DANNY DIETRICH WAITS OUT STORM DELAY, NURSES MOTOR TO CLAIM “ICEBREAKER 30” SEASON OPENER

Photo courtesy of Tony De Seta

ABBOTTSTOWN, PA 2/25/2017 – Fans saw it all at Lincoln Speedway Saturday.

They were greeted with cloudy skies and temperatures exceeding 70 degrees at the outset, cleared the stands when a tornado warning was issued at 2:20 p.m., waited out a four-hour, forty-minute rain and hail storm delay, returned to the stands to a 20-degree temperature drop, and then withstood heavy winds to see Danny Dietrich score his 32nd career win and claim the $4,000 top prize in Saturday “Icebreaker 30” season opener for 410 sprint cars.

A redraw placed Dietrich sixth for the start. A second lap yellow for eighth-starting Bradley Howard, who came to a stop in turn three was the only caution of the event. At the time, Jim Siegel dropped into the pits and did not return.

Dietrich was running fifth when polesitter and race-long leader Tim Glatfelter hit lapped traffic on lap six.

Five laps later, fifth-starting Brian Montieth took the lead from Glatfelter on the backstretch, only to slow suddenly three laps later with mechanical issues, turning the lead back over to Glatfelter. Dietrich inherited fourth when Montieth dropped from the field, behind Glatfelter, front row starter Campbell, and Kyle Moody.

Dietrich caught Moody for third on lap 17 and passed both Campbell for second and Glatfelter on the back stretch of lap 20. From there, he checked out on the field until developing motor problems of his own with just a few laps to go. He was able to nurse it home and cross 297 seconds ahead of runner-up Moody at the finish.

I think it was a valve spring that went,” said Dietrich upon exiting the Gary Kauffman-owned Weikert’s Livestock/Sandoe’s Fruit Market #48 in victory lane, “But as Bob Weikert would have said, we have more back in the shop.”

“I told these guys all week we were gonna race. I expected to be done by 3:00, but we missed that by about a half-hour, said Dietrich tongue in cheek, “It was just another day.”

Crossing third through fifth behind Dietrich and Moody were Cory Haas in new Trone Outdoor Advertising #39 ride, 11th-starting Gerard McIntyre, Jr., and Freddie Rahmer. Sixth through tenth were Campbell, 26th-starting and hard-charger Chase Dietz, Chad Trout, Shane Hoff, and 16th-starting Billy Dietrich.

All told, there were four lead changes among three drivers over the 30 laps.

Heats for the 27 410 Sprints were won by McIntyre, Moody, and Trout.

The temperature dropped from 71 degrees during warm-ups to 46 degrees when the “Icebreaker” ended at 7:48 p.m.

Next Saturday, March 4th, Lincoln Speedway returns with another single-division 410 sprint car show. Gates open at noon, with qualifying to begin at 2:00 p.m.

To get all the latest news, results, schedule changes and rule changes, visit Lincoln Speedway's website at http://www.lincolnspeedway.com to stay up-to-date on all the action or pending weather conditions at Central Pennsylvania's "Premier" Saturday night race track - The Fabulous Lincoln Speedway.

RACE RESULTS
Saturday, February 25, 2017
LINCOLN SPEEDWAY
Abbottstown, PA
2017 SEASON OPENING ICE BREAKER 30
LAWRENCE CHEVROLET 410 SPRINTS
410 Sprint Ice Breaker 30 Feature Finish (30 Laps) – 1. 48-Danny Dietrich ($4,000); 2. 99m-Kyle Moody; 3. 39-Cory Haas; 4. 16-Gerard McIntyre, Jr.; 5. 51-Freddie Rahmer; 6. 16C-Matt Campbell; 7. 5G-Chase Dietz; 8. 1X-Chad Trout, 9. 69H-Shane Hoff; 10. 8-Billy Dietrich; 11. B52-Scott Geesey; 12. 40-George Hobaugh; 13. 10-Joe Kata III; 14. 22-Ralph Engel; 15. 75-Kody Lehman; 16. 69-Tim Glatfelter; 17. 2W-Glenndon Forsythe; 18. 21T-Scott Fisher; 19. 21-Brian Montieth; 20. 12W-Troy Fraker; 21. 12-Mike Bittinger; 22. 87-Alan Krimes; 23. 5-Tyler Ross; 24. 88-Brandon Rahmer; 25. 59-Jim Siegel; 26. 49H-Bradley Howard; 27. 55K-Robbie Kendall. No Time

