Rick Eckert had a tough decision to make last week.
As a driver, it would have been an easy one. But as a car
owner, the decision had to be a different one.
Eckert, the car owner, came out on top of the battle as the
York driver enjoyed a great Appalachian Mountain Late Model
Speedweek and took home the lions share of the points money.
Eckert had one win at Winchester (VA) Speedway, three top five
finishes and one top ten finish in the five events ran, which
was good enough to secure the overall points championship and
the $4,000 first place prize posted by title sponsor Century
Link. Eckert also earned another $1,000 from Sunoco Race Fuels.
“I’m the owner and the driver now so I gotta look at things a
little differently than before,” Eckert said on Monday night.
“As a driver, I really wanted to go to the Dream (at Eldora
Speedway), but as a car owner, I have to look at my expenses. I
figured I’d have at least $2,000 tied up in going to Eldora and
you’d have to run 12th just to break even. I mean, if you’d win,
you’d be way ahead but you’d have to run 12th to even break
even. It just didn‘t make sense as a car owner.”
Eckert knew he had something great right here in his own
backyard and he took advantage of it.
“To be able to race that many night’s in a row, you can race
close to home and the races were all good payoffs,” he added
about the second annual Speedweek series. “Plus they have a real
nice point fund for the deal so it was a good deal to just stay
home and support it.”
Eckert ended the week with 714 total points compared to
runner-up Jeremy Miller, who garnered 655 points after winning
once during the week as well.
Nick Dickson won the opening night at Selinsgrove Speedway,
Eckert won last Monday at Winchester, Gary Stuhler won at
Williams Grove, Jeremy Miller won at Port Royal and Coleby Frye
won at Bedford. Hagerstown and Lincoln Speedway’s were both
rained out.
“It’s a really cool deal and it’s amazing the car counts that
supported it,” stated Eckert. “I know this is sprint car country
but I don’t think there’s every been a Sprint Speedweek that had
an average of close to 50 cars.” Port Royal had a series high 55
cars while 38 cars signed in at the finale at Bedford.
Eckert said the length of the programs could be looked at for
next season.
“I think when you’re gonna race every night of the week, maybe
there could be a format change to make things go quicker,” he
added. “A couple of nights went pretty long during the midweek.”
Eckert, who is currently seventh in world of Outlaws late model
points says his York Excavating, J & K Salvage sponsored team is
racing weekend to weekend.
“As of now, we plan to follow the Outlaw tour but basically
it’s one weekend at a time right now,” Eckert added. “We could
use a lot more sponsorship money so we’re going on what we’ve
got and trying to make due. Plus we’ve had some motor issues and
we still don’t have all of them back yet.”
NO MORE CONFLICT
According to All Star Circuit of Champions President Guy Webb,
there won’t be a scheduling conflict in Central Pennsylvania on
September 25.
Two weeks ago when the All Star sanctioned Bob Weikert Memorial
was rained out for a second time at Port Royal Speedway, the
track announced the event would be made up on Saturday,
September 25. That’s two weeks after the track is scheduled to
close and also goes head to head with one of Lincoln’s big
races-the Kenny Weld Memorial.
“We won’t be racing that night against Lincoln at Port Royal,”
Webb said Saturday night during the All Star visit to Lincoln.
“We certainly don’t need to make waves in here and we’ll just
come back and race there next year. Plus we need to get the
problems there situated and make things good for next year.”
Lincoln Speedway promoter Don Leiby put it simply.
“They (the All Stars) need us more than we need them,” he
said. “We enjoy having them here but we also want to see our
Kenny Weld race be a success as well.”
The All Stars brought six cars to Central PA last weekend for a
three-race series.
PIT STOPS
Pat Cannon had a great weekend in the Highlands Tire and
Service Centers sprinter with wins at Selinsgrove and
Susquehanna. Cannon strengthened his lead in the Central PA 358
Sprint Point series with his two wins and is up to six overall
wins this season…
The national sprint car community was saddened by the news of
Terry Hannagan’s death on Monday. Hannagan was the car owner for
his brother Randy Hannagan…
Locally, the sprint car community was saddened by the passing
of Bob Rohrbaugh, father of 358 sprint car driver Jeff Rohrbaugh.
Bob was a big supporter of the York County Racing Club and his
son’s racing as well. Incidentally, Jeff is back driving for car
owner Roy Vincent…
Jenn Heintzelman is currently working on Kids Night for Lincoln
Speedway which will be held on Saturday, July 10th. Kids Night
will consist of camera and autograph sessions with the drivers,
a moon bounce, games and prizes. She is looking for race night
sponsors for donations in the form of money, gift cards or other
items that can be used for the kids. Please contact her at
570-204-3374 or by email at
tlheintz@tricountyi.net…
Sammy Swindell and Joey Saldana won WoO Sprint events at Dodge
City, Kansas last weekend. Saldana’s win was his fifth of the
season as he continues to lead the point standings…
All Star Sprint Ohio Speedweek kicks off Friday night at Attica
Raceway Park and runs through next Saturday, June 26 at Fremont
Speedway. Stevie Smith and Tyler Walker are both entered for the
Ohio series…
