Local Racing
Dietrich Wins Again at Selinsgrove
SELINSGROVE, PA (June 28, 2020 – Pittsburgh Racing Now): Danny Dietrich was the first driver to double-up during the 30th Annual Pennsylvania Sprint Car Speedweek, grabbing the checkers at Selinsgrove Speedway in the 17th running of the Jan Opperman and Dick Bogar Memorial. The victory was worth $5,099 for the driver from Gettysburg and it boosted him to the unofficial lead in Speedweek points. The race was also notable in that Kyle Larson’s streak of seventeen consecutive races finishing first or second came to a halt. He was third on this night.
Dietrich credited his crew for making a last minute change to the car before rolling it onto the track for the A Main. “We changed the right rear, we put a harder tire on. Man, I could rip the top or go to the bottom. In the clean air I was sliding the track to get some heat in the tire.” Not only was the tire a harder compound, but it was a left-over from Dietrich’s trip to Florida in February. The tire choice proved to be correct, as the race went non-stop, and his car really came alive over the last ten to fifteen laps.
Dietrich was paired with Rico Abreu on the front row for the 30 lap affair. Brock Zearfoss, the night’s fastest qualifier, lined up third, while Freddie Rahmer, Jr. was on his flank. Anthony Macri and Ryan Smith occupied row three, Larson and Sammy Swindell row four, and Logan Wagner and Brent Marks row five.
Dietrich got the jump at the green flag, with Abreu close behind him. Zearfoss and Rahmer raced ahead of Macri and Larson. Abreu remained within striking distance over the first half of the contest. Indeed, he executed a bold slider in turn three to take the lead with twelve laps in the books. However, Dietrich rallied four laps later to regain the lead and he was never headed.
Meanwhile, Rahmer and Zearfoss were trading third place back and forth. Soon, Macri and Larson joined the mix. This group of cars caught up with Abreu and now the battle was for the second spot.
Larson worked his way into third and started to close in on his diminutive friend. The pair put on quite a battle over the last ten laps, with Macri joining for the final few rounds. Macri’s bid for a podium finish ended though when he jumped the cushion in turn two and brushed the outside wall. He kept the car going and did not lose any positions..
Dietrich took the checkers over five seconds ahead of Abreu. Then came Larson and Macri. Zearfoss rounded out the top five. Rahmer, Marks, Smith, Blaine Heimbach, and Logan Wagner completed the top ten.
Heat victories were scored by Smith, Larson, Dietrich, and Rahmer. The B Main went to Justiin Whittal. Zearfoss’s time was 17.179 for the big half mile. Chad Layton flipped out of the park between turns three and four in his heat race. He was not hurt, but he was done for the night.
Nitro Nick Swigart won the non-stop 305 Sprint nightcap. Kassidy Kreitz was second, followed by Ken Duke, Landon Price, and Ron Aurand. Derek Hauck, Erin Statler, and Duke took their preliminaries. Kyle Keen won the B Main.
Selinsgrove Speedway will be dark this Saturday in support of the Speedweek finale to be held at Port Royal Speedway. The next event at Selinsgrove will be July 11 when the track hosts the 20th Annual 360 National Open. Also on the card will be the 305 Sprints and Limited Late Models. Rain checks from the Speedweek program will be good for a $5 discount at the gate for the 360 National Open. Speedweek will return to Lincoln Speedway for round four on Monday night in a Sprints only program.
SARVER, PA (April 26, 2024) AJ Flick picked up his first Peoples Natural Gas Sprint Car win of 2024 at Lernerville Speedway on Friday night and Michael Norris made it back-to-back wins in the Late Model Division.
Flick started fourth on the grid and passed leader and pole-sitter Carl Bowser using the bottom side on lap 8 while Bowser worked the high side. Bowser wouldn’t go away easily, pulling side-by-side with Flick at the halfway mark. Flick eventually was able to hold Bowser at bay, building a three-second lead as he encountered lap traffic.
A caution flag with five-laps-to-go bunched up the field but Flick got an impressive restart and kept the field at bay to pick up the victory. Bowser finished second and Michael Bauer finished third after starting eighth.
“I didn’t expect it to slick off as much as it did,” Flick said about the track conditions. “It was odd because it wasn’t really wide but yet the actual racing groove was getting slick and starting to come in already. I missed it in the heat race, but come feature time it seems like we’re starting to dial it in a bit more.”
Norris started 10th and put on a clinic coming through the field to make it two straight at ‘The action Track.’
“Luck was on our side tonight,” Norris said. “I always seem to have late race cautions. Thanks to John Garvin for leaving me a lane, he got me pretty good on that last restart but I knew as long as I could be even with him going into turn one, the top was so good and it was.”
Erick Rudolph made the trip to Sarver from Ransomville, New York and it paid off. Rudolph took home the feature victory in the Diehl Automotive Big Block Modified main event.
“There’s something about Lernerville Speedway,” said Rudolph. “It’s one of my favorite tracks in the country and anytime we get a chance to come down here it’s always something we look forward to.”
Tyler Dietz proved to be the class of the field once again, garnering his first feature win in the Millerstown Pic-A-Part Pro Stock main event. Dietz survived a late race restart and held off front row starter Tim Bish and a hard charging Chris Schneider to grab the checkered flag.
