MAX BLAIR CROWED INAUGURAL FASTRAK NORTHEAST BULLY DOG LATE MODEL SPEEDWEEK CHAMPION; 4 WINNERS IN 5 RACES WITH 78 DIFFERENT DRIVERS COMPETING
By Mike Leone

July 7, 2011                FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Pulaski, PA)…The Sweeney Chevrolet Buick GMC FASTRAK Northeast Late Model Touring participated in the first ever Bully Dog “Cross the Borders” Speedweek presented by Contingency Connection for five straight nights of action at five different speedways over the 4^th of July holiday weekend.  The successful new venture saw four different winners with 78 different drivers competing and Max Blair claiming the overall championship.

“We couldn’t have been more pleased from everything that took place during this inaugural Speedweek,” explained fifth year Northeast Co-Director Vicki Emig.  “We have to thank the racers and fans for supporting these shows.  The racing was simply incredible night after night with very few cars getting torn up and the drivers acted like true professionals.  The promoters stepped up and took a chance on this concept and we couldn’t thank them enough for making this possible along with Bully Dog and Contingency Connection for providing the Speedweek point fund.  This was a new experience for everyone and we couldn’t have been any prouder.” 

Action started on Wednesday, June 29 with the fourth annual event at Expo Speedway as part of the Trumbull County Fair on the big 5/8-mile oval.  Russell King of nearby Bristolville, Ohio captured his first ever FASTRAK victory in front of his friends and family.

 King was able to track down early leader George Kowatic, who was looking for his first Touring win, and made the pass in lapped traffic.  Contact was made by the two with King going on for the win over Blair, while Kowatic suffered a flat tire.  Though under the average Touring Series car count, the 29 cars was actually the highest for this event, which starts early at 6 p.m. due to no lights. 

After never winning a feature at McKean County in his career, Mike Pegher, Jr. made it two-in-a-row on Thursday at the East Smethport, Pa. oval.  Pegher out-dueled Blair in front of a large and enthusiast crowd.  A Speedweek high 39 cars were in the pits with spectacular weather present.  It was the second of four Touring races at McKean in 2011. 

Everyone headed to Raceway 7 on Friday night for the only appearance of the season at the Conneaut, Ohio.  Max Blair entered the night certainly as the favorite with 12 victories in his last 15 starts at his home track.  And when he drew the number one pill, most fans and fellow racers knew it would take herculean effort to overtake him.  But Steve Dixon did just that by passing Blair on a restart with two laps to go and went on for his season’s first win!  Dixon received a huge roar from the crowd after exiting his car and celebrating on his roof.  Blair had to settle for runner-up for the third straight night!

The only event with threatening weather out of the five nights was on Saturday at Pittsburgh.  The rain though stayed away from the track during the morning and afternoon then held off just long enough to complete the entire show.  Dan Angelicchio won the thriller holding off 20^th starting Mike Pegher, Jr., who pulled even with Pegher on the final lap, and 14-year-old Lauren Longbrake!  A Pittsburgh record 33 cars were on hand.    

Max Blair led the early laps at Pittsburgh only to cut a tire, but he was able to rebound to a fifth place finish which set the stage for Sunday’s finale as he entered the Series’ first race at Eriez in three seasons with just a one-point lead over Angelicchio.  The racing on Sunday was fantastic as the final 26 laps went green-to-checkered.  Butch Lambert, Chad Wright, John Volpe, and Pegher all had their shots at leading, but it was Pegher getting back by Volpe in the final laps for the $2,000 victory.  Pegher’s fourth win of the season is tops and also tied him with Blair at 12 for the all-time lead!

Blair was able to come back through the pack after getting involved in an early race tangle to finish fourth, which allowed him to capture the title by just four over Angelicchio, who was a disappointing seventh- his first finish outside the top five in eight races.

There were so many subplots to Speedweek.  First off the weather was simply incredible.  After such a wet spring and early summer it was hard to imagine getting five straight dry days, but it happened!   The crowds at all of the events were tremendous and offered such electricity to the shows.  The racing was simply fantastic as the racing got progressively better each night leading up to the finale that had everyone holding their breath including FASTRAK Founder Stan Lester and Paul Menting from Hoosier Corporate.

John Volpe nearly made it five winners in five nights and what a win it would have been to beat Pegher and capture his career first Touring Series win, but his second place effort sure won’t go forgotten.  Volpe also had a great third place run at Expo- the site of car owner Scott Bidwell’s victory with Bobby Powell in the first ever FASTRAK race the Fair.

Lauren Longbrake.  It’s hard to put into words what this young lady accomplished.  Her third place performance at Pittsburgh pretty much left everyone speechless and then she topped it off by winning the second “Futures Cup” Trifecta race by over nine seconds at a track she’s never seen before!  The Columbus, Ohio National Honor Society member has qualified for six of her last seven Touring Series features and won the non-qualifier race in the only feature she missed in that stretch.  She still leads the non-qualifier points, but more importantly has climbed to 10^th in points.  

