Trever Feathers Wins Red Nininger Memorial

By Brett Rose

HAGERSTOWN, MD – Trever Feathers scored the Super Late Model win in the 12th annual Red Nininger Memorial on a hot, summer night at Hagerstown Speedway.

Marvin Winters led the field from the start as a three wide battle ensued for second place between Justin Weaver, Tyler Horst, and Allen Brannon. Weaver settled into second while Winters began to pull away. Feathers got by Brannon and closed in on the group a couple laps later.

Winters saw his advantaged erased as the caution flag flew on Lap 11 for Larry Neiderer, setting up a restart. Once again, Winters pulled away from another three-wide battle for second among Weaver, Horst, and this time Feathers.

Feathers got the best of the group and began his stalk of Winters, making the pass for the lead on the low side of Winters on Lap 17.

From then on, Feathers overpowered the field and a late closing Andy Anderson to pick up his first SLM win of the season at Hagerstown.

Feathers said : “This whole week has been the hardest week of my life. This car was sitting in pieces. It’s brand new, brand new motor…. Let me get this Super done, we’ll go to Hagerstown. I busted my butt all week, me and my guys, and my dad…. In warmups and time trials, we had no brakes. Had brakes in the rear for the heat race, and somewhat had brakes in the feature. This is probably the biggest win my career. Not money wise, but as hard as we worked in the past seven days is unbelievable.”

Winters finished third, while Horst and Weaver completed the top five.

Cody Kershner and Barry Miller shared the front row in the Late Model Sportsman feature, and each driver was looking for their first win of the 2019 season. Miller was able to pull ahead into the lead and maintain his advantage over Kershner for the duration to pick up the feature win.

Finishing third was Scott Palmer, followed by James Lichliter and Devin Frey.

With Lichliter’s fourth place finish, he claimed the 2019 LMS track championship over Palmer by a 65 point margin.

Kevin Thomas picked up his sixth Hobby Stock feature win of the season, and the 2019 track championship. Thomas trailed Billy Ecton,Sr. by 22 points entering the evening and briefly battled him early in the feature event until Brady Daniels made his bid for the lead.

Daniels spun on the tenth lap, bringing out the caution and had to go to the rear. Daniels drove from the rear and back into second place as Ecton, Sr. fell out to mechanical woes. Thomas claimed the title by a scant 10 points.

Jason Sarver, Sam Caravello, and James Speelman rounded out the top five.

After a couple seasons of strong runs, Danny Atherton finally picked up his first career Pure Stock feature win. Atherton battled Rob Nichols for much of the feature event, and pulled away at the halfway point before Nichols began to reel in the leader.

A caution on the fourteenth lap setup a one-lap shootout to the finish, and Atherton was able to withstand the challenge of Nichols to pick up the win.

Trailing Atherton and Nichols at the finish were Dillon Wilson, Bobby Meixsell, and Lane Hessong.

Picking up the LaSalle 602 Crate Modified feature nightcap was Cameron Campbell over Chris Chamberlain, Andy Swope, and Keith Van Horn.

Notes: Weaver set quick time for SLM with a lap of 18.750 seconds on a tricky racing surface following a week after the NTPA Truck & Tractor Pull held on the frontstretch.

Kyle Lee was originally eligible to win the Nininger Challenge available to a driver that could win two or three of the memorial races via his win in the Frank Sagi Tribute, but he was not in competition due to being away on vacation. To be eligible for the bonus, the drivers must attend all three memorial events.

An extra $500 is up for grabs to Feathers if he can win the Tex Shaffer Memorial on August 24.

Hagerstown Speedway would like to thank Glenn Nininger and his family for their support and involvement with this event, along with all of the racers and fans that came out to support this race.

