Dirt Racing
Peck and Blair Dominate at Williams Grove
WILLIAMS GROVE, PA (March 26, 2021): Justin Peck, of Monrovia, IN, and Max Blair, of Titusville, PA, scored their first career victories at the venerable William Grove Speedway. Peck’s 410 Sprint car win was his second of the season in the mid-state area, while Blair’s ULMS Late Model triumph was his 31st with the traveling band.
Peck was happy to throw a monkey off his back at Williams Grove. “It feels real good because I was here a few times last year and I really sucked.” At the time, Peck was driving for veteran car owner John Trone, and things just did not work out for the team. Now Peck is the hired gun for the Pennsylvnia-based All Star team fielded by Tom Buch, and he couldn’t be happier. “We’ve seemed to hit it pretty well, We’ve been fast every time we hit the track.” Peck’s other win came at Port Royal Speedway. He also has a second to his credit at Lincoln Speedway. His overall performances have put him atop the prestigious Central Pennsylvania overall standings, a spot that he will relinquish when the All Stars northern schedule kicks off in a few weeks time.
Peck was fortunate in drawing good starting positions this night. He started on the pole and dominated his heat race. He lined up second for the feature event. Veteran T.J. Stutts snookered him on the initial start, but Peck got a second chance when Hunter Mackison brought out the first caution of the event. Peck was better prepared on the second try and he powered off turn four with a scant lead that he stretched over the first half of the race.
Behind Stutts and Peck for the start of the race were Steve Buckwalter and Mackison. Kyle Reinhardt and Ryan Taylor were in row three. The luck of the draw assigned a pair of 39s to row four, with Tyler Dietz on the inside and Anthony Macri on the outside. Kerry Madsen and Freddie Rahmer, Jr. occupied row five, with Justin Henderson and Brandon Rahmer pulling the two worst pills available. Tim Shaffer took off from position 14, while Matt Campbell departed from position 17. In the very last starting position was Danny Dietrich, who made the race as an alternate when Brett Shearer scratched from the event.
Peck sailed into the first turn with a two car length advantage over Stutts when the race was officially underway. Buckwalter and Reinhardt led Dietz and Taylor in the early going. A bobble by Reinhardt allowed Dietz to move ahead with three laps in the books.
The top five ran in order, but the margins grew, especially for Peck and Stutts. However, racers were making moves to gain entry into the top ten. Rahmer Jr. and Shaffer were showing th emost progress, while Macri was able to crack into the top ten by the time the halfway sign was shown to the field.
Tyler Courtney was challenging Macri for the position when he looped it in turn four with fourteen laps completed. While there were no changes up front on the restart, Shaffer quickly picked off two cars in turn one to snag fifth spot. Shaffer passed Buckwalter for fourth just as the second caution flag waived on lap 15. This time, it was for Robbie Kendall stopping on the front stretch. So, Shaffer had to surrender the position for the restart.
It took Shaffer two more trips around the old half mile to regain the fourth position. While he drew close to Dietz over the remainder of the race, he could not pull off the pass. Meanwhile, Peck and Stutts were gone.
A final caution appeared on lap 24 when Macri stopped in turn four, which set up a one lap dash for the cash. Peck blasted away from Stutts and corssed under the checkers for a $5,500 pay day. Stutss was second, followed by Dietz and Shffer. Buckwalter held on for fifth. Then came Rahmer, Jr., Reinhardt, Taylor, Dietrich and Madsen.
Heat wins were chalked up by Peck, Stutts, and Macri. The B Main went to Lucas Wolfe. Fan favorite Lance Dewease scratched from the B Main.
In the ULMS Late Models, Blair earned the pole position by setting the fast time in the pole scamble. Next to him was Andy Haus. Coleby Frye and Mike Lupfer made up the second row. The other scramble participants, Dylan Yoder and Kyle Lee had the third row. Drake Troutman and Gene Knaub were in the fourth row, with Jason Covert and Shaun Jones in row five. Ryan Scott and Gary Stuhler rolled away from the sixth row.
Blair, pictured above after his Firecraker 100 win at Lernerville last year, took command from the start and Haus raced along in second. Frye was a close third, with Lee, Yoder, Covert, and Troutman following. The field got strung out, but Troutman was able to capitalize upon an error by Covert.
As in the Sprint Car feature, the caution was displayed on lap 14 when Deshawn Gingerich spun in turn one. On the restart, Covert slipped by the teenager, Troutman, and he began to press Yoder for fifth. Covert gained the position and soon thereafter he began to work on Lee for fifth.
