern Promoters racing, died Monday afternoon while undergoing open-heart surgery at Carle Foundation Hospital in Champaign, Ill., according to UMP series director Sam Driggers. He was 50.

Nelson, who had undergone heart surgery a few years earlier, became ill on Saturday and doctors discovered problems with blood clots that required Monday's surgery, said Driggers, who visited Nelson on Sunday and received the report of his death from Nelson's close friends William and Tammy Scogin, promoters at StormPay.com Speedway in Clarksville, Tenn.

Nelson first came to prominence as the car owner for Steve Hillard, who captured the 1997 UMP modified championship in Nelson's Tatman's Towing-sponsored car. Nelson and Hillard moved up to Late Models the next season and Hillard was runner-up on the Northern Allstars Late Model Series in 2001 in a car co-owned by Hillard and Nelson.

In 2004, Nelson began co-promoting the Northern Allstars series and continued that for three seasons. He became involved with his hometown track, Vermilion County Speedway in Danville, Ill., as co-promoter and later promoter, a position he gave up following the 2007 season. He was taking 2008 off from racing, but was making plans to help out at Clarksville later on, Driggers said.

"He wanted to be involved with racing. That's what he wanted to do," Driggers said. "We're going to miss him."

Nelson is survived by his wife, Jean. Visitation is scheduled for 3-8 p.m. March 13 at Pape Funeral Home in Danville, with the funeral service set for 10 a.m. March 14 at the funeral home.

FARMER CITY SPICES EVENT: Did you notice that Farmer City Raceway had scheduled its World of Outlaws Late Model Series heat races for the second night of the April 4-5 event? But don't worry, you'll see more than just time trials on Friday night preceding the $20,000-to-win event. The track has scheduled a $1,000-to-win dash for the 16 fastest qualifiers, giving fans a taste of Saturday's action in the prelim sponsored by Douglas Pontiac-GMC-Dodge. Also, the track has added a non-qualifiers' race on Saturday for drivers who didn't make the feature event. For more information, visit the track website. — Erik Grigsby

WoO MISSOURI WEEKEND RESET: World of Outlaws Late Model Series officials announced that a previously-scheduled tour date at I-44 Speedway in Lebanon, Mo., has been moved back one week to May 3, and an event has been added at Monett (Mo.) Speedway on May 4, setting up two consecutive nights of Outlaws action at the Randy Mooneyham-promoted tracks. — Kevin Kovac

MLRA ADDS TWO EVENTS: The O'Reilly Midwest LateModel Racing Association has added two attractive events to its schedule. MLRA will sanction May 7 action at Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City, Kan., for a Wednesday night special that will feature former track champ and current NASCAR star Clint Bowyer in action along with teammate Shannon Babb. The race precedes the weekend's Lucas Oil-sanctioned Diamond Nationals in Wheatland, Mo. Also, MLRA will run Sept. 20 at I-80 Speedway in Greenwood, Neb., as part of the Cornhusker Classic. — From series reports

AMSOIL SCHEDULE SET: A more compact schedule greets competitors on the 2008 AMSOIL Late Model Series with the six-race series set to run over a nine-week period from early to mid-summer. Four tracks host races beginning May 23 at Superior (Wis.) Speedway. Hibbing (Minn.) Raceway hosts a June 10 event followed by a June 29 event at Proctor (Minn.) Speedway. The series returns to Superior on July 18 before wrapping up July 25-26 with events at ABC Raceway in Ashland, Wis., and Hibbing. Each 35-lap event pays at least $2,000 to the winner and races count toward WISSOTA Late Model points. — Jerry O'Brien

WDRL PUSHES SEASON OPENER BACK: Because of a long Iowa winter, Davenport (Iowa) Speedway has pushed the World Dirt Racing League opener back to April 11. The $5,000-to-win event was originally scheduled for April 5. — From series reports