Columns from the 2001 racing season
2-2-02
2001 in Review
It was another good year for sprint car racing in the Western Pennsylvania and Eastern Ohio area. Five tracks ran 410 sprints on a weekly basis in 2001. Track champions for the season were Jimmy Hawley at the Lernerville Speedway, Jarod Larson at the Sharon Speedway, Tom Quarterson at the Mercer Raceway Park and Sportsman's Speedway, and Scott Bonnell at the Tri-City Speedway.
New for 2001 was the Triathalon Sprint Series. In my opinion the series was a success. The schedule made visits to seven different tracks including Raceway 7 and the Latrobe Speedway which don't normally run sprint cars. Arnie Kent of New Castle, Pennsylvania was crowned the series champion after a close points battle with Jimmy Hawley.
Also new for 2001 was the Wingless Warriors sprint car organization. The group was only able to schedule one race which was hosted by the Tri-City Speedway. Scott Bonnell picked up the win. I would love to see this series take off and do well in 2002. I feel that wingless racing puts the competition back to where it should be and takes the money factor to a lower level. The low-dollar car can compete better with the high-dollar car when the wings are off.
Perhaps the biggest news of the year has been the selling and revamping of the Sharon Speedway. The track changed hands yet again late in 2001. Dave Blaney, Lou Blaney, and a group of investors now own the speedway. The track, which was a 1/2 mile, has now been cut down to a 3/8 mile. After more than two decades, the All-Star Circuit of Champions will no longer be visiting the historical Hartford, Ohio facility. The World of Outlaws and Gumout Series will take thier place in 2002. Which adds up to four dates being taken off the All-Star schedule in 2002, including the long-standing Thursday night Ohio Sprint Speedweek date, and the two-day Sharon Nationals which has always been one of, if not the biggest, shows the All-Stars had. But more important, is the decision to move the track's weekly race night from Fridays to Saturdays. Which means that Sharon will now run weekly against Mercer Raceway Park. The problem is, the two tracks are not much more than 15 miles apart and they both run the same two big divisions of cars, 410 sprints, and Big-Block Modifieds. Many of the same cars in those divisions ran both tracks in 2001. Mercer averaged around 20 sprints in 2001, and somewhere around 7 or 8 of them have already comitted to running at Sharon in 2002. Tracks need to work together, and running the same classes of cars on the same night as your neighboring racetrack is no good for local racing.
I saw 53 races, 25 different winners, at 6 different tracks in 2001. I visited the Lernerville Speedway, Sharon Speedway, Mercer Raceway Park, Tri-City Speedway, Sportsman's Speedway, and Raceway 7. I saw Ed Lynch Jr, Brian Ellenberger, Jason Johnson, Gary Kreiss, Kenny Jacobs, Jimmy Hawley, Arnie Kent, Dale Blaney, Tom Quarterson, Mike Lutz, Jarod Larson, Greg Wilson, Brad Ellenberger, Tim Deitz, Rob Eyler, Greg Hodnett, Rod George, Mike Keckich, Jeff Schrum, Brian Woodhall, Marty Ling, Mark Casella, Gary Edwards, Todd Shaffer, and Scott Bonnell win in 2001.
That's my wrap-up on the 2001 racing season. This column will pick up again regularly in late March. I think I speak for everyone when I say that I can't wait for the next racing season to start! I think it will be a good one.
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9-27-01
Wingless Warriors put on their first ever show at the Tri-City Speedway this past Saturday as part of the annual Mod Madness weekend. Wingless Warriors is a new local wingless 410 sprint car series put on by Lorri Potter. The event drew 25 different competitors. The night started off with a couple of crashes in hotlaps. Gary McCollum was the first to get upsidedown. He flipped in turn two. Scott Bonnell was also involved in a mis-happ in hotlaps. In the first heat, Mark Casella flipped after not seeing the yellow lights on the speedway. While Casella was flipping in the air, his wheel happened to slam right down ontop of Brian Hartzell's car, obviously hitting him on the head. The impact knocked Hartzell out while his white racer continued out of control finally hitting the water barrier and coming to a halt. Brian had to have surgery on his neck the following day. He's suppose to make a full recovery. Heats were won by Gary Edwards and Tom Burns. The feature race was a good one with passing for the lead, something rarely seen with the World of Outlaws. Tom Quarterson lead at the start before Scott Preister tracked him down and slipped into the lead bringing Scott Bonnell with him. Preister and Bonnell dueled for position for a few laps. Bonnell finally gained the lead and stayed there to win the first ever Wingless Warriors sprint car race. I think this series is a good idea. There is talk of some more shows with the series this year. I guess we''l have to wait and see. Here's the finishing order from Tri-City: WINGLESS WARRIORS SPRINTS (20 Laps): 1. SCOTT BONNELL, 2. Scott Priester, 3. Tommy Quarterson, 4. Rod George, 5. Gary Edwards, 6. Arnie Kent, 7. Daryl Stimeling, 8. Skip Dougherty, 9. Gary Rankin, 10. Jarod Larson, 11. Tommy Burns Jr., 12. Jim Kennedy, 13. Jeff Weaver, 14. Charlie Cornelius, 15. Jim Lender, 16. Gale Ruth Sr., 17. Sheila Rankin, 18. Chad Hill, 19. Mike Lauterborn, 20. Mark Cassella, 21. Buddy Cochran, 22. Ben Moore. DNS: Brian Hartzell, Jon Banas, Gary McCollum.