With 18 laps completed, that battle was getting hotter. There as slight contact between Lee and Covert in turn four, but they were able to keep moving. Troutman was not as fortunate, as he spun to avoid contact with Lee and Covert.
Blair went on to complete the remaining dozen laps without incident. Frye and Covert worked by Haus, who started to fade with just a few laps left in the race. Yoder crossed in fifth. Lee, Jones, Knaub, Justin Weaver, and Scott completed the top ten.
Heat wins went to Lupfer, Blair, and Yoder. There was no B Main. Brian Bernheisel sailed out of the park in his heat race and had to be extricated from his car. Bernheisel was taken to a local hospital complaining of back pain, but no word of his condition was released by the conclusion of the program.
Blair’s win was quite a relief. He spent most of the week with his son at Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh. The youngster returned home and remained with his mother to watch the race. They had to relocate to a friend’s home though because the high winds knocked out the power to the Blair homestead. It feels really cool to win a race here,” Blair noted. “We’ve been here a few times before and now I will look forward to coming back.”
The ULMS Late Models will be back on the card in two weeks, along with the 410 Sprints. On Good Friday, Williams Grove will host a Sprint Car triple header. Joining the 410 Sprints will be the USAC East Coast traditional (non-wing) Sprints and the PASS/IMCA 305 Sprints. Coming up on April 16 will be the first visit of the All Stars Circuit of Champions Sprint Cars for the annual Tommy Classic. That race honors the late Hall of Famer, Tommy Hinnershitz.
MECHANICSBURG, PA (June 5, 2026): Troy Wagaman, Jr. cashed in on the opportunities given to him to win the Lynn Paxton Classic at Williams Grove Speedway. The second win of the season for the defending track champion and current points leader was his first ever with the All Stars Circuit of Champions, which celebrated fifty-five years of competition at the famed oval. Wagaman received $8,000 for his efforts, matching his payday from the Tommy Classic held earlier in the season.
Wagaman benefitted from two miscues by Danny Dietrich, who had led from the start of the non-stop thirty lapper. The first came on lap fifteen, when Dietrich narrowly avoided disaster coming off turn two. The other came ten laps later when Dietrich slid out of the groove between turns three and four.
“I don’t know if I would have gotten him,” Wagaman said modestly.
He was trailing Dietrich by nearly 1.6 seconds in the middle of the race, but Wagaman squeezed between Dietrich, a lapped car, and the backstretch guard rail to take the lead. Preston Lattomus nearly spun at the exit to turn two, Dietrich came up on him quickly, made slight contact, and almost spun as well, but there was just enough room for Wagaman to scoot by. “I thought he missed it, got too close to the lapped car,” Wagaman explained.
Wagaman then built up a slight lead of his own, which evaporated in traffic. Dietrich drove under both Wagaman and the lapped car between turns three and four on lap twenty-four, but Wagaman came storming back on the next lap to regain the lead. Dietrich slid off the bottom in the same area, and Wagaman pounced. “Danny showed me the bottom. I was struggling on the top and I got down to the bottom after that.”
Wagaman, from Hanover, dedicated the win to his ailing grandmother, adding that he will get to see her on Sunday afternoon.
The starting line-up had a last minute shuffle when Lance Dewease got a flat while the cars were getting into formation. Dewease pitted for a fresh tire, but forfeited his second starting position. He rejoined the field for the start, and put in on an impressive drive to fourteenth from the rear of the twenty-six car field.
Dietrich thus moved to the front row, joining the Dash winner, Cale Thomas. Wagaman and Brady Bacon made up the second row, followed by Doug Hammaker and Kasey Kahne. Brock Zearfoss and T.J. Stutts came next. Chase Dietz and Parker Price Miller were in row five, and Austin Bishop was paired with Ryan “Fig” Newton in row six.
Dietrich wasted no time blasting into the early lead up on the cushion in turns one and two. Wagaman used a more conservative line to reach second. Thomas fell into line in third, ahead of Hammaker, Bacon, Stutts, and Kahne.
Dietrich seemed to have the race under control through the first half of the event. However, things changed suddenly on lap fifteen. He avoided a crash, but lost the lead. Dietrich wasn’t done quite yet, though.
Wagaman was still running the top in turns three and four despite having trouble getting past a lapped car. That allowed Dietrich to flash by on the inside to take the lead away. However, Wagaman came back to lead lap twenty-five when Dietrich slid up the track in almost the same place on the track.
