ARDC, Side by Side and 3 Wide!

Monthly Archives: August 2014

ARDC RETURNS TO SUNDAY NIGHT ACTION AT THE GRANDVIEW SPEEDWAY

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Can Steve Buckwalter Make it Three in a Row?
       The Royersford Rocket, Steve Buckwalter has enjoyed the return of Sunday night open cockpit racing to the Grandview Speedway this season with the Open Wheel Spectaculars – a double header show featuring the wingless midgets of the American Racing Drivers Club (ARDC) and the winged sprint cars of the Tri-State Race Saver (TSRS) series.

Buckwalter has been the winner of both twenty-five lap ARDC main events.  During the June race, Buckwalter raced with Billy Pauch, Jr. and Tim Buckwalter before taking the win.  In July action, it was current ARDC point leader, Steven Drevicki who held the race lead when Buckwalter challenged.

     During the last five ARDC events, it’s been Collegeville, PA driver, Alex Bright who has been on a hot streak.  Bright has won four of the last five ARDC events – including back-to-back wins at the Williams Grove and Lincoln Speedways during ARDC’s 75th Anniversary Weekend.  Bright leads all ARDC competitors with five wins and will be in the field on Sunday night.
     Steve Buckwalter has captured three ARDC midget wins this season while racing his midget on a part time schedule.  Buckwalter is a regular competitor in central PA 410 Sprint car competition.
     Steven Drevicki remains the current ARDC point leader with an unprecedented record of top five finishes in addition to his two feature wins this season.  Drevicki has had just one finish outside of the top five and has set the bar very high for the competition during the 2014 season.
     PJ Gargiulo and Tim Buckwalter are the only other drivers to have reached Victory Lane in ARDC events this season so far.
     With three Grandview events remaining on the 2014 ARDC schedule, the race is on for the Hilbert on the Hill competition as well.  The Bob Hilbert Sportswear sponsored competition awards points to drivers for the events held at the Grandview Speedway this season. Drevicki took the lead in after the last Sunday night event in July.  Steve Buckwalter is second followed by Brett Arndt, Tim Buckwalter and Brenden Bright.  The winner will receive 100 white Express t-shirts printed with their design from Bob Hilbert Sportswear while the second through fifth place finishers will receive $100 gift certificates.
     2013 ARDC Champion, Trevor Kobylarz and Danny Stratton will participate in the pre-race Meet & Greet held by the guys from the Low, Down & Dirty Internet Radio show.  Kobylarz and Stratton will be on hand starting at 5pm outside the main grandstand entrance.  The drivers will sign autographs, pose for pictures and answer questions until it is time for them to head back to the pits to prepare for the night’s racing action
     This week’s Open Wheel Spectacular falls on the night before the Labor Day Holiday so it’s a great time to come out and enjoy a Sunday night open cockpit show on the high banks of the Grandview Speedway.  Racing gets underway at 7:30.

BRIGHT IS BIG WINNER ON ANNIVERSARY WEEKEND

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Williams Grove & Lincoln Speedways Celebrate ARDC’s 75th  

    It was all about history.

    It was all about the present.

    It was all about the future as the American Racing Drivers Club (ARDC) celebrated their 75th Anniversary with the help of the Williams Grove & Lincoln Speedways and the Eastern Museum of Motor Racing at the Latimore Valley Fairgrounds this weekend.

      When the last checkered flag waved, it proved to be a weekend about Alex Bright who emerged with his fourth and fifth wins of the season by capturing the first wins of his career at both Williams Grove and Lincoln.

Williams Grove Friday night

     It has been nearly fifty years since ARDC ran their first race at the Williams Grove Speedway in 1955.

    Justin Grosz and Bright shared the front row as they led the field to the green flag for the twenty lap feature event.

    Bright grabbed the lead and Bruce Buckwalter drove to the inside of Grosz to take over second as they raced into turn three.  The racing came to a quick halt as Grosz caught the track the wrong way as he approached turn four.  Grosz caught the wall with the tail of his #99G and then got up in the air and turned around before settling back on the track.  Grosz was not injured.

     The field realigned for a complete restart.  Bright put his Lightcap Electric #77 out in front as Bruce Buckwalter, Jr. took over second.  2013 ARDC Champion, Trevor Kobylarz moved up to third as PJ Gargiulo took over fourth.  Bright pulled away from the field as he led Buckwalter, Kobylarz, current point leader, Steven Drevicki and Gargiulo with five laps scored.

     Drevicki was on the move as he took third one lap later and then made his way past Buckwalter for the runner-up spot on lap eight.  By that time, Bright was out of the line of sight of his nearest competitor.

