ARDC Midgets | Monthly Archives: October 2015October 2015

(reprinted with from Area Auto Racing News, September 29th_

This weekend, the American Racing Drivers Club was well represented as several teams traveled west to compete in the Four Crown event at Eldora Speedway.

Steve Drevicki and his DeGre Engineering team clinched the 2015 ARDC Championship with his sixth place finish at Path Valley a week ago. With back to back ARDC Championships under his belt, Drevicki went to Eldora with a clear agenda and brought home the best finish of his peers.

Drevicki set seventh fastest time and then earned his time back through his fifth place finish in the first heat. When the checkered flag waved, Drevicki crossed the line for a sixth place finish – with only the Kunz cars and Tracey Hines in front of him.

Drevicki feels that the experience on many of the bigger tracks that have been raced on by ARDC over the years, attributed to his level of comfort at Eldora. Drevicki did compete at Eldora a year ago but felt that the cars were even faster this year. “We’ve raced at Pittsburgh and tracks like that most of the years with the club (ARDC) and that helps,” Drevick said. “I was really good on the bottom in one and two. That’s where I was the strongest but then I’d get tight getting into three and four on the top.” Drevicki spent many laps racing with the driver of Mike Heffner’s No. 27, Thomas Meserault. “We raced side by side for about ten laps,” Drevicki explained. Meserault got ahead of Drevicki at one point in the race but Drevicki was able to regain the spot later in the race. Late in the race, Drevicki raced against Spencer Bayston but was able to hold on for a sixth place finish.

Tony DiMattia, like Drevicki, traveled to Eldora for last year’s event. However, when the races were cancelled due to rain on Saturday, DiMattia was forced to head home after just racing in the qualifiers.

DiMattia, who is now attending college in Indiana, has broadened his horizons this season, racing midgets, a wingless sprint car and even his 600 Micro earlier in the season. For the Four Crown weekend, Tony’s dad, Alex, traveled west with the midget in tow.

DiMattia found that he was more comfortable at Eldora this time around. “The track (Eldora) can really be intimidating,” DiMattia explained. “You have to respect the track and then the track will respect you. You’re running right against the wall – there’s nothing like it anywhere else,” DiMattia added.

DiMattia timed eleventh fastest and then raced his way to an eighth place finish in the main event.

Ryan Greth made his first Eldora start with the Wayne Lesher owned No. 4. And Greth too used the word “intimidating” to describe his first Eldora experience. “It’s a little bit intimidating,” Greth explained, “or maybe I’m not brave enough!” But Greth gained a degree of comfort as the laps were scored and managed a top ten finish after qualifying 15th. It was a satisfying first attempt for the driver who has collected three ARDC feature wins this season.

Sandwiched between DiMattia and Greth in the final rundown was Thomas Meserault, making his first start in the Heffner No. 27. In addition to his ninth place finish in the midget, Meserault picked up the win in the sprint car portion of the program for his first USAC Sprint Car win.

2010 ARDC Champion, Steve Buckwalter also made the trip to Eldora, pulling double duty by running in both the midget and Silver Crown competition. After a strong qualifying effort, mechanical issues forced Buckwalter out of the midget feature early. Buckwalter finished ninth in the Silver Crown event.

The 2015 ARDC season comes to a close this Friday night with the running of the final event of the season. It will end where it started at Linda’s Speedway as ARDC returns for their third event.

Danny Stratton opened the season with his first ever ARDC win at Linda’s while driving the Heffner No. 27. Bruce Buckwalter, Jr. captured the feature event during ARDC’s second race, the “No Bull 25”, an event that honored six time ARDC Champion, Ray Bull.

With his sixth place finish at Path Valley a week ago, Steve Drevicki has clinched his second ARDC title, being the first driver to win back-to-back championships since Andy Martin did so in 2006-07. Drevicki recently captured his first win of the season when ARDC competed on the quarter mile track at the Bridgeport Speedway.

Ryan Greth and Tim Buckwalter are tied with three wins a piece, going into the final event. Steve Buckwalter and Brenden Bright each have two wins this season. Danny Stratton, Brett Wanner, PJ Gargiulo, Bruce Buckwalter, Jr., Jim Radney and Drevicki have recorded single victories during the 2015 season. Sixteen events have seen ten different winners in addition to the two co-sanctioned events with USAC that were captured by Rico Abreu.

Will the final race produce another new winner or will someone add another “w” to their total for the season? To be determined at Linda’s Speedway this Friday night!

(Postscript – Final race of the season – this Friday night, October 9th at Linda’s Speedway!)