The Hagerstown Speedway staff has lost one of their own. Chances are high when you passed through the pit exit in turn one, you passed Charlie Hose.
Best known as his nickname “Pig”, Hose was a corner flag man, officiating at Hagerstown Speedway since 1980. His presence at Hagerstown Speedway will be surely missed.
Hose was 77 years old.
All of us at Hagerstown Speedway extend our deepest condolences to his family.
With a heavy heart, Hagerstown Speedway sends its sincerest sympathies to the family, friends, and fans on the passing of longtime racer and speedway supporter Nathan Durboraw after a courageous battle with cancer. He was 63 years old.
The Hagerstown, Maryland veteran began his racing career in 1978 and won his final feature at Hagerstown in 2009.
Durboraw is one of the winningest Limited Late Model and Super Late Model drivers in Hagerstown Speedway history. His record stands at third overall on the all-time win list, recording 110 total feature wins between both divisions.
He was an 11-time Hagerstown Speedway track champion, winning LLM titles in 1979, 1986-87, and SLM titles in 1988, 1991-93, 1995-96, 2002, and 2005. Durboraw is the leader in total of track championships won.
He will be missed by his family, friends, and fans. Our thoughts and prayers go out to them
By Brett Rose
HAGERSTOWN, MD – Justin Weaver set quick time with a new track record, won his heat race, and drove to his 29th career Late Model Sportsman feature win.
But it wasn’t without a battle as he briefly relinquished the lead to Spike Moore for a lap, and had Devin Hart hot on his heels in a three-way battle for the lead.
Just past the halfway mark of the 20 lapper, Weaver took control as Hart and Moore battled for second. Weaver maintained his composure through lapped traffic and a final restart with just two laps remaining.
Hart finished second, while Donnie Farlling sneaked past Moore on the last lap to take third, and Shawn Shoemaker slid into fifth place at the finish.
Jason Stoner wrestled the lead away from Rob Nichols on the third lap of the Pure Stock feature event, drove to a half-straightaway advantage by the halfway mark, and continued to pull away unchallenged to take the win of the 15 lap event.
It was his first career PS win, and third overall career win at Hagerstown.
Nichols had his hands full battling Jamey Swank for second, and stayed a car length ahead at the checkered flag at the finish. Rounding out the top five were Bryan Kerns and Khi Swanger.
Codey Breeden picked up his second win of the season and his career in the Hobby Stock feature event. He wired the field for 15 laps to score the win over Scot Sipes, Brady Daniels, Nathaniel Younker, and Jeff Dillon.
Notes: Fifty-four entries were welcomed back to the pit area for a return to racing at Hagerstown Speedway.
Saturday night’s event at Hagerstown Speedway was the first back in action since the Pennsylvania Sprint Speedweek event on July 2. It marked the first time the track has held an event with zero spectators in the grandstands as directed under the COVID-19 orders by the Washington County Health Department.
This race served as a tuneup for the Frank Sagi Tribute/ARCH Festival coming up on Sunday, September 27.
Timed hot lap sessions were used to set the qualifying heat races giving the drivers an opportunity to set a new track record. Weaver reset the LMS mark with a lap of 19.135 seconds, breaking the previous mark of 19.280 set last season by Derick Quade.
Feature Results
Late Model Sportsman – 1. 2J-Justin Weaver[1]; 2. 33K-Devin Hart[9]; 3. 48-Donnie Farlling[2]; 4. 48W-Greg Moore[7]; 5. 44-Shawn Shoemaker[10]; 6. 21-Chad Myers[6]; 7. 8F-Taylor Farlling[5]; 8. 9A-Kurt Zimmerman[4]; 9. 25-Jonathan Raley[8]; 10. 58-Randy Burkholder[13]; 11. 88-Brian Miller[17]; 12. 08K-Zach Kauffman[11]; 13. 51-Cody Lear[18]; 14. 88C-Chuck Cox III[21]; 15. 17F-Bradley Feight[15]; 16. 11-Joe Westerman Jr[25]; 17. 68-DJ Groft[20]; 18. 11W-Austin Warrenfeltz[22]; 19. 12-Wes Hurd[23]; 20. 2-Dan Zechman[16]; 21. 81-Eddie Cornett[19]; 22. 08-Keith Koontz[3]; 23. 24R-John Rowland[24]; 24. (DNS) 85-Rodney Walls; 25. (DNS) 99W-Garrett Walls; 26. (DNS) 151-Kyle Lear
Pure Stock – 1. 21-Jason Stoner[1]; 2. 7N-Rob Nichols[2]; 3. 22-Jamey Swank[3]; 4. 83-Bryan Kerns[4]; 5. 88-Khi Swanger[8]; 6. 8-Jeremy Tinsman[6]; 7. 2-Randy Zechman[5]; 8. 69-Dwayne Snyder[7]; 9. 19M-Bobby Meixsell[10]; 10. 6-Wayne Hawbaker[9]; 11. 28-John Miller[12]; 12. 76-Mason Strait[11]; 13. 57-Brandon Grubb[13]; 14. 10J-Sherman Lynn[14]
Hobby Stock – 1. 22-Codey Breeden[2]; 2. 15-Scot Sipes[5]; 3. 31-Nathaniel Younker[6]; 4. 76-Brady Daniels[3]; 5. 52-Jeff Dillon[7]; 6. ZR1-Zack Reid[8]; 7. 03-Jack Gose[9]; 8. 12LC-Laura Chamberlain[4]; 9. 67-Tony Daniels[1]; 10. 88-Nick Fogel[12]; 11. (DNS) 4-Ricky Michael; 12. (DNS) 64-William Crook; 13. (DNS) 00-Charles Noblitt; 14. (DNS) 57-William Ecton Jr
Coming up this Saturday, September 19 at Hagerstown Speedway, race teams will once again be in competition on the final weekend of the summer season.
