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LATEMODELRACER >> NORTH REGION >> Fastrak records another impressive record breaking season
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Message started by LMR on 11/23/11 at 2:28pm

Title: Fastrak records another impressive record breaking season
Post by LMR on 11/23/11 at 2:28pm

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 22, 2011

FASTRAK RECORDS ANOTHER IMPRESSIVE RECORD BREAKING SEASON AS 2011 SEES APPOX $150,000 PAID OUT IN POINT MONEY TO NE RACERS; PEGHER & BLAIR CAPTURE SERIES HIGHEST ACCOLADES IN GRAND NAT’L, NATIONAL WEEKLY & TOURING TITLES

By Mike Leone
Pulaski, PA — The FASTRAK Northeast Late Models wrapped up a very successful and record-breaking 2011 campaign- the fifth in its history. It was a banner season on the Sweeney Chevrolet Buick GMC Northeast Touring Series, while once again Northeast racers took 28 of the top 50 City Chevrolet National Weekly Series spots, and had tremendous success at the season-ending Grand Nationals sweeping the top two positions for the first time ever! It is estimated Northeast racers captured a record $150,000 in the various point funds excluding local track point funds and of course race winnings! For the second straight year, over the 300 racers participated in a FASTRAK race in the Northeast Region!

The Northeast Touring Series was thrilled to welcome on its first title sponsor of the Series in Sweeney Chevrolet Buick GMC as the Boardman, Ohio-based company stepped up and offered support in many ways for the Series including the GM 604 engine giveaway at Sharon Speedway in July won by Ben Black. Sweeney also offered rock bottom low prices on GM 602s and 604s at $3,090 and $5,090 respectively.

A record 24 Touring events were scheduled with 19 of those being completed. A record 189 different drivers competed in those 19 events with a record car count average of 35 per event! For the third time in the past four seasons, Max Blair took the championship honors. The 21-year-old Centerville, Pa. driver started the year off on fire winning three of the first seven events, but he wouldn’t win another race after taking the prestigious Gary Knollinger Memorial on June 23 at Sharon Speedway that earned him $2,750.

Blair will also go down in the history books as the inaugural Bully Dog “Cross the Borders” Speedweek Champion presented by Contingency Connection. Oddly enough, Blair didn’t win one of those five races over the 4th of July Weekend at Expo, McKean, Raceway 7, Pittsburgh or Eriez, but did kick it off with three runner-up efforts and a fourth and a fifth. Blair earned $1,000 cash plus a $1,000 Bully Dog certificate as part of the $3,000 cash $2,000+ contingency point fund. The Speedweek will again be returning in 2012!

Mike Pegher, Jr. made another push at his first championship, but came up shy to Blair for the second consecutive year. Pegher did lead the Series with five victories, which moved him ahead of Blair at 13-12 on the all-time win list. Pegher also has a pair of Grand National victories to his credit as he leads that list as well.

Josh Holtgraver and Dan Angelicchio each won two races and finished a career best third and fourth in points respectively. Angelicchio also won the abbreviated Mid-Ohio Valley Touring Series championship. Two other drivers also finishing a career high in points were Steve Dixon and Joe Martin in fifth and sixth respectively. Butch Lambert, Damian Bidwell, John Volpe, and Kyle Zimmerman were seventh through tenth.

Rounding out the top 15 in points, were George Kowatic, Lauren Longbrake, Jamie Brown, Josh Double, and Chad Wright. All of those racers will be honored at the awards banquet at dinner at the Hard Rock Café Pittsburgh on Sunday, January 29. Teenager Shane Weaver captured the “Wheelman” Bonus Event Challenge Series Championship and will be recognized for that accomplishment as well. Other drivers winning their first career Touring Series races were Kowatic, Russell King, Ryan Montgomery, and Wayne Robertson.

Along with the Speedweek, the inaugural Bill Emig Memorial “Wild Card Weekend” was a two-race program over Memorial Day Weekend at Sharon and Lernerville Speedways that awarded a $1,500 point fund to the top five racers with Robbie Blair taking the $500 overall title. Positions 6-15 earned contingencies.

