Hoseheads Sprint Car Photos & News

5/3

Doug Esh was in a tough predicament last winter when his former car owners Dick and Leslie Leach announced that they were retiring from sprint car racing.
Esh knew if he wanted to remain in a 410 sprint car seat, his options were going to be very limited.
Enter in Western PA car owners Tom and Fran Chiapelli who happened to be looking for a driver to fill the seat of their Golden Flavor Sesame Sticks No. 98 car.
It seemed as if the Chiappelli car was a revolving door over recent years but after being offered the seat, Esh jumped at the chance to become their new driver.
And so far, what a combination!
Five starts at Port Royal Speedway and two feature wins including last Saturday night’s All Star Circuit of Champions sanctioned Bob Weikert Memorial which Esh earned the team a cool $12,200 payday, by far the biggest payday for his car owners. Esh is only one of four repeat winners this season on the local circuit with far less starts than all of the others.
“Tom and Fran are awesome people and they spend a lot of money on their race team,” said the veteran driver from Lancaster. “Their equipment is bad ass and the HP motors just run and run and run. It’s unbelievable the speed that they have and I think the motors are carrying this team right now. It’s been a great start for sure.”
No one really gave Esh a chance this season, perhaps not even himself but so far, he has proven everyone wrong as the team looks to continue to build on its great start and attempt to turn it into a Port Royal track championship.
“I’ve just got a lot of passion to get back on top because I haven’t been there in quite a while and I want to be there,” Esh said about his rejuvenation. “I think you see the 40 year old and older guys like Fred (Rahmer), Greg (Hodnett) and Lance (Dewease) mature and drive a lot better in their 40’s. I think that’s the difference from the younger guys because you grow out of doing some of the dumb things you used to do and I think I’m understanding my race car way better than I ever did before.”
After his big win last week, Esh moved into the runner-up spot in Port Royal points and would like nothing more to add to his wins and give his new car owners their first title in their first fulltime season as a regular team competing in Central Pennsylvania.
Esh said he has plenty of equipment at his disposal and the team plans to compete in most of the time trial shows at Williams Grove and other tracks around the area as the season goes along.
FIFTEEN DIFFERENT WINNERS
Don’t buy the parity stuff.
There have been 15 different winners so far this season in Central Pennsylvania 410 sprint car racing.
Well guess what, over the last three seasons-in 2010, 2011 and 2012, 31 different sprint car drivers raced to a feature win during at least one night in Central Pennsylvania.
And there have been plenty of repeat winners during those seasons.
It just means, there is plenty of talent and good enough equipment on the local level that just about any driver is able to win given any circumstance each weekend.
Don Kreitz, Jr. became the 15th different winner this season after his impressive 10th to first performance at Williams Grove last Friday night versus the All Stars.
With car counts somewhat lacking this season, we may not reach the 31 drivers total but we most likely will certainly come close and we are fortunate to be able see so many different drivers earn a feature win!
PIT STOPS
Craig Dollansky scored the win in the World of Outlaw sprint car event Saturday night at Salina Highbanks Speedway over Paul McMahan, Daryn Pittman, Sammy Swindell and Joey Saldana. Heading into this weekend’s double show at Eldora Speedway, Pittman’s super season continues with Kasey Kahne Racing as he continues to lead the points by 136 over McMahan, whose car owners Chad and Jenn Clemens will join up with the team this weekend in Ohio.
Shane Clanton and rookie Eric Wells scored wins on the WoO Late Model tour over the weekend. Clanton won Friday at Smokey Mountain Raceway over Steve Casebolt and Jimmy Owens while Wells’ career first WoO win came Sunday at Duck River Raceway over defending champ Darrell Lanigan and Tim McCreadie. Josh Richards continues to lead the WoO LM points.
Lincoln Speedway will present the 10th annual Weldon Sterner Memorial Saturday night for the 410 Sprints. Defending track champ and race winner Danny Dietrich would like to get back on track with a win this week. Double D has struggled in a big way this season after such a great 2012. The 33 lap feature will pay $6,900 to win, the highest payoff offered at Lincoln so far this season.
Port Royal Speedway will host Little League and Softball Team Uniform Night on Saturday. Youths under age 12 that come dressed will be treated to several special events during the night as the 410 Sprints, late models and ARDC midgets are on the program.
The Saturday Night Series returns this week at Williams Grove Speedway where the first Meet and Greet session will also take place before the races. Late Model racers Jared Miller and Roy Miller along with street stock racer Kevin Sigler are expected to meet fans beginning at 5pm in the infield.

4/26

Austin Hogue is enjoying the best start of his young racing career.

The 21-year-old Manchester resident has driven to three feature wins at three different speedways so far this season and hopes the good luck continues.

“We’ve been pretty fortunate so far with starting up front but we won’t be starting up front anymore,” said the driver of the family owned No. 52 358 sprint car. “It’s always good to get the wins out of the way early and it’s good for the team to be running so well right now. It’s been a lot of fun and we’ll see if we can keep it going.”

Hogue opened the season a few weeks ago with a win at Trail-Way Speedway then came back a week later to win the 358 sprint car opener at Williams Grove Speedway. Then last Saturday night, Hogue made it three wins in seven starts with a win at Lincoln Speedway.

Hogue said his team will concentrate on Friday night’s at Williams Grove and Saturday’s at Lincoln this season.