Ted Johnson's Pennzoil World of Outlaws (yeah I know, seems a little long for a group that presents such borring racing) will be at the Port Royal Speedway on Thursday night Sept. 27, and Williams Grove for the National Open on the 28th and 29th. Get your tickets while they're still hot, I would imagine you'll see a rather large crowd at Port Royal. But, since they've got the new stands, that probably won't be a problem. The racing season is winding down, any more racing will include some travel now. Hagerstown still has the October Fest to go. That's always a good one to go to.
There is talk of the Mercer Raceway Park adding 360ci sprints to their weekly card for the 2002 season. That would be interesting. I think the Triathalon Sprint Series had a successfull first year. The series was with the 410ci sprint class this year; I have heard the rumor that it may go to the 360ci engine limit next season. That's rather odd since most guys cant afford to have one motor, how are they going to have two? Plus, they had good car counts for every show this year. Just my opinion. Next year will be interesting.
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9-16-01
The super sprints invaded Raceway7 last Friday evening in the form of the Triathalon Sprint Series. I'm sure some of the fans were in amazement at the speed in which these things enter the corners. Let's face it, a late model doesn't corner like a sprint car. 27 sprints showed up at the event which was pretty impressive I thought. I was expecting more like 15 or so. Heat race wins went to Jason Jacoby, Ralph Spithaler, and Jimmy Hawley. In a smart move, the officials made the decision to start all of the cars in the feature. With the exception of a couple cars which scratched early in the evening. In the feature, Gary Kreiss dominated the 25 lap race. Kreiss lead most of the race. It was good to see someone a bit different win for a change.
The Triathalon Sprint Series then headed way way down to south western Pennsylvania on Sunday evening to the Latrobe Speedway. 21 sprints made the tow down there, which once again, surprised me. I expected less than that to show up for this race. But, it looks to me like this Triathalon Sprint Series idea is a good one. Every race this year attracted a good field of cars and a good turn-out of fans. I look for this series to get bigger next year. Jimmy Hawley picked up the win at Latrobe which was the last race on the series's schedule.
Jimmy Hawley also won Mercer Raceway Park's Sprint-Slug-Out on Saturday night. The race was rain dated from a few weeks ago. Also scheduled for that night was a $500 to win sprint car wheelie contest. Bill Kiley stood er' up on two wheels the longest in the event to take home the $500 pay day. The paycheck may have been Bill's biggest ever, but I'm not sure on that one. Jimmy Hawley, Brian Woodhall, Mike Lutz, and Rob Eyler also competed in the contest. Mercer will be in action this Saturday with the Chuck Marsh Memorial Sprint show, which will be paying $5,000 to win.
The Selinsgrove Speedway will be hosting their National Open this Saturday. The super sprints along with the 358ci sprints will be in action. There's talk of Selinsgrove running 410 sprints once a month next year. I would like to see that happen. The speedway battled with low fan turnout throughout the season and lowered ticket prices a few times. I thought that running the 358 sprints on a regular basis like they did this year was a great idea. I wish them the best of luck for next year.
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9-06-01
The WoO 2 race at the Lernerville Speedway on Friday evening was cancelled around 4:30. Sources say it would have been possible for the race to be ran but the track was most likely anticipating a small crowd.
This weekend was the 21st Annual Sharon Nationals at the Sharon Speedway. The first night brought out 49 sprints with night two drawing 42. A couple of central Pennsylvania regulars kept the fans on the edge of thier seats on Saturday night. Todd Shaffer and Greg Hodnett diced for the lead a few times during the race. Shaffer got the lead at the start and Hodnett hunted him down and made the move into the lead. Later in the race, Hodnett bobbled in turns three and four allowing Shaffer to blow back by. Shaffer went on to win. Todd Shaffer came out the second night for hotlaps and had his engine blow up. The team worked hard and got a new motor back in the car in time for qualifying. Shaffer went out and set fast time for the evening. The feature was red flagged for a fuel stop on lap 4, which was pretty rediculous. I wish they would start getting some real fuel tanks on the cars again. And i'm not talking about the gigantic whale tanks either. Kenny Jacobs went on to win the race, or so everyone thought. Jacobs was found underweight after the victory lane interview due to losing a bunch of water. Ok then, the win goes to Jason Johnson who finished second behind Jacobs. Nope, not so fast, All-Star officials found illegal weight on his car in the seat cusion disqualifying him. So, Greg Hodnett, who came across the line a distant 3rd was declared the winner of the race. An interesting fact, this now makes a whopping $22,000 that Kenny Jacobs has lost for being underweight this year alone. He was also disqualified at the Knoxville Raceway's 1,200 Pound Nationals which payed $12,000 to win after being found underweight. Ouch, thats got to hurt.