     Bright, Drevicki, BJ Buckwalter, Kobylarz and Steve Buckwalter raced in the top five at the half way mark.

     There were any number of competitors who were looking for a caution in those final ten laps but there was not a yellow to be found.

     BJ Buckwalter was successful in holding off the challenges of Kobylarz for the battle for third as the laps counted down.  Buckwalter got airborne with just two laps to go as he caught the track the wrong way in turn four.  While the BDB Construction #83 got some height, several competitors were able to go by but Buckwalter saved the car and finished the race in sixth.

     With the  checkered flag waving, Alex Bright drove to his fourth win of the season with Drevicki following in second.  Kobylarz picked up the final podium spot followed by Gargiulo and Brenden Bright.

Eastern Museum of Motor Racing

     The EMMR celebrated the 75th Anniversaries of both ARDC and the Williams Grove Speedway during their annual convention weekend.

     There was a roundtable discussion on Friday that included several ARDC past competitors – Brett Mowery, Hank Rogers, Jr., Lenny Boyd, Ken Brenn Sr., Jimmy McGuire, Ron Lauer and six time champion, Ray Bull.

     The ARDC Midget teams were invited to the beautiful ground of the Latimore Valley Fairgrounds to make their preparations for the upcoming events at the Lincoln Speedway on Saturday night.  It gave the teams a chance to catch up with some old friends – like Ken Brenn, Sr., Jimmy McGuire, Stan Lobitz and many more while race fans had the opportunity to watch the team’s prepare for the race.  It was a great time for the fans to see the midgets and the drivers up close.

     ARDC competitor, Kyle Lick even had the opportunity to drive on the track at Latimore Valley in a vintage URC sprint car owned by his grandfather.

Lincoln Speedway

     After an absence of several seasons, the ARDC midgets returned to the Lincoln Speedway and it wasn’t long before everyone was reminded of the great combination that Lincoln and the midgets make!

     There was a lot of close racing in the qualifying events that was just a prelude to the action that awaited in the twenty-five lap feature event.

      Steven Drevicki led the field to the start and quickly took control of the field when the green flag waved.  Steve Buckwalter used the top of the track to move into second after starting fifth.  Gargiulo took third on lap two but it was Wean who ran third just one lap later.  Buckwalter pressed Drevicki for the lead and took the top spot to lead lap five.  Drevicki, Wean, Gargiulo and Arndt made up the top five.  At this point in the race, Alex Bright raced outside of the top five as he looked for a way to the front.

      Bright was the only change to the top five at lap ten as he moved up to take fifth.  That’s when Bright retried the high, outside line and found it to his liking.  He took fourth from Gargiulo on lap twelve as S Buckwalter raced well ahead of the field.  For several laps, Bright raced Wean for third.  With ten to go, Wean held the spot as Arndt moved into fifth ahead of Gargiulo.

      Bright took third from Wean and began to reel in the DeGre Engineering #19 of Drevicki.  On lap nineteen, Drevicki had Bright on his rear bumper.

     As Drevicki and Bright battled for second, they came up on the lapped car of Tyler Brehm.  Just as the two contenders closed in on Brehm, Brehm had a water line break on his Jackson #97 in the midst of a lot of steam and water.  The caution was thrown and everyone negotiated the situation successfully.  Buckwalter’s huge lead was erased as the single file restart had Drevicki and Bright lined up right behind the 2010 ARDC Champion.

     Bright took it to the top of the track, passing first Drevicki and then Buckwalter to lead lap twenty.  Buckwalter battled back from the bottom of the track but Bright had all of the momentum coming off the top.

     Bright took the win ahead of Steve Buckwalter and Drevicki.  Wean and Arndt battled side by side for fourth for the final laps of the feature with Wean holding the edge at the line over Arndt.

Williams Grove Speedway (20 lap feature)

1. Alex Bright 2. Steven Drevicki 3. Trevor Kobylarz 4. PJ Gargiulo 5. Brenden Bright 6. Bruce Buckwalter, Jr. 7. Brett Arndt 8. Kyle Lick 9. Jim Radney 10. Brett Wanner 11. Nick Wean 12. Tommy Kunsman, Jr. 13. Austin Burke 14. Clayton Glassman 15. Steve Buckwalter 16. Ryan Greth 17. John Barnett 18. Billy Courtwright 19. Greg Fitzpatrick 20. Justin Grosz  DNS – Tony DiMattia

Lincoln Speedway (25 lap feature)

1. Alex Bright 2. Steve Buckwalter 3. Steven Drevicki 4. Nick Wean 5. Brett Arndt 6. Ryan Greth 7. PJ Gargiulo 8. Trevor Kobylarz 9. Brenden Bright 10. Eric Heydenreick 11. Drew Heistand 12. Kyle Lick 13. Brett Wanner 14. Justin Grosz 15. Tony DiMattia 16. Austin Burke 17. Tommy Kunsman 18. Tyler Brehm 19. Jim Radney  DNS – Clayton Glassman, Billy Courtwright, Brian Gilmore, Bruce Buckwalter, Jr.