Two other new programs that were part of the Touring Series that went over well were the Contingency Connection and Hoosier Tire giveaway program. Original Pizza Logs presented the Contingency Connection program, which saw well over $50,000 awarded in contingencies to FASTRAK racers throughout the Series. Utsinger’s Towing of Boardman, Ohio presented the nightly Hoosier Tire giveaway program that saw the last running car on the lead lap receive a free FASTRAK tire. Several of the tires were given by regional authorized Hoosier Tire distributors.

One of the most exciting concepts created by FASTRAK Northeast was the “Futures Cup” program. Because of the great influx of young racing talent, this program kicked off in 2011 with 18 participating drivers. To be eligible, drivers had to be under 20 years of age, have less than two full seasons of FASTRAK competition, and be a FASTRAK member. Points were based off drivers’ Weekly Series points with the addition of three stand-alone “Trifecta” races for the “Futures Cup” drivers.

Ryan Montgomery came on strong at the end to win the $1,000 championship. The 14-year-old Fairmont, West Virginia driver won a pair of Weekly Series races at Roaring Knob in addition to his Sharon Touring Series win and capped it off with the final “Trifecta” event win for the “Futures Cup” racers at Roaring Knob on October 7. Damian Bidwell, Shane Weaver, and Chad Wright were very close for second through fourth in points as just nine points separated them. Bobby Rohrer, Jr. was a new racer to FASTRAK and greatly improved throughout the year to finish fifth in points.

Sixth through 10th in points were Nico Dabecco, Newt Tackett, Matt Latta, Russell Baird, Jr., and Alessa Young. These drivers will also be honored at the banquet. Tackett and Lauren Longbrake won the other two “Trifecta” races at Sharon and Pittsburgh respectively.

Like the Northeast Touring, for the third time in the past four seasons, Max Blair is the City Chevrolet National Weekly Series Champion. Blair won 21 features en route to the $10,000 title. For the third straight year, Mike Pegher, Jr. finished in the $6,000 runner-up position. Northeast racers did quite well garnering 28 of the top 50 paying positions.

As was documented last month, the success at the Grand Nationals was incredible. Pegher used his Night 1 win at Dog Hollow and carried that momentum on to Bulls Gap, Tennessee where his third and fourth place finishes were good enough to bring the $30,000 title to the Northeast for the first time ever! Not only did Pegher represent the Northeast well, but veteran Robbie Blair came home in second for the $20,000 prize.

Also finishing in the top 24 of the Grand National points paying positions were Max Blair (7th), Ryan Montgomery (14th tie), Dan Angelicchio (16th), Josh Holtgraver (18th tie), and Bobby Whitling (18th tie). The Northeast’s 13 racers that headed south captured some $65,000 in point fund monies! It’s already been announced that the 2012 Grand Nationals will be televised!

Two great fundraising efforts brought in over $11,000 for the American Cancer Society. Back on May 28, Sharon Speedway hosted “Racing for the Cure” as part of Tori Martin’s senior project. Tori is the sister of FASTRAK Late Model standout Joe Martin and is a senior at Punxsutawney High School. Over $9,000 was raised through various fundraising efforts both before and during that event!

The second fundraiser concluded this past Saturday night at Sharon’s fourth and final Northeast Touring Series event, when the season-long Golf Cars 4 All golf car was raffled off. This fundraiser brought in an additional $2,000 for the A.C.S. The winner of the golf car was ironically Troy Holtgraver of Pittsburgh.

Three Northeast speedways signed on for weekly competition were a big boast to the Series. Sharon Speedway, who ran several shows in 2009 and 2010, became a great Saturday night anchor track especially for racers in eastern Ohio and northwest Pennsylvania and western New York as the Hartford, Ohio oval averaged a nation-high 28.5 cars per event!

Eriez Speedway’s signing on to FASTRAK gave racers a Sunday night option and also hosted the $2,000 Speedweek finale. The addition of Humberstone Speedway gave FASTRAK its first International presence as the eastern Ontario, Canada oval ran the division on Friday night. Humberstone also hosted the first ever Touring Series event outside the U.S.A. during their May Victoria Day holiday with the $2,000 race won by Max Blair. That event will be returning in 2012 with the possibility of a second show later in the season.