This Friday night Raceway 7 will be in action. The Triathalon Sprint Series along with the York Triathalon E-mod series will be in competition. Then two series will be making their way down to the Latrobe Speedway on Sunday evening.
The Mercer Raceway Park is hosting the rained out Sprint Slug Out this Saturday night. And they'll also be having the $500 to win wheelie contest. A couple weeks ago Jason Dukes won Attica's sprint car wheelie contest which was worth $1,000.
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7-30-01
At the Sharon Speedway Friday evening, tacky fast track conditions must of been appealing to Jeff Schrum as he walked away with the feature win. It was Schrum's first win of the season. For the second time this year, Joe Deihl made the trip west from central Pennsylvania to run at the Hatford, Ohio half mile. Unfortunatly, Deihl made contact with the #47 of Marty Ling in his heat sending him into the wall which resulted in a series of flips.
It was awesome to see that Don Kreitz smoked the World of Outlaws once again at Williams Grove. The win was Kreitz's 9th career win with the WoO! Now thats amazing. In fact, thats more wins with the organization that many of the group's regular travelers have.
Speaking of Knoxville, this weekend they hosted the 1st Annual 1,200 Pound Nationals. Kenny Jacobs had the event won but was disqualified after being found underweight by 7 pounds handing the win over to Don Droud Jr. Give me a break, these cars should weigh over 1,200 pounds without fuel. Once again, one of these guys screwed himself out of alot of money due to stupidity. There's no reason for this to happen. Nowadays, most teams are so worried about how much their cars weigh, they're willing to throw away thousands of dollars. You cant tell me that 20 or 30 pounds makes a whole lot of difference, I just dont believe it.
This coming weekend is the Historical Big One at Eldora, gee I wonder who will win. Maybe someone new that we've never heard of? Yeah right, and monkeys might fly out of my ass.
And I would like to make a correction to an error in a column I wrote a few weeks back. I wrote that Lonny Rough had made a visit to the Sharon Speedway. I came to find out that it's Ron Rough, not Lonny Rough. Sorry for the screw up Ron
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7-26-01
First off, i'm sorry for getting my column in so late, but ive been extremely busy all week and have not been able to get a whole heck of alot acomplished as far as a column. Anyhow, here's a quick overview of what took place this last weekend around the area.
It was a very memorable evening at the Sharon Speedway on Friday night. Mike Kekich led all 20 laps of the sprint car feature to collect his first ever win in a sprint car. Mike was thrilled after the win, and so was the audience. It was plain to see that most of the crowd was pulling for him. Congratulations to Mike Kekich on a fine performance.
Over at the Mercer Raceway Park on Saturday evening, it was Rob Eyler winning after leaders Jimmy Hawley and Arnie Kent tangled putting them out of contention. The win was Eyler's second of the season at the track.
The Tri-City Speedway did not run Sunday evening due to two nights of Monster Truck racing on Friday and Saturday.
Sunday evening at the Sportsman's Speedway found the Triathalon Sprint Series competing in their third race of the year. A field of 23 sprints were on hand for the racing program. The feature saw three different lead changes. Tommy Burns led at the start. Goob Schuller spun twice bringing out the caution flag twice which resulted in him being disqualified from further competition. Later on, Jimmy Hawley grabbed the lead away from Burns also bringing Rob Eyler with him. Hawley and Eyler continued to dice through lapped traffic. The two switched the lead 3 times. In the end it was Rob Eyler winning over Jimmy Hawley and Tom Quarterson. Eyler became the third different winner in three races this year with the Triathalon Sprint Series. Other winners with the organization include Tom Quaterson, winner of the inagural Triathalon Sprint Series race at Mercer, and Jimmy Hawley.
Out at Eldora, Mark Kinser came from the 11th starting position to win $50,000 at the King's Royal. Kinser then turned around three days later and picked the Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup race at Lernerville earning him another cool $34,000. Let's see if Mark can make history and win the Knoxville Nationals as well. Probably to most talked-about story from Lernerville's Silver Cup was the incident involving Sammy Swindell. Apparently Swindell hit a push truck with his car while at speed and suffered injuries. Hopefully he makes a speedy recovery. The World of Johnson's Boys will be in competition at the Williams Grove Speedway this Thursday and Friday.
In other news, long-time Lernerville Speedway track announcer Mike Dutko was releaved of his duties at the Sarver, Pennsylvania facility after a contravercial column in the Area Auto Racing News. I personally found nothing wrong with what he wrote, in fact, I agreed with him on most of what he had to say. Oh well, at least the two of us see eye to eye on the issues surrounding the World of Outlaws.
Until next time, take care of yourself, and each other. There, I hope all of you Jerry Springer fans are happy now.
