Archive for Sprints
Kevin Thomas, Jr.’s Last Lap Heroics Get it Done at Bloomington
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
Kevin Thomas, Jr. celebrates Friday night's NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week victory at Bloomington Speedway.
(David Nearpass Photo)
KEVIN THOMAS, JR.'S LAST LAP HEROCS GET IT DONE AT BLOOMINGTON
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Bloomington, Indiana (July 26, 2019).........Kevin Thomas, Jr. led three different times for a total of 13 laps in Friday's Sheldon Kinser Memorial, round seven of NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week from Bloomington Speedway, but it was one final lap that decided his fate.
After swapping the lead multiple times down the stretch, on the final lap, the Cullman, Ala. native rocketed around the outside of Jason McDougal in turns one and two, locked up the bottom in three and four and raced to his third Bloomington ISW victory following triumphs in 2012 and 2017.
In 19 previous USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car starts this season, Thomas had finished as the runner-up on four occasions. On this night, he flat out refused to run second, put it all on the line and came away with his first victory since the 2018 season finale in Perris, Calif.
"I didn't think that was ever going to happen," Thomas admitted. "It's been a trying year. I think we've finally overcome our things that have gone wrong and our bad luck. You just have to be in a position to win all the time. You're not going to win every race, but you've got to be there and then things will start going your way."
Thomas began the 30-lapper from the fifth spot, but the early-going was marred by a three-car accident involving a flipping Chris Windom with Carson Short and Jordan Kinser also involved. All were okay, but only Short restarted.
On the restart, Thomas went to the rail, riding the outside line to move into the top-three on lap six underneath Justin Grant. Up front, outside front row starter McDougal was working on race leader Jarett Andretti, pulling even on the outside before clearing Andretti off turn four to grab the race lead. Thomas followed suit and worked inside past Andretti for second on the bottom of turn one.
After working his way to third by lap 11, Brady Bacon encountered trouble as he slid to a stop on the back straightaway with a little bit of flame being thrown from the car. Though he'd restart from the tail, he worked his way back to a seventh-place finish by race end.
McDougal led Thomas into turn one but left the bottom open for Thomas. Thomas took hold of the advantage and cruised underneath McDougal exiting turn two with the lead. Following an incident in which early race leader Jarett Andretti slid to a stop on the front straightaway, the man on the move was Kyle Cummins.
The previous night's winner at Lincoln Park put his ride up top and methodically picked his way past Grant for third on lap 14, by McDougal for second on lap 15 and was literally on the edge for the lead on lap 16. Thomas moved up to protect up top at the exit of turn four. However, Cummins found a line even higher than Thomas and the two banged wheels at the stripe, with Cummins nipping the line mere inches ahead of Thomas. Thomas cut down into one and reclaimed the lead with a slider on Cummins, who ended up getting hung up on the turn four cushion, losing second to McDougal.
"From the start of the race, we were pretty decent on the bottom," Thomas explained. "I tightened myself up with the shocks. I think it was the wrong move for going down there. When I finally got to the lead, my pace was slowing down and I heard a guy up around the top, so I tried to move to the top, and I'm pretty sure it was Kyle Cummins. I didn't think anybody could get any higher, then he tried going around me down the front stretch and we made a little contact. I didn't know anybody could even go up there without running off the track."
With seven laps remaining, second-running McDougal and third-running Cummins began to hunt down Thomas once again. McDougal pulled even to the inside of Thomas between turns one and two on lap 23, but on the 24th circuit, McDougal kept the momentum rolling on the bottom off turn two, edging ahead of Thomas in turn three, then letting his car float to the top, pushing Thomas wide to secure the top spot before pulling ahead by five car lengths into turn one with just five laps to go and a bit of traffic now on the horizon.
With four to go, Thomas began to inch closer to McDougal on the top as McDougal closed in rapidly on the lapped car of Brody Roa between turns three and four with the two nearly making nose-to-tail contact. McDougal was in a sort of no-man's land sliding through the middle, allowing Thomas to close within a car length at the line.
Thomas kept digging, pulling even with McDougal into turn one, and took the outside line into turn three, which nearly proved disastrous, hopping the rear wheels airborne. A rapidly closing Cummins tried to avoid ramming Thomas and spun himself into a 360 over the berm in turn three before coming to a rest.
Now it was down to a duel between just McDougal and Thomas, and only three laps remaining. Thomas knew he needed to turn up the wick, making adjustments and making plans on how he was going to tackle the task.
"I made a little bit more of a shock adjustment on that last restart," Thomas remembered. "I knew I couldn't go to the bottom because you're going to run second. It was either going to stick or I was going to drive right off the end of the track."
McDougal initially had a fine restart and was leading by four car lengths going into turn one on the final lap, but Thomas devoured the high line and ate up the interval in no time flat to take the lead, cut down to the bottom in front of McDougal in turn three, nailed his marks to a T, and drove to victory by 0.388 of a second over McDougal, Grant, ISW point leader C.J. Leary and a career-best fifth-place finish for Brandon Mattox.
For Thomas, it was his 26th career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car victory, moving him ahead of past series champs Steve Butler and Jay Drake for 17th on the all-time list. Furthermore, his sixth Indiana Sprint Week win moved him ahead of Kevin Briscoe, Tony Elliott, Brady Short and Kevin Thomas (no relation) for sixth all-time.
(Ryan Sellers Photo)
Thomas and his Hayward/Thomas Motorsports team have upped their performances over the past week, finishing in the top-five in each of their past four starts just after finishing outside the top-five in three of their previous four prior to that.
For Thomas, it was his 26th career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car victory, moving him ahead of past series champs Steve Butler and Jay Drake for 17th on the all-time list. Furthermore, his sixth Indiana Sprint Week win moved him ahead of Kevin Briscoe, Tony Elliott, Brady Short and Kevin Thomas (no relation) for sixth all-time.
"I think the driver just finally showed up," Thomas said. "There's a few little things like
to make somebody comfortable and with everybody being new to the way I like to do things and how I drive, that's just the way it is. It's a learning curve. When everybody's this tough night-in, night-out, that's the way it goes. We haven't been terrible, we've been running top-five, but it just wasn't quite there, but now we're there."
Contingency award winners Friday night at Bloomington Speedway were Brady Bacon (Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier), Justin Grant (Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner), C.J. Leary (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner), Brady Short (AutoMeter Third Heat Winner), Carson Short (Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner), Tyler Courtney (KSE Racing Products/B & W Auto Mart Hard Charger & ProSource Hard Work Award), Brandon Mattox (Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier), Lee Underwood (Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer) and Josh Hodges (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher).
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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: July 26, 2019 - Bloomington Speedway - Bloomington, Indiana - 32nd NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week - Sheldon Kinser Memorial
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING GROUP ONE: 1. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-11.057; 2. C.J. Leary, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-11.289; 3. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-11.359; 4. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-11.465; 5. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-11.489; 6. Max Adams, 5m, Adams-11.522; 7. Jadon Rogers, 14, Rogers-11.579; 8. Dave Darland, 17c, Cunningham-11.670; 9. Terry Richards, 18m, Richards-11.713; 10. Dustin Christie, 75, Christie-11.757; 11. Shane Cottle, 2E, Epperson-11.795; 12. Sterling Cling, 34, Cling-11.860; 13. Brody Roa, 91R, BR-11.902; 14. Lee Underwood, 24L, Underwood-11.993; 15. Anthony D'Alessio, 01, D'Alessio-12.019; 16. Stephen Schnapf, 61m, Edwards-12.041; 17. Dickie Gaines, 44, Soudrette-12.165; 18. Landon Simon, 04, Burton-12.247; 19. Josh Cunningham, 3JC, Cunningham-12.334; 20. Eric Perrott, 45, Perrott-12.743; 21. Bobby Griffitts, 9, Griffitts-12.975.
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING GROUP TWO: 1. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 19, Hayward/Thomas-11.207; 2. A.J. Hopkins, 4J, 4J-11.493; 3. Jason McDougal, 71p, Daigh/Phillips-11.495; 4. Kyle Cummins, 3R, Rock Steady-11.500; 5. Mario Clouser, 6, MCM-11.555; 6. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-11.667; 7. Josh Hodges, 74x, Hodges-11.683; 8. Carson Short, 21, RCM-11.687; 9. Chris Windom, 5G, Goacher-11.701; 10. Tony DiMattia, 50, TDM-11.716; 11. Brady Short, 11p, Short/Pottorff-11.757; 12. Jordan Kinser, 70, Hurst-11.759; 13. Thomas Meseraull, 00, Whitney-11.843; 14. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-11.846; 15. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall/Newman-11.946; 16. Brayden Fox, 53, Fox-11.947; 17. Trey Gropp, 54, Gropp-12.018; 18. Scotty Weir, 42, Cheney-12.422; 19. Brian VanMeveren, 24, VanMeveren-12.427; 20. Brad Greenup, 4G, Greenup-12.589.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Justin Grant, 2. Chase Stockon, 3. Brady Bacon, 4. Shane Cottle, 5. Brody Roa, 6. Jadon Rogers, 7. Dickie Gaines, 8. Terry Richards, 9. Anthony D'Alessio, 10. Bobby Griffitts. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. C.J. Leary, 2. Max Adams, 3. Dave Darland, 4. Jarett Andretti, 5. Landon Simon, 6. Stephen Schnapf, 7. Sterling Cling, 8. Eric Perrott, 9. Lee Underwood, 10. Dustin Christie. NT
AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Brady Short, 2. Chris Windom, 3. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 4. Jason McDougal, 5. Josh Hodges, 6. Tyler Courtney, 7. Mario Clouser, 8. Thomas Meseraull, 9. Trey Gropp, 10. Brian VanMeveren. 2:06.68
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Carson Short, 2. Jordan Kinser, 3. Isaac Chapple, 4. Kyle Cummins, 5. Brandon Mattox, 6. A.J. Hopkins, 7. Scotty Weir, 8. Tony DiMattia, 9. Brad Greenup, 10. Brayden Fox. 2:10.67
C-MAIN: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the semi) 1. Trey Gropp, 2. Landon Simon, 3. Brayden Fox, 4. Dickie Gaines, 5. Scotty Weir, 6. Brad Greenup, 7. Brian VanMeveren, 8. Eric Perrott, 9. Bobby Griffitts. 2:11.93
SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. A.J. Hopkins, 2. Brandon Mattox, 3. Tyler Courtney, 4. Thomas Meseraull, 5. Josh Hodges, 6. Brody Roa, 7. Lee Underwood, 8. Dickie Gaines, 9. Jadon Rogers, 10. Terry Richards, 11. Trey Gropp, 12. Landon Simon, 13. Sterling Cling, 14. Mario Clouser, 15. Brayden Fox, 16. Anthony D'Alessio, 17. Tony DiMattia, 18. Stephen Schnapf. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting position in parentheses) 1. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (5), 2. Jason McDougal (2), 3. Justin Grant (3), 4. C.J. Leary (4), 5. Brandon Mattox (11), 6. Chase Stockon (9), 7. Brady Bacon (6), 8. Dave Darland (13), 9. Tyler Courtney (22), 10. Thomas Meseraull (20), 11. A.J. Hopkins (7), 12. Isaac Chapple (21), 13. Josh Hodges (12), 14. Carson Short (14), 15. Brady Short (17), 16. Kyle Cummins (8), 17. Shane Cottle (16), 18. Max Adams (10), 19. Brody Roa (19), 20. Jarett Andretti (1), 21. Chris Windom (15), 22. Jordan Kinser (18). NT
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**Dustin Christie flipped through the turn one fence during the second heat. Sterling Cling flipped at the start of the semi. Chris Windom flipped on lap 2 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-6 Jarett Andretti, Laps 7-11 Jason McDougal, Laps 12-15 Kevin Thomas, Jr., Lap 16 Kyle Cummins, Laps 17-24 Kevin Thomas, Jr., Laps 25-29 Jason McDougal, Lap 30 Kevin Thomas, Jr.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS/B & W AUTO MART HARD CHARGER: Tyler Courtney (22nd to 9th)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Josh Hodges
SALDANA RACING PRODUCTS FIRST NON-TRANSFER: Lee Underwood
ROGER & BARB TAPY 13TH FASTEST QUALIFIER: Brandon Mattox
PROSOURCE HARD WORK AWARD: Tyler Courtney
NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-C.J. Leary-1,466, 2-Brady Bacon-1,332, 3-Kevin Thomas, Jr.-1,322, 4-Tyler Courtney-1,315, 5-Chris Windom-1,306, 6-Chase Stockon-1,244, 7-Justin Grant-1,240, 8-Carson Short-1,118, 9-Jason McDougal-1,088, 10-Isaac Chapple-846.