Wagaman changed lines for the remainder of the race, and he paced himself off of the lapped cars, figuring that Dietrich would have to drive around them all if he were to make another bid for the win. However, Wagaman took the checkers 1.120 seconds ahead of Dietrich, who was driving his back-up car after crashing at Selinsgrove Speedway the night before.
Bacon, Stutts, and Dietz completed the top five. Zearfoss, Hammaker, Kahne, Price Miller, and Newton were the next five finishers.
J.J. Loss was the hard charger, advancing seven spots to finish thirteenth.
Kalib Henry, the current All Stars points leader and defending series champion, was the highest finisher from the tour, at seventeenth.
Hammaker, Dewease, Dietrich, and Kahne were the heat winners. Freddie Rahmer, Jr. won the B Main. Stutts was the fastest qualifier, lapping in 17.112 seconds in Group A. Dietrich was the best in Group B. His lap was 17.290 seconds. Thirty-eight cars checked in, including ten All Stars points chasers.
Ageless Steve Wilbur added another Wingless Sportsman victory to his resume. He led Tony Jackson for all twenty laps. “Tony’s hard to beat wherever we go, and to hold him off all of those laps was something,” Wilbur said. “It just feels so good to beat Jackson. I didn’t come all the way from Mechanicsburg to get my a$$ kicked,” he added with a laugh.
Wilbur claimed to use an old right rear tire dating back to his days at Silver Spring Speedway, which closed in 2005.
Cliff Brian, Jr. was third, one spot ahead of the hard charger, Brett Perigo. Brandon Shearer, Derek Shaffer, Brian Nace, Scott Smith, Curt Stroup, and John Edkin were fifth through tenth in the non-stop affair.
Jackson and Wilbur split the heat race wins. There was no B Main necessary for the nineteen car field.
Next Friday, Williams Grove Speedway will present fan appreciation night. All in attendance will get to mingle with the 410 and 358 Sprint Car racers in the front pit area before the start of the action. There will be free potato chips and candy during the pit party. Fireworks will also be part of the fun.
FRANKLIN, PA (May 31, 2026): A.J. Flick claimed his third championship in the Western Pennsylvania Speedweek. His first two titles came in 2023 and 2024.
“This whole week is so cool,” he said. He added, “I think consistency is important and I think that helped me.”
Flick started the week out very strongly, with wins at Michaels Mercer Raceway and Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Motor Speedway. He was fourth at Lernerville Speedway and fifth in the finale at Tr-City Raceway Park. His worst finish of the week was ninth at Sharon Speedway on Saturday night.
Flick was especially happy with his fifth place finish in the final round because he was not very comfortable in the car.
Other race winners during Speedweek were: Dale Blaney, at Lernerville, Logan Wagner, at Sharon, and Brandon Spithaler, at Tri-City.
Flick’s total earnings for the week were $14,750, which included the $3,000 championship stipend.
One other driver earned more than $10,000. That was Spithaler, who grossed $10.175.
Flick was one of sixteen drivers to enter all five events comprising Western Pennsylvania Speedweek. A total of sixty-one racers competed in at least one round of Speedweek.
The top ten drivers in the point standings shared the point fund, as follows:
- A.J. Flick, 452 points, $3,000
- Mark Smith, 412 points, $2,500
- Brandon Spithaler, 406 points, $2,000
- Jeremy Weaver, 393 points, $1,500
- Carl Bowser, 371 points, $1,000
- Michael Bauer, 368 points, $900
- Adam Kekich, 344 points, $800
- Brandon Matus, 338 points, $700
- Ricky Peterson, 320 points, $600
- Jacob Begenwald, 302 points, $500
Interestingly, one driver in the top ten in points missed a show along the way. Ricky Peterson was absent from Sharon because he had another commitment. He won the FAST on Dirt Sprint Car Series event at Skyline Speedway instead.
FRANKLIN, PA (May 31, 2026): Brandon Spithaler saved his best Speedweek performance for the final night of the five race series. The victory at Tri-City Raceway Park, his first of the season, netted the driver from Renfrew, PA a cool $6,000. He also finished third in Speedweek points, adding another $2,000 to his stash. Spithaler’s total winnings for the week amounted to $10,175, second only to the Speedweek champion, A.J. Flick.
Spithaler noted that “2026 hasn’t been very kind to us. We lost a motor, we trashed a car, we switched chassis. I think we’ve hit on something now.”
