Williams Grove report 95-04-07

April 7, 1995 Mechanicsburg, PA Williams Grove Speedway Report

Greeting Sprint Car Race Fans! It was a beautiful night as Williams Grove held their first regular season Friday night show. Temperatures were mild as the show began and then got down right cold. The track looked excellent and proved to be a fast surface.

I am happy to report that John Armstrong the driver of the Z107 was released from the hospital last Sunday night after his horrifying crash last weekend. John and his wife were reported to be at the track on Friday night. It will be awhile though before he returns to racing since his one and only car was totaled in the crash. John wrote a note which was read to the drivers, team members and the fans over the PA system. Very heart warming note.

This weekend at the Grove featured the 410 Sprints and the Late Models which will hold an officially sanctioned STARS late model race in two weeks. Racing started exactly at 8 PM and the Sportsman feature finished shortly after 10 PM.

On hand this weekend I counted 30 of the 410 sprint cars taking the green flag in three heat races. The cars were handicapped for the heat races by high earners being placed in the rear. Each heat race was 10 laps in length with six to qualify. The first four finishing positions then were handicapped into the first 12 starting positions for the feature. I counted four cars making their first visit this season to the Grove (although I did miss the first race of the season). They were the #12F of John Fraker, the #38 of Buzz Wilson, #26 of Glen Fitzcharles and the #61 of Tony Greener.

As a reminder to all who read my reports green flags for the start of the race here at the Grove come between turns 3 and 4. For restarts the green flag waves at the end of the back stretch entering turn 3. After the first lap has been completed all restarts are single, file nose to tail.

The Williams Grove Speedway points standing prior to the race on Friday night was as follows: 1.) 461 Lance Dewease 1180 2.) 1 Billy Pauch 1175 3.) 88 Todd Shaffer 1060 4.) 69K Don Kreitz Jr. 1050 5.) 94 Dale Blaney 980 6.) 17E Cris Eash 970 7.) 66K Mark Richard 960 8.) 25 Todd Gracey 840 9.) 6 Jim Nace 815 10.) 17 Alan Cole 775

The hot laps were run without any serious happenings. However the 12F of John Fraker had something break in the right rear suspension either at the end of the first hot lap session or being pushed out for the second hot lap session. Repairs were made and he did take the green flag in the first heat race.

The 5X of Rick Hench was also experiencing mechanical problems. A push truck got him underway just prior to the playing of the national anthem and he took one very slow lap with a very sick sounding engine. He did take the green flag though in the third heat. He was supposed to start shoot gun for the consi but never made it to the racing surface.

All Sprint car results are official, and should be accurate unless I made a typographical error.

Heat One lined up as follows: 1.) 55 Curt Hershey 2.) 77t Jess Thomas 3.) 3 Bob Bennett 4.) 5 Craig Eshenaur 5.) 85 Glenn Clarke 6.) 17 Alan Cole 7.) 12 Fred Rahmer 8.) 6 Jim Nace 9.) 461 Lance Dewease 10.) 12F John Fraker

The #77t was loose on the start but there were no accidents behind him. By lap 2 the #461 started to make his move towards the front. On lap 7 the caution came out for the second place car as the #3 stops on the front stretch after he had been closing in on the leader when he suddenly lost power. Running order for the restart was: 77t, 17, 461, 85, 12, 6, 5, 55, 12. On the restart the #17 went to the outside and passed the #77t in between turns 3 + 4. The #461 gets by the #77t in turn 1. The #461 closed on the #17 but as the white flag waved the #17 was able to pull away from the #461 on the backstretch and take the checkered flag by about 5 car lengths.