“We really like Trail-Way, it’s a great track and a lot of fun to race but we are kinda branching out this season,” Hogue said. “We need to run the big tracks and learn as much as we can about these sprint cars and we knew we had to run Williams Grove to get better. So far it’s worked out.”

Hogue was thrilled to get that first career win at Williams Grove and equally thrilled to win last week at Lincoln.

“Anytime you can win at Williams Grove, it’s pretty cool,” he added. “It’s just neat to race on such historical tracks that we have around here but it’s also cool to just win anywhere in these things. And it’s always great to get to talk to Wayne Harper (Lincoln’s track announcer) and if you get to talk to him, you know you did something right at Lincoln. Lincoln’s been a tough track for me but I think we’ve found something and we’re excited to get back there and make sure that win wasn’t a fluke.”

Hogue, whose car is sponsored by the family business-BAPS Auto Paints and Supply- along with Livingston Lawn Care, PPG Automotive and Refinishing, 3M, Automotive Systems Warehouse, Zirkle’s Garage, Sitescape Landscaping, Crismor Machine Shop and Dick Smith Motorsports isn’t getting caught up in points racing and is just looking for wins.

“We’re going to just focus on winning races,” said Hogue, who is the current Central PA 358 Sprint Series points leader. “We have some family vacations planned so we’ll miss some races but if you go and win races, the points take care of themselves at the end of the year. We’re just looking to have fun and keep winning.”

ALL STARS INVADE POSSELAND

The University of Northern Ohio All Star Circuit of Champions invade Central PA this weekend with races Friday at Williams Grove and Saturday’s biggie at Port Royal Speedway.

No card-carrying member of the All Stars has ever won at Williams Grove against the Posse and the top of the local drivers will be looking to keep that streak going in Friday’s $5,000 to win Diamond Series event.

The biggest race of the early season in the area will take place Saturday night as Port Royal presents the Bob Weikert Memorial paying $10,000 to win out of a $34,000 purse.

The race is run in memory of one of Pennsylvania’s most decorated sprint car owners.

Upstart sprint car racer Logan Schuchart, who won his first career race at Lincoln Speedway last Saturday will carry the familiar Weikert Livestock No. 29 color scheme Saturday night and will meet and greet fans before the races along with his grandfather Bobby Allen.

Aside from the great purse offered to the race teams, fans in attendance will also get a chance to win some prime Weikert Livestock beef patties in ticket giveaways and the first 200 paying fans will receive a free Weikert hat.

Greg Hodnett is the defending race winner and will be returning to competition this weekend after suffering a broken hand during Port Royal’s season opener a month ago. Hodnett will also be in action Friday at Williams Grove.

PIT STOPS

Stevie Smith will return to the seat of the CJB Motorsports No. 19 sprint car for 40 races this season. The team will begin racing at Williams Grove on May 10^th and will be in action over 30 times in Central PA this season. Smith will also run the entire PA Speedweek series in the car that will be a team car to Paul McMahan.

Steve Kinser finally visited victory lane last week with the World of Outlaws with a midweek win at El Paso Speedway Park while Tim Kaeding scored his third series win Saturday night at Tri State Speedway. Daryn Pittman continues to lead the WoO points.

Thanks to driver and business owner Jim Shuster, the Super Sportsman division will see some extra paying events this season in the Dynamite Series which will reward competitors in all Tour races this season. Shuster and his Newville Construction Services will add to the feature payoff at all tour events which will now see the winner earning a $1,200 payday plus higher payoffs for spots 18-24. Shuster will also sponsor a season ending race featuring the top ten drivers in heat race challenge points. That race will pay $1,000 to win.

Eight years ago, no one really knew if the Saturday Night Series at Williams Grove Speedway would ever be successful.

Williams Grove Speedway came on board to pick up the regular divisions left homeless when Silver Spring Speedway was sold.

This Saturday night will make the beginning of the eighth season and could prove as the most successful ever if 2012 is any indication.

Last season, the SNS was highly successful with car counts and featured several attendance records throughout the season thanks to Grove track owner Kathy Hughes.

Hughes has made the SNS a family friendly show by making the program just $5 for grandstand admission for the past few years. Hughes will have the great priced racing events again this season as 17 of the 18 Saturday night shows will be just $5 adult-general admission. Children 12 and under are admitted free.

The SNS has grown in popularity and has featured some great racing in all three regular divisions and 2013 should be no different.

Frankie Herr returns as Super Sportsman champion, Gene Knaub is the defending 358 late model champion and Craig Morgan is back to defend the street stock title.

Carmen Perigo, Jr. leads the early season Sportsman point chase after an early season win. Other winners this year have been Herr and David Socks.

Over 50 drivers are on the 2013 Sportsman entry list and the division has easily boasted the highest car counts in any division at any track so far this season.

WHATS HAPPENING

The largest paying 410 sprint car race of the year is on tap Friday night at Williams Grove.

The 30-lap Tommy Hinnershitz Spring Classic will pay $6,000 to the feature winner out of a total purse of nearly $30,000.

Chad Layton won the event in 2010 and 2012. The 2011 race was rained out. There is a good possibility that Layton will not be in the field on Friday night to defend the title.

Port Royal Speedway features Free Student/Camera and Autograph Night Saturday for its 410 Sprint, late model and 305 Sprint car program. All students ages 12-18 will be have free general admission and free admission to the pit area from 4-5pm for the camera and autograph session.