NEW NOS ENERGY DRINK INDIANA SPRINT WEEK POINTS: 1-C.J. Leary-511, 2-Brady Bacon-487, 3-Kevin Thomas, Jr.-469, 4-Justin Grant-463, 5-Chris Windom-432, 6-Tyler Courtney-417, 7-Kyle Cummins-389, 8-Carson Short-382, 9-Jason McDougal-371, 10-Chase Stockon-365.
NEW PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Tyler Courtney-35, 2-Shane Cottle-30, 3-Dave Darland-21, 4-Justin Grant-18, 5-Max Adams-17, 6-Chris Windom-14, 7-Brady Bacon-14, 8-Brandon Mattox-13, 9-Isaac Chapple-13, 10-Kevin Thomas, Jr.-12.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: July 27, 2019 - Tri-State Speedway - Haubstadt, Indiana - 32nd NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week
Friday, July 26, 2019
Contact: Brian Liskai - liskai2x@roadrunner.com
By Brian Liskai
ATTICA, OH. - A couple of years ago Caleb Griffith thought he was done racing. But, a family friend purchased a sprint car and made the call to Griffith, who, reluctantly, decided to give it another go. It paid off as the Sandusky, Ohio driver led all 30 laps of the 410 sprint feature Friday, July 26 at Attica Raceway Park on Morgan Stanley/Underground Utilities Inc. Night.
Griffith, Attica's 2014 track champion, had to hold off a late race charge by hall-of-famer Jac Haudenschild to earn his third career victory at Attica in the Callie's Performance Performance Products 410 sprints. The victory was worth $4,000 thanks to Spanky's Pizza of Carey, Ohio.
"I've been poached here on late race restarts so many times. I'm thinking on that last restart...I look at the board and saw Jac had gotten back to second and I'm thinking if I can get rolling...he'll have a shot in the first corner but after that I'll be okay. I bumped the wing back for this end (turns one and two) and I caught the curb down here (turns three and four) and the second lap I saw him under me. I was thinking should I move..I didn't know what to do. I pulled one from the Vic (crew chief) rule book and kept bombing the top," said Griffith beside his Jeff Ward Demolition backed machine.
"I have to thank Jeff (Ward, car owner) the most. My whole family, all the sacrifices they've made. My brother-in-law Dusty and Vic...Brady helped me put all this together at the beginning of the year and get going. For awhile there on the other race car...you start to doubt everything you felt like you ever knew. You don't know if you still know how to do this. We changed cars for tonight...didn't change a torsion bar or shock and all night that thing has been awesome," added Griffith.
And, with just three All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads/Kistler Racing Products Attica Fremont Championship Series (AFCS) Presented by the Baumann Auto Group 410 sprint races left to determine the $10,000 champion, the points tightened up. Buddy Kofoid came into the night atop the standings with Cap Henry second. Henry finished third at Attica while Kofoid came home fourth as the series heads to Fremont Speedway Saturday, July 27.
Mansfield, Ohio's Matt Irey also held off a late race charge in the Summit Racing Equipment UMP Late Models to score his first win of the season at Attica. Ryan Missler and Doug Drown hounded Irey - Attica's 2016 track champion - the entire 25 laps but Irey held on for his third career feature win at the track.
"I saw Ryan and got to thinking maybe the top was getting a little dirty with all the lapped cars and I was starting to get a little more free and I saw him and I figured if I cleared him off the corner I have to take his line. I moved down and the car got pretty good and that was the last I saw him. It's been too long..been a rough year. We bent our main car two weeks ago at Wayne County so we pulled the back-up car out...that's twice we've done that here," said Irey beside his his Rod Eddleblute's Garage/Flenner Well & Excavating/Mid-Ohio Graphics/Tru-Form/Kilgore & Harring CPA backed #36.
The Fremont Fence 305 Sprint feature literally came down to the blink of an eye. Fremont, Ohio's Jamie Miller held off Tyler Gunn for his third straight Attica win by a difference of .081 seconds. Miller, Attica's 2005 track champion, has won five overall features in 2019 (two at Fremont) and pads his lead in the KS Sales & Service AFCS Presented by Jason Dietsch Trailer Sales heading into Fremont on Saturday, July 27. The win is the 22nd in the 305 division for Miller at Attica and places him fourth on the all-time victory list.
"I tried to use all the track and then some. That last lap was...this thing was getting so tight there at the end, it didn't want to turn. Once I got screwed up I could hear him back there and I knew he was going to try and slide me so I just left off and turned and drove right back by him. It's pretty awesome to be fourth on the all-time list. I never really thought I'd be up there when I started racing in 1999. I have a ways to go to catch Paul (Weaver)," said Miller beside his Fostoria Mod Shop/Crown Battery/Sonic Hauling/Pen Monster.com/Brad’s Barbecue/Napa of Attica/Avon by Angie/Griff’s Engines/Color Street by Jaime Hennig/Reedtown Tavern/York Carpet Outlet/Branham Builders/Imprint Logo backed #26.
Haudenschild and Griffith brought the field to green for the 30-lap 410 feature with Griffith shooting into the lead over Haudenschild, Henry, TJ Michael, Stuart Brubaker, Kofoid and Jess Stiger. Henry took over the second spot on lap three right before the caution flew for Brian Lay who stopped on the speedway. When the green returned Griffith pulled away from Henry and his lead was nearly two seconds by lap nine.
Heavy lapped traffic came into play by lap 13 and Griffith lead began to shrink as Henry closed with Haudenschild, Michael, Kofoid, Brubaker, Travis Philo and Hunter Schuerenberg in tow. With 16 laps in Paige Polyak coasted to a stop giving Griffith a clear track. On the ensuing restart Griffith pulled away slightly but Haudenschild got up on the wheel and drove back into second. A tremendous battle was taking place for fourth involving Michael, Kofoid, Brubaker and Philo.
Schuerenberg took a nasty tumble on lap 21 but was uninjured. On the restart Haudenschild made a bid for the led, trying a slider on Griffith in turns one and two. Griffith was able to turn back under and maintain the lead and began to steadily pull away over the next hand full of laps. The battle for third was heating up between Henry and Kofoid as they closed on the leaders.
With two laps to go Haudenschild closed the gap on Griffith significantly and took a couple of looks under the leader. Griffith hit his marks perfectly and drove to the win over Haudenschild, Henry, Kofoid and Philo.
Ryan Markham and Irey paced the field for the 25 lap late model A-main with Irey gaining the advantage over Markham, Missler, Jeff Warnick, Nate Potts and Doug Drown. After a lap was scored, Markham slowed down the back stretch and Jim Gingery got into him bringing out the caution with Markham going to the pits. On the restart Irey pulled away from Missler as Warnick battled with Drown for third.
The second and final caution of the race fell on lap four for Jimmie Ward. When the green flew so did Irey, building up a pretty good lead over Missler, Drown, Warnick, Devin Shiels and Potts. But, lapped traffic came into play with 10 laps to go and Missler and Drown closed quickly on Irey. The trio ran under a blanket the next hand five laps. With just five laps to go Missler stuck the nose of his machine under Irey to challenge, But Irey moved down a lane and blocked the advance and drove to the win over Missler, Drown, Shiels and Mike Bores.
Zeth Sabo and Miller led the 305 A-main to green with Miller taking the lead over Sabo, Kyle Capodice, Luke Griffith, Jason Keckler, Tyler Street, John Ivy and Gunn. Miller immediately pulled away to a commanding leader while Sabo held his own in second. Miller's big lead evaporated when Kevin Mingus spun on lap nine.
When racing resumed Miller again pulled away and in four laps had a two second advantage over Sabo while Gunn had worked his way to third. As the leaders raced into lapped traffic with 10 circuits remaining Sabo and Gunn battled hard for the runner-up spot with Gunn taking it as the caution flew for a Seth Schneider spin. On the ensuing restart Sabo was able to get under Gunn to retake second but Gunn returned the favor a lap later. Once taking command of second Gunn set his sights on Miller and methodically chipped away at his lead.
With three laps to go Gunn was on Miller's rear bumper. Miller slipped off the high side of turn two on lap 23 but was able to maintain the lead. Miller and Gunn raced side by side out of two after taking the white flag. Through three and four they were side by side and it was a drag race to the checkers with Miller winning by a bumper over Gunn. Capodice, Sabo and Bobby Clark rounded out the top five.
There is no racing the next two weeks at Attica Raceway Park as the Attica Independent Fair takes over. Attica gets back to action on Friday, Aug. 16 on Columbus Equipment/Central Ohio Farmers Night. It is the final AFCS point night at Attica for the 410 and 305 sprints with the late models in action for the Attica/Oakshade Raceway Challenge Series. Also, the 305 sprints will battle for $1,000 to win presented by Griff's Engines.
For more information go to www.atticaracewaypark.com or follow the track on Twitter @atticaracewyprk or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/atticaracewaypark and Instagram at attica_raceway_park.
