Dirt Racing
Clanton Clobbers WoO LMS; Buckwalter Bags 410 Loot at Williams Grove
MECHANICSBURG, PA (August 19, 2022): Shane Clanton and Steve Buckwalter both went wire-to-wire to win their respective features at the Williams Grove Speedway. For Clanton, it was career win number 48 with the World of Outlaws Late Model Series. And, for Steve Buckwalter, it was his twelfth career 410 Sprint Car victory at the venerable oval.
Clanton noted that his car was “hooked up” and that “there was a big curb in three and four” that he could lean on while building a huge lead in the early part of the main event. Nonetheless, he “had concerns the whole time,” explaining that he “had a lot of tire wear in the heat race.” He concluded that he is “very comfortable” in his car right now and he was hoping to score some more wins this weekend. As teh series will move westward to Sharon Speedway and Tri-City Raceway Park, other facilities where he has had success before.
The WoO Late Models re-drew for the top six positions, with the heat winners and second place cars eligible for the prime starting spots. The luckiest fellow, at least before they dropped the green flag, was Ryan Gustin. Next to him was Clanton. Row two paired up the two top Rookie of the Year contenders, Tanner English and Max Blair. The third row was reserved for former champion, Rick Eckert, and the current points leader, Dennis Erb, Jr. Behind them were Dale Hollidge and Matt Cosner. Row five belonged to Josh Richards and Mason Zeigler. The sixth matched Jason Covert and Justin Weaver.
Although Gustin won the race to the first turn, he was no match for Clanton, who found the top to his liking very early in the race. Clanton rode the rim to a three car length lead coming off turn two and that was, probably, the closest that any competitors got to him except when the field was bunched up for a couple of restarts that occurred along the way.
Gustin, who went on to a third place finish, noted “this place is fast and I just kind of gave it away on the first lap before everybody got in line, and that was it.”
Blair quickly moved into second on the opening lap and he held that position throughout the contest. “There was a stretch there in the middle of the race, I was diamonding off the corners and I was making some time. I thought that if it stayed green, I may have a shot, but, after that caution, he (Clanton) took off.”
Clanton, Blair, and Gustin ran in that order for the entire fourty lap distance. Fourth place changed hands several times, though. English held it through the first half of the race, but Eckert claimed it soon thereafter. However, in the last ten laps, English regained the spot, minimizing his point loss to Blair on the night. As it finished, Blair picked up four on his rookie rival, cutting the margin to sixteen points with seventeen races left in the season.
“That rookie deal was mine to lose, and I gave the lead away,” Blair noted. “We will just take it one race at a time, and if we keep having finishes like this, we may get it back.”
After Clanton, Blair, Gustin, and English was Eckert. Eddie Carrier, Jr. led the next group across the finish line. With him were Erb, Richards, Hollidge, and Covert.
The three heat winners were Erb, Clanton, and Gustin. Taking the B Main was Kyle Hardy. Clanton was also the fastest qualifier on the night, at 19.636 seconds. So, the Georgia Bulldog made a clean sweep at Williams Grove.
Another driver who completed the sweep was Steve Buckwalter. As the winner of teh second heat, he had the outside front row starting position. On the pole was Alan Krimes. In row two, Tyler reeser lined up next to Jordan Givler, whose car carried the livery of the late Billy Kimmel, whose memory was honored this night. Rick Lafferty and Devon Borden launched from row three. In the fourth, it was Kyle Moody and T.J. Stutts. Chase Dietz and Bryn Gohn occupied row five. Row six had Robbie Kendall paired with Jason Schulz. Freddie Rahmer, Jr. and Lance Dewease were mired in row nine after encountering problems in their respective heat races.
Buckwalter stormed into the lead at the drop of the green, with Krimes, Givler, Borden, Reeser, and Dietz following. Buckwalter rode the rim through almost the entire race. However, there was a moment, on lap eleven, when he rolled through the middle in turns one and two to shoot the gap between Borden, who was coming hard on the bottom, and a lapped car.
“I freed the car up to run the top,” Buckwalter noted. “I knew that Borden would be tough with the track so sticky. . . . I saw Borden and then the yellow came out,” he added. “So, on the restarts, I picked up the pace.”
Buckwalter commented that he was driving a new car, built by Russ Mitten. Buckwalter’s team had tried to purchase another Maxim, but none were available, so they placed a call to Mitten, who was able to come through for them. They struggled for a while to get the set-up on the RPM chassis, so they reverted to what they were doing with the old Maxim and they found that to be a good combination.
Buckwalter also explained that he had some motor work done last week. They replaced the cam shaft, going back to an older piece. Unfortunately, the engine is “lapped out,” so the team will need to put their extra motor in the car while this one gets freshened. Buckwalter was hoping that the engine builder could put this cam shaft into the other motor before next week’s invasion of the All Star Circuit of Champions.