The Late Model Sportsman, Pure Stock, and Hobby Stock divisions will be in action.
Guidelines and protocols set forth by the Washington County Health Department must be met and adhered to for racer participation.
ALL racers MUST pre-register their cars in advance of the event. Race teams will be limited to a total of ten (10) people or less. NO GENERAL PUBLIC OR SPECTATORS
All staff and race teams must wear facial coverings anytime they interact with members of another team or track employee when social distancing is not possible. Race drivers WITH HELMETS will be excluded.
Grandstands will be CLOSED. All social distancing and CDC guidelines will be adhered to.
Pit insurance is $30. Hot laps will begin at 6:30 pm. Race teams must not arrive until one hour before the scheduled start of the race, and MUST leave within 30 minutes upon the completion of the event.
Hagerstown Speedway sends its sincerest sympathies to the Walls family on the passing of longtime racer and speedway supporter Wayne Walls, Jr. after a lengthy, courageous battle with cancer. He was 63 years old.
The St. Thomas, Pennsylvania veteran began his racing career in the mid 1970’s and won his final feature at Hagerstown in 2012.
Walls is the winningest Limited Late Model/Late Model Sportsman driver and eighth overall winningest driver in Hagerstown Speedway history, recording 76 feature wins.
He was an 8-time Hagerstown track champion, winning titles from 1988-90, 1996-99, and 2012.
He will be missed by his family, friends, and fans. Our thoughts and prayers go out to them.
Obituary and service information is in the link attached.
https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/publicopiniononline/obituary.aspx?n=wayne-j-walls&pid=196716192&fhid=8385&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=obitshareamp&utm_content=p196716192
After a several week hiatus from racing action due to the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, and in cooperation with local authorities, Hagerstown Speedway will return back to racing with a very special event.
In what has become the event you do not want to miss, the popular Frank Sagi Tribute Race returns to Hagerstown Speedway for the fourth consecutive season on Sunday, August 16.
For 2020, the race annually named after Hall of Fame announcer Frank Sagi, who spent 39 years on the microphone at Hagerstown Speedway, will honor three former drivers that played huge parts in the history of Late Model racing at Hagerstown Speedway.
If you ever heard Sagi announce the nicknames “Freestate Flyer”, “Brunswick Bullet”, or “Slurpee King”, then you know the honorees.
Legendary home state Maryland drivers Denny Bonebrake, Sam Nalley and Larry Gorman will each be honored on the night of this special race, which will be hosted again on a Sunday evening like when those drivers were regularly competing and winning.
Bonebrake, Nalley and Gorman, all of whom started their driving careers in 1968, and raced competitively against each other for over 15 years. The successful trio accounted for over 100 combined feature wins and several championships at Hagerstown Speedway, several of biggest marquee events, and they were all interviewed by Frank Sagi in victory lane on each and every occasion.
Nalley and Gorman both retired from active competition in the mid-1980’s; Gorman in 1983 and Nalley in 1986. Bonebrake continued to race until finally hanging up his helmet in 2014. All three drivers are members of the Auto Racing Club of Hagerstown (ARCH) and Hagerstown Speedway Hall of Fame. Bonebrake has also been inducted into the York County Racing Club and National Dirt Late Model Racing Halls of Fame.
On track action will consist of an efficient two-division program of Super Late Models and the Mid-Atlantic Modifieds.
The Super Late Model division will be racing for an increased purse in a 25-lap feature race paying $3,000 to win, plus an increase in pay for all 24 starting positions. In addition, there will be sponsored bonus cash, products and gift certificates to be distributed to all 24 feature starters. All non-qualified cars in attendance will also receive bonuses, along with tow money from the track.