Attica Raceway Park
Friday, July 26, 2019
Morgan Stanley/UUI Night
[*] indicates starting position
410 Sprints - Callie's Performance Products
Qualifying
1.11N-Buddy Kofoid, 12.683; 2.3-Jac Haudenschild, 12.689; 3.25M-Chris Andrews, 12.811; 4.16-DJ Foos, 12.877; 5.8M-TJ Michael, 12.887; 6.33W-Caleb Griffith, 12.930; 7.09-Craig Mintz, 12.964; 8.3C-Cale Conley, 12.967; 9.19P-Paige Polyak, 12.994; 10.5-Byron Reed, 12.999; 11.1-Nate Dussel, 13.029; 12.97-Max Stambaugh, 13.093; 13.35-Stuart Brubaker, 13.093; 14.4-Cap Henry, 13.101; 15.22B-Ryan Broughton, 13.116; 16.23-Hunter Schuerenberg, 13.201; 17.45L-Brian Lay, 13.223; 18.5T-Travis Philo, 13.226; 19.46AU-Stuart Williams, 13.249; 20.8J-Jess Stiger, 13.250; 21.3J-Trey Jacobs, 13.265; 22.2+-Brian Smith, 13.337; 23.2L-Landon LaLonde, 13.376; 24.2-Ricky Peterson, 13.487; 25.20I-Kelsey Ivy, 13.498; 26.35H-Zach Hampton, 13.590; 27.25R-Mitch Harble, 13.732; 28.21-Brinton Marvel, 13.834; 29.96AU-Bruce White, 14.223;
Heat 1, Group A - (8 Laps, top 4 to A)
1. 4-Cap Henry[1] ; 2. 35-Stuart Brubaker[2] ; 3. 23-Hunter Schuerenberg[5] ; 4. 09-Craig Mintz[4] ; 5. 97-Max Stambaugh[3] ; 6. 2L-Landon LaLonde[6] ; 7. 2-Ricky Peterson[7] ; 8. 35H-Zach Hampton[8]
Heat 2, Group B - (8 Laps, top 4 to A)
1. 33W-Caleb Griffith[1] ; 2. 11N-Buddy Kofoid[4] ; 3. 8M-TJ Michael[2] ; 4. 19P-Paige Polyak[5] ; 5. 5-Byron Reed[6] ; 6. 25M-Chris Andrews[3] ; 7. 1-Nate Dussel[7]
Heat 3, Group C - (8 Laps, top 4 to A)
1. 45L-Brian Lay[2] ; 2. 8J-Jess Stiger[1] ; 3. 3-Jac Haudenschild[4] ; 4. 3J-Trey Jacobs[5] ; 5. 20I-Kelsey Ivy[6] ; 6. 3C-Cale Conley[3] ; 7. 21-Brinton Marvel[7]
Heat 4, Group D - (8 Laps, top 4 to A)
1. 16-DJ Foos[4] ; 2. 5T-Travis Philo[2] ; 3. 46AU-Stuart Williams[1] ; 4. 25R-Mitch Harble[6] ; 5. 2+-Brian Smith[5] ; 6. 96AU-Bruce White[7] ; 7. 22B-Ryan Broughton[3]
B-Main 1 - (10 Laps, top 4 to A)
1. 5-Byron Reed[2] ; 2. 25M-Chris Andrews[6] ; 3. 2+-Brian Smith[4] ; 4. 3C-Cale Conley[7] ; 5. 20I-Kelsey Ivy[3] ; 6. 21-Brinton Marvel[11] ; 7. 96AU-Bruce White[8] ; 8. 97-Max Stambaugh[1] ; 9. 2-Ricky Peterson[9] ; 10. 2L-Landon LaLonde[5] ; 11. 1-Nate Dussel[10] ; 12. 22B-Ryan Broughton[12]
A-Main 1 - (30 Laps)
1. 33W-Caleb Griffith[2] ; 2. 3-Jac Haudenschild[1] ; 3. 4-Cap Henry[4] ; 4. 11N-Buddy Kofoid[6] ; 5. 5T-Travis Philo[10] ; 6. 8M-TJ Michael[7] ; 7. 35-Stuart Brubaker[3] ; 8. 16-DJ Foos[9] ; 9. 5-Byron Reed[17] ; 10. 25M-Chris Andrews[18] ; 11. 46AU-Stuart Williams[14] ; 12. 8J-Jess Stiger[5] ; 13. 3J-Trey Jacobs[13] ; 14. 2+-Brian Smith[19] ; 15. 45L-Brian Lay[8] ; 16. 09-Craig Mintz[15] ; 17. 25R-Mitch Harble[16] ; 18. 23-Hunter Schuerenberg[11] ; 19. 3C-Cale Conley[20] ; 20. 19P-Paige Polyak[12]
Hard Charger: 5-Byron Red and 25M-Chris Andrews +8
305 Sprints - Fremont Fence
Heat 1 - (8 Laps, top 5 to A)
1. 4*-Tyler Street[3] ; 2. 77I-John Ivy[5] ; 3. 11G-Luke Griffith[7] ; 4. 1H-Zeth Sabo[2] ; 5. 5JR-Jimmy McGrath Jr.[8] ; 6. 22-Justin Lusk[1] ; 7. 3X-Brandon Riehl[4] ; 8. 75-Jerry Dahms[6] ; 9. 97-Kyle Peters[9]
Heat 2 - (8 Laps, top 5 to A)
1. 12-Kyle Capodice[2] ; 2. 7-Shawn Valenti[1] ; 3. 7M-Brandon Moore[3] ; 4. 29-Tyler Gunn[7] ; 5. X-Mike Keegan[4] ; 6. 1W-Paul Weaver[8] ; 7. 3V-Chris Verda[5] ; 8. 19R-Steve Rando[6] ; 9. 21-Larry Kingseed Jr[9]
Heat 3 - (8 Laps, top 5 to A)
1. 26-Jamie Miller[2] ; 2. 25-Jason Keckler[1] ; 3. 8-Bobby Clark[6] ; 4. 36-Seth Schneider[7] ; 5. 5-Kody Brewer[8] ; 6. Z10-Kevin Mingus[3] ; 7. X15-Kasey Ziebold[5] ; 8. 28-Tad Peck[4]
B-Main 1 - (10 Laps, top 5 to A)
1. 1W-Paul Weaver[2] ; 2. 19R-Steve Rando[8] ; 3. 3X-Brandon Riehl[4] ; 4. 3V-Chris Verda[5] ; 5. Z10-Kevin Mingus[3] ; 6. 21-Larry Kingseed Jr[10] ; 7. 22-Justin Lusk[1] ; 8. 75-Jerry Dahms[7] ; 9. X15-Kasey Ziebold[6] ; 10. 28-Tad Peck[9]
A-Main 1 - (25 Laps)
1. 26-Jamie Miller[2] ; 2. 29-Tyler Gunn[5] ; 3. 12-Kyle Capodice[3] ; 4. 1H-Zeth Sabo[1] ; 5. 8-Bobby Clark[9] ; 6. 4*-Tyler Street[7] ; 7. 1W-Paul Weaver[16] ; 8. 7M-Brandon Moore[11] ; 9. 77I-John Ivy[8] ; 10. 7-Shawn Valenti[12] ; 11. 19R-Steve Rando[17] ; 12. 25-Jason Keckler[6] ; 13. 5JR-Jimmy McGrath Jr.[13] ; 14. X-Mike Keegan[14] ; 15. 11G-Luke Griffith[4] ; 16. 36-Seth Schneider[10] ; 17. 5-Kody Brewer[15] ; 18. Z10-Kevin Mingus[20] ; 19. 3X-Brandon Riehl[18] ; 20. 3V-Chris Verda[19]
Hard Charger: 1W-Paul Weaver +9
Late Models - Summit Racing Equipment
Heat 1 - (8 Laps)
1. 12-Doug Drown[3] ; 2. 69W-Jeff Warnick[2] ; 3. 36-Matt Irey[5] ; 4. 30-Nate Potts[6] ; 5. 16-Steve Sabo[8] ; 6. 02-Jeff McCoy[7] ; 7. 6-Jimmie Ward[1] ; 8. 69R-Doug Baird[4]
Heat 2 - (8 Laps)
1. 50-Ryan Missler[5] ; 2. 51-Devin Shiels[4] ; 3. 5M-Ryan Markham[3] ; 4. 94-Mike Bores[6] ; 5. 28-Kent Brewer[2] ; 6. 27-Ken Hahn[7] ; 7. 03-Jim Gingery[1] ; 8. 17X-Dustin Keegan[8]
A-Main 1 - (25 Laps)
1. 36-Matt Irey[2] ; 2. 50-Ryan Missler[6] ; 3. 12-Doug Drown[5] ; 4. 51-Devin Shiels[8] ; 5. 94-Mike Bores[7] ; 6. 69W-Jeff Warnick[3] ; 7. 28-Kent Brewer[10] ; 8. 27-Ken Hahn[12] ; 9. 03-Jim Gingery[14] ; 10. 30-Nate Potts[4] ; 11. 16-Steve Sabo[9] ; 12. 02-Jeff McCoy[11] ; 13. 69R-Doug Baird[15] ; 14. 6-Jimmie Ward[13] ; 15. 17X-Dustin Keegan[16] ; 16. 5M-Ryan Markham[1]
Hard Charger: 03-Jim Gingery +5
James McFadden opens four-day All Star trek with victory at Plymouth Dirt Track
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Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1
Winner James McFadden (All Star Media Photo)
Contact: Tyler Altmeyer
Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1
(724) 954-4915, pr@tonystewart.com
James McFadden opens four-day All Star trek with victory at Plymouth Dirt Track
PLYMOUTH, Wis. (July 26, 2019) - Snapping an All Star winless streak that dates back to May of 2015, Brisbane, Australia’s James McFadden helped the Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1, as well as the Bumper-to-Bumper IRA Outlaw Sprint Series, kick off their four-day trip through the Midwest by finding victory lane, doing so at the always-exciting Plymouth Dirt Track in Plymouth, Wisconsin, on Thursday night, July 25.
Although in charge for the majority of the 30-lap program, the first 11 circuits were certainly a challenge for the now three-time All Star Circuit of Champions feature winner, ultimately powering his way forward from the outside of row two, all while waging war with Monrovia, Illinois’ Justin Peck, who led from the drop of the green flag until McFadden took control on lap 12.
“Oh man, this feels good. We’ve been close on so many occasions, so it just feels great to get it done here tonight,” James McFadden expressed, driver of the Kasey Kahne Racing with Mike Curb/Curb Records/Wicked Energy Gum/Wicked Cushion/No. 9 sprint car. “I can’t thank Kasey Kahne and this entire team enough for this opportunity. The track really played into our favor tonight. Hopefully we can do it again this weekend.”
Although forced to start fourth on the grid due to his All Star Circuit of Champions dash result, it only took one circuit for McFadden to find himself within striking distance, actually bumping ahead two spots into second by the completion of lap one, quickly setting aim on Justin Peck, who led the first lap from the pole position.
