The inaugural season of the JeffreyHogueRealtor.com Action Track USA at Kutztown is now official.
DOWN THE CHUTE BY JOHN SMITH
The inaugural season of the JeffreyHogueRealtor.com Action Track USA at Kutztown is now official. Rich Tobias, Doug Rose, and all created a fantastic, family friendly racing facility that provided some of the most exciting small car racing I’ve ever seen. I was proud to bring Gater exclusive coverage from the 12 race meet as the track operates only when Kutztown University is on summer break. Darn shame, too, as I love the place. The racing, the officials, pit shack and concession workers, everyone there is nice and glad to have you there. But it’s the racing that really set the place apart. So with that in mind, I proudly present my first ever JeffreyHogueRealtor.com Action Track USA season wrap up.
First up, the Sunoco USAC Championship SpeedSTRs.
This division boasted the star power and it did not disappoint. You had names like Billy Pauch Sr. and Jr., Kenny Brightbill, Jeff Strunk, Craig VonDohren, Chuck Schutz, and Freddie and Brandon Rahmer along with part timers Rick Eckert, Mike Mahaney, Dale Planck, along with a host of others hitting the 1/4 mile progressively banked oval. Topping the points list was “Mr. Excitement” Kenny Brightbill, who now in his early 60’s is as exciting as ever. Kenny just eeked out the championship, with just one win over Billy Pauch Jr., who tallied three triumphs. Freddie and Brandon Rahmer, though shut out of the winner’s circle, finished consistently every week to finish third and fourth, with WoO Late Model star Rick Eckert, who missed a couple races, coming in fifth. Eckert was the division leader in wins with 4, one of which was the season ending Dick Tobias Memorial, which paid $4,500 to win. In the four wins Eckert scored, which were very popular with the fans, he pocketed $10,500! Not bad at all, huh?
Completing the top ten were Billy Pauch Sr. with one win, Jeff Strunk with one win, multi time Grandview late Model champ Chuck Schutz, and Matt Janisch. Other winners, with one apiece, were Mike Mahaney and Dale Planck. 12 features were run with 41 cars total competing at one time or another.
Now we move on to the Pioneer Pole Buildings wingless 600 cc Micros, who stole the show each and every week. Yeah, the SpeedSTRS had the star power, but the 600’s were THE SHOW with incredibly close and competitive racing, slide jobs, multiple lead changes, they did it all and the weekly full house crowds loved every minute of it. To a person, and I talk to a lot of people, they agreed that this division was the best, so let’s take a look at them. securing the point championship was Jay Hartman, son of legendary Modified racer Newt Hartman, Jay took the checkered first on two occasions followed, or should I say hounded, by overwhelming fan favorite Kyle Lick, who picked up three wins. Kyle campaigned the Bogar 99/Jan Opperman tribute car that was a huge hit with the fans, not only for the paint scheme, but he had no side tin on the car so you could really see his arms at work. Now, he didn’t run this car every week, but when he did, oh boy, it was awesome to watch. And it ran like heck too. Following Jay and Kyle was Jay’s brother, Jeff Hartman, who was always right there but didn’t manage to get a win. Brian Carber came home fourth in points with two wins, and James Morris, although winless, used that consistency we talked about, to finish fifth.
Sixth through tenth were Billy Pauch Jr., Rick Perrone, Brett Schoenly, Billy Nye, and Alex Bright. out of these five, only Bright managed to get a lone win. Other winners in the 60’s were Mike Rutherford, who won the PA 600 Sprint Speedweek show, his first time going wingless, Brett Peters, and Jason VanDoren, all with one win apiece. 11 features were run with a total of 97 different cars seeing action.
Now we’ll talk 270 cc winged Micros where 10 events were held with 53 cars taking part at one time or another. Ross Perchak, with two wins, can call himself point champ as he finished ahead of Jarid Kunkle, the leading feature winner with four. Bobby Butler picked up a lone win and finished third, Tommy Kunsman Jr. scored twice, and Steve Walters was fifth. Harlee Schaffer also was a feature winner in the division.
Lastly, the NAPA All Star Slingshots. Danny Buccafusca won just once but his finishes is what earned him the title over Brett Bieber, who won twice, Larry Raifsnyder, Travis Bieber, and Cody Kline. Other winners were Joe Nemeth, Kyle Gruber, Matt Massone, Matt Miller, and Mark Sensenig, who had three. Sensenig could’ve had four but in the running of a Slingshot special race, Sensenig got dumped coming out of turn two and ended up rolling over.
A couple special events were held during the race meet, starting off the season with the annual Goldie Meitzler memorial, which got postponed one week due to rain. winning that SpeedSTR special was Rick Eckert. The SpeedSTRs had the next special event as well in the “Flying Farmer 40,” run in honor of Tommy Hinnershitz, Billy Pauch Sr, in his Sunoco number 9 got the win. The Kioti Tractors/Leisure Sports n Turf PA 600 Speeweek 35 lapper went to Mike Rutherford. “The Kutztown Komet 100,” run in honor of Freddie Adam, was for the Slingers and Mark Sensenig took the win. The Dutch Classic for the Slingshots was won in controversial fashion by Brett Bieber. And the season ending Dick Tobias Classic for the SpeedSTRs was won by Rick Eckert.
It was a great first year at the Action Track USA. I’d like to thank Rich Tobias, Doug Rose, Mike Feltenberger, John Gulden, Barry Angstadt, and all involved for allowing me to be a part of it. I’m already looking forward to next year. And here’s a bit of trivia. Do you know who threw the first ever checkered flag at the Action Track USA? It was me! It was during the Media Day and Mike called me to the starters stand and I dropped the squares on the first green flag parctice, which was for the 270’s. It was a thrill I’ll never forget. Thanks, “Iron” Mike!