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7-16-01
There were 21 sprints pitside at the Sharon Speedway Friday night. There was one new car on hand and that was the Thunder Mountain #4 of Lonny Rogh. Unfortunately, in his heat, C.W. Harshman spun in front of him sending his car into a series of flips. I hate to see a guy travel a long to race and have something like this happen. We hope to see Lonny and his team back in western Pennsylvania soon. In the feature, Brian Ellenberger started on the pole psition and lead wire-to-wire.
The Triathalon Sprint Series along with the MACS latemodel series WILL NOT be in competition this Wednesday night July 18 at the Sharon Speedway. The event has been cancelled. And contrary to all of the rumors, the Sharon Speedway is still set to run every Friday night. Rmors and bad press do nothing but hurt a racetrack and we certainly do not need anymore racetracks to shut down. Just take a look at what we've already lost, tracks like Millstream, Hickory, Susquahana, and not to mention tracks like Sportsman's and Sharon that do struggle to stay affloat. So my point being, racetracks have a hard enough time staying open without bad mouthing and rumor spreading. If you enjoy the comfort of being able to ride a half an hour down the road to see a race I suggest you dont spread bad rumors about the tracks.
Once again, Jimmy Hawley passed Ed Lynch Jr. to win at the Lernerville Speedway Friday evening. The team also picked up the Triathalon Sprint Series win last weekend at the Sarver Pennsylvania oval. Car owner Doc Crawford is planning on running the entire Triathalon Sprint Series schedule.
Arnie Kent took the win over at the Mercer Raceway Park Saturday evening. The win came after a very long day for the crew. Apparently, Kent's engine had two bent push rods in it. So, Saturday, before the races, they purchased two new rods at a local engine repair shot, unfortunately they were the wrong size. To make a long story short, the team decided to take and straighten the two bent rods. They were straightened in a vice, put back in the engine, and the rest is history.
Down at the Tri-City Icerink Sunday night, 21 sprints signed into the pits. Heats were won by Daryll Stimeling and Ed Lynch Jr. Kittaning's Rod George made it two in-a-row winning the feature. George took the lead from Ricky Ferkel on the 5th go around and went on to win. The 6:00 oclock starting four-division program was finished at 9:41.
Daryl Simeling made it a three day weekend in western Pennsylvania this weekend running Sharon, Mercer, and Tri-City. The swing resulted in two heat race wins at Sharon and Tri-City.
There was a new face in town this weekend, and that was Tiffin Ohio's Joe Laugherty Jr. Joe is 17 years old and was in competition all weekend in western Pa. The team ran Lernerville, Mercer, and Tri-City.
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7-10-01
Travis Rilat raced to the win over at the Wayne County Speedway Monday evening. Also on hand were the 360ci sprints which were won by Ed Haudenchild. The next night of speedweek brought Bert Emick's traveling series to the Fremont Speedway where Mark Keegan won over Byron Reed. Wednesday night's action at the K-C Raceway was cancelled at 1:00pm due to rain. Thursday night at the Sharon Speedway saw Dean Jacobs taking fast time for the night in qualifying. Heats went to Byron Reed, Kelly Kinser, Rodney Duncan, and Sharon's own Jarod Larson. Ed Lynch Jr. picked up the Haumark Dash win after two stupid calls that Chad Kemenah jumped at the start, which he did not. Blake Feese out of Missouri won the B-main. In the feature it was all Greg Hodnett in the Apple Chevy #12. Hodnett took the lead over Ed Lynch on the 13th go around. A couple of laps later Lynch would drop from competition with front end problems. In the end it was Greg Hodnett over Chad Kemanah, Tyler Walker, Billy Pauch, and Kenny Jacobs. Tyler Walker certainly put on a good show for the fans. With some of the moves this guy pulls in a sprint car it makes you wonder if he's altogether upstairs.
Friday evenining over at the Limaland Speedway saw 40 sprints took time with Byron Reed with the fastest run with a time of 11.969. For the second night-in-a-row Blake Feese picked up the B-main victory. After flipping the night before at Sharon, Greg Wilson driving Bob Hampshire's Ford powered #63 won the feature event after outdueling Kelly Kinser. Wilson is on a roll. Before a hand full of weeks ago, he had never won an All-Star sanctioned event, he now has 4 to his name.
Dean Jacobs driving the Rick Dougherty owned #7 was crowned this year's Ohio Sprint Speedweek champion. Jacobs took the championship with 571 points over Kelly Kinser (568), Chad Kemenah (568), Byron Reed (565), and Rob Chaney (555). The All-Star Circuit of Champion's next event is scheduled for the Butler Motor Speedway in Michigan on July 14. Also coming up on the All-Star's schedule is the much anticipated 1,200 Pound Nationals at the Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville Iowa July 27-28. The All-Stars will be joined by the Interstate Racing Assiciation (IRA) and the Invaders (anyone who isn't an All-Star or IRA regular).