By lap six, lapped traffic was already a factor, ultimately giving McFadden an opportunity to pounce as Peck tried to work around slower traffic. Despite Peck’s ability to get through the slower cars, McFadden stayed in view, actually pressuring Peck in the form of side-by-side racing on multiple occasions during laps nine through 11.
By lap 12, McFadden was in position to challenge for the lead, eventually using a hard drive into turns one and two to pull even with Peck down the backstretch, soon followed by a slider into turns three and four. For McFadden, the bid for the top spot worked, securing the lead by the exit of turn four. Unfortunately, the lap was eventually negated, as Peck, who drove just as hard into turn three with the intention to get back around McFadden, stumbled on the cushion, caught the lip and flipped. Peck would walk away unharmed, but the incident would allow McFadden to inherit the top spot, anyhow.
Although forced to deal with two more cautions, one of which for another red flag incident on lap 15, McFadden remained in control at the front of the field, only pressured slightly on laps 19 through 23, as a pair of former All Star champions, Greg Wilson and Dale Blaney, edged their noses into a fight for the lead. Traffic did pop back into the picture on lap 17 creating a slight hiccup for the former World Series of Sprintcars champion, but it proved to be no match for McFadden, continuing to utilize the bottom groove around Plymouth Dirt Track to remain the man on top.
Greg Wilson would chase McFadden to the final checkers, followed by Dale Blaney, a hard-charging Aaron Reutzel from 14th, and Paul McMahan.
With a six hour tow to the west to hurdle, the All Star Circuit of Champions will continue their four-race weekend on Friday night, July 26, at the state-of-the-art Jackson Motorplex in Jackson, Minnesota. The first of two five-figure paydays on the weekend, the All Stars will battle for a $10,000 winner’s share during their visit to southern Minnesota, and much like their stint in Wisconsin, the All Stars will not return to the ‘Land of 10,000 Lakes’ in 2019.
Those seeking additional news and notes pertaining to the All Star visit to Jackson Motorplex should visit the facility live on the Web at www.jacksonmotorplex.com.
Contingency Awards/Results:
Plymouth Dirt Track - July 25, 2019:
Event: All Star/IRA visit to Plymouth Dirt Track
Entries: 36
C&R Racing All Star Warm-Ups: Andrew Scheuerle - 11.954
Lincoln Electric Fast Qualifier: James McFadden - 11.732
Ford Performance Heat #1: Cory Eliason
All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads Heat #2: Brock Zearfoss
Hunt Brothers Pizza Heat #3: Justin Peck
Mobil 1 Heat #4 Wayne Johnson
JE Pistons Dash #1: Justin Peck
Fatheadz Eyewear Dash #2: Brock Zearfoss
Classic Ink USA Screenprinting B-Main Winner: Marcus Dumsney
Ollie’s Bargain Outlet A-Main Winner: James McFadden
MSD Performance Hard Charger Award: Aaron Reutzel (+10)
Cometic Gasket Most A-Main Laps Led: James McFadden (12-30)
Rayce Rudeen Foundation First Non-Transfer: Ben Schmidt
(Lincoln Electric, MSD Performance, Fatheadz Eyewear, Rayce Rudeen Foundation, Cometic Gasket: Need decal to qualify for contingency award)
Qualifying
Group (A)
1. 9-James McFadden, 11.732; 2. 13-Paul McMahan, 11.845; 3. 26-Cory Eliason, 11.936; 4. 11-Dale Blaney, 12.029; 5. 99-Skylar Gee, 12.116; 6. 4B-Scott Biertzer, 12.440; 7. 40-George Hobaugh, 12.484; 8. 73AF-Joey Moughan, 12.625; 9. 45-Matt Wiese, 13.095
Group (B)
1. O2-Mike Reinke, 12.185; 2. W20-Greg Wilson, 12.350; 3. 70-Brock Zearfoss, 12.399; 4. 11D-Danny Schlafer, 12.560; 5. 73-Ben Schmidt, 12.781; 6. 85M-Steve Meyer, 12.784; 7. 19-Todd Daun, 12.846; 8. 14AJ-Wayne Modjeski, 12.959; 9. 63-Nick Matuszewski, 13.131
Group (C)
1. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 11.968; 2. 2M-Kerry Madsen, 12.014; 3. 64-Scotty Thiel, 12.181; 4. 70X-Justin Peck, 12.188; 5. O7-Gerard McIntyre, 12.303; 6. 14M-Marcus Dumsney, 12.332; 7. 65-Jordan Goldesberry, 12.425; 8. 2W-Scotty Neitzel, 12.439; 9. 43-Jereme Schroeder, 12.670
Group (D)
1. 17B-Bill Balog, 12.266; 2. 2AU-Andrew Scheuerle, 12.324; 3. 23-Russel Borland, 12.441; 4. 2C-Wayne Johnson, 12.462; 5. 68-Dave Uttech, 12.597; 6. 5J-Jeremy Schultz, 12.619; 7. 4K-Kris Spitz, 12.827; 8. 29-Hunter Custer, 13.459; 9. O-Johnny Fahl, 99.999
Heat #1 - Group (A) (8 Laps) - Top 5 Transfer
1. 26-Cory Eliason [2]; 2. 11-Dale Blaney [1]; 3. 9-James McFadden [4]; 4. 13-Paul McMahan [3]; 5. 99-Skylar Gee [5]; 6. 40-George Hobaugh [7]; 7. 4B-Scott Biertzer [6]; 8. 45-Matt Wiese [9]; 9. 73AF-Joey Moughan [8]
Heat #2 - Group (B) (8 Laps) - Top 5 Transfer
1. 70-Brock Zearfoss [2]; 2. W20-Greg Wilson [3]; 3. O2-Mike Reinke [4]; 4. 85M-Steve Meyer [6]; 5. 14AJ-Wayne Modjeski [8]; 6. 19-Todd Daun [7]; 7. 11D-Danny Schlafer [1]; 8. 63-Nick Matuszewski [9]; 9. 73-Ben Schmidt [5]
Heat #3 - Group (C) (8 Laps) - Top 5 Transfer
1. 70X-Justin Peck [1]; 2. 2M-Kerry Madsen [3]; 3. 64-Scotty Thiel [2]; 4. 87-Aaron Reutzel [4]; 5. O7-Gerard McIntyre [5]; 6. 65-Jordan Goldesberry [7]; 7. 2W-Scotty Neitzel [8]; 8. 14M-Marcus Dumsney [6]; 9. 43-Jereme Schroeder [9]
Heat #4 - Group (D) (8 Laps) - Top 5 Transfer
1. 2C-Wayne Johnson [1]; 2. 2AU-Andrew Scheuerle [3]; 3. 17B-Bill Balog [4]; 4. 5J-Jeremy Schultz [6]; 5. 68-Dave Uttech [5]; 6. 4K-Kris Spitz [7]; 7. O-Johnny Fahl [9]; 8. 29-Hunter Custer [8]; 9. 23-Russel Borland [2]
Dash #1 (4 Laps)
1. 70X-Justin Peck [1]; 2. 26-Cory Eliason [3]; 3. W20-Greg Wilson [2]; 4. 11-Dale Blaney [5]; 5. 2AU-Andrew Scheuerle [4]
Dash #2 (4 Laps)
1. 70-Brock Zearfoss [1]; 2. 9-James McFadden [2]; 3. 2M-Kerry Madsen [4]; 4. 13-Paul McMahan [3]; 5. 2C-Wayne Johnson [5]
B-Main (12 Laps) - Top 4 Transfer
1. 14M-Marcus Dumsney [1]; 2. 2W-Scotty Neitzel [6]; 3. 65-Jordan Goldesberry [2]; 4. 4B-Scott Biertzer [7]; 5. 73-Ben Schmidt [16]; 6. 23-Russel Borland [13]; 7. 4K-Kris Spitz [4]; 8. 40-George Hobaugh [3]; 9. 19-Todd Daun [5]; 10. 11D-Danny Schlafer [8]; 11. 63-Nick Matuszewski [11]; 12. 43-Jereme Schroeder [15]; 13. O-Johnny Fahl [9]; 14. 29-Hunter Custer [12]; 15. 45-Matt Wiese [10]; 16. 73AF-Joey Moughan [14]
A-Main (30 Laps)
1. 9-James McFadden [4]; 2. W20-Greg Wilson [5]; 3. 11-Dale Blaney [7]; 4. 87-Aaron Reutzel [14]; 5. 13-Paul McMahan [8]; 6. 70-Brock Zearfoss [2]; 7. 26-Cory Eliason [3]; 8. 2C-Wayne Johnson [9]; 9. 2M-Kerry Madsen [6]; 10. 99-Skylar Gee [17]; 11. 17B-Bill Balog [13]; 12. O2-Mike Reinke [12]; 13. 5J-Jeremy Schultz [15]; 14. 14AJ-Wayne Modjeski [19]; 15. O7-Gerard McIntyre [18]; 16. 64-Scotty Thiel [10]; 17. 2AU-Andrew Scheuerle [11]; 18. 85M-Steve Meyer [16]; 19. 4B-Scott Biertzer [24]; 20. 14M-Marcus Dumsney [20]; 21. 68-Dave Uttech [21]; 22. 2W-Scotty Neitzel [22]; 23. 65-Jordan Goldesberry [23]; 24. 70X-Justin Peck [1]
Lap Leaders: Justin Peck (1-11), James McFadden (12-30)
2019 All Star Circuit of Champions Driver Standings (After 7/25/2019):
1. Aaron Reutzel - 2680
2. Dale Blaney - 2670
3. Cory Eliason - 2576
4. Paul McMahan - 2558
5. Brock Zearfoss - 2512
6. Greg Wilson - 2498
7. Gerard McIntyre - 2414
8. Skylar Gee - 2332
9. George Hobaugh - 2102
10. Spencer Bayston - 1408
2019 All Star Circuit of Champions Winners:
Bubba Raceway Park, Fla. (1/31/2019): Tim Shaffer
Bubba Raceway Park, Fla. (2/1/2019): Tim Shaffer (2)
Bubba Raceway Park, Fla. (2/2/2019): Tony Stewart
Volusia Speedway Park, Fla. (2/6/2019): Shane Stewart
Volusia Speedway Park, Fla. (2/7/2019): Brad Sweet
Virginia Motor Speedway, Va. (4/11/2019): Cory Eliason
Port Royal Speedway, Pa. (4/13/2019): Lance Dewease
Attica Raceway Park, Ohio (5/24/2019): Aaron Reutzel
Fremont Speedway, Ohio (5/26/2019): Aaron Reutzel (2)
Outlaw Speedway, N.Y. (6/7/2019): Brock Zearfoss
Stateline Speedway, N.Y. (6/8/2019): Dale Blaney
Weedsport Speedway, N.Y. (6/9/2019): Danny Dietrich
Attica Raceway Park, Ohio (6/14/2019): Kyle Larson
Muskingum County Speedway, Ohio (6/16/2019): Dale Blaney (2)
Wayne County Speedway, Ohio (6/19/2019): Aaron Reutzel (3)
Wayne County Speedway, Ohio (6/22/2019): Buddy Kofoid
Dirt Oval at Route 66, Ill. (6/29/2019): Aaron Reutzel (4)
Lernerville Speedway, Pa. (7/5/2019): Aaron Reutzel (5)
Sharon Speedway, Ohio (7/6/2019): Dale Blaney (3)
Utica-Rome Speedway, N.Y. (7/12/2019): Aaron Reutzel (6)
Orange County Fair Speedway N.Y. (7/13/2019): Danny Dietrich (2)
Lebanon Valley Speedway N.Y. (7/14/2019): Brock Zearfoss (2)
Plymouth Dirt Track, Wis. (7/25/2019): James McFadden
About the All Star Circuit of Champions:
All Star Enterprises, LLC, wholly owned by Tony Stewart, d/b/a the All Star Circuit of Champions, is a winged sprint car series. The All Star Circuit of Champions Sprint Car Series is one of the oldest traveling 410 sprint car organizations and is a staple of grassroots, open-wheel racing. Formed in 1970 by Bud Miller, the series has largely been considered the first 'outlaw' Sprint Car organization of the modern era. Motorsports entrepreneur Tony Stewart agreed to terms with Guy Webb to become the sole owner of the original winged sprint car tour in January of 2015. In 2019, MAVTV Motorsports Network will continue to be the official television home of the Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 and will broadcast ten high-profile events.
