ABBOTTSTOWN, Pa. — Some people frown when presented with handicapped shows, but if the racing surface is on point, it can bring on quite the event.
At Lincoln Speedway, the Pigeon Hills were rocking all Saturday night.
They used an Australian scramble, one versus one, to figure out the top 12 starting positions in the A-Main.
It was a two-lap shoot-out, starting at the flag stand, and whoever won stayed alive and stayed out on the track, able to improve their starting position. However, whoever lost the battle was knocked out and kept their same starting position.
The most invigorating battle was between Danny Dietrich and Freddie Rahmer. Rahmer lead going into turn one, but Dietrich ultimately passed him in turns three and four, while managing to keep the lead to the finish.
After bringing out the red in the heat race action, Chase Dietz and the team got right to work.
After a wire snapped and needed to be reconnected to turn on some of the front stretch lights, there was an open red while repairs were made to the track. The team made it back out to finish the final two laps of the heat race, just before Dietz went on to win the B-Main and finish eighth in the feature.
Dietrich was running away with it until the caution flag flew with five laps left, which put Rahmer right in striking distance.
With two laps left, Rahmer was able to squeeze beside the rail, allowing him easy access to sneak in front of Dietrich; this race continued Rahmer's streak as the winningest driver as he picked up his ninth win at Lincoln this season!
In the 358 feature, Frank Herr jetted to the front to lead every lap, quickly landing himself in the victory lane.
With the potential of stormy weather in the area on Friday night, many tracks were forced to cancel. Fortunately, Williams Grove had a quick shower early in the day and was able to let the racing commence.
There was a dangerous moment when TJ Stutts and Justin Whittall touched wheels during the race, which caused Stutts to go tumbling into turn one as Whittall went over the wall and into a tree, outside the race track.
Whittall was able to get out from underneath the crash and was then taken on a stretcher and transported to a local hospital. The team announced he was released from the hospital with minor injuries around 3 a.m. Saturday morning.
Steve Buckwalter paced the field; he wired the field for his 13th career win at the track, but the 358 feature stole the show.
The race gave quite the show during its final laps. From seventh, Cody Hartlaub slid Zach Newlin for the lead. In the next corner, Newlin got Hartlaub back for his second feature win at the Grove.
One door closes, another one opens
More news when it comes to seat changes: Kreitz Racing has found their driver for the Speed Palace, just a week after parting ways with Lance Dewease last Sunday.
Logan Wagner left the Zemco No. 1 to race for Donny Kreitz Jr. Wagner is set to race the rest of the Port Royal schedule in the No. 69k. Kreitz expressed that they are still waiting to announce who will race the National Open at Williams Grove.
Wagner is the only driver with five consecutive track championships at the Speed Palace. He was racing a limited schedule at Port Royal this season and just won a feature with his former team at the track on July 15.
There hasn't been confirmation on who will be the next driver to jump in the Zemco car.
Living Like Outlaws program
Tytan Deal is a member of the Hummelstown junior firefighter program, but that’s not all he does; he has a need for speed as a racer.
He’s been brought into the national spotlight by being involved in a program called "Living Like Outlaws."
Most Friday nights, you can find Deal racing at Linda’s Speedway in Lebanon County. This is nothing new for the driver, as he has been racing for five years, moving up from quarter midgets to all-star slingshots.
When he’s not training to be a junior firefighter, he’s living out his dream on the track.
“It’s good to see the kids grow here, at the firehouse, as well as now racing. He’s one of three racers we have in the department," said Steve Kienzle, Hummelstown Chemical Fire Chief.
Deal is one of 15 young drivers participating in the "Living Like Outlaws" program.
“It’s one big family. It’s a hobby that’s expensive but you just get hooked to it really easily,” Deal expressed.
Linda’s is a track World of Outlaws employee Wes Irwin remembers fondly; it’s the track he began racing.
For nine months out of the year, Fredricksburg’s Wes Irwin is on the road with the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series.
He’s in his sixth season running the Outlaws souvenir trailer and pretty quickly into it, he knew he wanted to do more.
“I thought, man, I have this opportunity to be in front of a lot of people, thanks to the World of Outlaws," said Irwin. "So, they gave me a big stage to personally perform from. Why not share the experiences, places to visit and track to see with fans. A little more of an inside look."
And since then, he’s grown his platform to more than 23,000 followers. During it all, that’s when the idea of launching the "Living Like Outlaws" program was born.
Eight girls and seven boys ages 9-18 from all over the country, from flat karts to 305 sprint cars and everything in between, are in the program.
Irwin shares his platform with the young drivers that have a unique story as they try to grow a name for themselves.
“[I'm] excited because I knew he wants me to get somewhere, in my racing career and not just stay in these cars," said Deal.
“These kids are rock stars," said Irwin. "If we don’t have kids like Tytan, there [are] no firefighters later in life and that’s not good. We need them to be race car drivers and we need them to be firefighters and those are the kids I like to represent."
The platform helps the kids with their communications skills while increasing their online presence and opening doors to possible sponsors.
“I know a few of them have gotten sponsors from doing videos on my page, which is really cool when you think about it at the end of the day," said Irwin. "It was just one of those things, why not share my page? These kids are our future and we want to keep these kids into racing. All my kids, and I call them my kids, are very unique people and are very goal driven and do a lot of things outside of racing."