Also on Friday evening was the second leg of the Triathalon Sprint Series at the Lernerville Speedway in Sarver Pennsylvania. A good field of 38 sprints filled the pits. What I thought made the show a little more interesting was the way they lined up the feature. They lined up the feature by passing points from the heat races. If you won the heat you were awarded 59 points, 55 points for 2nd, 51 points for 3rd and so on dropping 4 points for each position. But, a driver would recieve 1 1/2 points extra for each car he passed. In the feature it was Jimmy Hawley and Ed Lynch dueling for the lead through lapped traffic. Hawley out-drove Lynch to take the feature win. The next race for the Triathalon Sprint Series will be at the Sharon Speedway Wednesday night July 18.
Over at the Mercer Raceway Park on Saturday evening they got everything completed except for three features. During the last few laps of the Big Block Modified feature, it started to poor down rain with severe lightening all around. So, over the next few weeks the track will make-up the sprint car, small block modified, and stock car features. It may be a good idea to take the wife out to eat instead of taking in the races this coming weekend as it will be the stock cars running their make-up feature.
Rod George picked up the win over at the Tri-City Speedway Sunday night. It was his first there since 1987. After the races a fight broke out between Greg McCandless and Scott Bonnell. Apparently Bonnell made a questionable move out on the track which McCandless didn't care for. A little off topic but, also at the Tri-City Speedway in the E-mod division Brent Rhebergen made it 6-in-a-row! And, in the stock car divison, Bob Sloss had his throttle stick which sorred him out over the third turn fence landingd him in the golf coures behind the speedway!
The Sportsman's Speedway had two sprints features Sunday night. Tom Quarterson won the make-up feature and Rob Eyler won the other feature.
It was really good to see that Craig Keel won down at the Lincoln Speedway. He has been strong all year and deserved this win.
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7-4-01
There were 21 sprints pitside at the Sharon Speedway Friday night. Heat race wins fell to Jamie McKinney and Marty Ling. Andy Priest was doing double duty driving his sprint and a sportsman modified. The feature started with Gary Edwards and Dan Taylor on the front row. Edwards took the lead at the start of the race. He led until being held up by lapped traffic which allowed Rock Creek, Ohio's Jared Larson to slip by. In the mean time, the real show was the 21n of Andy Preist. Preist started dead last and raced his way all the way up to the 4th position! I was very impressed with Preist's performance considering the slippery track surface. In the end, it was Larson winning with Gary Edwards second, Marty Ling third, and Andy Preist fourth.
Jimmy Hawley came from the 12th starting spot at Lernerville to pass Ed Lynch Jr. and win Friday evening. ,p> Mike Markey of New Oxford, Pennsylvania, was the new guy in town this weekend. The team made stops at Lernerville, Mercer, and Tri-City. It was great to see them up here in Western Pennsylvania racing and we hope to see them back again soon.
Rob Eyler picked up the win at the Mercer Raceway Park on Saturday evening then turned around on Sunday evening and made it two wins on the weekend by winning at the Tri-City Speedway.
The Sportsman's Speedway cancelled their racing program somtime around 4:00 on Sunday evening due to rain.
This week is Ohio Sprint Speedweek. The series started on Sunday night at the Attica Raceway Park then moved onto the Wayne County Speedway on Monday night. Fremont, K-C Raceway, Sharon, Limaland, and Portsmouth follow.
Greg Wilson had never won an Allstar Circuit of Champions race prior to his win at Tri-City three weeks ago. He has since won two more ASCaC races at Florence, Kentucky and Eldora.
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6-26-01
My weekend got kicked off at the Sharon Speedway on Friday night. 16 sprints were in the pits. Brad Ellenberger took the lead early in the feature with C.W. Harshman following close behind. Harshman continued to pursue Ellenberger until having his throttle stick in turns 1 and 2 and flipping hard on lap 12. Ellenberger held on for his first win at the speedway this year.
Over at Lernerville, also on Friday, it was Jimmy Hawley winning after leader, Ed Lynch Jr, dropped from competition with disclosed mechanical problems.
Saturday evening was suppose to be, Wingless the Return" at the Mercer Raceway Park", but, mother nature had different plans. The rains unleashed on the 3/8 mile track at 1:00 in the afternoon, leaving it a sloppy mess. This also left the promoter and track prep crew in a hell of a situation. They knew what the track conditions would be like if they ran but, in the other hand, over 30 teams from as far away as New Jersey and Indiana were in the pits and ready to race. In a case like this it is impossible to please everyone. As far as the fans go, they're mad if you cancell, but if you do run they're mad and bitch about the bad track conditions. But, inspite of the extremely sloppy track conditions, the officials made the decision to race. The track crew worked very hard to get the speedway into raceable condition. The first heat hit the track sometime around 9:00. Heat races continued for the sprints, midgets, and stock cars. Over 4 hours later,2:00 in the morning, 28 laps into the midget feature, the fog rolled in putting a stop to anymore racing. Since the midget feature had reached it's half way point, leader Tim Deitz was declared the winner. To put it simply, the fans got screwed out of the 30 lap sprint car feature. Instead of rescheduling the sprint feature, it was decided that the purse money would be devided up between the 23 car field of sprints. One problem, many of us paid good money to see that race. So, instead of seeing a 40 lap midget feature and a 30 lap sprint car race, fans saw a little over half of the midget feature and NO sprint car feature. This was bogus and extremely unfair to all of the fans who supported this event. Luckily, the track was wise enough to realize that this was wrong and is at least offering a $2 rebate with a rain check from this race. I still don't think $2 compinsates for a whole 30 lap sprint car race.
