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Racing season winding down


Brett Rose

Finish Line Here we are just past the halfway mark in October, and for me, another racing season has come to an end. When the leaves of autumn change color and make their way to the ground, it’s the sign that another year of racing is rapidly wrapping up.

Now that doesn’t mean that the season is completely finished, but it’s time for me to wave the checkered flag on my racing travels for 2016.

There are still a few quality shows left in the region that I’ll let you know about. It’s just time to work on some other stuff, mainly weekend domestic projects that get neglected over the course of an eight-month span.

The same thing can be said about the racers that turned their final laps around the speedways this weekend. It’s time to take off and regroup, but it won’t be long before preparations begin in the shops for another assault in 2017.

For the tracks that completed their final weekend of operations in 2016, they won’t be sitting idle either as the staff at many places will begin working on schedules, facility updates and other improvements as much as they can before winter settles in.

As I previously mentioned, there are a few good shows left to go see. Port Royal Speedway concludes their 2016 campaign Saturday afternoon with their Open Wheel Madness Twin 30’s for 410 sprints and URC Sprints, along with the Keystone RaceSaver 305 Sprint Challenge.

Susquehanna Speedway has two events similar to some of the Small Car Nationals hosted at other tracks. The Miller’s Racing Parts Nationals and the Candy Bowl Nationals are taking place on Oct. 22 and 29, respectively.

Susquehanna will conclude the season with the Sprint Showdown for 410 and 358 Sprint Cars on Nov. 5.

Road racing and drag racing enthusiasts still have something to watch, too. Summit Point Raceway has a few events left on the 2016 schedule, and Mason-Dixon Dragway hosts the Super Stock/Stock Challenge on Nov. 5-6.

There’s a part of me that is glad that my racing season is over, and there’s the part that wishes it never ends. I’ll admit that it’s time for a break, but believe me when I say that it won’t take too much for me to become antsy when the weekend comes.

I’ll still be back here with Finish Line for a few more times during the offseason with my season wrapup, Thanksgiving week and my Christmas Wish List editions. So I’m not quite ready to pack it up just yet.

Heck, I still might even check out one of those shows that I mentioned. We’ll see. If I don’t, then maybe you should.

Last Lap Quick Notes: The Pennsylvania Posse and the World of Outlaws split on the final visit of the WoO to Central Pennsylvania over the weekend. Danny Dietrich passed Joey Saldana with a couple of laps to go to win the prestigious 54th-annual Williams Grove National Open worth a nice $25,000 payday for his biggest career win.

Former Pennsylvania Posse competitor and Hanover, Pennsylvania. resident Logan Schuchart won at Port Royal the following night. The grandson of Sprint Car legend Bobby Allen has been following the WoO for a few years now, and scored a very popular victory in his home state.

It was Schuchart’s second career WoO win, and also his second career win at the “Speed Palace”. Following a distance of almost five seconds back from Schuchart were Greg Hodnett, Donny Schatz, Lucas Wolfe and Lance Dewease.

Big news was announced already for 2017 at Port Royal as the track will host the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series next season. Some of the best Super Late Model races I’ve watched over the past few years have been at Port Royal, and bringing in the best teams in the nation will certainly make this a show you will not want to miss.

Hagerstown Speedway wrapped up 2016 in fine fashion with the Ernie D’s Fall Bash. The racing was exceptionally good on a track surface that typically lends to subpar performance this late into the season with the amount of cars that turned laps on a two day event.

It was a pleasant surprise when I walked out onto the track during intermission to see a nice amount of sticky clay left on the very bottom and the top groove of the race track.

Keith Jackson won the 40-lap SLM feature event, coming from a 14th-place start. The Martinsburg driver worked his way up through the field in an action-packed race to pass Marvin Winters for the lead with just two laps to go.

Chad Hollenbeck, Dylan Yoder, and Brian Tavenner completed the top five.

Tyler Bare snared away a win from Allen Brannon in the Crate Late Model feature after a side-by-side battle for the lead during the majority of the race.

Kyle Lee dominated the Late Model Sportsman feature, as did Hobby Stock winner Dylan Rutherford and E-Mod winner Rick Hulson.

Invaders Ryan Sager and Chris Armstrong were the victors in Pure Stock and Rookie Cars, respectively.

It was good to see the Hub City oval have a good turnout of fans and competitors for the season finale.

And of course, it wouldn’t be the end of racing season unless it was time for silly season to begin. I’ve already heard some doozies. Some things are believable, but some things are just plain crazy. I guess we’ll see what transpires over the next few months.

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