About Ollie’s Bargain Outlet:
Ollie’s Bargain Outlet, Inc., founded in 1982, is one of America’s largest retailers of closeouts and excess inventory, offering real brands at real bargain prices. Famous for its signature catch-phrase Good Stuff Cheap, Ollie’s has a huge variety of famous brand-name merchandise in every department – food, books, housewares, toys, electronics, domestics, clothing, furniture, health and beauty, flooring, seasonal items and so much more – at up to 70 percent off the fancy stores’ prices. You never know what you’ll find at one of Ollie’s 330 “semi-lovely” stores in Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia. For more information, visit www.ollies.us. Like us on Facebook or find us on Twitter at @OlliesOutlet. Ollie’s is a publicly-traded company on NASDAQ under the ticker symbol OLLI.
About Mobil 1:
The world's leading synthetic motor oil brand, Mobil 1™ features anti-wear technology that provides performance beyond our conventional motor oils. This technology allows Mobil 1 to meet or exceed the toughest standards of car builders and to provide exceptional protection against engine wear, under normal or even some of the most extreme conditions. Mobil 1 flows quickly in extreme temperatures to protect critical engine parts and is designed to maximize engine performance and help extend engine life.
For more information, visit www.mobiloil.com, on Twitter @Mobil1 and, on Facebook, www.facebook.com/mobil1.
Mobil, Mobil 1 and Mobil 1 Racing are registered trademarks of Exxon Mobil Corporation or one of its subsidiaries.
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Photo Credit: All Star Media
Contact: Tyler Altmeyer
Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1
(724) 954-4915, pr@tonystewart.com
56 YEARS AGO TO THE DAY FRIDAY JULY 26, 1963, I SAW MY FIRST RACE
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READING (PA) FAIRGROUNDS MARCH 29, 1964
USAC SPRINTS
Don Branson in the # 3 WYNN'S Friction Proofing Special.
(WoS Photo)
It was around this time ... 56 years ago that I was a young kid working as a draftsman for a major heavy machinery manufacturer (De Laval Steam Turbine) in Trenton, NJ. Like most guys of that age I was interested in cars. One day while eating lunch at my desk and reading Hot Rod Magazine, a summer intern engineering student came up to me and said that I should go see real racing on dirt. Well I was a stick and ball fan and watched just about every Yankees game on TV WPIX Channel 11 from NY. I didn’t know anything about racing except watching a few Jalopy (stock car) races from Culver City, California on TV. A few weeks later I was reading the sports section of the Trentonian newspaper and see an ad for USAC Sprint Cars at the Hatfield Speedway. I got out my gas station roadmap (no GPS back then) and found out where this Hatfield PA was and how to get there.
The day of the race came Friday July 26, 1963, after work I went home to change and with map and instructions in hand it was off to see what this was all about. When I found the track , an ambulance was coming out as I was parking my car. I later found out that Jim McElreath crashed into the first turn wall in practice. I got my ticket and saw all of the people in the stands and didn’t know where I should go. The track crew were trying to fix the wall and I saw other people going in the infield so that’s were I went. While walking around in the infield before racing resumed I ran into a guy who worked at the same place that I did He had been a new employee and I didn’t know his name. His name was Bruce Jones who would become a life long friend. He was with another guy named Jack Rule who just happened to be the brother of the engineer student intern at work who told me to go see real racing on dirt. The race drivers were named A.J. Foyt, Parnelli Jones, Bobby Marshman, Don Branson, Roger McCluskey, Bob Harkey, Jim Hurtubise, Earl Halaquist, Cotton Farmer, Jim Maguire, Arnie Knepper, Ron Lux, Chuck Hulse, Bud Tinglested, Chuck Yost, Ralph Liguori and others. When the green flag waved to resume practice all I could say to myself was WOW! What the hell have I been missing all of my life. I was hooked for the rest of my life. I became friends with Bruce & Jack. Bruce ran stock cars and I would hang out at the garage. We would go to watch a lot of races, sometimes 5 a week. We would see the best Modified stocks (dirt and asphalt), Midgets and Indy Cars, but nothing could compare with the Sprint Cars. There was just some magic watching them.
What was this force that had a grip on me, let me try to explain. When I first started to go to the races, open cockpit race cars didn’t have cages. When they would crash or go over it was like 50/50 if the driver would be badly hurt or be killed. It was an adrenaline rush watching them do something dangerously crazy. It’s the feeling you have if you were watching a man walking on a high wire 100 ft off the ground with no net and he is having a hard time keeping his balance. The adrenaline rush is because you see before you what can happen if he falls. That adrenaline rush would not be there if the walker was 20 feet off the ground and had a net under him.
It was all of this that branded my soul to love Sprint Cars, no stockcar could duplicate those feelings. Sprint Cars have become 1000% safer over the years, much so that some drivers don’t respect the car, only to be brought back to reality when we lose one of our drivers.
Today’s cars are basically the same cars that ran in the 1960’s. They have fuel injected engines, no transmission (must be pushed to start), quick change rear, 4-bar torsion, quick steering and no flywheel (the engine barks when you punch the gas).They have the newest gadgets but they still look the same on the track. If it’s a winged sprint you couldn’t tell if it was Kenny Weld or Donny Schatz; or wingless if it was A.J. Foyt or Brady Bacon. The cars still look the same way on the track as they did decades ago.
Fast forward to the other night at the Grandview Speedway, part of the 2019 PA Speedweek Series. Standing between the first and second turns taking pictures and watching the 900 plus Horsepower Sprints taking time. They run wide open all the way around, no change in the sound of the motor. If you closed your eyes you couldn’t tell the turns from the straights. After 56 years there is still magic watching the fastest race cars on dirt.
Cummins Lights Out at Putnamville ISW Round 6
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
Kyle Cummins on the curb Thursday night at Lincoln Park Speedway where he'd win his third career NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week feature.
(David Nearpass Photo)
CUMMINS LIGHTS OUT AT PUTNAMVILLE ISW ROUND 6
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Putnamville, Indiana (July 25, 2019).........On a night when the lights went out around Lincoln Park Speedway, Kyle Cummins was "lights out" in his NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week round six performance Thursday at the 5/16-mile dirt oval in Putnamville, Ind.
Kyle Cummins led from start to finish, wiring all 30 laps from the pole to win his third career Indiana Sprint Week feature and fourth in the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car division, returning to victory lane following a two-year hiatus.
The veteran racer from Princeton, Ind. has a slew of meaningful victories in his career. His first USAC victory at Kokomo in 2016 was a long-awaited breakthrough while his 2017 triumph came in dramatic fashion on a last lap, last corner pass for the win at Tri-State Speedway.
Thursday night's performance didn't include quite the same drama that came with the other two on the final laps, yet he freely admits that winning at Lincoln Park is bigger than each of those two, signaling just how far he'd come after a tough 2018 season.
"Kokomo was tough, and Haubstadt was a last lap kind of thing," Cummins recalled. "I feel like running here, it's a lot more technical. You can't just throw it in there and get grip. You've got to hit your lines and, if you miss your lines, it can really set you back. Winning here, I feel, is definitely bigger than the other ones I've won before. Kokomo was cool because it was the first one and Haubstadt was good, but this one...we kind of had a year there where we just weren't up there. This year, we got a new car and everywhere we've gone, this thing has been really good."
The evening got off to a peculiar start as, prior to the main event, a transformer blew, knocking out power to several lights around the racetrack. After a delay, the track was lit, and Cummins led the field to the green, wheelstanding his way into turn one with outside front row starter and ISW point leader C.J. Leary to his right on the topside.
Cummins was committed to the lowest of lines even, at moments, kicking up infield dirt as he scratched the surface with his front wheels through the corners.
By lap four, the most competitive battle on the racetrack was for second. Brady Bacon dug his way on the bottom underneath Leary lap-after-lap on both ends of the speedway. Leary utilized a unique line, backing into the turn one curb and cutting a straight, 45-degree angle line toward turn two, keeping Bacon from being able to slide him and allowing himself to carry maximum momentum and drive the shortest distance between two points from turn one to two.
On the 13th lap, Bacon was close enough to push Leary up a tad between turns one and two. Leary lost the momentum and Bacon gained the position of second with Cummins in front of him by six car lengths. One lap later, Isaac Chapple walked away uninjured after flipping atop the cushion between turns three and four while running 22nd.
For Cummins, it was all about repetition from that point onward, getting in a groove and hitting the same exact spot lap-after-lap. But, sometimes, even the slightest change can alter those plans.
"I was slowly moving the shocks, nothing crazy, on the restart there," Cummins remembered. "I probably untied the shock a little bit too much and got a big ol' wheelie. When you bounce the front end, you miss your lines, so I just had to be patient and calm and hit my marks."
Meanwhile, behind Cummins, Leary was able to slip back by under Bacon on the lap 14 restart, momentarily, but Bacon briskly worked his way back around for the spot in three and four while Cummins snapped away to a five-car-length advantage where he would remain for most of the final stretch.
With six laps to go, Bacon was on a scavenger hunt for the raciest line to reel in Cummins. Bacon searched high in turns three and four on lap 24, and the bottom of one, two, three and four on the ensuing trip as the front two encountered lapped traffic.
Kyle Cummins fourth career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car victory Thursday night at Lincoln Park Speedway was also his third career NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week feature win.