Sunday evening was "Fan Appreciation Night" at the Tri-City Speedway. The biggest crowd ive ever seen at the track was on hand. Thanks to the fantastic pill draw system, Ed Lynch Jr. started on the pole and walked away from the rest of the competition. For the second week-in-a-row the track surface was extremely hard and slick. Tri-City has one of the best facilities in the area and, with a good track surface, could be even better.
Once again, Tom Quarterson wired the field down at the Sportsman's Speedway to win the 20 lap race. Also having a good year has been Todd Shaffer with 2 wins-in-a-row at Williams Grove and a win at the Lincoln Speedway for the first night of Central Pennsylvania Speedweek.
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6-11-01
A good size crowd was on hand to watch a good size field of cars this Friday at the Sharon Speedway. 28 sprints were in the pits. Some new cars were on hand due to no racing at the Attica Raceway Park. New cars included Scott Barris #29, Eddie Smith #3, Jody Keegan #K60, John Ivy #20, and Mark Imler #40. John Ivy, Jeff Schrum, and Brad Ellenberger all won their heats. The track surface was choppy all night, which made for interesting racing. Although the track crew did smooth it out a little by grading it before the features. Jamie McKinney took the lead early in the feature and led a good portion of the race. Both Mike Kekich and Daryl Stimeling flipped during the race. In the end, despite wing problems, it was Mike Lutz in victory lane. McKinney held on for second and, in his best run of the year, Tom Burns came home third. Finish: (1) Mike Lutz 45 (2) Jamie McKinney 95 (3) Tom Burns 7c (4) Jarod Larson 47 (5) Brad Ellenberger 87
For the second time in a row, Tommy Quarterson beat the competition to win at the Mercer Raceway Park. 28 sprints signed into the pit area. Many of which were regulars from the Wayne County Speedway, which wasn't running due to the Eldora Million. Different sprints included Jody Keegan #K60, Mark Imler #40, Aaron Shaffer #97s, Brad Hastings #7, Tim Hunter #2, and Mike Woodring from ESS. Heats went to Brad Ellenberger, Mike Woodring, and Jason Jacoby. Marshall Whitsell was on hand but could not get his car to fire. He and his crew tried hard all night to get the Ford powered #707 started, every time they pushed him onto the track to start the car, the announcer made a stupid, sarcastic comment. I think the announcer, whom I need not name, needed to shut up. He obviously has no clue how frustrating it is to travel many hours to a racetrack and not be able to get your car to run.
Rob Eyler led early in the race before flipping in turn two taking out second place runner Gary McCullom and John Toth. Later on in the race, Mike Shearer took one hell of a nasty ride in turn one. Shearer was uninjured in the crash.
Tom Quarterson was the winner after a last lap pass on Troy Preston. Things are really coming together for Quarterson and the Powell Bros. team. The team has now won two features at Mercer and two at the Sportsman's Speedway this year.
Finish: (1) Tom Quarterson 27 (2) Troy Preston 1P (3) Garry Kriess 55 (4) Mike Woodring 19 (5) Jason Jacoby 4J
News and Notes: Twice throughout the evening at Mercer, Travis Minea brought his midget trackside for some practice laps in anticipation for the June 23rd midget race at the speedway.......... Both Sportsman's and Tri-City got rained out this Sunday. It was Tri-City's third attempt at the BRP Modified Tour race..........New cars at Tri-City before the washout included All-Star regular, Jarod Hull, Jody Keegan, and Jamie Moore..........Rod George was behind the wheel of Ray Bullis's #19 at Tri-City............Gary Rankin was driving Rod George's #4 at Lernerville, which resulted in a third place finish..........Mike Kekich was in the Schuller #61, which is usually drivin by Gary Edwards at Mercer..........Not that any of you sprint car fans really care but, Donnie Moran is now a millionair after winning the Eldora Million on Saturday evening..........Jac Haudenschild was in action at the Fremont Speedway on Saturday night which resulted in a 20th pace finish..........After winning the All-Star sanctioned event at Fremont, Rodney Duncan came within 3 points of points leader Chad Kemenah..........The All-Star vs. NCRA Eastern Showdown starts this Wednesday at the Fabulous Bedford Speedway. The series ends on Sunday at the Tri-City Speedway. It will be interesting to see who all comes up here from NCRA to run this series. I look for some of the teams from central Pennsylvania to make to tow up to Tri-City for the series finale. Fred Rahmer, Lance Dewease, Sean Micheal, and Greg Hodnett are all possible teams to make appearances at the Venango County oval.
