By: Ron Burt
Two weeks ago, all the area racetracks fell victim to rain. Last week all the local tri-state tracks were able to run. Next week I will cover Winchester Speedways’ big weekend featuring the annual Winchester 400 on the historic world’s fastest paved half mile. Larry Boos and his staff have worked hard all year putting the weekend together for drivers, owners, crews and fans.
If you’re a fan of pavement or dirt oval track racing you can follow tri-state racing and the national sanctions all winter on my Facebook page and high school football and basketball scores live on Ohio Sports Blitz.
Every Thursday on Facebook Live at 7PM, Scott Hammer and Ron Miller have an hour talk show interviewing a variety of guests connected to our sport. You can find the Hammer Down Racing Report on Facebook. Scott is a race car driver at Oakshade Raceway and the tracks announcer. Ron Miller races Dirt Trucks at Fremont Speedway, a former Late Model driver and is one of the best car builders in the area.
Two weeks ago, Toledo Speedway wrapped up their 2024 season with the annual ARCA Menards Series Owens Corning 200. Fans got to see history made. William Sawalich was the winner of the Owens Corning 200. He recently celebrated his 18th birthday and is a driver in the Joe Gibbs Racing Development team. It was his 9th series victory this year. William also won his 10th Pole Position Award of the year earlier in the day. Congrats to Mexico City’s Andres Perez. He was crowed the 2024 ACRA Menards Series Champion. Andres is the first series driver born outside the U.S, to win the title. His REV racing stable teammate Lavar Scott is the series Rookie of The Year. Conner Zbozien won the 50 lap Outlaw Late Model feature. It was Conner’s first Toledo Speedway win.
Waynesfield Raceway had a big Saturday night. Nate Dussel won the Great Lakes Super Sprints feature. Max Stambaugh finished 2nd and Zane DeVault 3rd. The UMP Modifieds were in action at the “Field of Speed”. Jerry Bowersock won the feature, followed by Dillon Nusbaum and Scottie Williams.
Millstream Speedway reopened for the 3rd time this year hosting four classes of cars. They are trying to find what the fans will come out and support on future weekly shows. It was the first time this year the UMP Dirt Late Models tried out the Speedway, along with the Super Stocks and Fremont Dirt Trucks. They competed against each other in the yearly Super Stocks vs Trucks race and the 360 Winged Sprints returned for their 2nd time this summer.
McClure Ohio’s Rusty Schlenk won the Dirt UMP Late Model feature. Kyle Moore was 2nd and Rusty Smith was 3d. Twenty cars started the feature that was made up mostly of weekly competitors from Attica Raceway Park and Oakshade Raceway.
The Hammer Down Clash brought out big numbers of Super Stocks and Fremont Trucks for the annual event with bragging rights between the two class on the line. It was a huge field of cars and trucks. Jordan Conover in a Super Stock started the feature outside the front row and managed to land in victory lane with Late Model ace, Kyle Moore racing in the event and placing 2nd and Dan Hennig taking 3rd.
The 360 Winged Sprint feature was won by Zane DeVault followed by Kasey Jedrzejek and Van Gurley Jr from Valparaiso. 6th place finisher Alex Hill made the Sunday night trip from Six Nations Ontario. Until next week, keep your wheels down. Ron out! (All featured pictures were taken by Charlie Orns. Of Freeze Frame).