An exciting new bonus has been added to the Super Late Model drivers. For the first time, the Jimmy Spence Memorial Front Row Challenge will be a part of this annual special event.
This unique bonus is in memory of longtime championship and race winning driver/car owner Jimmy Spence of Winchester, Virginia, who we lost on February 1st of this year. All Super Late Model heat race winners on this night will be offered the chance to race for extra cash, courtesy of the Spence family and Champion Auto Sales, if the drivers are willing to forfeit their upfront starting positions.
All heat winners will be tempted with a $3,000 bonus if they are willing to drop to the rear of the feature starting field and are able to win the race. The second option to be offered to all heat winners is a $1,000 cash bonus if they are willing to start at least 9th and are able to win the 30-lap feature event from there. Any driver who is willing to accept either challenge will receive a guaranteed $200 bonus in memory of hard-charger Jimmy Spence, just for giving it a try.
Joining the Super Late Models on the evening’s card will be the Mid-Atlantic Modified series, who will compete in a 20-lap feature race paying $800 to win. There will also be various cash, products and gift certificates available for all 24 Modified feature starters and all non-qualifiers. No racer in the pits for this event will go home empty handed.
For race fans, nothing has changed with the content for this multi-faceted event, where everyone is a participant in the show.
Race fans will be treated to free brilliant-colored art prints designed by noted racing artist Jeff Lindsay as they enter the grandstand gates, along with other various free gift items.
As in the past years, a large assembled group of retired former star drivers will be in attendance to talk to fans and sign autographs from 4:30 until 6:00.
The popular Turn 5 Turnaround show will have their new Mobile Studio set up on the grounds to entertain fans with live interviews of several current and former drivers.
Dozens of free t-shirts will be shot to fans in the grandstand area throughout the evening by the Father & Son duo of Tim and Brent Hottle from the Outback Motor Speedway and Need-a-Sign?, both in Winchester, VA.
Everyone will also get the opportunity to see nationally-known race car builder and Hall of Fame driver Jim Bernheisel take five lucky fans for high-speed rides around the speedway in his custom-built two-seater Super Late Model. Besides the five fans, one of the evening’s special honorees, Denny Bonebrake, will also be going for a ride with Jim Bernheisel, along with two other mystery riders.
Three iconic restored race cars of the past will be on hand to be viewed and admired. A late ‘50’s/early ‘60’s era flathead powered 1937 coupe, originally owned by Richard Bonebrake and driven back in the day by Red Nininger, will be brought to the track by it’s current owner and restorer, Red’s son Glenn Nininger.
The bright orange 1969 Chevelle raced successfully in the mid-‘70’s by top Central Pennsylvania driver Bob Bender will be in attendance. The #17, owned by son Bob Bender, Jr., has a big block Chevrolet under the hood, just how it raced.
The third vintage racer is one of the most famous in the country, the highly-recognizable yellow Yenko Chevrolet #1, expertly driven in the 1980 racing season by the legendary Bob Wearing. This Howe chassis, big block Chevy powered machine was one of the most feared combinations of it’s day, and will be towed in to Hagerstown from the Western Pennsylvania area by it’s current owner, Kurt Gray.
The Auto Racing Club of Hagerstown (ARCH) will be hosting their annual picnic on the speedway grounds from 1:00 until 3:30. ARCH members will be offered free admission to the evening’s racing program, courtesy of track General Manager Lisa Plessinger.
ARCH officers will also be present to conduct raffles for two great racing collectible items to benefit the non-profit organization. A beautiful, huge, framed, one-of-a-kind drawing done by artist Jeff Lindsay called “Remembering Our Heroes” will be won by one lucky fan at evening’s end. The other item is an impressive custom-etched wood plaque featuring cars driven by Denny Bonebrake, Sam Nalley and Larry Gorman. This is another one-of-a-kind piece, crafted by master woodworker Scott Lorshbaugh.
ARCH will also be selling the great-looking event t-shirts featuring the images of cars driven by Denny Bonebrake, Larry Gorman and Sam Nalley. These eye-catching, multi-colored shirts were designed by Kevin Quirk of Awesome Race Tees, and will be available in all sizes for just $20. All proceeds from the sale of these shirts go to the Auto Racing Club of Hagerstown’s Injured Drivers Fund.
A limited amount of t-shirts commemorating the memory of longtime engine builder Curtis Hershey who recently passed away will also be available.
This event continues to grow in popularity for the racers and fans alike.
For this event, to follow protocols in cooperation with local health department authorities, a reservation system is in place to reserve your passes. There are limits to the number of attendees so please visit https://speedwayshopping.com/ to reserve your place to be able to attend the Frank Sagi Tribute on Sunday, August 16, 2020.
Please follow the social media of Hagerstown Speedway on Facebook or Twitter for the latest updates and information, or call the speedway office at (301) 582-0640 for more information