Trending
Racing continues the next two days in Central Pennsylvania, weather permitting.
Tonight two area tracks have scheduled memorial races honoring respected racers – one, a nationally known promoter, the other a car owner.
Jack Gunn operated Williams Grove, Selinsgrove, Hagerstown and Penn National speedways. All enjoyed success under his leadership. Selinsgrove Speedway honors Gunn this evening with the 36th edition of his memorial race. The 360 sprint car feature is sanctioned by the United Racing Club. Super late models, pro stocks and roadrunners are also scheduled to compete.
Weldon Sterner fielded sprint cars in our region. Van May was his best known pilot. The pair frequented Lincoln and Williams Grove speedways. Lincoln presents a 33-lap 410 sprint car feature tonight. The 410 sprint cars are joined by their 358 counterparts and the All American Outlaw Series, Both Selinsgrove and Lincoln speedways offer increased purse money to race teams.
Port Royal Speedway is coming off a successful All Star Circuit of Champions program last Saturday. Tony Stewart’s group joined the PA Posse in presenting a top notch show. The inaugural Keith Kauffman Classic was a huge success.
There’s Sunday racing, too. Fred Rahmer presents his first Path Valley Speedway program tomorrow. In fact there are actually two events there tomorrow. A truck and tractor pull will be presented at Hammond Grove starting at 2 p.m then 410 sprint cars and 600 cc micro sprints follow at Path Valley.
Super late model fans have an extra race tomorrow. The opening day of Hesston Speedway includes super late model racing plus sportsman late models, street stocks, hobby stocks and four-cylinders. Hesston will also be in action next week with an added purse super late model program.
Gregg Satterlee is one of the state’s hottest late model commodities right now. Satterlee has already won locally. Last week was the Indiana, Pa., driver’s most impressive triumph yet. Satterlee outran the driver many consider the best dirt late model driver in the country, Scott Bloomquist. Satterlee passed Bloomquist and went on to win the Stanley Schetrompf Memorial Race at Hagerstown Speedway. The program was sanctioned by the Lucas Oil Late Model Series. Saterlee will join PA Sports Network host Jed Donahue this morning at 11:30 to talk racing. The program can be heard locally on WIEZ-AM 670.
I spoke with local late model ace Tim Wilson Thursday about his progress this season. Wilson continues to shake down a new Mastersbilt racer purchased last season.
“We threw a lot at the car and learned a lot last weekend,” Wilson said. “We gained on it and got better. We’ve only raced five times so far and we just need to run it to get better.”
Wilson will campaign at Port Royal this evening.
“We’ll probably sit out Hesston this week and go back for the $3,000 to win race there next weekend,” he said.
Tony Stewart seemed to be everywhere last weekend. Stewart was at Port Royal and Selinsgrove speedways promoting his All Star Circuit of Champions sprint car programs. At Richmond, Stewart successfully returned to Sprint Cup action after recuperating from back injuries suffered in an off-road accident last winter. Finally, Stewart criticized NASCAR for its lug nut policy, which allowed teams to leave wheel nuts loose with out penalty. For that, Stewart was fined $35,000 dollars by NASCAR.
The Drivers Council paid Stewart’s fine. NASCAR later returned to prior policy requiring all lug nuts be tightened during pit stops. Will NASCAR rescind Stewarts fine? I feel that would be appropriate. What do you think?
Stewart will share driving time with Ty Dillon tomorrow at Talladega. Stewart will start the race and hope to race to the first caution period before allowing Dillon to take over. Stewart plans to return full time starting at Kansas.
The current All Star Circuit of Champions are much improved. Dale Blaney can win anywhere. Blaney proved that last week at Port Royal. Brother Dave Blaney proved he’s still one of the best sprint car racers ever by starting 24th and finishing fourth in the Port Royal A-main. Danny Dietrich got the PA Posse back on track winning Sunday night at Selinsgrove.
Finally it was nice to speak to All Star Race Director Don Grabey last week end. Grabey and wife are natives of Reading and Selinsgrove, respectively. Grabey mentioned he was involved with the last World of Outlaws dirt race at Bristol Motor Speedway. Grabey indicated he’s heard chatter about interest in doing something at Bristol again. The logistics and clean up are a challenge. I have no idea if anything will materialize but the facility is being used this fall for NCAA football. During the recent Sprint Cup race reports indicate the facility was at about 40 percent of capacity. Hopefully some dirt races merit consideration.
Have a great racing week end. Until next time remember speed is for the speedway, not the highway!
Craig Rutherford writes about motorsports for The Sentinel.