Lap Leaders – Tim Glatfelter (1-10), Brian Montieth (11-14), Tim Glatfelter (15-19), Danny Dietrich (20-30)

410 Sprint Heat One Finish (10 laps/6 to qualify) – 1. 16-Gerard McIntyre, Jr.; 2. 16C-Matt Campbell; 3. 51-Freddie Rahmer; 4. 48-Danny Dietrich; 5. 75-Kody Lehman; 8. 21T-Scott Fisher; 8. 22-Ralph Engel; DNS – 5-Tyler Ross. Time - 2:18.648

410 Sprint Heat Two Finish (10 laps/6 to qualify) – 1. 99m-Kyle Moody; 2. 69-Tim Glatfelter; 3. 21-Brian Montieth; 4. 39-Cory Haas; 5. 69h-Shane Hoff; 6. 87-Alan Krimes; 7. 55K-Robbie Kendall; 8. 59-Jim Siegel; 9. 10-Joe Kata, III. . Time – 2:18.958

410 Sprint Heat Three Finish (10 laps/6 to qualify) – 1. 1X-Chad Trout; 2. 12-Mike Bittinger; 3. 49H-Bradley Howard; 4. 2W-Glenndon Forsythe; 5. B52-Scott Geesey; 6. 88-Brandon Rahmer; 7. 12W-Troy Fraker; 8. 40-George Hobaugh; 9. 5G-Chase Dietz (DNF). Time – 2:24.211

© Copyright 2016 by Sel-Wil, Inc.

My Thoughts On.......Summer Fundraisers and Go Fund Me Pages in racing!!!!!

Hello race fans welcome back to another round of my thoughts.....this week I want to share my thoughts on a growing phenomenon in Central PA and racing in general, summer fundraisers and Go Fund Me drives. I want to start this off by saying I am not singling any one driver or individual out but the entire process in general.

For the past few years we have seen summer fundraisers for different race teams happen at different eating establishments around the area. I love the idea of being able to meet the drivers in a very low key environment. Its is a great way for fans to get up close and personal with the drivers in a way they can't at the track on weekends when stress levels are high. It's also a great way for the drivers to shake hands with the fans who support them each week. In theory they were a great idea going horribly wrong.

Why are fans being asked to donate more money to help race teams race all season? Even better why can't race teams work harder or be smarter to gain the money they need to race a full season in Central PA? And before anyone says it, YES I know nobody is making anyone go to them or donate money to the drivers. I get all of that but let me ask you this in return....How hard are some of these drivers and organizations (Yes organizations are getting into the act as well, more on that in a bit) working to secure the funding they need to do what they want, and how much are they just relying on these to get them by?

I have sat back and watched fundraisers be held for drivers who do not need them in any way, but they had them because they are friends with the person hosting them. Now once again I can already hear you screaming at me through the computer WHO THE HELL ARE YOU TO DECIDE WHO NEEDS WHAT????!!!!! Well once again I will answer that with a question. Does a race team  who sponsors a couple cars, as well as a race track really need a fundraiser to race? Twice I have seen drivers have fundraisers for them after they gave me money to support the 358 point series. Now 1 of those teams ended up giving all the money to a charity that escapes me at the moment, but you can see where I'm going right?

Here is what I think bothers me the most. While on the phone the other week with a former car owner we discussed this very thing and his answer struck me as kind of odd till I sat back and thought about it. He asked me how many of these drivers who have fundraisers actually struggle to race every week? How many of them go without to make sure they field a sprint car every week, or do they live a great life away from the track, and just bank on a fundraiser or a Go Fund Me drive to make sure they can race? Now like I said that kind of threw me off until I sat and thought for a while what he meant. How many drivers do you see on social media posting pictures of them and their girlfriends on a mid week vacation at the beach? Now if racing was such a priority to them wouldn't that money be better served to keep their car on the track every week? How can you ask fans to come out and help raise money for you to continue to race when you are showing those same fans that your money is better spent at the beach for 4 days? How can you a driver or race team ask fans to give when they cant go without? Does that make sense to anyone other then me?

