T. Buckwalter Nets 24th SpeedSTR Win; Danner Gets His First in 600’s at Action Track USA

Brett Bieber Breaks Through in All Star Slingshots; BP3 is Junior Slingshot Victor; Kelleher is Track’s First-Ever Junior Sprint Winner

Kutztown, PA (July 24)— Douglassville, PA’s Tim Buckwalter scored a significant SpeedSTR victory on Wednesday night at Foley Cat Action Track USA, while Allentown’s Briggs Danner finally knocked down the door to victory lane in the Hyper Racing 600 Sprints.
Joining Buckwalter and Danner in the winner’s circle were Brett Bieber (All Star Slingshots), Billy Pauch III (Junior Slingshots), and Larry Kelleher (Junior Sprints).
It was Penn National Speedway Reunion Night at Berks County’s Number One bullring, presented by Weaknecht Archery, and a nice group of living legends turned out to sign autographs, take photos, and banter about their racing exploits at the former half-mile oval in Grantville, PA.
The All Pro SpeedSTRs 30 lap feature saw Daniel Schumaker bolt to the early lead from his pole starting position. Behind him, Kyle Herve and New Jersey’s Paulie Hartwig III fought for second but many eyes in the crowd were focused on Tim Buckwalter, who rolled off in 10th when the race initially went green.
Buckwalter did not waste any time in forging a path to the front of the field. He was third on lap ten, then zipped into the runner-up spot by the halfway point of the 30 lapper. It took him just two more tours to run down Schumaker. He powered around the high side of the No. 15s to snatch a lead that he would not relinquish.
After a terrific, position-swapping tussle that lasted most of the feature, Hartwig finally wrestled second from Herve, who was having his best run in a limited schedule of events in a SpeedSTR.
Buckwalter drove away to his 24th career SpeedSTR victory, tying him with Billy Pauch Jr. for the most SpeedSTR wins at Action Track USA.
“I really have to thank my crew; this win goes to them,” said Buckwalter. “I went on vacation, and when I got home last Wednesday, the crew had the car all maintainenced
and ready to load into the trailer, “ stated the happy winner.
Hartwig turned in a great performance to finish 2nd, with Herve placing third, Pauch Jr. earning fourth place money, and Nazareth, PA’s Matt Janisch wound up fifth.
The Hyper Racing 600 Sprint portion of the program, run under 600 Speedweek rules, format, and purse, paid a hefty $2,000 to the race winner. The feature was also 35 laps in distance and it was absolutely sensational.
The intense competition at the front of the pack is hard to describe because positions were being swapped two and three times per lap, and the second place car on one lap might be the fourth or fifth place racer the next time by the flagstand.
Connor Gross, the current Action Track USA 600 Sprint point leader, set the early pace despite a stiff challenge from Briggs Danner. Connor White then zipped past Danner for second while Kyle Lick and Christian Bruno, the newly crowned 600 Speedweek Champion, diced for the fourth spot. The first yellow flag of the race slowed the incredible action with ten circuits complete.
When the race restarted, it got even better, as Gross barely maintained the top spot over the snarling duo of White and Bruno. On several occasions, Bruno attempted to go “two for one” by flat-footing it past both White and Gross, but he could not supplant the No. 14c of Gross at the head of the table.
Behind the lead trio, another threesome was contesting positions four, five, and six. Lick, Danner, and James Roselli were throwing haymaker-style slide jobs at both ends of the speedway.
A second restart with 13 revolutions remaining saw Danner’s car really come to life, as the “Orange Crush” No. 99 blasted by Bruno and White, then throttled to the outside of leader Connor Gross. As they raced side-by-side off corner four to complete lap 23, Danner grabbed the lead from Gross and now the top five (Danner, Gross, Bruno, White, and Lick) were on a pile and battling furiously among themselves. Bruno secured the runner-up position with six to go, leaving Gross, White, and Lick to slug it out for third, fourth, and fifth.
Bruno gave it one last shot in turns three and four on the final trip around the awesomely racy oval. He ran deep into the middle of the corner, ducking under the leader, but Danner got back in the gas a split second before Bruno and beat the Speedweek Champ to the finish line.
“We brought out this new RTS a few weeks ago, and it’s an excellent piece,” said Danner afterward. “I am so glad to finally do this for Dave (Bodine, his 600 Sprint car owner). He gives me great equipment and puts his heart and soul into this thing.”
Gross crossed the stripe in third, with White and Brian Carber (who stole fifth from Lick on the final lap) rounding out the first five.
Danner’s triumph continues a streak at Foley Cat Action Track USA…there have not been any repeat winners in the Hyper Racing 600 Sprint class in 2024. He is the sixth different driver to grace victory lane so far this season.
It’s been a difficult start to the season for All Star Slingshot perennial front-runner Brett Bieber. But Wednesday night, he turned around his season (he hopes) by rumbling to his first Action Track USA feature win of the year.
Bieber started on the outside of the front row and immediately jumped to the lead. Dave Carraghan challenged the Oley, PA hotshoe for several tours before contact between Carraghan and D. Hoch caused the No. 3 to come to a sliding, spinning halt in turn two. Hoch was sent to the rear for his role in the altercation; he stormed back to finish fifth at the end.
At the checkered, it was Bieber, from Oley, PA in for the win, with Chase Schott chasing him to the line. Tyler Ulsh rounded out the podium with a third place run, while the Hoch brothers, Tyler and Dylan, battled tooth-and-nail for the final top five positions. Tyler, a two-time winner this year, finished fourth and Dylan was fifth.
In a wild and woolly Junior Slingshot main, Billy Pauch III survived and pick up his first Action Track USA victory. Landon McNichol, winner of the previous two features, finally cut some hot laps, then wound up fourth.
At the finish, race No. 1 ended with Pauch III in front, ahead of McNichol, Jon Severn, Lily Esterly, and Miles Zehner.
Scranton, PA wheel-twister Larry Kelleher bested the field to finish second. Jax Wittmer was third, ahead of Enzo Iudicello and Ashlyn Wittmer.
Foley Cat Action Track USA gears up for another fantastic event this Wednesday, July 31. On the card will be the All Pro SpeedSTRs, Hyper Racing 600 Sprints, along with the All Star and Junior Slingshots. The 600’s will compete in a pair of 25 lap features, as they complete the postponed main from June 5–the Ronnie Tobias Memorial—and the evening’s regularly scheduled program.
Pit gates open at 4 p.m. with grandstand gates swinging open at 5:00. Warm-ups begin at 6:15 with qualifying heats going green a few minutes after the hot lap sessions.
RESULTS:
All Pro SpeedSTRs, 30 laps: 1.Tim Buckwalter, 2.Paulie Hartwig III, 3.Kyle Herve, 4.Billy Pauch Jr., 5.Matt Janisch, 6.Briggs Danner, 7.Dan Schumaker, 8.Dustin Morris, 9.Sammy Martz Jr., 10.Shea Wills, 11.Cale Zangli, 12.Dylan Licklider, 13.Billy Pauch Sr., 14.Gary Wagner, 15.Cole Stangle. DNS: Scott Houdeshell; Tyler Kehs.