Then there’s Max Blair.  Few would have imagined the current National Weekly and Touring Series point leader and two-time champion of both getting shutout of victory lane in five straight nights of racing, but it happened.  However, three runner-ups including five top 5s propelled Blair to another championship to add to his resume.  His performance coming from the back in consecutive nights at Pittsburgh and Eriez to claim top fives was astounding as he passed some 40 cars in those features!

Blair’s title was worth $1,000 cash, $1,000 Bully Dog performance package, and he also received a championship wall plaque clock.  The remainder of the top 10 shared in an additional $2,000 in cash with Chad Wright getting selected as the second $1,000 Bully Dog performance package recipient. 

Angelicchio earned $500 for second after a stellar performance all week.  Third through 10^th in the final points were Pegher, Dixon, Chris Steele, Josh Holtgraver, Volpe, Wright, Lambert, and Damian Bidwell. 

Steele of York, South Carolina drove the second Josh Holtgraver entry.  His finishes all ranged between 8^th and 11^th.  Another southern driver to make his maiden voyage to the region was Richard Clew.  The North Carolina driver didn’t make it up in time to run Expo, but did compete at McKean, Raceway 7, and Pittsburgh.  Clew decided to head back south after Pittsburgh rather than go back north to Eriez.

Each night, Josh Holtgraver Racing provided a winning chance for the Racers for Tots Rocket Late Model that will be given away in November at The Dirt Track at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.  A hard luck recipient was chosen at each event.

Wednesday went to Kowatic, who had a disappointing end to his night after leading early on.  Dixon was given Thursday night’s award after a rough heat race and then charging through the pack only to lose a wheel.  Joe Martin’s Speedweek ended after a lot of damage from Raceway 7 that resulted in him missing his first Touring races since last Labor Day Weekend.  Ricky Meglaye got Saturday’s nod after a dominating heat performance and had a strong run going in the feature until slapping the fence.  Jim Hilyer, who made his first ever Touring Series start on Sunday, was given the hard luck after getting upside down in his heat race ending his night. 

Of course at each Touring Series event thanks to the regional Hoosier Tire distributors and sponsor Utsinger’s Towing, the last car on the lead lap receives a free Hoosier FASTRAK tire.  The recipients were Bidwell (Expo), Longbrake (McKean), Bobby Whitling (Raceway 7), Eric Wilson (Pittsburgh), and Holtgraver (Eriez). 

The following racers all won the $1,000 Contingency Connection packages presented the Original Pizza Logs that are given out at each event Chris Steele, Tom Copeland, Rob Marhefka, Brad Mesler, Michael Mitchell, Junior Peters, Chad Wright, Scott Schempp, Kevin Decker, and Newt Tackett.

Car counts ranged between 29-39 with an average of 33; and even though the lows of 29 at Expo and Eriez were below the normal Touring average, they still were all-time FASTRAK highs for both facilities as was the 33 at Pittsburgh.  There were 78 drivers that competed in 76 different cars as Jim and Joe Long both drove the #71 and David Scott and Bob Craig both drove the #62.  Fifty-five of the drivers were FASTRAK members and received Speedweek points.

There were 12 drivers that competed in all five nights including the top 10 in points plus Longbrake and Kyle Zimmerman.  “Futures Cup” drivers Shane Weaver and Clay Ruffo ran four of the events.  Weaver went home on Friday to run at his home track Dog Hollow, while Ruffo blew his motor at Pittsburgh forcing him to miss Eriez.  Another eight drivers ran three of the five shows including Jamie Brown (who recorded his career best Touring finish of seventh at Raceway 7), Martin, Mitchell, Kowatic, Bobby Rohrer, Peters, Justin Kreider, and Clew.

“We hope everyone enjoyed Speedweek as much as we did,” stated fifth year Northeast Co-Director Vicki Emig.  “The support from all ends with fantastic and we received so many compliments about everything.  None of these guys have ever raced five straight nights including Chris Steele; in fact, Max is the only driver to run three nights on a weekly basis so considering 22 drivers ran three or more races is pretty impressive!  It’s a testament to everyone regarding how things went when you add in the heat and humidity, travel up and down the highways with no one getting much sleep.  A lot of our racers had never seen some of these tracks.  Hopefully we can continue to build on this in the future!”

The Sweeney Chevrolet Buick GMC will now be off until Saturday, July 23 for the $2,000 to-win race at Sharon Speedway when one lucky driver will also win a GM 604 crate engine!

You can reach co-directors Vicki Emig and Mike Leone at the FASTRAK Northeast office at 724-964-9300. E-mail to info@fastraknortheast.com and snail mail to 4368 Route 422, Pulaski, PA 16143. The office is open daily late mornings and after 1:30 p.m. For more information, check out the FASTRAK Northeast website at www.fastraknortheast.com. Become our fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/fastraknortheast.

###