I see drivers who have had these fundraisers walking around the pits with $250 Oakley sunglasses on their faces yet they need me to donate money so they can continue to race?   Wouldn't that money be better served going to the race car, and buy a cheap $5 pair of sunglasses from Turkey Hill like I have?  Now once again before you start yelling at me, yes it is possible for those sunglasses to be a gift from someone BUT appearances are everything. Something doesn't seem right with that picture, or is it just me? And once again I am not telling a driver how to spend his money, but I questioning his desire to race when he is asking fans to give him money to continue to race. I will give you an example of someone who is doing it right. A few years ago I posted something on Face book asking if anyone would like to do some landscaping for me. I had 2 different drivers hit me up asking about the job and what it paid. When I told each of them what it would pay and showed them what I needed done only 1 of them wanted the job, and actually begged me to allow them to do it. Why you might ask? Because this driver needed to rebuild his 410 motor and was willing to get poison just to get that extra money to help him out. He could have easily tried a fundraiser to get the money but this guy was willing to earn anything to race. Now that is my kind of driver, and a driver I am willing to support if he ever needs anything.

As for the Go Fund Me sites that host fundraisers for just about anything, I actually have a solution. If a driver or race team is looking to host a fundraiser on that type of website, why not make it worth the fans money to donate? I have actually donated to a couple different fundraisers in the past but each time the bands I gave money to offered something in return. They had different tiers for fans to donate for the cause and make it special for the fans. You donate so much and the band would send you a copy of the album you helped fund. You offer a little more and you get your name in the thank yous in the liner notes. If you where a big spender you get a backstage pass to hang with the band for a day at a local show close to your house. THAT is making it worthwhile for fans to donate to a cause. Why can't race teams do something like that to make it worthwhile for the fans to help them? Do I know what a team could offer? Oh I don't know maybe special T-Shirts, wing panels, a night in the pits as an official crew member? Just a little bit of originality can go a long way right?

Now I mentioned a bit ago about a sanctioning body asking for donations to help them do something. Normally I wouldn't even bat an eye at something like this, but being someone who ran a series for 8 long years I know the hard work and sacrifices it takes to pull it off, this one seemed way out there. The Beer Hill Gang and the PASS 305 series have come up with an 6 race series for the 305 division. I love the idea. Any way to get extra money to the race teams is awesome in my book. But now here is what struck me as way off. They have asked for someone to pay for the t shirts for the series. Now I would imagine the money made from the shirts would go towards the series so all good right? Well they then asked for fans to donate money for the point fund so they can give it to the drivers. HUGH? WHAT? REALLY? Isn't that what the title sponsor is for? Why would you have the Beer Hill Cup and not have the Beer Hill Gang pay the point fund? I'm sure they make enough money from their clothing and merchandise that they could help out right? How can you give a business the naming rights for the "series" and then ask others to help pay for it? That would be like me having the Bill McIntyre KING of the 358 series and then asking Capitol Renegade and others to help pay for it. Why would other business and fans want to help with the point fund when they already gave the title sponsor to someone else? I am at a loss on that.

One last point I want to make is this....

Before anyone tweets me, or post a comment about "Real" race fans are willing to donate money to the race teams, DON'T!!!! Every fan that buys a ticket, a t shirt, a beer coozie,or anything else is a "real" race fan. These same "real" race fans where the same ones a few summers ago wishing a driver was killed in a wreck instead of just being hurt because they didn't like what he was doing at the time.

Like I said at the top, I didn't write this to single out anyone I just wanted like always to share my thoughts on it, so please keep that in mind when you start sharing with me how big of an asshole I am for it.

With that I want to say thank you once again for checking out the site and taking the time to read my thoughts on......

Feel free to let me know your feelings on this or any other subject. Hell hit me up on twitter @BillMcIntyreIII if there is anything you would like to see me talk about on here.

I hope you all have a safe weekend as it is opening weekend here in Central PA. Enjoy those classic lines from Wayne Harper as he welcomes you all back to the track for the 1st time in 2017 when he says....."All is right in the world again"

I will be following along at home but my pick for the Ice Breaker 30 is.........Gerard McIntyre Jr.
#Homer

Until next time hope the weather stays as warm this weekend as it has been all week, and whatever your beverage of choice is Saturday I hope it stays ice cold.

©Central PA Racing Scene & Bill McIntyre 2017

My Random Thoughts during an off season !!!!