Hyper Racing 600 Sprints, 35 laps: 1.Briggs Danner, 2.Christian Bruno, 3.Connor Gross, 4.Colin White, 5.Brian Carber, 6.Kyle Lick, 7.Preston Lattomus, 8.James Roselli, 9.Danny Buccafusca, 10.Zack Weisenfluh, 11.Aidan Donaldson, 12.Nate Freed, 13.Jesse Maurer, 14.Shelby McLaughlin, 15.Zach Curtis, 16.JT Bierman, 17.Keith McIntyre, 18.Jacob Severn, 19.Jake Fisher, 20.Craig Whitmoyer, 21.Connor Mirabelli, 22.Tim Buckwalter, 23.Dylan Hahn, 24.Jarid Kunkle, 25.Richie Hartman, 26.Julian Rexrode.
DNQ: Fred Heinly, Weston Doklan, Gabe Gerber, Billy Calvert, Sammy Martz Jr., Amanda Onimus, Jace Marshall, Matt Janisch, Cole Gerber, Korey Inglin, Dylan Kontra, Peyton Knecht, Matt Warner, Tommy Errico, Sonny Tete, Richie Baker.

All Star Slingshots, 20 laps: 1.Brett Bieber, 2.Chase Schott, 3.Tyler Ulsh, 4.Tyler Hoch, 5.Dylan Hoch, 6.Luke McCloskey, 7.Shawn Dengler, 8.Daniel Betz, 9.Patrick Weiss, 10.Amanda Angstadt, 11.Mason Lineman, 12.Gavin Danner, 13.Dave Carraghan, 14.Tom Mawson, 15.Austin Kroboth, 16.Brianna Snyder, 17.Steve Keller.

Junior Slingshots, 15 laps: 1.Billy Pauch III, 2.Landon McNichol, 3.Jon Severn, 4.Lily Esterly, 5.Miles Zehner, 6.Kaleb Stofflet, 7.Matthew Laubach, 8.Carter Mullins, 9.Hannah Kormann.

Junior Sprints, 15 laps: 1.Larry Kelleher, 2.Gage Pio, 3.Jax Wittmer, 4.Enzo Iudicello, 5.Ashlyn Wittmer, 6.Archer Jumper, 7.Logan Schibilia, 8.William Simco, 9.Jase Smith.