(Ryan Sellers Photo)
With Brian VanMeveren low and Jadon Rogers high, Cummins stuck to his guns, never wavered from the bottom and followed VanMeveren before clearing him entering turn three with four to go. Cummins gained some emancipation from Bacon as he dealt with traffic while Cummins frolicked freely from Bacon for the final two laps, scoring the victory by 0.940 sec. over Bacon, Leary, Tyler Courtney and Kevin Thomas, Jr.
Cummins was near perfection on the bottom line although he admits there were times when he thought he might've cost himself. With a past two-time champ in Bacon and the current championship leader in Leary on his trail, you can't be much less than perfect if you're expecting to win an Indiana Sprint Week feature.
"I felt like they were right on me the whole time," Cummins explained. "When they said Brady was there, I know he's good around the bottom. A couple times, I thought I missed the bottom, so I decided I was going to make them have to pass me around the top. If I get tight, I'd just make sure to stay on the bottom. The car was actually fairly loose, which let me kind of get in there and not get tight."
Contingency award winners Thursday night at Lincoln Park Speedway were Kevin Thomas, Jr. (Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier), Max Adams (Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner), A.J. Hopkins (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner), C.J. Leary (AutoMeter Third Heat Winner), Tyler Courtney (Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner), Shane Cottle (KSE Racing Products/B & W Auto Mart Hard Charger & ProSource Hard Work Award), Thomas Meseraull (Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier), Isaac Chapple (Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer) & Jason McDougal (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher).
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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: July 25, 2019 - Lincoln Park Speedway - Putnamville, Indiana - 32nd NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING GROUP ONE: 1. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 19, Hayward/Thomas-12.558; 2. Jordan Kinser, 70, Hurst-12.570; 3. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-12.712; 4. Mario Clouser, 6, MCM-12.774; 5. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-12.872; 6. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-12.885; 7. Josh Hodges, 74x, Hodges-12.911; 8. A.J. Hopkins, 4J, 4J-12.919; 9. Max Adams, 5m, Adams-12.948; 10. Nate McMillin, 24m, McMillin-13.021; 11. Brayden Fox, 53, Fox-13.027; 12. Jadon Rogers, 14, Rogers-13.030; 13. Jason McDougal, 71p, Daigh/Phillips-13.059; 14. Joe Stornetta, 04, Burton-13.082; 15. Dickie Gaines, 44, Soudrette-13.117; 16. Shane Cottle, 2E, Epperson-13.182; 17. Dustin Smith, 77, Smith-13.200; 18. Terry Richards, 18m, Richards-13.299; 19. Scotty Weir, 42, Cheney-13.339; 20. Brody Roa, 91R, BR-13.523.
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING GROUP TWO: 1. Carson Short, 21, RCM-12.662; 2. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall/Newman-12.749; 3. C.J. Leary, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-12.782; 4. Kyle Cummins, 3R, Rock Steady-12.813; 5. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-12.878; 6. Thomas Meseraull, 00, Whitney-12.913; 7. Brian VanMeveren, 24, VanMeveren-13.068; 8. Chris Windom, 5G, Goacher-13.085; 9. Dave Darland, 17c, Cunningham-13.089; 10. Travis Berryhill, 77s, Sturgeon-13.114; 11. Brent Beauchamp, 34, Olson-13.136; 12. Colten Cottle, 5c, Cottle-13.277; 13. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-13.311; 14. Dustin Christie, 75, Christie-13.313; 15. Brady Short, 11p, Short/Pottorff-13.413; 16. Dakota Jackson, 3, Jackson-13.474; 17. Alec Sipes, 99, Sipes-13.494; 18. Jesse Vermillion, 5, Vermillion-13.549; 19. Harley Burns, 12w, Burns-13.847; 20. Eric Perrott, 45, Perrott-14.102.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Max Adams, 2. Brady Bacon, 3. Justin Grant, 4. Josh Hodges, 5. Brayden Fox, 6. Jason McDougal, 7. Scotty Weir, 8. Dustin Smith, 9. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 10. Dickie Gaines. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. A.J. Hopkins, 2. Jadon Rogers, 3. Jordan Kinser, 4. Chase Stockon, 5. Mario Clouser, 6. Nate McMillin, 7. Joe Stornetta, 8. Shane Cottle, 9. Brody Roa, 10. Terry Richards. 2:11.02
AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. C.J. Leary, 2. Carson Short, 3. Dave Darland, 4. Brady Short, 5. Brent Beauchamp, 6. Isaac Chapple, 7. Alec Sipes, 8. Brian VanMeveren, 9. Brandon Mattox, 10. Harley Burns. NT
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Tyler Courtney, 2. Chris Windom, 3. Kyle Cummins, 4. Thomas Meseraull, 5. Travis Berryhill, 6. Colten Cottle, 7. Dakota Jackson, 8. Dustin Christie, 9. Jesse Vermillion, 10. Eric Perrott. NT
C-MAIN: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the semi) 1. Shane Cottle, 2. Alec Sipes, 3. Dustin Smith, 4. Terry Richards, 5. Scotty Weir, 6. Jesse Vermillion, 7. Harley Burns, 8. Eric Perrott, 9. Dakota Jackson. NT
SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 2. Brandon Mattox, 3. Mario Clouser, 4. Jason McDougal, 5. Shane Cottle, 6. Brian VanMeveren, 7. Isaac Chapple, 8. Nate McMillin, 9. Joe Stornetta, 10. Brayden Fox, 11. Terry Richards, 12. Dustin Christie, 13. Alec Sipes, 14. Dustin Smith, 15. Travis Berryhill, 16. Brent Beauchamp, 17. Colten Cottle. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting position in parentheses) 1. Kyle Cummins (1), 2. Brady Bacon (3), 3. C.J. Leary (2), 4. Tyler Courtney (4), 5. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (7), 6. Carson Short (6), 7. Brandon Mattox (10), 8. Justin Grant (9), 9. Shane Cottle (22), 10. Chris Windom (16), 11. Mario Clouser (8), 12. Brady Short (21), 13. Jason McDougal (20), 14. Chase Stockon (11), 15. Thomas Meseraull (12), 16. Josh Hodges (13), 17. Max Adams (17), 18. A.J. Hopkins (15), 19. Dave Darland (18), 20. Brian VanMeveren (14), 21. Jadon Rogers (19), 22. Jordan Kinser (5), 23. Isaac Chapple (23), 24. Dustin Christie (24). NT
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**Travis Berryhill flipped during the semi. Isaac Chapple flipped on lap 14 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Kyle Cummins
KSE RACING PRODUCTS/B & W AUTO MART HARD CHARGER: Shane Cottle (22nd to 9th)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Jason McDougal
SALDANA RACING PRODUCTS FIRST NON-TRANSFER: Isaac Chapple
ROGER & BARB TAPY 13TH FASTEST QUALIFIER: Thomas Meseraull
PROSOURCE HARD WORK AWARD: Shane Cottle
NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-C.J. Leary-1,393, 2-Chris Windom-1,276, 3-Brady Bacon-1,268, 4-Tyler Courtney-1,267, 5-Kevin Thomas, Jr.-1,241, 6-Chase Stockon-1,181, 7-Justin Grant-1,165, 8-Carson Short-1,075, 9-Jason McDougal-1,016, 10-Isaac Chapple-801.
NEW NOS ENERGY DRINK INDIANA SPRINT WEEK POINTS: 1-C.J. Leary-438, 2-Brady Bacon-423, 3-Chris Windom-402, 4-Justin Grant-388, 5-Kevin Thomas, Jr.-388, 6-Tyler Courtney-369, 7-Kyle Cummins-353, 8-Carson Short-339, 9-Chase Stockon-302, 10-Jason McDougal-299.
NEW PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Shane Cottle-30, 2-Tyler Courtney-22, 3-Justin Grant-18, 4-Max Adams-17, 5-Dave Darland-16, 6-Chris Windom-14, 7-Brady Bacon-14, 8-Kyle Cummins-12, 9-Jarett Andretti-12, 10-C.J. Leary-11.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: July 26, 2019 - Bloomington Speedway - Bloomington, Indiana - 32nd NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week / Sheldon Kinser Memorial
Sunshine Sweeps Terre Haute ISW Round 5
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
Tyler Courtney celebrates Wednesday's NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week victory at the Terre Haute Action Track.
(Chad Warner Photo)
SUNSHINE SWEEPS TERRE HAUTE ISW ROUND 5
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Terre Haute, Indiana (July 24, 2019).........Tyler Courtney's roller coaster ride of a week can just about be summed up by his eventful 30-lap adventure during Wednesday's NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week round five at the Terre Haute Action Track.
During his pursuit of race leader Justin Grant on a restart with 14 laps remaining, Courtney drove around the outside of Grant and held a slight advantage heading into turn three. Grant fought back on the inside where the two banged wheels, popping Courtney airborne at the exit of turn four.
Amazingly enough, Courtney lost very little ground once he landed on all fours. With no time to waste, Courtney got back on the gas and went for broke on the bottom a straightaway later in turn one, biking the car and showing the belly pan to the crowd before coming back down to earth, somehow, someway, avoiding the outside concrete wall as he blasted it with dirt-filled rooster tails. All this without losing a single spot.
Two near calamities that could've taken its toll on Courtney were quickly rebounded from. And there he was once again in a position to win eight laps from the end, lining Grant up in his crosshairs off turn four and sliding past in turn one with mere inches to spare from his rear bumper to Grant's nose.
From there, Courtney spurted away for a near full straightaway victory, becoming the first driver in USAC National competition this year to collect the Saldana Racing Products "Clean Sweep" with fast qualifying time, a heat race win and a feature victory all in one night. It's another peak in a week for the Indianapolis, Ind. native that's had its share of valleys.
Exactly one week earlier, Courtney began a stretch of nine USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car races in an 11-day span with a win at Eldora, followed by being collected in a crash that resulted in a DNF and a 23rd place finish in the ISW opener at Gas City. The night after that, he was back in victory lane at Plymouth. Saturday at Kokomo was a mid-pack ninth place finish followed up with a crash at Lawrenceburg that the team managed to return to and carve out a 10th place finish.
Courtney takes it all in stride as part of the travails, trials and tribulations of auto racing. To keep it together over a stretch of the season, or throughout a single 30-lap race, isn't an easy thing to accomplish, especially when you're involved in two near-catastrophic events that could've served as yet another deep valley to climb out of. Instead, it resulted in him becoming the first two-time winner of ISW in 2019.
"That's racing, with the highs and lows," Courtney deadpanned. "Although, we might be tied in highs and lows with our week now. It's a good rebound from the kind of lackluster second part of last week that we had. We know we're good at tracks like this, so we've got to take advantage of it."
Courtney started sixth and was in third by the end of lap one. Pole sitter Chris Windom led the opening lap on the bottom, but Lawrenceburg ISW winner Grant was on the pursuit and snagged the lead from Windom on the back straightaway on the second lap.