Hello and welcome back to another edition of "My Thoughts".  This week I would like to touch on a few different things that have been rattling around in my brain recently. I will share my thoughts on the Racing Extravaganza car show this past weekend in York.  I will also address the absence of car owners in sprint car racing and offer a viewpoint that many people in Central PA may not agree with.  Finally, I plan to touch on a debate I read on Twitter the regarding which track, Lincoln or Port Royal has the better competition on Saturday nights in Central PA.  So how 'bout we get started....

This past Saturday I attended the 2nd annual Race Car Extravaganza race car show in York Pa. It was great to walk around and talk to some friends that I haven't seen since November (Yes, contrary to what many believe I do have a few friends contrary). Naturally, we discussed the show and how it was compared to the past Dirt Trackin' shows at the Fairgrounds that many of us have attended over the past 20 + years. Now this is not a knock on promoter and organizer Scott Gobrecht.  He has certainly worked hard to breathe some life back into a show that appeared to be on life support the past few years.  The following are just random musings on things that I think could be done or improved upon to make it more fan friendly for the attendee paying $12 to get in.

The first thing I noticed was the car counts. They advertised that they had well over 150 cars in attendance this year, but the lack of sprint cars at the show was noticeable.  I realize that there are more then just sprint cars that race in Central PA, and in the past have publicly championed for fans to go and support a race regardless of the types of cars. However, Central PA is sprint car country and the lack of full size sprint cars for the fans to check out was disappointing. Hopefully, in years to come more sprint car teams can attend the show and help make it bigger then it is currently.

My second observation reflects the booths that they have for the fans. It is tremendous that every local race track was represented at the show, but what exactly did they do to promote their facility or make their presence memorable for attendees? The big takeaway seemed to be a 2017 schedule. No offense but big deal. In the modern world, most of us have instant access to schedules with a click of a mouse or the swipe of a finger.  Perhaps offering old programs, decals, or promotional coupons worth a few dollars off would make a longer lasting impression. Most of the tracks I observed when i was there on Saturday seemed more preoccupied talking to other race track personnel than interacting with fans. When I stopped to talk to tracks about different things I ended up walking away after a few minutes because I felt ignored. Props to Trail Way Speedway for having a booth where they had cars on display as well as videos portraying the action that fans can expect if they make the trip to the track. Their personnel from the track seemed more than willing to answer questions anyone might have.

Finally, what exactly are the fans getting for their money? We get to walk around, look at the cars, and pick up a schedule but is that worth $12? A buddy of mine commented about how cool it would be to have a simulator to race against other fans or even drivers. I think the show could benefit by more interactive features that would give fans a little more bang for their buck.  Again, this does not fall completely on the shows promoters but many vendors could put more effort into making a lasting impression.

Now let's see how many people I can upset with this one.....

I see interviews from drivers all over the country (not just in Central PA) asking where all the car owners went. Why isn't there any new car owners jumping at the chance to spend a lot of money for little return? While I was on the phone with a former multi-division car owner I asked him this question and floated out a theory on why we lost so many of the great car owners we once had.  He actually agreed with me (surprising I know).

Here is the theory: It is the drivers themselves that ran the car owners out of the sport.

Now calm down folks and hear me out. Back in the day we had a considerable number of car owners willing to spend money to let guys race here in the area. Most of these drivers had full time jobs. At some point, drivers figured out the best way to make a living was to ask to be a full time driver in an area where most if not all the drivers did it as a hobby. This trend added considerable cost to the car owners. Having to pay salaries to the drivers and a full-time crew chief is not cheap. Additionally, they may have had to pay for insurance for the full-time employees and their families. Add all of that into the already escalating cost of running a sprint car team and it's not hard to imagine why car owners decided to step away and find something cheaper to do. It's one thing to pay for a car to race 80+ times a year, it is another to do that plus pay all the non-racing expenses required to keep a full-time driver and crew chief. I had a car owner tell me one time after a Central PA Live show, that a well known driver was receiving six figures a year to race a sprint car. Six figures! This salary was paid at the beginning of the season. Think about that for a minute, $100,000 just to show up each week and race. That's on top of the thousands upon thousands upon thousands being spent to field the car, trailer and everything else.