Borden took second on lap three and he remained there through the rest of the race. He did make a couple of runs at Buckwalter on restarts on laps fifteen and seventeen. Then, of course, there was the three-wide maneuver on lap eleven, which would not have counted even if he had pulled it off.
Rahmer raced his way to fifth in the first half of the race. He eventually got as high as third, but the car was sounding sour in the final laps. He lost that position to Lance Dewease, who clearly had the fastest car on the track in the last ten laps of the race.
The finish was Buckwalter, Borden, Dewease, Rahmer, and Dietz. The next five across the line were Moody, Krimes, Stutts, Givler, and Brent Shearer, who carried the number 48 for Danny Dietrich to maintain his points while off competing with the All Stars in the Empire State.
Next week will be the Jack Gunn Memorial. Twin twenty-lap features will be presented under the sanction of the All Stars. The support will be provided by an exhibition for vintage cars in conjunction with the Eastern Museum of Motor Racing. On September 2, The 410 and 358 Sprints will be in action. It will be the Joe Harz Tribute Race. The 358 Sprints will also have an enhanced purse on the line.
MECHANICSBURG, PA (October 3, 2025) – Chase Dietz, of York, PA, led a Posse sweep of four of the top five positions on night number one of the National Open Weekend at Williams Grove Speedway. Joining Dietz on the front stretch were second place finisher, Lance Dewease, and the third place runner, Danny Dietrich. Justin Whittall was fifth in the race. The only card carrying Outlaw was Carson Macedo, who led the first twenty-one laps before fading to fourth at the finish.
“I just want to soak it in,” Dietz said as he tried to catch his beath following the exhilarating victory, his first ever against the travelling band. Although Dietz noted that he had speed all year at the Grove, his team assembled a new car this week and, in doing so, they made a lot of changes. “The car was very maneuverable.”
Although Dietz ran most of the race in the top groove, he admitted, “I knew that the bottom was going to come in. I knew that I had to get down there before Lance (Dewease) did. I saw his nose.” As it turned out, Dietz barely got to the bottom ahead of Dewease, forcing the cagy veteran to move to the middle in the closing laps.
“We’re just extremely grateful to be here, this sport can be very humbling,” Dietz added. Even last year, when he was running his own cars, Dietz explained that they fought hard to be competitive with the Outlaws. Although they were winless, they showed good speed and had a podium finish against the Outlaws in the 2024 National Open. “I looked back at the nights when we didn’t win, and I tried to figure out what we needed to do to bet better.”
Dewease, who followed Dietz into second on lap twenty-two and wh briefly challenged him for the lead, commented, “the last three or four laps I wasn’t very good. The lapped cars made it interesting.”
Dietrich, who completed the podium for the Posse, felt that he may have had the fastest car in the final laps but, he added, “things didn’t go my way.” He explained that, when he did pass Dewease, he did not get enough of a gap on him, and that let him (Dewease) get back in.”
Macedo drew the pole for the Dash and his win in that event placed him on the pole for the twenty-five lap preliminary, which paid $12,000 to the winner. Dietrich lined up on his right, Dewease and Dietz made up row two, followed by David Gravel and Buddy Kofoid. Diason Pursley and Justin Whittall stacked our row four. Then came Daryn Pittman and Bill Balog. Row six paired Kody Hartlaub with Justin Peck.
The back of the field was almost as impressive as the first six rows. Back there were racers such as Kerry Madsen (fourteenth), Giovanni Scelzi (sixteenth), Brock Zearfoss (seventeenth), Brent Marks (eighteenth), Ryan Timms (nineteenth), Freddie Rahmer, Jr. (twentieth), Sheldon Haudenschild (twenty-first), Logan Schuchart (twenty-first), and Troy Wagaman (twenty-sixth).
Macedo held off Dietrich in turn one to assume control of the race. Dietz ran in third on the opening lap, but he drove under Dietrich in turn four to take over second one lap later. Dewease ran along in fourth, followed by Kofoid, Gravel, Whittall, Pittman, Pursley, and Balog in the early going.
The running order was pretty static through the first five or six laps. The top ten had a major shake-up on lap seven, though. Something broke on Pittman’s car in turn three, and he spun wildly toward the outside wall. In the process, he collected Pursley, Balog, and Hartlaub. Pittman and Pursely retired from the race due to the damage incurred, but Balog and Hartlaub were able to rejoin the field for the restart after pitting for repairs.
That fracas was the only caution of the race.
Macedo and Dietz resumed the battle for the lead on the restart. However, one lap later, Dewease moved into third, ahead of Dietrich, Kofoid, and Gravel. Whittall, Peck, Scelzi, and Rahmer made up the balance of the top ten. At that juncture, Wagaman was about six positions behind Rahmer in their race within the race for the point championship.
Through the middle stage of the race, Dietz began to close in on Macedo. Dewease continued in third, several car lengths behind the leaders. Dietrich was about the same distance back in fourth.
Dietz caught up to Macedo with about five or six laps remaining in the contest. He managed to pass Macedo on the inside of turn three on lap twenty-one, but Macedo countered in turn four to regain the lead.