Following a yellow for the stopped car of Tom Harris, on the lap three restart, Courtney got underneath Windom in turn and was shot out of a cannon down the back straight into the second position behind Grant. Grant occupied the middle line as the cushion gradually began to push wider where he maintained a three-quarters of a second lead for much of the of the first half of the 30-lapper until reaching lapped traffic just before the halfway point.
Courtney was able to pull even with Grant on the back straight, but Grant was able to maintain, splitting between the lapped cars of Nate McMillin and Dustin Christie in turn three on lap 15 with Courtney just behind. On the 16th lap, Courtney showed a nose to the outside of Grant midway down the back straightaway. As Grant weaved his way through the forest of machinery, he and Courtney nearly made contact.
A lap later, and still trailing by just a few car lengths, Courtney nearly found trouble in turn one, making slight contact with the slowing car of Isaac Chapple, costing him valuable time and track position. He regained it all less than a lap later as leading series Rookie Brian VanMeveren stopped at the exit of turn four to bring out the caution.
Once reracked, that's where it initially looked like Courtney had made the deciding move, taking command and driving around Grant in turn two. Grant fought back heading into turn three where the two made contact. Courtney became airborne at the exit of turn four, but both continued on. Courtney remained right within striking distance and set up for a slider into one, but, instead, just about dumped it, somehow avoiding the mishap and wall contact to race onward.
"You want to win these races as badly as he does," Courtney explained. "But you don't want to do anything dumb at the same time. Unfortunately, I almost did something dumb and about cost myself the whole race."
Moments later, May Terre Haute winner and sixth-running Chase Stockon slowed on the back straightaway. Courtney used the opportunity to take a breath and regroup. Initially, Grant commanded the restart while Windom jumped back in to challenge Courtney for second until eighth-place Jason McDougal slowed on the backstretch to bring out the night's final caution.
Tyler Courtney's fifth Indiana Sprint Week win was also the third career series win for him at Terre Haute. It was also his 22nd career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car win which moved him past 1967 series champ Greg Weld and into a tie for 25th place all-time alongside Rick Hood, Bubby Jones and Sammy Sessions.
(David Nearpass Photo)
Once racing resumed, Courtney was back in the zone, and stayed right with Grant until making the winning move on the 23rd lap with a slide job into turn one. Grant tried a slider of his own on the opposite end in turn three but came up just short. In turn one on lap 24, Grant saw his bid for a win come to a close as he biked himself in turn one, which expanded the gap between the two from three-tenths of a second to near 1.3 sec. in a mere moment's notice.
"I knew I had been a lot better off of four than he was," Courtney realized. "So, I made sure I got it good that lap. I knew I couldn't go too low down in turn one or I'd end up biking again, so I tried to make sure I got a good enough run to where I could get close to him and try to clear him by the middle of the corner and get to the top where I needed to be. Once I got to the lead, I made sure to run as hard as I could to get away from all that."
By race's end, Courtney had bumped the advantage to 4.093 seconds, winning by that margin over Grant, Kevin Thomas, Jr., ProSource/KSE Racing Products Hard Charger Brady Bacon (from 14th) and Chris Windom rounding out the top-five.
Courtney's third career series win at Terre Haute was also his 22nd career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car win which moved him past 1967 series champ Greg Weld and into a tie for 25th place all-time alongside Rick Hood, Bubby Jones and Sammy Sessions.
Contingency award winners Wednesday night at the Terre Haute Action Track were Tyler Courtney (Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier), Tyler Courtney (Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner), C.J. Leary (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner), Kevin Thomas, Jr. (AutoMeter Third Heat Winner), Brady Bacon (Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner & KSE Racing Products/B & W Auto Mart Hard Charger), Dakota Jackson (Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier & Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer), Dustin Smith (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher) and Nate McMillin (ProSource Hard Work Award).
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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: July 24, 2019 - Terre Haute Action Track - Terre Haute, Indiana - 32nd NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week / Dorsett Automotive Don Smith Classic
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall/Newman-20.329; 2. C.J. Leary, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-20.342; 3. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 19, Hayward/Thomas-20.462; 4. Kyle Cummins, 3R, Rock Steady-20.872; 5. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-21.133; 6. Chris Windom, 5G, Goacher-21.312; 7. Brian VanMeveren, 24, VanMeveren-21.315; 8. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-21.324; 9. Tom Harris, 84, Harris-21.435; 10. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-21.463; 11. Josh Hodges, 74x, Hodges-21.550; 12. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-21.605; 13. Dakota Jackson, 3, Jackson-21.762; 14. Carson Short, 21, RCM-21.804; 15. Terry Richards, 18m, Richards-21.806; 16. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-21.942; 17. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-21.945; 18. Max Adams, 5m, Adams-21.966; 19. Brody Roa, 91R, BR-22.019; 20. Dave Darland, 36D, Darland-22.061; 21. Dustin Smith, 77s, Smith-22.130; 22. Jason McDougal, 71p, Daigh/Phillips-22.191; 23. Scotty Weir, 42, Cheney-22.223; 24. Dustin Christie, 75, Christie-22.278; 25. Nate McMillin, 24m, McMillin-22.337; 26. Koby Barksdale, 22, Barksdale-22.557; 27. Dickie Gaines, 44, Soudrette-22.793; 28. Harley Burns, 12, Burns-22.797; 29. Steve Thomas, 20T, Thomas-22.850; 30. Chayse Hayhurst, 20, Hayhurst-23.263; 31. Kyle Hathaway, 7H, Hathaway-23.863; 32. Eric Perrott, 45, Perrott-23.924.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Tyler Courtney, 2. Justin Grant, 3. Brandon Mattox, 4. Tom Harris, 5. Dakota Jackson, 6. Dustin Smith, 7. Nate McMillin, 8. Steve Thomas. 2:48.83
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. C.J. Leary, 2. Carson Short, 3. Chris Windom, 4. Max Adams, 5. Jason McDougal, 6. Jarett Andretti, 7. Chayse Hayhurst. 2:49.21
AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 2. Brody Roa, 3. Josh Hodges, 4. Brian VanMeveren, 5. Scotty Weir, 6. Dickie Gaines, 7. Terry Richards. 2:54.46
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Brady Bacon, 2. Kyle Cummins, 3. Chase Stockon, 4. Isaac Chapple, 5. Dustin Christie, 6. Eric Perrott, 7. Harley Burns. NT
SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Jason McDougal, 2. Scotty Weir, 3. Nate McMillin, 4. Dustin Christie, 5. Dustin Smith, 6. Terry Richards, 7. Dakota Jackson, 8. Dickie Gaines, 9. Chayse Hayhurst, 10. Steve Thomas, 11. Eric Perrott, 12. Jarett Andretti, 13. Harley Burns. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting position in parentheses) 1. Tyler Courtney (6), 2. Justin Grant (2), 3. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (4), 4. Brady Bacon (14), 5. Chris Windom (1), 6. C.J. Leary (5), 7. Carson Short (12), 8. Max Adams (16), 9. Chase Stockon (8), 10. Kyle Cummins (3), 11. Josh Hodges (10), 12. Isaac Chapple (11), 13. Dustin Smith (18), 14. Scotty Weir (20), 15. Brandon Mattox (15), 16. Brian VanMeveren (7), 17. Brody Roa (17), 18. Nate McMillin (22), 19. Dustin Christie (21), 20. Jason McDougal (19), 21. Terry Richards (13), 22. Tom Harris (9). NT
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1 Chris Windom, Laps 2-22 Justin Grant, Laps 23-30 Tyler Courtney.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS/B & W AUTO MART HARD CHARGER: Brady Bacon (14th to 4th)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Dustin Smith
SALDANA RACING PRODUCTS FIRST NON-TRANSFER: Dakota Jackson
ROGER & BARB TAPY 13TH FASTEST QUALIFIER: Dakota Jackson
PROSOURCE HARD WORK AWARD: Nate McMillin
SALDANA RACING PRODUCTS CLEAN SWEEP: Tyler Courtney
NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-C.J. Leary-1,321, 2-Chris Windom-1,226, 3-Tyler Courtney-1,196, 4-Brady Bacon-1,191, 5-Kevin Thomas, Jr.-1,173, 6-Chase Stockon-1,141, 7-Justin Grant-1,110, 8-Carson Short-1,009, 9-Jason McDougal-978, 10-Isaac Chapple-778.
NEW NOS ENERGY DRINK INDIANA SPRINT WEEK POINTS: 1-C.J. Leary-366, 2-Chris Windom-352, 3-Brady Bacon-346, 4-Justin Grant-333, 5-Kevin Thomas, Jr.-320, 6-Tyler Courtney-298, 7-Kyle Cummins-277, 8-Carson Short-273, 9-Chase Stockon-262, 10-Jason McDougal-261.
NEW PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Tyler Courtney-22, 2-Justin Grant-17, 3-Shane Cottle-17, 4-Max Adams-17, 5-Dave Darland-16, 6-Brady Bacon-13, 7-Kyle Cummins-12, 8-Jarett Andretti-12, 9-C.J. Leary-11, 10-Dakota Jackson-11.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: July 25, 2019 - Lincoln Park Speedway - Putnamville, Indiana - 32nd NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week
David Gravel scores $25K win at Lernerville Speedway
Posted by: | Comments
World of Outlaws
Contact: Nick Graziano
World of Outlaws PR
ngraziano@dirtcar.com
Please click here for the original World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series article
Winner David Gravel (DB3 Photo)
SILVER CUP TRIUMPH: David Gravel scores $25K win at Lernerville Speedway
Gravel claims fifth win of the season and second Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup victory
SARVER, PA – July 23, 2019 – The No. 41 Jason Johnson Racing Sprint Car roared around Lernerville Speedway with the ferocity of a starved stomach. It was a manifestation of the driver’s mentality.
David Gravel was hungry for a big win. After three podiums in-a-row at Eldora Speedway, leading up to the Kings Royal, he had to settle for a fifth-place finish at the prestigious event. His appetite was not appeased.
On Tuesday night at the $25,000-to-win Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup, the Watertown, Conn.-native was not going to let his hunger go untamed again. He led 26 laps of the 40-lap Feature, lapped up to 13th and crossed the finish line four seconds ahead of second-place to claim his third win at Lernerville Speedway and fifth World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series victory of the year.
“Our team deserves a win after a week like last week (at Eldora),” Gravel said. “To make it a $25,000 win is good. You want to win Jackson (Nationals). You want to win the Kings Royal. But this will do for now.”
He secured the win by finding grip where few others could.
“I didn’t have to rely on the top,” Gravel said. “I think 90 percent of the guys relied on the top in the Heat race, relied on the top in the Dash and there in the beginning of the [Feature]. I didn’t have to. I think it (the top) was just going to get thinner and thinner as it went on. I just never relied on it all night. We just kept working below it.”