Hagerstown Speedway will feature the Lucas Oil Late Model series Saturday night in the 50-lap $10,000 to win Stanley Schetrompf Memorial.

Lincoln, Selinsgrove, Susquehanna, Bedford and Trail-Way all present regular shows this weekend.

ANOTHER INJURY

Super Sportsman racer Cody Fairchok was seriously injured last Saturday at Lincoln Speedway.

The young Dillsburg racer crashed hard during hot laps and spent the night in the hospital.

Fairchok suffered a fractured vertebrae, one compressed vertebrae in his neck and a chipped sternum. He will wear a neck brace for a few weeks and will be sidelined for a few months.

Fairchok is the third driver in three weeks to suffer an injury during the early racing season.

PIT STOPS

Fred Rahmer won his third 410 sprint car feature of the season Sunday night at Susquehanna Speedway Park over Don Kreitz, Jr. Brent Marks, Logan Schuchart ahd Mark Smith while Ryan Wilson scored the 358 sprint car win over Kevin Nouse, Cris Eash, Rodney Westhafer and Tyler Ross.

Matt Parks picked up the opening night win last Sunday at Bedford Speedway. Parks scored the late model win over JT Spence, Chuck Clise, Jeff Rine and DJ Troutman. Robby Black was the limited lat e model.

For the third time this season, Daryn Pittman scored a win with the World of Outlaws as he drove to the win at Perris Auto Speedway last Saturday With the win, Pittman opened his WoO points lead to 133 points over Joey Saldana. Donny Schatz won Friday’s WoO main at Kings Speedway over Chad Kemenah.

It was a tough weekend for several local sprint car drivers.
410 Sprint drivers Greg Hodnett and Mark Coldren were injured during Saturday night’s season opener at Port Royal Speedway while 358 Sprint driver Brock Zearfoss sustained injuries Saturday night at Selinsgrove Speedway.
Coldren spent Saturday night at Hershey Medical Center after taking a wild ride on the first lap of the 25-lap feature.
According to sources, Coldren apparently clipped the inside wall heading into the first turn and shot across the track collecting Mike Erdley and going for a wild ride.
Rescue workers took their time in helping Coldren exit from his mangled race car.
He suffered a mild concussion but didn’t break any bones in the crash.
Four laps into the feature at Port Royal, Hodnett was racing around the outside of the third and fourth turns when contact was made with another car that shot Hodnett’s sprint head-on into the pit entrance barrier.
Hodnett gingerly climbed from his race car but didn’t get checked out until Monday where he was placed in a cast for a shattered right hand. Hodnett also has badly bruised ribs and a bruised leg.
He will miss several weeks while he recovers from the injury.
The weekend’s worst injury went to the young Zearfoss, who flipped on the backstretch during Selinsgrove’s 358 sprint car feature.
Zearfoss was extricated from his race car and underwent surgery Sunday morning at Geisinger Medical Center to repair a compound fracture to his tibia and fibula. He had a rod inserted from his knee down to his ankle and will be sidelined for about two months.
TW AND SSP OPEN FOR ACTION
Trail-Way Speedway will open the gates on its first Friday night series program this week while Susquehanna Speedway Park is ready for a Saturday night season opener.
Trail-Way has changed its racing schedule this season and will focus mostly on Friday night programs headlined by the 358 Sprints.
The classes that competed on Saturday night in the past will be part of the Friday show from time to time throughout the season.
All Friday night shows will now feature four divisions.
Tim Wagaman is the defending 358 sprint car champion.
SSP opens Saturday with its Stock Car Saturday program featuring 358 late models, street stocks and the second race of the season for the Super Sportsman division.
The late Carl Billet is the defending SSP track champion and will be greatly missed at the York County oval this season. The track plans a tribute to its fallen champion this weekend.
PIT STOPS
The PA Sprint Series (PASS 305 Sprints) kicks off its 15th Anniversary season this Saturday night at Port Royal Speedway. Port Royal will feature a healthy amount of 305 sprint car events this season as the series also visits Path Valley, Susquehanna, Clinton County, Williams Grove, Lincoln, Selinsgrove and Hill Valley Speedway’s.
Two local speedway’s announced point fund sponsors its late model divisions this week. Williams Grove Speedway will have Newville Electrical Services as it Saturday Night 358 late model division title sponsor while Grays Auto and Towing of Mifflintown has joined forces with Port Royal Speedway to sponsor the track’s super late model division.
While his older brother Dave was winning at Port Royal Speedway, Dale Blaney was winning the Spring Nationals at Attica Raceway Park Saturday night. Dale’s All Star sanctioned win came over Sheldon Haudenschild, Randy Hannagan, Tim Shaffer and Craig Mintz.
Sammy Swindell got on the winning track in World of Outlaw sprint car action last weekend at California’s Merced Speedway. Swindell’s first win of the year came over points leader Daryn Pittman, Tim Kaeding, Chad Kemenah and second place points man Paul McMahan.
Selinsgrove Speedway features the 358-360 Empire Super Sprints sanctioned event Saturday night. The race will pay $3,000 to win out of a purse of more than $15,000. It’s the first time since 1996 that the ESS group has sanctioned a race at the Snyder County track.
World of Outlaw late model regular Rick Eckert will pilot the Paul Crowl owned No. 7 late model this season. Eckert’s schedule in the car will be based in the area and not conflicting with WoO sanctioned events. Eckert had a pair of top three finishes last weekend at Winchester and Hagerstown in the car.
Noted Motorsports journalist Dick Berggren will be the honorary guest and keynote speaker for the Spring Open House at the Eastern Museum of Motorsports Museum this weekend at Latimore Valley. For more information on this weekends events, visit www.emmr.org.