Macedo dove to the inside heading into turn one, but he scrubbed off spme speed. Dietz was able to get some momentum coming through turn two and that propelled hin down the backstretch. He slid Macedo for the lead coming through turns three and four, and Dewease followed in his tire tracks to take over second coming off turn four.
Dietz missed the bottom entering turn one, and Dewease poked his nose under him going through the turn, Dietz recovered, and he got a good run off turn two to preserve his lead. Dietz then committed to the low line for the final laps, requiring Dewease to move more toward the middle of the track.
Dietrich dispatched Macedo and he got a run on Dewease near the end of the race. However, Dewease was able to reclaim second soon thereafter.
At the finish, it was Dietz by a tad under eight tenths of a second over Dewease. Dietrich was third, followed by Macedo and Whittall. Kofoid, Gravel, Scelzi,Peck, and Marks completed the top ten.
Rahmer was eleventh, and Wagaman sixteenth. Although Wagaman was the hard charger at plus ten, he lost valuable points to Rahmer. The two racers will be separated by 125 points, unofficially, heading into Saturday’s season finale.
Heat wins were scored by Gravel, Kofoid, Dewease, and Pursley. Ryan Newton won the non-qualifiers race. Kyle Spence recovered from a tipover in his heat race to capture the C Main. The B Main went to Haudenschild. Gravel was the evening’s fastest qualifier, with a lap of 16.409 seconds topping Group A. Dewease timed the best in Group B, with a lap of 16.760 seconds. Fifty-six cars participated in the event.
HARTFORD, OH (September 27, 2025) – Dale Blaney had the hometown crowd on their feet and screaming after winning the World of Outlaws feature Saturday Night at Sharon Speedway, the track owned for years by the Blaney family.
Blaney started fifth and passed Cole Macedo on lap 11 for the lead then held off a furious last lap charge by Buddy Kofoid to win by just 0.136 seconds for the $12,000 payday!
The victory was Blaney’s first World of Outlaws victory in 10-years, becoming the oldest winner in Series history at 61 years 7 months and 28 days. Blaney broke the previous record set by his older brother Dave when he won at 58 years of age in 2021 at Sharon.
“There’re so many good young race car drivers out here, but to win a race at 61 (years old) is awesome,” said Blaney. ““I had the feeling that I was never going to win an Outlaw race ever again. I don’t race much. This is our sixth race this year. I haven’t run in seven weeks. The car was awesome. We just got it back together this week. I don’t know what to say. It’s great and cool to win this at Sharon Speedway- it’s the only place I’ve run this year. This is a special freaking night. I know that.”
“I wanted traffic,” said Kofoid. “My car is usually amazing in traffic. He slipped up, and then I kind of got in his air and got me slipped up. And then I hit the wall coming to the checkered, and it shot me down the track. I tried to send it and was close. I’m just happy for Dale and Dave.”
Sheldon Haudenschild finished third follow by WoO points leader David Gravel in fourth. Logan Schuchart rounded out the Top 5.
The night however belonged to the Blaney family, who fittingly closed out the the first year of the new ownership group of Dave Blaney, Ryan Blaney, and Will Thomas III in Victory Lane.
ABBOTTSTOWN, PA (September 27, 2025): A persistent, localized drizzle forced a stoppage of the Fallen Heroes Memorial at the Lincoln Speedway. The event, which was originally dubbed the Fallen Firefighters Memorial, was expanded to give tribute to the three York County police officers recently slain while serving a subpoena.
Brett and Jordan Strickler, policemen in the area, honored the fallen officers on the wings of their 410 Sprint Cars.
The 410 Sprint Cars were ready to take to the track for their feature event when the rain set in for the second time of the night. A brief shower interrupted the heat races for the 358 Sprint Cars. However, after the rain stopped, the track crew and push truck operators quickly prepared the surface so that all qualifications could be completed.
The line-ups for both feature races are set, and the events will be completed on October 18, along with the full program for both divisions in the Final 50. So, fans will be treated to four features that evening.
The point races in both divisions will conclude on October 18.
Dallas Schott, Kyle Moody, and Billy Dietrich won the heat races for the 410 Sprinters. Ryan “Fig” Newton prevailed in the B Main. Troy Wagaman, Jr. was the fastest qualifier of the twenty-nine cars on hand. His time was an astonishing 12.855 seconds. He was one of four racers to turn sub-thirteen second laps.
In the 358 Sprint Car preliminaries, the checkers waved for Cameron Merriman, Logan Spahr, and Cody Fletcher. There were twenty-one 358 Sprints checked in for the contest.
On October 4, Lincoln Speedway will present AMA Flat Track Motorcycles and Quads. There will be no auto races in consideration of the National Open to be held at Williams Grove Speedway. The World of Outlaws will take on the Pennsylvania Posse on October 11. The Lincoln season will conclude with the blockbuster event, the Final 50 plus the held over features.
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