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6-6-01
This week in Ohio/Pennsylvania Sprint Car Weekly I'm going to go over all of the special shows in the area. First I'll start off with Mercer. June 23 will be "Wingless-The Return", ARDC vs.NAMARS midgets $2,000 to win and wingless sprints $2,000 to win. The 3rd annual "Sprint-Slug-Out" on August 18 will pay $2,500 to the winner of the sprint car feature , $500 less than a weekly show pays to win at Williams Grove I might add. Not that it really matters but it is an interesting thought. And the final sprint car race of the year at Mercer will be the 5th Annual "Chuck Marsh Memorial", which pays $5,000 to win along with a good purse.
If you like balls to the wall speed then Sharon Speedway is the place to go in eastern Ohio. This year the track will be hosting five special shows, including the first All-Star show which was won by Kenny Jacobs. Ohio Speedweek will make a stop at the Hartford,Ohio facility on Thursday July 5. On Wednesday July 18 there will be Triathalon Sprints and MACS Late Models. Then the 21st Annual Sharon Nationals will be run on September 1st and 2nd. Both nights are All-Star sanctioned and, I feel, are two of the best nights of racing all year.
September is a good time of the year to head to the fastest track in the east, Port Royal Speedway. September 3 will be the 51st running of the "Labor Day Classic" for sprints. Then on Sept. 7th and 8th they will be having the 34th Annual Tuscarora 50. Friday night is the 25-lap preliminary night race and Saturday night is the 50-lap race. The final race of the year at the Port will be the World of Outlaws race on Setp. 27.
Tri-City will be hosting the final night of the All-Star vs. NCRA Eastern Showdown on June 17. Then the Triathalon Sprint Series will make a stop there on August 19. Speaking of the Triathalon Sprint Series, they will be at the Sportsman's Speedway on July 22 for the "Ed Dunlap Memorial".
The 19th Annual Selinsgrove Speedway National Open for 410 sprints and 358 sprints will be run on Sept. 15.
The Williams Grove National Open for sprints will be on Sept. 28th and 29th. As usual the event will be ruined by Ted's boys. Years ago this event was a 150-lap non-sanctioned race.
The Bedford Speedway will be hosting an All-Star vs. NCRA Eastern Showdown event on June 13.
The Silver Spring Speedway will having the 27th Annual Sportsman 100 on Sept. 15. Which is a 100-lap super sportsman race.
Over at Eldora on July 21 will be the Kings Royal and the The Big One is set for August 4.
Raceway 7 will be hosting a Triathalon Sprint race on Sept. 7. The Latrobe Speedway will also be hosting a Triathalon Sprint event on Sept. 8.
These are just a few of the special shows in Pennsylvania and Ohio. All of us sprint car fans often go to the sanctioned races such as the World of Outlaws and the All Star Circuit of Champions and pay twice the amount of money as a regular show for admission. And it usually turns out to be no better than the $10 or $12 regular show. Althought the All-Stars often do put on some exciting racing. Maybe WoO could do the same if the tracks they ran on were'nt like concrete. Maybe if the tracks they ran on had some more moisture in them they could do some more passing. I almost forgot, its impossible for those guys to run on a semi-rough wet sticky track surface. If the local shoestring-budget sprint car drivers at Mercer can do it, I'm sure that the highest dollar teams that run with WoO can do it. Thanks for reading.
Check out "Pacin' With The Posse" for all of the news from central Pennsylvania.
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5-29-01
This Saturday evening at the Mercer Raceway Park was the inagural Triathalon Sprint Car Series event. I definately was not disappointed. The event drew most of the best cars and drivers from the area. 33 sprint teams made the tow for the first race on the 7 race schedule. I think this series is really good for the the local sprint car teams. It gives them the chance to follow a series, make a little extra cash, and run for the series championship. Last season, with the York Triathalon E-mod series, 15 cars raced in every event scheduled, which is fantastic! Hopefully the sprint series will produce figures comparible to that, which is very possible considering the way the schedule has been planned. Extra attention has been put into the schedule to reduce conflictions with other tracks that usually run sprints on the nights scheduled. Tommy Quarterson picked up the win Saturday evening, making him the first winner of a Triathalon Sprint Series A-main. The next date for the Triathalon Sprint Series is scheduled for July 6 at the Lernerville Speedway. I think the idea for a regional sprint series in western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio is great. I look for alot of good things from this new series.