Friday night’s Williams Grove Speedway opener will be a busy one for defending Super Sportsman champion Frankie Herr.

Not only will the Carlisle veteran be starting off the defense of his championship, Herr will also have to be turning the wrenches on Nicole Bower’s 410 Sprint car as the two divisions share the spotlight on the 74^th season opener in the history of Williams Grove Speedway.

But it won’t happen this way every week as most of Herr’s super sportsman races fall on a Saturday night so he will be focusing on Bower’s sprint car operation every Friday at the Grove.

Herr is looking forward to another year of Super Sportsman competition and knows it will be just as tough as it was a year ago, when the battle for the championship literally came down to the final lap at the final race in September.

Herr hopes it won’t be quite as exciting in that aspect this year but realizes he has plenty of competition ready to pounce on that title, one that he has won for the past three years and 18 times overall in his racing career.

“We’ve got a lot of good competition, there’s no doubt about it,” Herr stated. “There are a number of racers capable of winning on any given night but we’re ready for the challenge. We did our homework over the winter and our Dave Shultz are up to par so I think we’re ready to have another good season.”

Newville’s Russ Mitten gave Herr all that he could handle in 2012 and plans to do the same once again this year as will the likes of Scott Geesey, Carmen Perigo, Jr., Rick Barr, Bobby Hockenberry, Mike Enders, Scott Dellinger, the Fannasy brothers-Steve and Jay among others.

“Last year we had some tough breaks that you can’t control and it’s part of the game and that certainly helped keep things closer than I’d liked,” added Herr. “Russell had a great season and was right there every week. I think the turning point of the points came on the double points race when Russell won and we ended up breaking, but put an axle underneath just to stay on track and that made the difference in the final outcome of the year. You have to be around at the finish.”

Herr is also looking forward to the new lineup system being used this year for the Sportsman division.

Officials have scrapped the “four week average” lineups as used in the past, and instead drivers will draw for heat races at every event but the top heat finishes will then be handicapped according to average points for the feature. This is the same system used for the Grove’s Friday night divisions.

“I think it’s a good deal because it seems we got penalized for doing well and now we won’t have that,” he said. “Now you can go and draw a bad pill every week and you’ll have to start in the back but you also stand a chance at drawing well. It will still be tough because you are going to have good cars in your heat race either way but the bottom line is, you have to make it into the handicap to stand a chance in the feature.”

LATE MODELS GET EQUAL BILLING

Selinsgrove Speedway track promoter Charlie Paige announced last week that he will be making the track’s super late model division an equal to the track’s 358 sprint division this year.

The 358 sprint cars have held the spotlight at the track over recent years but Paige has added a total of $1,465 to the purse for his late model division, bringing it on par with the sprint car class.

The feature winner in each division will receive $1,500 to win a regular show.

Paige also announced that the season ending point fund will be distributed to the top 10 drivers in points, rather than the top 15. The sprint and late model track champion will earn a $3,000 paycheck for a 2013 track title.

CJB STAYING ON THE ROAD

The Carlisle-based CJB Motorsports, owned by Chad and Jenn Clemens and maintained by Barry Jackson announced last weekend at the team will remain on the World of Outlaw tour for the balance of the 2013 season.

Driver Paul McMahan got his first WoO win with the team last Saturday night at Silver Dollar Speedway in California and currently ranks runner-up in points, 78 points out of the lead. McMahan is the only driver within 100 points of current WoO point leader Daryn Pittman.

The team, Central Pennsylvania’s most professional appearing team over the past few seasons, had a driver change last year as McMahan replaced Fred Rahmer, who had driven the car for the previous five seasons.

The team had tentatively planned on running all of the time trial shows in Central PA this season but with this announcement, that leaves a big loss for another quality car at some of the upcoming shows in the area.

PIT STOPS

Joining McMahan as a winner last weekend with the Outlaws was Kyle Larson, who recently made headlines after his spectacular crash during the Nationwide race at Daytona International Speedway a few weeks ago. Larson won Friday night at the first ever WoO event at Stockton 99 Dirt Track in California…

Shawn Seifert topped Mike Rutherford, Brian Carber, Tyler Esh and Heath Hehnly at last Saturday’s season opening 600 Micro Sprint event at Trail-Way Speedway. Nik Gower was the 270 Micro winner over Rutherford, Jim Still, Steven Cox and Cory Myers while Scott Gobrecht won the Central PA Legends main over Robert Stough, Lucas Montgomery, Harlon Leppo and Chris Spidle.

Port Royal Speedway hopes the third time is the charm Saturday night after two straight cancellations. A 5pm start time features sprints, late models and pro stocks along a visit by the Easter bunny and free chocolate bunnies to the first 200 kids handed out by Lance Dewease, Greg Hodnett and Tim Wilson.

Lincoln Speedway will have a $4,000 to win 410 Sprint Championship Saturday night. Brent Marks is the current points leader in the Pigeon Hills.

Hagerstown Speedway opens its late model season Saturday with a big Three State Flyers series event.

For the 74^th time in track history, Williams Grove Speedway is set to open Friday night.