Heat One Qualifiers: 1.) 17 Alan Cole, 2.) 461 Lance Dewease, 3.) 12 Fred Rahmer 4.) 77t Jess Thomas, 5.) 85 Glenn Clarke, 6.) 6 Jim Nace

Heat Two lined up as follows: 1.) 55S Bill Sims 2.) 28 Brian Paulus 3.) 77 Howie Lacke 4.) 10N Darren Eash 5.) 21X Rod Stroup 6.) 66K Mark Richards 7.) 17E Cris Eash 8.) 69K Don Kreitz Jr. 9.) 26 Glenn Fitzcharles 10.) 38 Buzz Wilson

The #26 and #38 got together on the front stretch on the start but were able to continue on. The #26 hit the outside wall pretty hard with his left rear tire. At halfway the running order was as follows: 28, 10N, 77, 69K, 17E.

Heat Two Qualifiers: 1.) 28 Brian Paulus, 2.) 77 Howie Lacke, 3.) 10N Darren Eash, 4.) 69K Don Kreitz Jr., 5.) 17E Cris Eash, 6.) 66K Mark Richards

Heat Three lined up as follows: 1.) 29 Kevin Fry 2.) 2C Will Cramer 3.) 5X Rich Hench 4.) 10 Len Thompson 5.) 1J Steve Siegel 6.) 25 Todd Gracey 7.) 88 Todd Shaffer 8.) 1 Billy Pauch 9.) 15 Trevor Utt 10.) 61 Tony Greener

On the start several cars jumped out of position so the yellow waved for a false start. On the restart the #25 takes the low grove while the #29 and race leader slides high and wide and the #25 emerges as the race leader. At the end of lap one the #1 was up to fifth. By lap four the leader, the #25 began to smoke while the #1 had moved up to second. From lap six on the #10 and #1J battle for position. On lap eight the #25 and #1 were battling for position. Going into turn three the #1 dived low and tried the pass. At the start finish line it was the #25 by the front wing. On lap nine the #1 finally passed the #25 on the back stretch and took the checkered flag.

Heat Three Qualifiers 1.) 1 Billy Pauch, 2.) 25 Todd Gracey, 3.) 1J Steve Siegel, 4.) 10 Len Thompson, 5.) 29 Kevin Fry, 6.) 88 Todd Shaffer

Consi lined up as follows: 1.) 5 Craig Eshenaur 2.) 26 Glenn Fitzcharles 3.) 2C Wil Cramer 4.) 55 Curt Hershey 5.) 55S Bill Sims 6.) 61 Tony Greener 7.) 12F John Fraker 8.) 21X Rod Stroup 9.) 15 Trevor Utt 10.) 38 Buzz Wilson

On the start exiting turn four the #55 and #55S got together but continue on. On lap two the #5 was off the pace and pulled into the pits. By lap three the #21X and #26 were battling for position. On lap four the #21X was in the lead.

Consi Qualifiers 1.) 21X Rod Stroup, 2.) 26 Glenn Fitzcharles, 3.) 61 Tony Greener, 4.) 2C Wil Cramer, 5.) 55S Bill Sims, 6.) 55 Curt Hershey

25 Lap Sprint Feature lined up as follows: 1.) 77t Jess Thomas 2.) 28 Brian Paulus 3.) 77 Howie Lacke 4.) 10N Darren Eash 5.) 10 Len Thompson 6.) 1J Steve Siegel 7.) 17 Alan Cole 8.) 25 Todd Gracey 9.) 12 Fred Rahmer 10.) 69K Don Kreitz Jr. 11.) 1 Billy Pauch 12.) 461 Lance Dewease 13.) 85 Glenn Clarke 14.) 17E Cris Eash 15.) 29 Kevin Fry 16.) 6 Jim Nace 17.) 66K Mark Richard 18.) 88 Todd Shaffer 19.) 21X Rod Stroup 20.) 26 Glenn Fitzcharles 21.) 61 Tony Greener 22.) 2C Wil Cramer 23.) 55s Bill Sims 24.) 55 Curt Hershey