Now I can already hear some of you yelling at me.... If the car owner didn't feel the driver was worth it, then they wouldn't have made the agreement.  Furthermore, who the hell are you to judge how a guy makes a living and how much he makes?

I get where you are coming from and understand it is a dream to get to do something for a living instead of working a crappy 40 hr a week job. No driver held a gun to an owners head and said pay me a lot of money so your car is sitting on the front stretch every week. It just seems to me that if that never happened we would still have a lot of car owners willing to spend money for our drivers to play in the clay on the weekends.

 And last on the agenda is which track has the better competition on Saturday nights,Lincoln or Port? Now I went on line and did some digging and couldn't believe some of the things I found.

Taking the top 10 in points from 2016 at both Lincoln and Port Royal I looked at how many wins each driver had at their home track as well as at other tracks in Central PA. I was very surprised at what I found.

Starting with Port Royal here is the top 10 in points as well as their win totals at other race tracks

Driver / Port / Lincoln / Williams Grove / Selinsgrove
Doug Esh - 7 / 24 / 24 / 1 = 56
Brock Zearfoss - 1 / 0 / 1 / 0 = 2
Mike Wagner - 11 / 0 / 1 / 0 = 12
Dylan Cisney - 2 / 0 / 0 / 0 = 2
Greg Hodnett - 49 / 30+ / 62 / 17 = 158
Lucas Wolfe - 4 / 3 / 14 / 2 = 23
Curt Stroup - 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 = 0
Ryan Taylor - 5 / 0 / 1 / 0 = 6
Blane Heimbach - 11 / 0 / 0 / 1 = 12
Kody Lehman - 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 = 0

Port wins - 90
Lincoln wins - 57
Williams Grove wins - 103
Selinsgrove wins - 20
total - 271

Driver / Lincoln / Port / Williams Grove / Selinsgrove
Alan Krimes - 16 / 0 / 5 / 0 = 21
Brian Montieth - 51 / 1 / 21 / 0 = 73
Jim Siegel - 12 / 0 / 4 / 0 = 16
Cory Haas - 8 / 0 / 6 / 0 = 14
Gerard McIntyre  - 4 / 0 / 2 / 0 = 6
Austin Hogue - 1 / 0 / 1 / 0 = 2
Glenndon Forsythe - 3 / 0 / 0 / 0 = 3
Robbie Kendall - 1 / 0 / 0 / 0 = 1
Freddie Rahmer - 2 / 0 / 1 / 0 = 3
Adam Wilt - 4 / 0 / 2 / 0 = 6

Lincoln wins - 102
Port wins - 1
Williams Grove wins - 42
Selinsgrove wins - 0
total wins- 145

Now looking at those stats what do you think? Port had the better top tier drivers in Esh, Hodnett, and Wolfe all who have wins at all 4 tracks in Central PA. No driver at Lincoln has a win at all 4 tracks and only 1 of those drivers has a win at 3 tracks. So the top or the top I don't think it is a question who has the better quality of cars.

But wait there is more to think about......

After you look at the top guys it gets a little cloudy. The 2nd tier drivers are an entirely different story. Port has two drivers in the top 10 without 1 career win at any race track while all 10 drivers at Lincoln have at least 1 win. Only 3 drivers from Port have a win at Williams Grove (Zearfoss, Wagner and Taylor) while only 2 guys at Lincoln DO NOT have a win at Williams Grove (Forsythe and Kendall). So looking at that it says the 2nd tier is more competitive at Lincoln right?

Now a look at 2017 shows that Port will be loosing Wolfe as he will not be running full time anywhere on Saturdays so that knocks one of the big dogs off the list. Heck even Hodnett doesn't run full time at Port. If you take Greg's wins off the list then Port only has 113 total wins at all the area race tracks.

I will let you make the decision on who has the better competition on Saturday nights in Central PA. For me....I'm like a lot of fans and am glad we have this problem. Just think how boring life would be if the fans from each race track couldn't mess and talk shit to the others. 

And for your listening pleasure a track from the Boston band Reveille.....What You Got...

That's all for this week. Hope you enjoyed my musings. As always feel free to hit me up and let me know how wrong I am, or even better that I got it right. Leave a comment on here at the bottom, tweet me or shoot me an email at billmc358@gmail.com. I love hearing from all of you on these subjects or anything else you have to talk about. Until next time.....Try and stay warm and keep your beverage of choice nice and cold.