Track owner Kathy Hughes and track manager Justin Loh are all set for another great season of racing at the Monroe Township facility as the track once again will feature Friday and Saturday night action throughout much of the season.

“We’re ready to go and obviously the biggest change will be the Hoosier tires in the 410 division and we’re hoping the racing stays as good as it’s been with this change,” said Loh, who along with Hughes were named 2012 Promoters of the Year by the voting panel of the National Sprint Car Poll. “Another change this year will be the 358 sprints drawing for starting spots for heat races just like the 410’s. We’re hoping we can attract some new cars during the season that can come and race and not get penalized if they miss a week. Features will continue to be handicapped for both divisions.”

While the Friday night sprint car program draws headlines each week, the Grove’s Saturday Night Series is perhaps the strongest program going in the Central Pennsylvania area and 2013 looks like it’s shaping up to be another good year for the SNS.

“For the first time in many years, we’ll have the Sportsman join the 410’s on a Friday (March 29) and we’re excited that over 50 cars have registered for the Super Sportsman this year,” Loh added. “We’ll still have the $5 grandstand admission every Saturday and we’re looking to make the Meet and Greet’s better this year by adding some workshops for fans to become more familiar with the racing” Meet and Greet’s feature several drivers meeting fans before the races each week.

Loh also said the track will bring back the racing program book for its Saturday Night series.

Greg Hodnett (410 Sprints), Pat Cannon (358 Sprints), Frankie Herr (Super Sportsman), Gene Knaub (358 late models) and Craig Morgan (street stocks) are defending track champions.

The 410 and 358 Sprints are on Friday night’s season opening program.

The Saturday Night Series begins on April 20.

Twenty different drivers visited victory lane in the 410 Sprint car division last year with champion Hodnett leading the way with five feature wins. Brian Montieth (4), Rick Lafferty (3) and Brent Marks, Fred Rahmer and Logan Schuchart were two-time winners.

In the 358 sprint ranks, Cannon led 11 different winners with three followed by two time winners Nate Hammaker and Mark Smith.

Herr and Russ Mitten each had three Sportsman wins last year as nine different drivers scored a Williams Grove Super Sportsman win. Scott Geesey was also a repeat winner.

Knaub led the way with five late model wins. Randy Stoudt was the only other repeat winner out of the seven drivers that scored a win while seven drivers took street stock wins with Morgan’s four topping the division followed by Sam Rial’s three.

CHANGES AT THE PORT

Port Royal Speedway will attempt to open its season Saturday night.

The track season opener was rained out last week.

Saturday night starting time for this week along with next week has been moved up to 5pm.

Fans will be treated to double file restarts during late model feature events this season at the Port. The decision to change the restarts was made after conferring with several race teams. These starts will take place on all restarts until there are four or less laps to go, in which starts will be the normal single file.

PIT STOPS

Should weather be fine this weekend, it’s a three race weekend as Hagerstown Speedway will try again to complete the Brawl in the Fall that was originally canceled last fall and then again fell victim to the weather last week. Features for the 410 Sprints, late models, big block modifieds and 358 sprints are on tap Sunday afternoon at the Maryland oval.

Lincoln Speedway and Selinsgrove Speedway will also see action Saturday night. Lincoln’s show is a 410 sprint headliner while Selinsgrove will present its first 358 sprint car program of the season.

Applications are now being accepted for the 13^th annual Kevin Gobrecht Memorial Scholarship, honoring the memory of the late New Oxford sprint car driver that lost his life while racing with the World of Outlaws in 1999. The scholarship continues to be $2,000 and is awarded annually to a student enrolled at an accredited college, technical or business school. Applications are available at

www.kevingobrecht.com.

Tim Kaeding and Craig Dollansky were feature winners last weekend on the World of Outlaws tour at California’s Thunderbowl Raceway. Daryn Pittman has opened up an 83-point lead already as Joey Saldana and Paul McMahan are the only two drivers within 100 points of the leader.