Feature Results

Super Late Models (25 Laps) – 1. 20-Trever Feathers, [5]; 2. 41-Andy Anderson, [6]; 3. 46-Marvin Winters, [1]; 4. 14-Tyler Horst, [4]; 5. 2J-Justin Weaver, 2]; 6. 30-Allen Brannon, 3]; 7. 5E-Glenn Elliott, [10]; 8. 86-Scott Palmer, [8]; 9. 121-Larry Neiderer, [11]; 10. 85-Rodney Walls, [9]; DNS-Gary Stuhler

Late Model Sportsman (20 Laps)– 1. 88-Barry Miller, [2]; 2. 43-Cody Kershner, [1]; 3. 86-Scott Palmer, [6]; 4. 8-James Lichliter, [5]; 5. 62-Devin Frey, [10]; 6. 2-Dan Zechman, [4]; 7. 08-Keith Koontz, [9]; 8. 85-Rodney Walls, [3]; 9. 000-Paul Cursey Jr., [7]; 10. 08K-Zach Kauffman, [8]; 11. 17-Doug Legum, [11]; 12. 24R-John Rowland, [13]; 13. 77S-Elwood Sord, [12]

Pure Stock (15 Laps)– 1. 19-Danny Atherton, [3]; 2. 7N-Rob Nichols, [5]; 3. 65-Dillon Wilson, [7]; 4. 19M-Bobby Meixsell, [6]; 5. 55-Lane Hessong, [4]; 6. 6-Wayne Hawbaker, [9]; 7. 56-Gregory Laird, [11]; 8. 47-Tike Loizos, [12]; 9. 25-Jeremy Mills, [13]; 10. 69-Dwayne Snyder, [8]; 11. 00-Joshua Bloom, [1]; 12. 44-Charles Rupert, [10] DNS -Randy Zechman

Hobby Stock (15 Laps)– 1. 03-Kevin Thomas, [3]; 2. 76-Brady Daniels, [5]; 3. 43-Jason Sarver, [8]; 4. 41-Sam Caravello, [10]; 5. 10-Drew Fertig, [14]; 6. 11A-James Speelman, [2]; 7. 57-William Ecton Jr., [6]; 8. 67-William Ecton Sr., [1]; 9. 14-Codey Breeden, [11]; 10. 84-Andy Lufkin, [13]; 11. 15-Scot Sipes, [4]; 12. 64-William Crook, [12]; 13. 12LC-Laura Chamberlain, [9]; 14. 25-Rodney Miner, [15]; 15. 19-Mike Fuller, [7]

Crate Mods (15 Laps)– 1. 8-Cameron Campbell, [2]; 2. 31C-Chris Chamberlain, [3]; 3. 70-Andy Swope, [1]; 4. 00-Keith Van Horn, [5]; DNF-Charlie Summers, DNS-Scott Corbin

Red Nininger Memorial for SLM This Weekend 

Super Late Models return to the Hub City on July 20 as Hagerstown Speedway presents the Red Nininger Memorial.

The $3,000 to win feature is part of the Nininger’s Tire & Auto Challenge available to any driver that competes in all three memorial races.

$500 is up for grabs if a driver can win two of the three, and $1,000 extra is available if a driver can perform the sweep.

Kyle Lee won the Frank Sagi Tribute in June, so he is currently eligible for the Nininger Challenge bonus, which also includes the Tex Shaffer Memorial on August 24.

Nininger’s Tire & Auto is also paying out $100 to the SLM fast timer, along with $50 to each SLM heat race winner.

As an added bonus, $50 extra goes to each other division winner, plus trophies for every feature winner.

Late Model Sportsman and Hobby Stocks will have their final point races of 2019. Joining the card will also be the Pure Stocks and LaSalle 602 Crate Modifieds for a 5 division lineup.

Pit gates open at 4:30, grandstands at 5pm, and racing begins at 7pm.

General admission is $18, students/seniors/military $15, and kids age 12 and under are free. Pit admission is $35.

For more information, please stay tuned to our Facebook and Twitter pages for the latest news, or call the speedway office at 301-582-0640.

Eric Johnson Memorial for Hobby Stocks Rescheduled on September 13

The Eric Johnson Memorial for Hobby Stocks that was rain postponed shortly after beginning the feature on June 29 will be made up from where it left off on Friday, September 13 during qualifying night of the Small Car Nationals.

Only those drivers that originally competed in the Eric Johnson Memorial on June 29 are eligible to compete as that race had already officially started. Two laps were completed, and 13 laps remain to finish.

The race is still $1,001 to win, and the rest of the original purse to be paid along with many other awards and bonus paid to the field of 26 cars that originally started the race.

For more information or details, call the speedway office at 301-582-0640.

Rahmer Wins Johnny Grum Memorial at Hagerstown

By Brett Rose

HAGERSTOWN, MD – Freddie Rahmer picked up the win in exciting fashion during the third edition of the Johnny Grum Memorial on Thursday night’s seventh round of Pennsylvania Sprint Speedweek at Hagerstown Speedway.