Prior to the start of the race during warm up laps the #66K was pushed into the pits by a push truck. He was able to rejoin the field but had to start shot gun on the field. By the completion of lap three the #461 was up to sixth. Running order by the end of lap 5 was #25, #77T, #77, #28, and the #461. At the end of lap six the #461 was up to fourth and the #1 was only to ninth. By lap eight the #461 was up to second when caution waved for the #77t which had spun between turn three and four. On the restart the running order was: #25, #461, #77, #69K, #12, #28, #10, #1, #1J, and the #88. On the restart the #461 took the lead and the #1 moved to seventh. By lap thirteen the #77 has slid backwards and the #69K and #12 had moved up to second and third respectively. At the end of lap 22 the #1 had moved to fourth. The checkered flag waved as the #461 of Lance Dewease wons his fourth Williams Grove feature win in 1995.

As of Friday night this made Lance Dewease the country's leading sprint car feature winner so far this season. Lance in the Walt Dwyer Masonry #461 has 8 wins which is well on his way to a 40 feature victory season. In the victory lane interview Lance said that the last two weeks at the Grove they have been experimenting with things trying to get ready for the Outlaw invasion latter this year. Unfortunately for the rest of the field this week it was back to the tried and true and Lance made it look easy. He said the track was good and fast and he was happy to be back to their regular race set up.

25 Lap Feature Finish Order by car numbers only: 1.) 461, 2.) 69K, 3.) 12, 4.) 1, 5.) 25, 6.) 1J 7.) 88, 8.) 21X, 9.) 77, 10.) 28, 11.) 10, 12.) 6 13.) 26, 14.) 66K, 15.) 10N, 16.) 61, 17.) 55S, 18.) 2C 19.) 17E, 20.) 85, 21.) 77T, 22.) 29, 23.) 17, 24.) 55

I dramatically changed the format of my posting this week as compared with previous postings. Let me know if you like it better.

As always questions, comments and constructive criticism is always welcomed. My email address is rgould@oehs.upenn.edu

Below are the unoffical late model race results. I am only listing the qualifiers for the heat races and the top eight finishers for the feature. Drivers drew for starting positions in the heat races as they arrived at the speedway. Races were eight laps in length with six to qualify. The top three were then able to draw a number for starting position in the feature. The feature was 20 laps in length. It was lengthy due to cautions and it was getting cold. Information below contains finishing position, car number, drivers name (according to tenative roster from the program) and starting position in brackets.

Late Model Race Results Heat 1 11 cars took the green flag 1.) 2 Steve Campbell [2], 2.) 44 Gary Stuhler [5] 3.) 21 Chris Shuey [1], 4.) 1W Smokey Frye [10] 5.) 22X Brian Shuey 6.) 33 Carl Billet [9]

Late Model Race Results Heat 2 11 cars took the green flag 1.) 7 Paul Crowl [1], 2.) FOUR Al Richards [4] 3.) 3 Jeff Robinson [6] 4.) 82 Andy Friese [7] 5.) 12 Charlie Schaffer 6.) 33s Schellenberger [11]

Late Model Race Results Heat 3 11 cars took the green flag 1.) 0 Rick Eckert [1] 2.) 112 Ken Riland [2] 3.) 17 Ken Dickson [5] 4.) 81 ? [4] 5.) 34 Rick Workman [9] 6.) 1 Mark Plessinger

Late Model Race Results Consi 15 cars took the green flag for the consi 1.) 00 Eckert [2], 2.) 90 Ray Kable Jr. [1], 3.) 5B ? [9] 4.) 48 ? [3] 5.) 21s ? [5] 6.) 47 ? [8]

Late Model Feature Race Results 1.) 44 Gary Stuhler [2] 2.) 3 Jeff Robinson [3] 3.) 7 Paul Crowl [1] 4.) 33 Carl Billet [16] 5.) 21 Chris Shuey [5] 6.) 17 Ken Dickson 7.) FOUR Al Richards [7] 8.) 112 Ken Riland [4]

Well folks that is this weeks Roaming Russ's Racing Report from Williams Grove Speedway located in Mechanicsburg, PA.

-- -Russ Gould-

rgould@oehs.upenn.edu