It’s the words all Central Pennsylvania sprint car fans want to hear in late February.
“All systems are go,” said Don Leiby, part of the ownership team at Lincoln Speedway who will kick off the 2013 Northeast racing season this Saturday afternoon.
“Of course it’s early in the week and they are calling for something maybe Friday, so we’ll see what kind of weather we get and go from there,” Leiby said on Monday night.
When asked what would it take for Lincoln to cancel its Icebreaker 30 for 410 Sprints this weekend, Leiby quickly replied “Oh, six to eight inches of snow,”
Leiby noted that depending on what sort of weather system rolls through the Abbottstown area this week, the parking lots are always the main concern during early season events.
“We aren’t worried about the race track,” he stated. “I talked to (track preparer) Fred (Putney) last night (Sunday) and he said the track should be okay. It looks good but you just never know how it will react to the elements in February. But if we should get any sort of weather, obviously the main concern is the parking areas.”
Like most others with any interest in local sprint car racing, Leiby isn’t sure what to think about the potential car count issues this season.
“I think we’ll see it be pretty much steady in the 410’s but I guess we’ll see,” he added. “We lost a few but we’ve also gained some and then you hear all of the talk about “well this guy will be running there this year’ so we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.”
He feels car counts will increase in the 358 sprint division, the second headline division during the season at the track.
“I think the Hoosier tire deal will pull the 358 car count up because now those guys have a source to buy tires,” he added. For the past few seasons, the 410 teams have been using Goodyear Tires while the 358 sprint class competed with Hoosier. It will be the same across the board in 2013 and beyond.
Lincoln will start the season with three consecutive Saturday afternoon programs. The March 2nd show carries a Sunday raindate, however, this week’s event does not have a raindate due to the running of the Daytona 500.
FLORIDA RACING IN THE BOOKS
After two straight rainouts last week for the All Star series, Volusia Speedway Park was able to get in all three World of Outlaws 410 sprint car events over the weekend as three different drivers visited victory lane.
Daryn Pittman came home the winner in his first official WoO race with Kasey Kahne Racing as he won Friday night’s feature over Jac Haudenschild, Brad Sweet, Sammy Swindell and Paul McMahan.
Knoxville Raceway regular Terry McCarl picked up the WoO win on Saturday night over Pittman, Kraig Kinser, Tim Shaffer and Sweet.
The third and final night at VSP has a touch of Pennsylvania flair as Tower City based Zemco Racing with driver Danny Lasoski picked up the $10,000 victory, the 20th career at the track for Lasoski.
Lasoski took the win over Chad Kemenah, Justin Henderson (in Mark Coldren’s No. H07), Donny Schatz and Pittman.
Pittman won the overall Winternationals trophy and it the early season WoO championship points leader.
Darrell Lanigan and Josh Richards were World of Outlaw late model winners at Bubba Raceway Park.
Lanigan won both Friday and Saturday night while Richards came back to score the big $20,000 payday in the Super Sunday Showdown.
PIT STOPS
The annual Lawrence Chevrolet car show and driver interview session is just around the corner. The car show will feature some local race cars from the area on Friday and Saturday, March 8-9. The driver interview session will take place on Saturday night, March 9th beginning at 7pm. Drivers already lined up to take part in the interview session include Greg Hodnett, Lance Dewease, Logan Schuchart, Danny Dietrich, Brent Marks, Cory Haas, Pat Cannon, Rodney Westhafer, Frankie Herr, Russ Mitten, Rick Barr and Steve Wilbur.
Kevin Nouse has reunited with the R & R Racing Team for the 2013 and the team plans to compete for the 358 Sprint car track championship at Williams Grove Speedway. The team, led by mechanic Tracy Barrick will also have Bulls Eye Express as major sponsor on the No. 4R sprint.
Mechanicsburg sprint car driver Lucas Wolfe has picked up a full time 410 sprint car ride out of Sious Falls, SD and will compete in about 100 events across the country this season. Wolfe will pilot the Buffalo Wild Wings sponsored No. 82 car owned by Todd and Susan LaHaise. Justin Henderson drove the car late last season. Wolfe had no ride this season as the Allebach owned team that he’d driven for over recent years is no longer competing.
The Central PA Sprint Series points will have Speedway Motors and Champion Racing Oil as headline sponsors for the 2013 season. The season champion will receive $6,000 this year with the top 10 drivers earning at least a $1,000 payday. Greg Hodnett has won the series title the past four seasons.
Email reaches me at
Bvores@comcast.net.

10/18

There are times during a persons life that they cross paths with someone that is just a genuinely good person.
Gary Beam was one of those people and with my involvement in local auto racing, Gary was one of those people that I would see every weekend at area dirt tracks and his friendship will forever remind me of some of the great people that I have met in the local racing.
But during the last few years of his ownership of one of the most successful 410 sprint car teams in Central Pennsylvania, Gary suffered health issues. At the end of the 2010 racing season, Gary, along with his wife Patty called it a career as sprint car owners.
For all of what Gary and Patty gave to racing, it’s unfortunate that he wasn’t able to spend his retirement from the sport the way he deserved.
Gary lost the battle from his illness on Tuesday and a sadness has taken over the local sprint car community with his passing.
Gary was always friendly, always had a smile (no matter how much pain he was in) and was just one of those people that was just easy to talk to. He was honest and would always answer the tough questions about racing.
With my many years of reporting on local racing, I spent a good deal of time talking with Gary and Patty over the years about life in general, racing and just whatever else would come up.
Gary and I had reserved season parking spots for many years at Williams Grove and most every Friday, we’d arrive at the track at the same time and he would always greet me and we’d shoot the crap walking to the pit area some nights. And on some nights, Gary and Patty were leaving at the same time as I was, perhaps on a night when his familiar No. 88 sprint car won the feature. I would always congratulate Gary on the win.
Gary was proud of sprint car team, and he had every reason to be so proud. He might not have had the flashiest team in the pits, might not have spent the most money, but one thing was for certain, his sprint car was always competitive and could be found near the front of the field in nearly every race it entered.
Starting way back in 1981 with the late Maynard Yingst, the Beam No. 88 was a staple in the sprint car pit area every weekend after that for 30 years.
He and Patty have over 170 career feature wins along with many track championships but nothing compared to the seasons he spent with long-time driver Todd Shaffer.
Beam and Shaffer shared the most success, racking up 136 career wins and 14 track championships during their near 20 years together . He ranks among the top 10 all time winningest car owners at Williams Grove and Port Royal Speedway’s as well.
Beam’s success as a car owner found him (and Patty) being inducted into the York County Racing Club Hall of Fame in 2008.
Gary Beam was a true icon of sprint car ownership, a great businessman and a good person. While it’s very sad that Gary has passed on, I do know that all of the suffering that he has endured is gone. There is no more pain and that is never a bad thing. I’ve always believed in quality of life over quantity of life. Gary certainly lived a quality life while he was able but unfortunately, Gary had to deal with the downside of life as well for too many years.
To Patty, you are in my thoughts and prayers and I send deepest condolences to you on the loss of your best friend and husband, Just remember how many lives he touched during his time on earth and all of the great things he was able to accomplish. May peace be with you at this very sad time.
PIT STOPS
The 2012 Williams Grove Speedway racing season will come to an end Saturday night with the running of the Fallfest. The features only program will include events for the 410 Sprints, 358 Sprints, Super Sportsman and 358 Late Models. During the program, the 2012 track champions will be honored and all of the top 10 drivers will be honored following the event. Champions to be honored will be Greg Hodnett (410 Sprints), Pat Cannon (358 Sprints), Frankie Herr (Super Sportsman) and Gene Knaub (late models).
Susquehanna Speedway Park will present the Miller’s Racing Parts Fall Classic this weekend. The event, which is highlighted by a $2,500 to win street stock feature on Saturday night will also include events for the Xtreme Stocks, Classic Cars and Four-Cylinders.
Fuel samples from last Friday night race winner Daryn Pittman’s 410 Sprint car were sent away for testing this week after post race inspection found the fuel to be cloudy. Williams Grove did not pay Pittman’s Heffner Racing team and will hold the pay pending results of the test. It was Pittman’s first win of the season at Williams Grove and also kept his consecutive winning streak alive at the track, having won five straight years.
Jason Sides and Craig Dollansky were winners with the World of Outlaws last weekend at I-55 Raceway. Both events were rained out features from earlier this season with Sides’ first WoO win of the year coming in the Spring Classic while Dollansky topped the Ironman 55.
The All Star Circuit of Champions had its season finale at Eldora Speedway rained out last weekend and Tim Shaffer is your 2012 All Star National series point champion.
Email reaches me at
Bvores@comcast.net.