Robbie Kendall and Lucas Wolfe paced the field from the front row, and Kendall beat Wolfe into turn one and off of turn two to take the lead.

Kendall quickly drove his No. 55k into lapped traffic on the sixth circuit before a Lap 7 caution waved for the stopped car of Brandon Rahmer in turn one.

On the restart, Kendall repeated his original start, beating Wolfe and the field again to remain the race leader. At the halfway point, Kendall led Wolfe by a 1.63 second margin and once again was working through lapped traffic while rim-riding the top groove of the Hub City oval.

Just a few laps later, Wolfe worked the bottom groove underneath Kendall to take the lead coming off of turn two on Lap 19. As Wolfe was leading, a four-car battle for second began between the cars of Kendall, Cory Eliason, Danny Dietrich, and Freddie Rahmer.

Rahmer made the best of the battle, settling into second and began his chase of Wolfe on Lap 23, and worked the low groove to pass Wolfe for the lead on Lap 24.

From then, Rahmer looked poised to pull away until a Lap 28 caution waved for the spun car of Brock Zearfoss on the backstretch.

This setup a two-lap dash to the finish, but Rahmer was too strong at the end, and took the checkered flag.

The win for the Salfordville, Pennsylvania driver in his Leffler Energy No.51 was the first of his career at Hagerstown.

“I don’t know how good I was at the end, but it was good enough to hold them off. It’s pretty cool to get my first win at Hagerstown.  I always love coming here. I wish we could race here more. The track flows perfect for Sprint Cars and Late Models. It’s all good racing.”, praised Rahmer in victory lane.

Wolfe held onto second, followed by Eliason, Dietrich, and fifth-place finisher Anthony Macri.

The win put Rahmer into the points lead at the time for the PA Sprint Speedweek championship with two races remaining.

Notes: 22 cars signed into the pit area on the July 4th holiday race. Notably absent was Lance Dewease, whose team elected to take the night off. Dewease’s streak of three consecutive wins at Hagerstown came to an end.

Rico Abreu set quick time with a lap of 15.601 seconds, falling short of Mark Kinser’s pre-weight limit best of 14.945 set back in 1999.

Heats were won by Wolfe, Dietrich, and Kendall.

Feature Results

410 Sprints (30 Laps) – 1. Freddie Rahmer, 2. Lucas Wolfe, 3. Cory Eliason, 4. Danny Dietrich, 5. Anthony Macri, 6. James McFadden, 7. Rico Abreu, 8. Robbie Kendall, 9. Dylan Cisney, 10. Logan Wagner, 11. Tony Stewart, 12. T.J. Stutts, 13. Mike Wagner, 14. Chad Trout, 15. Jared Esh, 16. A.J. Flick, 17. Justin Whitall, 18, Brock Zearfoss, 19. Troy Fraker, 20. Chase Dietz, 21. Carl Bowser, 22. Brandon Rahmer

PA Sprint Speedweek Up Next 

Hagerstown Speedway is back in action with the annual “South of the Border” stop this Thursday, July 4th for the seventh night of the PA Sprint Speedweek for 410 Sprint Cars with the Johnny Grum Tribute.

Grum was best known in the region for his time spent behind the wheel of the No.66 cars owned by Harry Fletcher. Both have since passed away, but both are still remembered and revered for making a formidable team from the mid 1960’s through the mid 1970’s.

One of those cars was the uniquely built “Sidewinder” that featured an offset 427 Ford engine, and very low clearance that was dominant at Hagerstown Speedway. He won the 1966 Super Modified championship with that car, and another championship in 1969 with Small Block Chevy power a conventional Sprint Car.

Grum still ranks third on the all-time Sprint Car win list at Hagerstown with 21 career feature wins, and still holds the 35 and 100 lap records set in 1974.

Featured on the card with the 410 Sprints will be an exhibition of vintage race cars through the Eastern Museum of Motor Racing.

Pit gates open at 4:30, grandstands open at 5pm, and racing begins at 7:30pm.

General Admission $25, Student/Senior/Military $20, Reserved Seating (top two rows) $30. Kids age 12 and under are free. Pit Insurance is $35.

For the latest news and information, please follow Hagerstown Speedway on Facebook and Twitter, or call the speedway office at 301-582-0640.