He added, “I felt like I was better than him, Ricky (Peterson, who finished a distant second). I was worried when he got by Logan (McCandless, the early leader), but I kept plugging away and I got by him (Peterson).”
Spithaler was especially good in traffic. He explained, “I am a fan of traffic. If we get a long run, I like picking my way through.”
Peterson, who held on for second place, had an opposite opinion about the traffic conditions. “I was really good early. I had issues with the lappers. I think I left a lane open for Brandon, and he got away from us.”
Mark Smith put on a strong charge in the second half of the race to grab the third position. He noted that it was a challenging night and that he changed some things around on his car between the heat and the feature. “We got it going, but it was a little too late. Maybe we needed 35 laps.”
The first ten positions in the starting line-up were reserved for the four heat winners and six of the fastest qualifiers.
Logan McCandless drew the pole position. He was joimed on the front row by the professor, Michael Bauer. Matt Farnham and A.J. Flick pulled the second row, followed by Peterson and Spithaler. Smith and Jeremy Weaver landed in row four. Then came Jared Zimbardi and D.J. Christie. Row six belonged to Tim Shaffer and John Jerich.
The initial start was waved off due to a crash between turns one and two, which claimed Jerich and Christie. Both cars tumbled, but neither driver was injured.
When the field was realigned for the start, Shaffer moved to the outside of row five and Bob Felmlee and Cody Bova became the new sixth row.
McCandless surged into the early lead, followed by Farnham, Bauer, Flick, Peterson, Spithaler, Weaver, Smith, Shaffer, Felmlee, and Zimbardi.
McCandless was exceptionally strong through the first half of the race. His lead grew to more than 1.8 seconds over Farnham through the first nine laps. Peterson moved into second position on lap ten. Gradually, he cut into McCandless’ advantage. On lap fifteen, the margin dwindled to just under a half a second.
Moving into the second half of the contest, McCandless began to have difficulty navigating through the traffic. Peterson narrowed the gap even further over the next few laps. On lap eighteen, Peterson drove by McCandless for the lead.
Meanwhile, Spithaler was closing in on both Peterson and McCandless. Spithaler moved ahead of McCandless on lap nineteen. Just one lap later, he passed Peterson in traffic.
In the final ten laps of the race, Spithaler was clearly superior to Peterson. The lead continued to grow with each lap. He was more than four seconds ahead of Peterson by lap twenty-six. The margin reached 5.338 seconds on the final lap.
Smith cracked the top five on lap sixteen. He held fourth from lap sixteen through lap twenty-nine. On the final trip around the big half mile, Smith moved into third.
McCandless held on for fourth, one spot ahead of Flick, who clinched the Speedweek championship with a steady performance. He was in or just outside the top five for the entire race.
Shaffer edged Farnham for sixth. Greg Wilson, Bauer, and Bova completed the top ten.
Flick, Weaver, Zimbardi, and Peterson won the heat races. Tyler Esh copped the B Main.
Brandon Matus was the night’s fastest qualifier. He topped Group A with a lap of 17.622. However, his night went downhill after that. While running in a transfer position on the last lap of his heat race, Matus flipped hard between turns three and four. His crew thrashed to get the car ready for the B Main with assistance from Spithaler and Weaver, among others. However, Matus finished fifth, with only four cars making the A Main.
Spithaler was the fastest member of Group B. His time was 17,796.
Blaze Myers took the lead on lap six of the RUSH Sprint Car feature and he cruised to an easy victory over Luke Mulichak. The early leader, Zach Morrow, finished in third. Brayden Blackshear and Samantha Priest were fourth and fifth. Lucas Roessner, Devon Deeter, Logen Lockhart, Grayson Bayle, and Ricky Tucker, III, rounded out the top ten. Myers and Roessner took the preliminaries.
The nightcap for the Mini Stock division went to Camden Franz. There was a constant three car battle for second throughout the fifteen lapper. Sheriff Tim Callahan prevailed, with Jordan Wheeler and Justin Forsyth following. Fifth went to Andy Thomson. Kevin Dotten, Michael Phillipson, Andrew Thompson, Ben Aley, and Jacob Wheeler were sixth through tenth.
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Opportunistic Wagaman Wins at Williams Grove
Heim holds off Honeycutt to win Truck race at Michigan
Flick is Speedweek King
Alex Palou and Chip Ganassi Racing win the pole position for the 110th Indianapolis 500
Alexander Rossi, Pato O’Ward and Romain Grosjean involved in multi vehicle crash during Indy 500 practice
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