Any questions about the Triathalon Sprint Series can be answered at these phone numbers: Daytime:800-366-2445 Evening:724-745-3142 Fax:412-257-1330 website: www.RBRACING.com
Triathalon Sprint Series Schedule: July 6 Lernerville / July 18 Sharon / July 22 Sportsman's / August 19 Tri-City / Sept. 7 Raceway7 / Sept. 9 Latrobe
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5-15-01
It definately wasn't a good Friday as both Lernerville and Sharon were forced to cancell due to rain. Lernerville cancelled around 6:00, while Sharon had a good portion of their racing program complete before the rain fell. 18 sprint cars were signed into the pits. They managed to run of two sprint car heats, which were won by Brian and Brad Ellenberger, and four modified heats before the races were cancelled. Hopefully the crowds and car counts pick up soon at Sharon. I believe that the handicapping points system is the best way to lineup races. You have to look no farther than Central Pennsylvania. Mercer uses the handicapping system to lineup their races and it made for a very good race this weekend. The night started off with a flip. Tommy Burns made a stupid move in his heat and took out himself and Jarod Larson for the remander of the evening. Which wasn't the best thing that could have happened considering the somewhat low car count of 20 sprints. The feature lined up with Rob Eyler and Brian Woodhall on the front row. This is Woodhall's rookie season. The 16-year-old driver has already picked up a consilation win at Lernerville and a heat race win at Mercer. Eyler led at the start before being passed by Arnie Kent. Jimmy Hawley made his way from 10th to challenge Kent for the last few laps of the race. I think most of the crowd expected Hawley to pass Kent, but it didn't happen. Kent held on for the win. Hawley finished second with 9th place starter Tommy Quarterson finishing third. (1) Arnie Kent 18 (2) Jimmy Hawley C3 (3) Tom Quarterson 27 (4) Rob Eyler 5 (5) Gary Kreiss 55
19 sprints were in the pits at Tri-City this Sunday, and for the second weekend in-a-row, Dale Blaney was on hand with his silver MBNA sprinter. Heats were won by David Scott and Ed Lynch Jr. Jarod Larson grabbed the lead at the start of the race only to be passed by Blaney and Lynch later on. The two continued to race through lapped traffic. In the end it was Blaney in victory lane. I was surprised to hear all of the boos from the crowd towards Blaney. Finish: (1) Dale Blaney 10 (2) Ed Lynch Jr. 2L (3) Jarod Larson 47 (4) David Scott 3D (5) Scott Bonnell 3
Kevin Andrusky was injured in a crash at the Tri-City Speedway last weekend. He will be on the sidelines for at least two months. Andrusky is a good driver and we hope to see him back at the track soon............Jimmy Hawley will be in competition this Saturday at the Fremont Speedway............One last note, for all of you sprint car fans, the will be NO sprint cars at Mercer this weekend. They will be having triple 25s for modifieds.
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5-08-01
This weekend the All Star Circuit of Champions made a visit to the Sharon Speedway in Hartford Ohio. 36 sprints filled the pits. Ed Lynch Jr. set a new 1 lap track record in qualifying. Although I may not be the biggest Lynch fan, I was happy to see a local driver beat the old track record, which was set by Jeff Shepard last year during the Sharon Nationals. World of Outlaws Gumout Series regulars on hand included Phil Gressman and Johnny Herrera, who is now driving Junior Hollbrook's #8 sprinter. Herrera's performance in the car over the last two weekends, to me, has been less than expected, considering that he has run with the World of Outlaws for many years, and they (WoO) are supposed to be the best in the business. The feature saw Kenny Jacobs start on the front row and win. Although Jerrod Hull did come from ninth to battle Jacobs for a few laps.
Jimmy Hawley made it two for two this weekend after "cherrie pickin'' at Lernerville and besting a 20+ car field at the Mercer Raceway Park.
The two surprises of the weekend were the appearances of Greg Wilson at the Sportsman's Speedway and the appearance of Dale Blaney at the Tri-City Speedway. Blaney finished second to Scott Bonnell, who had a 360ci engine under the hood of his Sherwin Williams #3 sprinter. The win was Bonnell's second career at the track. Greg Wilson picked up the feature win at the Sportsman's Speedway.
Brad Doty will be at the Mercer Raceway Park this coming Saturday with his restored #18 Coors Light sprint car. Fans will be able to get autographs and also will have the chance to purchase Doty's new book "Still Wide Open". I have heard nothing but good things about this book, so it may be a good idea to check it out.
That's it for this week. Be sure to check out all of the news on the Pennsylvania posse in "Pacin With The Posse".
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2-23-01
LYNCH 3 FOR 3 IN TRI-CITY OPENERS
For the third year in a row, Ed Lynch Jr. picked up the opening night win at the Tri-City Speedway in Franklin Pa. Lynch's win came over a 26 car field of sprint cars. The evening was marked by several flips, including, Gale Ruth Jr., Jarod Larson, and Chad Hill. All of the flips being the result of an extremely wet and rough track. We also note that Ricky Ferkel blew his motor in his heat race and was finished for the evening. Heat race wins went to Ed Lynch Jr., Jimmy Hawley, and Jason Jacoby. The feature was inverted 12 spots thanks to the recently instituted pill draw, starting Ed Lynch Jr and Jimmy Hawley in the sixth row. Poll sitter Scott Bonnell took command at the start of the race. Bonnell led until being caught and passed by Brian Ellenberger. Ellenberger continued to run a fast pace but it still wasn't enough to stay in front of Ed Lynch Jr., who had found a very fast line on the high side. Lynch went on to win the 20 lap race.
Finish: (1)Ed Lynch Jr. 2L (2)Brian Ellenberger #20 (3)Todd Gracey 25 (4)Jimmy Hawley C3 (5)Scott Bonnell 3
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