CUMBERLAND COUNTY, Pa. — History rewrites itself at BAPS Motor Speedway. For the first time in 31 years, BAPS hosted a World of Outlaws race.
It has been since Aug. 2, 1992, since this series made a pitstop at this track.
Get this: eight of the current 14 full-time Outlaw drivers weren't even alive yet to witness the last race. This area is special with so many tracks, but the Outlaws are selective to keep the curb appeal for the series and give teams the proper rest between races.
“Obviously, this is a historic location, and we just felt like it was maybe time to come back up here," said Carlton Reimers, World of Outlaws sprint car series director. "We talked about it for a few years and said let's try it. Let's see what happens."
Rain pushed the race to Thursday night. The Outlaws took the return to BAPS. David Gravel won at BAPS.
When the Outlaws were in town in May, the last night of the Morgan Cup was rained out. They brought the cup back up this weekend to see who keeps the cup. Two drivers added their names to Williams Grove's All-Time win list
By the looks of it, you would have thought Brad Sweet was running away with the cup. Out of nowhere, Logan Schuchart dove to the inside of the "big cat" and stole the win at the line.
He was a second behind at the white flag, and I'm not sure if he even knew he won until he glanced up at the scoreboard. That was Schuchart's first Outlaw win at the Grove. He won by less than eight thousandths of a second.
Saturday night at the Summer Nationals. It was a very technical track. It was Rico Abreu's night to shine. He won his heat, won the dash and started on the pole. Gravel was the only one to challenge Rico for a hot second but stayed on his tail trying to track him down. The third night went to the invader—another first-time winner at the Grove.
"Unbelievable weekend for my team and just to be able to be here, put ourselves in position," said Abreu. "Williams Grove is such a special place. Really difficult track. Just really judge your pace off of lap traffic, when you got there. I passed two lap cars and I knew the race was changing to run around the bottom. I thought about just staying down there and just making sure I hit my marks."
Before Rico made his way to victory lane, he stopped in turn three to celebrate with the fans on beer hill. Not just that, he climbed the fence and downed a cold one, as Pennsylvania fans went crazy for Rico.
Rico went on to say, "They are just really important people that don't get a whole lot of love in victory lane. So, I've always said from day one, when I started coming here, 10 years ago, that if I ever won here, I was going to make sure I stopped over there and gave those guys some love."
I think climbing the fence may turn into a new trend at the Grove.
Silly season brings a few gut punches
Silly season has been upon us in central Pennsylvania for a few weeks. Sunday morning, the news hit hard. The dream team is no longer together. Lance Dewease was relieved of his duties from the Kreitz Racing No. 69K.
In May, when Dewease drove the 69K to victory lane at the Grove against the All-Stars, he notched the 93rd win for Kreitz and made him the winningest owner at the track, surpassing Al Hamilton, a former car owner of Dewease.
The team was together for just shy of eight full seasons.
That wasn't all. Anthony Macri made his debut in the 7BC, filling in for an injured Tyler Courtney.
Shark Racing's Jacob Allen jumped out of the seat to take some time away and focus on himself and his family. His cousin, Landon Myers, filled in for Allen on Saturday at the Grove.
Brent Marks announced they will be taking a break after the High Limit race on Tuesday until Knoxville, in a little over two weeks.
The question lies: is the long season starting to weigh on teams?