He nearly won his Drydene Heat by running the middle and bottom of the track, while leader Donny Schatz relied on the top. Gravel then went on to finish fourth in the DIRTVision Fast Pass Dash, continuing to test the lower groove of the track.
He was picky with the set up, he said. The Jason Johnson Racing team worked on it all night to get the car right for the Feature.
When the 40-lap event went green, second-place James McFadden, in the Wicked Energy Gum No. 9 car, blasted by polesitter Shane Stewart for the lead and clung to the high side of the track. Running the middle lane behind him, Gravel went from fourth-place to second in the first corner.
Neither could build run as the caution came out on the first lap for a car stopped in turn two.
When the race went back green, Gravel dove under McFadden in turn one, but didn’t have a strong enough run off the corner that could compete with the momentum McFadden carried around the high side of the track.
McFadden began to pull away running the top, while Gravel worked the middle of the track. Five laps later, another caution.
On the restart, Gravel attempted another dive bomb underneath McFadden into turn one. This time, he was ahead of the Australian exiting turn two, but McFadden, again, had the faster run off the corner and sprinted back to the lead.
Behind them, Kyle Larson lurked. He had already made his way from sixth to third. The NASCAR-star, and Series team owner, poked his nose under Gravel into turn one, but Gravel got to the throttle quicker and launched off the corner.
While McFadden mostly stuck to the high line, Gravel found his rhythm through the middle lane. With 25 laps to go, Gravel placed his Mesilla Valley Transportation No. 41 in McFadden’s peripheral view through turns three and four. McFadden had the stronger run off the corner and ducked to the bottom of the track in turn one. Gravel switched his line to the high side and drove around McFadden for the lead off turn two.
“I think he never ran the line I did,” Gravel said. “He ran high and he kind of ran lower. Sometimes it’s better to run second. Kind of had a line figured out that I ran all night long. We got the car better to run it."
Four laps later, Larson made his way by McFadden for second and began his quest for back-to-back Silver Cup victories. Halfway through the race he began to close the gap on Gravel. And lap traffic was in sight.
However, the slower traffic seemed to only make Gravel faster. With 11 laps to go he began to extend the distance between he and Larson. With three laps to go, he had a 4.6 second advantage over the No. 57 car and had lapped 13th-place Ian Madsen.
“I thought I had a shot the first time we got to little bit heavy traffic, but once we got to the heavier stuff he did a really good job getting through it,” Larson said. “I didn’t really feel like I got hung up, he just got through it really fast. I just needed a little bit more to be able to move around and run the lines he was running.”
The last five laps were tricky, though. Gravel said the track got slick and he “was just holding on” at the end. Larson closed the gap to about four seconds at the end, but Gravel held on to claim his second Silver Cup win and 44th career victory.
“It’s awesome to win another one of these,” Gravel said.
With two wins in the last seven races and a string of 13 top-five finishes in the last 14 races, Gravel has slowly been working his way into the battle for the points lead with current leader Brad Sweet, and 10-time Series champion Donny Schatz. With Sweet finishing fourth and Schatz finishing fifth at Lernerville, Gravel is now 112 points behind Sweet, and 90 points behind Schatz. He’s gained 48 points on Sweet in the last 11 races.
However, points aren’t the main focus at the moment. He wants to win. With $28,000 on the line this weekend during the doubleheader at Williams Grove Speedway and the $150,000-to-win Knoxville Nationals coming up, there are still several big races to crave during the “months of money.”
“There’s more money on the line the rest of the year, so hopefully we can keep this rolling and win some more big races,” Gravel said.
UP NEXT:
The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series on Friday, July 26, and Saturday, July 27, will be at Williams Grove Speedway in Mechanicsburg, Pa. for the Champion Racing Oil Summer Nationals. Get tickets and more information.
As always, you can catch all World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series action on www.DIRTVision.com.
Race Results: 7/23/19 – Lernerville Speedway
NOS Energy Drink Feature (40 Laps) – 1. 41-David Gravel [4][$25,000]; 2. 57-Kyle Larson [6][$7,000]; 3. 9-James McFadden [2][$5,000]; 4. 49-Brad Sweet [5][$4,000]; 5. 15-Donny Schatz [7][$3,000]; 6. 49X-Tim Shaffer [3][$2,900]; 7. 1S-Logan Schuchart [12][$2,800]; 8. 5-Shane Stewart [1][$2,700]; 9. 83-Daryn Pittman [11][$2,600]; 10. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [21][$2,500]; 11. 1-Logan Wagner [9][$2,400]; 12. 18-Ian Madsen [13][$2,300]; 13. 2-Carson Macedo [10][$2,200]; 14. 19-Brent Marks [8][$2,100]; 15. 11K-Kraig Kinser [18][$2,000]; 16. 4N-Dale Blaney [17][$1,500]; 17. 7K-Dan Shetler [16][$1,300]; 18. 48-Danny Dietrich [15][$1,200]; 19. 2AJ-A.J. Flick [14][$1,200]; 20. 3C-Cale Conley [23][$1,200]; 21. K4-Chad Kemenah [24][$1,200]; 22. 42-Sye Lynch [22][$1,200]; 23. 7S-Jason Sides [19][$1,200]; 24. 13-Brandon Matus [20][$1,200]; 25. 11-Carl Bowser [25];
Lap Leaders: James McFadden 1-14, David Gravel 15-40;
KSE Hard Charger Award: 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[+11]
Qualifying Flight-A – 1. 49-Brad Sweet, 13.838; 2. 5-Shane Stewart, 13.844; 3. 9-James McFadden, 13.99; 4. 19-Brent Marks, 14.166; 5. 4N-Dale Blaney, 14.236; 6. 48-Danny Dietrich, 14.239; 7. 1-Logan Wagner, 14.25; 8. 83-Daryn Pittman, 14.301; 9. 18-Ian Madsen, 14.498; 10. 42-Sye Lynch, 14.536; 11. 22-Brandon Spithaler, 14.615; 12. 7S-Jason Sides, 15.061; 13. 11-Carl Bowser, 15.074; 14. C1-Clay Riney, 15.124; 15. J4-John Garvin, 15.425; 16. O8-Dan Kuriger, 15.514; 17. 1A-Jacob Allen, 15.515; 18. 250-Jared McFarland, 15.541; 19. 14-Jeremy Hill, 15.767; 20. 76-Davey Jones, 16.388; 21. 4K-Bill Kiley, 16.459
Qualifying Flight-B – 1. 49X-Tim Shaffer, 13.939; 2. 41-David Gravel, 13.994; 3. 57-Kyle Larson, 14.014; 4. 15-Donny Schatz, 14.395; 5. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild, 14.447; 6. 3C-Cale Conley, 14.499; 7. 2-Carson Macedo, 14.689; 8. 1S-Logan Schuchart, 14.827; 9. 2AJ-A.J. Flick, 14.912; 10. 40-George Hobaugh, 15.073; 11. K4-Chad Kemenah, 15.13; 12. 13-Brandon Matus, 15.19; 13. 11K-Kraig Kinser, 15.24; 14. 7K-Dan Shetler, 15.266; 15. 53-Jesse Attard, 15.609; 16. 33-Brent Matus, 15.88; 17. 91-Tony Fiore, 15.891; 18. 55-Dallas Schott, 16.284; 19. 47-Brett Brunkenhoefer, 16.351; 20. 55K-Gary Kriess, NT
DRYDENE Heat #1 – Flight (A) (8 Laps) – 1. 49-Brad Sweet [1]; 2. 9-James McFadden [2]; 3. 1-Logan Wagner [4]; 4. 18-Ian Madsen [5]; 5. 4N-Dale Blaney [3]; 6. 11-Carl Bowser [7]; 7. 22-Brandon Spithaler [6]; 8. 1A-Jacob Allen [9]; 9. J4-John Garvin [8]; 10. 14-Jeremy Hill [10]; 11. 4K-Bill Kiley [11]
DRYDENE Heat #2 – Flight (A) (8 Laps) – 1. 5-Shane Stewart [1]; 2. 19-Brent Marks [2]; 3. 83-Daryn Pittman [4]; 4. 48-Danny Dietrich [3]; 5. 7S-Jason Sides [6]; 6. 42-Sye Lynch [5]; 7. C1-Clay Riney [7]; 8. O8-Dan Kuriger [8]; 9. 250-Jared McFarland [9]; 10. 76-Davey Jones [10]
DRYDENE Heat #3 – Flight (B) (8 Laps) – 1. 57-Kyle Larson [2]; 2. 49X-Tim Shaffer [1]; 3. 2-Carson Macedo [4]; 4. 2AJ-A.J. Flick [5]; 5. 11K-Kraig Kinser [7]; 6. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [3]; 7. K4-Chad Kemenah [6]; 8. 53-Jesse Attard [8]; 9. 47-Brett Brunkenhoefer [10]; 10. 91-Tony Fiore [9]
DRYDENE Heat #4 – Flight (B) (8 Laps) – 1. 15-Donny Schatz [2]; 2. 41-David Gravel [1]; 3. 1S-Logan Schuchart [4]; 4. 7K-Dan Shetler [7]; 5. 13-Brandon Matus [6]; 6. 3C-Cale Conley [3]; 7. 40-George Hobaugh [5]; 8. 33-Brent Matus [8]; 9. 55-Dallas Schott [9]; 10. 55K-Gary Kriess [10]
DIRTVision Fast Pass Dash (6 Laps) – 1. 5-Shane Stewart [1]; 2. 9-James McFadden [2]; 3. 49X-Tim Shaffer [4]; 4. 41-David Gravel [6]; 5. 49-Brad Sweet [3]; 6. 57-Kyle Larson [7]; 7. 15-Donny Schatz [8]; 8. 19-Brent Marks [5]
C-Main (10 Laps) – 1. 1A-Jacob Allen [1][]; 2. 91-Tony Fiore [2][]; 3. 47-Brett Brunkenhoefer [6][$150]; 4. 55-Dallas Schott [4][$150]; 5. 14-Jeremy Hill [5][$150]; 6. 250-Jared McFarland [3][$125]; 7. 4K-Bill Kiley [9][$125]; 8. 76-Davey Jones [7][$125]; 9. 55K-Gary Kriess [8][$125]
Last Chance Showdown (12 Laps) – 1. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [2][]; 2. 42-Sye Lynch [1][]; 3. 3C-Cale Conley [4][]; 4. K4-Chad Kemenah [8][]; 5. 40-George Hobaugh [6][$500]; 6. 22-Brandon Spithaler [3][$400]; 7. C1-Clay Riney [7][$350]; 8. J4-John Garvin [9][$300]; 9. O8-Dan Kuriger [11][$300]; 10. 11-Carl Bowser [5][$275]; 11. 1A-Jacob Allen [13][$250]; 12. 53-Jesse Attard [10][$200]; 13. 91-Tony Fiore [14][$200]; 14. 33-Brent Matus [12][$200]