“I kind of thought that he (Bish) was going to take the bottom,” Dietz stated, remarking about the crucial restart. “I was hoping he would go high because I think I was better up high but I just never got the chance to go up there.”
PITTSBURGH, PA (April 24, 2025) The Historic Stock Car Racing Association (HSCRA) is joining the lineup of racing groups at this year’s Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix (PVGP) Historics at Pittsburgh International Race Complex. This is the first time the HSCRA will race in the PVGP Historics 3-day weekend, July 26 to 28, 2024.
“We are thrilled to welcome the HSCRA to our 2024 event,” said Dan DelBianco, Executive Director of the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix. “Their participation not only broadens the appeal of the PVGP Historics but also aligns with our mission to celebrate all automotive history. This is a fantastic opportunity for race fans of all types to witness the power and beauty of historic stock cars in action.”
The HSCRA, renowned for its commitment to preserving and celebrating the history of stock car racing, will bring a new dimension to the PVGP Historics. The group is open to all stock cars that ran in one of the major NASCAR series.
“The HSCRA is anxious to bring NASCAR to Pittsburgh,” said Carlus Gann of HSCRA. “We look forward to making this a regular stop on our tour. Western Pennsylvania has deep roots in racing, and building a world-class track at Pitt Race in Beaver County makes it a perfect fit.”
The most popular class is Generation 4 Cup cars built for the 1992-2007 seasons. During this era, teams built a few cars for the two road courses on the schedule.
“We are hoping for a full field of meticulously restored stock cars,” added Chris Evans of the HSCRA. “Former NASCAR winners like Joe Nemechek and a competitive lineup of today’s top historic stock car drivers will be on hand.”
Gary Moore, a seasoned participant in over a dozen PVGP races, knows the intricacies and challenges of the Pitt Race track. Moore will be showcasing his 1969 Mercury Cyclone (right), victoriously driven by Cale Yarborough, exclaiming, “It’s quite the adventure behind the wheel!”
The HSCRA will have a practice session in the morning and a qualifying race in the afternoon on Friday, July 26. A morning and afternoon practice session on Saturday, July 27. Sunday, July 28 will see the HSCRA have a short morning warm-up prior to being one of the featured Sunday afternoon races.
The Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix Motorsport Festival features two weekends of racing action. The first weekend is the PVGP Historics at Pittsburgh International Race Complex. The second weekend is racing through a 2.33-mile road course set on the streets of Pittsburgh’s Schenley Park. In addition to the race weekends, the PVGP stages car shows, parties, road rallies, and a black-tie formal. The PVGP’s mission is to provide residential care, treatment and support for people with autism and intellectual/developmental disabilities – donating $6.7 million to charity since 1983.
IMPERIAL, PA (April 20, 2024) Aliquippa’s Tim Shaffer started on the pole position and survived several caution flags and restarts to win the Herb Scott Memorial Saturday night at Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway (PPMS).
“Boy I earned that one huh,” said Shaffer following the race. “These wins just keep getting better and better. Herb Scott won a lot of features and I have a long way to go to catch him, but my career went on the road and it became hard to win races. It’s kind of back home racing now for me and it’s a lot of fun.”
Brock Pinkerous and Dave Hess Jr. staged an epic battle over the last several laps with Pinkerous scoring an emotional runner-up finish.
“Congrats to Tim on the win,” said Pinkerous, who hails from Ellenville, NY. “He’s really good at this track. Him and Dave are legends around this area. It’s really cool to battle with them; they raced me clean and I raced them clean. Even though we didn’t win tonight, this is for my uncle tonight who passed away about a month ago. I hope he’s watching over us tonight, and I really love you uncle Chris.”
“We were really good on those restarts,” said Hess, the 39-year-old Waterford, Pa. driver. “A little tweak to the car and maybe a gear change and we could have had something for the leaders. Once those two (Shaffer and Pinkerous) got rolling, they were a little better than I was.”
Kyle Lukon finished fifth and Logan Roberson rounded out the Top 5.
A Feature (30 Laps): 1. 45-Tim Shaffer[1]; 2. 555-Brock Pinkerous[4]; 3. 44-Dave Hess Jr[21]; 4. 184-Kyle Lukon[5]; 5. 17R-Logan Roberson[19]; 6. 10S-Joe Martin[16]; 7. 36-Cody Dawson[7]; 8. 3J-Jeremy Wonderling[10]; 9. 42-Daryl Charlier[6]; 10. 184C-Justin Chance[13]; 11. 21J-Jim Rasey[24]; 12. 184P-Cole Petrelle[20]; 13. 77-Tom Klein[23]; 14. 57-Charlie Sandercock[11]; 15. 36B-Colby Beighey[15]; 16. 18-Mike Wonderling[25]; 17. 29-Ryan Hare[17]; 18. 60H-Brian Huchko[22]; 19. 9R-Mike Reft[14]; 20. 25-Zachary Kane[9]; 21. 72B-Kassidy Kamicker[18]; 22. 75-Jared Miley[3]; 23. 60-Brandon Burgoon[2]; 24. 14AJ-AJ Miller[8]; 25. 14G-Jake Gunn[12]
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