10/11

The drivers- Eric Tomecek and Pat Cannon.

The owners- John Westbrook and Zane Highlands.

These drivers and respective car owners will battle for the 2012 Williams Grove Speedway Tool Sheds of America 358 Sprint car point title in the final regular season race of the season at the track.

Heading into the finale, Tomecek leads Cannon by 50 points after a long season of events as Tomecek looks for his first track title and also the first for his car owner Westbrook.

Westbrook turned into sprint car owner several years ago after suffering a life changing injury at the Grove. Westbrook was paralyzed in a hard crash while racing his 358 sprint car.

After his injury and extensive rehabilitation, Westbrook is now fielding one of the top cars in the 358 sprints ranks and would like nothing more than to capture that first title.

On the other side, Cannon and Highlands are no strangers to wins and championships.

In fact, should Cannon win the title, it will be his record breaking fifth Williams Grove title. He won titles in 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2011 with the Highlands team. The team did miss one race this season at the Grove as they competed in a bigger paying 360 sprint car race at Selinsgrove Speedway.

Both drivers have won one feature this season at Williams Grove while 13 different drivers have captured a win in the division.

MORE RACING THIS WEEKEND

While the racing season gets shorter with each passing week, there are still some events on this weekend’s race schedule.

Of course, Friday night will be the season final point race for the 410 and 358 Sprints at Williams Grove. Greg Hodnett has already wrapped up the Lawrence Chevrolet 410 Sprint championship.

Both Lincoln and Port Royal Speedway’s will be in action Saturday night and both will feature the 410 Sprint cars in their season finales.

Lincoln’s show will be a 410 and 358 Sprint car program joined by the thundercars, going in their final points race of the season. Duane Watson is in the drivers seat for another thundercar title.

At the Port, it will be the rained out Labor Day Classic to bring the season to an end with $4,500 going to the winner of the 410 sprint car main. The Super Sportsman join the program.

PIT STOPS

The All Star Circuit of Champions will bring a close to its season Saturday at Eldora Speedway where Tim Shaffer will wrap up another season championship. He will become only the third driver in the history of the series to win four straight national titles, joining Kenny Jacobs and Chad Kemenah. Dale Blaney is the Ohio region points champion while Daryn Pittman won the East region points.

While the official press release hasn’t been released, it appears Daryn Pittman will join Kasey Kahne Racing on the World of Outlaws tour in 2013 replacing Joey Saldana. Pittman has spent the past few seasons driving for Mike Heffner in Central Pennsylvania.

As for Heffner, it will be interesting to see what direction he goes with his team. Does he stick with the “big name” driver or will a Central PA racer get a shot in the car. Expect Heffner to make an announcement soon.

Doug Esh posted on his Facebook page that his car owners Dick and Leslie Leach are retiring from sprint car ownership and he will be joining a new team in 2013. The Leach’s along with several of the Leach Motorsports sponsors will stick with Esh with his new team, which remains unnamed.

With six races remaining on the schedule this season, Greg Hodnett and Danny Dietrich are a in tight battle for the Speedway Motors Central PA 410 sprint series championship. Following last weekend’s events, Dietrich closed to within 61 points of Hodnett. The champ gets a $5,000 check and the runner-up gets $3.000.