75th Anniversary Weekend Celebration August 15-17

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A weekend celebrating the 75th Anniversary of the American Racing Drivers Club (ARDC) will be held this weekend as ARDC races at the Williams Grove Speedway on Friday evening (8/15) and then the Lincoln Speedway on the following night. (8/16).

The Eastern Motorsports Museum of Racing (EMMR) will be hosting events to honor both ARDC and the Williams Grove Speedway who are both celebrating their 75th Anniversaries this season as part of the EMMR’s Annual Convention.  Crocky Wright will also be honored on this very special weekend.

The EMMR will host a round table discussion on Friday morning from 10:30am-noon that will feature six time ARDC Champion, Ray Bull on the discussion panel.  Friday evening, the ARDC midget teams will head to the Williams Grove Speedway for qualifying events as well as a twenty lap feature.  Then on Saturday morning, the museum will be providing space for the ARDC teams to prepare their car for the night’s action at the Lincoln Speedway.  Fans will be able to watch the teams at work during this time.  Late in the day on Saturday, the racing teams will head to the nearby Lincoln Speedway for a second night of midget racing.

Of course, the museum and all of its facilities will be open throughout the weekend for people to few the history on display.

The weekend of activities will be concluded on Sunday with the roast of Stan Lobitz, a long time friend of ARDC and racing in general.  Lobitz has been an advocate of the preservation of racing history and has supported the sport and the museum in many ways over the years.  The roast should be entertaining at the very least  – full of many stories from over the years.

Make a weekend of it and take in two nights of racing as well as the EMMR Museum on the grounds of the Lattimore Valley Fairgrounds.

ARDC POINTS STANDINGS THRU BIG DIAMOND, 7/25/2014

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ARDC POINTS STANDINGS THRU BIG DIAMOND, 7/25/2014
Car Point Car Point
Pos. # Driver Total Pos. # Owner Total
1 19 Steven Drevicki** 1282 1 19 Greg Fitzpatrick** 1282
2 92 Brenden Bright 1132 2 92 Ted Bright 1132
3 83 Bruce Buckwalter, Jr. 1031 3 83 Bruce Buckwalter, Sr. 1031
4 1/20 Trevor Kobylarz 1024 4 77 Joseph Hemler*** 972
5 77 Alex Bright*** 972 5 1 RT Racing 920
6 46 Brett Arndt 913 6 46 Scott Arndt 913
7 78 Nick Wean 789 7 78 Rick Wean 789
8 54 Austin Burke – R 780 8 54 Shawn Burke 780
9 50 Tony DiMattia 771 9 50 Alex DiMatta, Jr. 771
10 8 Kyle Lick 755 10 8 Terry Lick 755
11 4 Ryan Greth 745 11 4 Wayne Lesher 745
12 44 Brett Wanner 702 12 44 Marilyn Wanner 702
13 13 Brian Gilmore 696 13 13 Dale Gilmore 696
14 5 P.J. Gargiulo* 676 14 5 P.J. Gargiulo* 676
15 0 Steve Buckwalter*** 670 15 0 Steve Buckwalter*** 670
16 52 Tim Buckwalter* 640 16 52 Steve Buckwalter* 640
17 21 Tommy Kunsman – R 639 17 21 Tommy Kunsman, Sr. 639
18 33/20 Billy Pauch, Jr. 507 18 20 RT Racing 533
19 28 Greg Fitzpatrick 505 19 28 Greg Fitzpatrick 505
20 15B John Barnett, Jr. 430 20 75 Fred Schell 499
21 17 Clayton Glassman 429 21 15B John Barnett Sr 430
22 95 Jim Radney 407 22 17 Clayton Glassman 429
23 75 Ryan Watt 369 23 33 Jerry Steward 426
24 7 Shawn Jackson 283 24 95 Wayne Lesher 407
25 11 Eric Heydenrich 203 25 7 Bill Jackson 283
26 33 Danny Straton 143 26 11 Eric Heydenrich 203
27 75 Billy Courtwright 130 27 12 Don Cin Transport 154
28 12 Drew Heistand 129 28 34 Jerry Steward 99
29 20 Carey Becker 127 29 10 Dale Gilmore 92
30 10 Mark Gilmore 92 30 99G John Grosz 59
31 99G Justin Grosz 59
32 74 Jamie Speers 28
33 12 Dusty Heistand 25