Hagerstown Speedway is now taking pre-entries for the upcoming Brawl in Fall, October 27-28. The event, which replaces the Octoberfest 30 will still feature Big block Modifieds, late models and 410 Sprints but the 358 Sprints have been added to this year’s program. The modifieds and late models will go in 50 lap features while both sprint car classes compete in 30 lap features. If more than 35 cars are entered in the three premiere division, each race will pay $10,000 to win but with divisions with less then 36 cars, it will pay $7,500 to win. The 358 sprint winner will earn a $3,000 paycheck.

Email reaches me at

Bvores@comcast.net.

9/27

This weekend’s 50th annual World of Outlaws National Open at Williams Grove Speedway could possibly be the last time (at least for a while) we see the “Posse versus the Outlaws” on the same playing field.
With the tire rule for 2013 and beyond still up in the air on both sides of the fence, depending on which direction the Outlaws and which direction Williams Grove and Central Pennsylvania in general go, it could throw a big kink into the big rivalry as we currently know.
But heading into the biggest race of the year in Pennsylvania, nothing has been decided and all we know is that the Posse will be looking to get the National Open trophy back on home soil after being defeated the last two years.
In the past, Williams Grove and other local speedway’s have followed the Outlaws in the rule package, including the always discussed tire rule. The consistent rules put all drivers on the same page for tire setups and such. But all that could change.
Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company have served both parties for the past three seasons but the Outlaws have already announced that they will be going a different direction in 2013.
Despite talk, no tire deals have been signed on the Outlaw side but sources point to a deal going down with American Racer.
On the local side of the tire battle, tire testing has recently taken place as tracks look to pinpoint their decision on how they will go in 2013. And unlike in the past when it appeared money was the determining factor, things could very well be different this time around.
“Kathy (Hughes) has made no decision at all” stated Williams Grove general manager Justin Loh about the tire rule. “Obviously we’d like to get tire prices under $200 and get a tire that doesn’t make the track go to crap on race night as well. Everything will be taken into affect and hopefully we will have some sort of decision by November. We just want to make sure we do the right thing.”
No matter what decision will be made, it will be a guarantee that it won’t make everyone happy in the pit area and nothing will really change on that front. It’s just the nature of the beast in sprint car racing.
But no matter what happens down the road, there is some big money on the line this weekend at Williams Grove where a stellar field of 410 sprint car drivers are expected to fill the Williams Grove pit area.
Leading the way will be four-time WoO champion Donny Schatz who has turned a once tight point battle into a near runaway over the past month and Schatz can get around the Grove as good as anyone. He owns 15 career wins at the track and will be looking to continue his recent hot streak this weekend.
Hoping to be up the challenge for the Posse will be 2009 National Open winner and current Lawrence Chevrolet points leader Greg Hodnett, who leads in the win column at the Grove this year with five wins, including last Friday night.
Hodnett has been the Outlaw Killer over the past five seasons at Williams Grove but has not won an Outlaw show in 2012. He would like to get car owner John Trone his first career Open win.
Jason Meyers, who left the WoO tour this season after two straight championships is the defending National Open winner. He won both nights of the Open a year ago but will not be on hand to defend.
Schatz and Hodnett will have a tough field of challengers to go to battle with including the likes of Craig Dollansky, Sammy Swindell, Steve Kinser, Joey Saldana and more from the Outlaws while Danny Dietrich, Paul McMahan, Brian Leppo, Brian Montieth, Lance Dewease and Fred Rahmer could provide a healthy dose of competition. A hefty $50,000 goes to the winner of the Open.
Teenage sensation Kyle Larson will make his National Open debut this weekend piloting Tom Buch’s No. 13 sprinter.
Larson will compete at Dover Downs on Friday afternoon in the K & N series race and then will fly via helicopter to Williams Grove, landing on the Williams Grove Grangers grounds across from the speedway following his race at Dover.
Larson won last Saturday’s K & N race at New Hampshire then flew to Eldora Speedway where he won the midget race before taking a violent flip in the sprint car feature.
Off track action at the National Open this weekend will include the Jeff Gordon’s Child Cancer Foundation Kick-It Tournament on Friday and the National Open Chili Cookoff and the EMMR Auction on Saturday.
PIT STOPS
Williams Grove’s final points races for the 410 and 358 sprints will be on Friday, October 12 with point fund trophies and championship money being awarded during the season-ending FallFest on October 20.
Carlisle’s Frankie Herr came out on top of a great battle with Russ Mitten to win the 2012 Super Sportsman championship. The final points race was held at Susquehanna Speedway on Saturday night where Herr raced home fourth while Mitten suffered a flat tire and returned to finish ninth.
Dale Blaney survived five rain delays and attrition to win his first WoO sanctioned event last Saturday at Lernerville Speedway. Blaney inherited the lead when both front running cars of Craig Dollansky and Paul McMahan went to the pits with motor woes. He won over Schatz, Jason Sides, Joey Saldana and Jac Haudenschild.
Darrell Lanigan continued his career year on the WoO Late model tour with his 15th win of the year Saturday at Berlin Raceway. His 41st career WoO win was worth $20,650. Both his win totals are records for the series. He leads Rick Eckert by 210 points.
New Oxford’s Scott Gobrecht clinched the 2012 Central PA Legends championship by six points. Gobrecht had one win and 24 top 10 finishes in 28 starts this season.
Sprint car owner Rob Sell says his team will be making a big announcement soon and with his son Derek concentrating on his education at Penn State University, look for Fred Rahmer to be named the driver of the Sell car joined by some of Rahmer’s past sponsors.
Email reaches me at
Bvores@comcast.net.