THE DIRT TRACKIN’ SHOW IN YORK, PA … A HUGE SUCCESS!
By Bryan Householder and Kirk Wise
The 25th Anniversary edition of the Dirt Trackin’ Show at the York Fairgrounds is in the record books. Every year it seems to get bigger with more fans attending as well as more events taking place, like arm wrestling, a sprint simulation race including heats and a twenty- five lap feature, a performance by the Jazz Me Band, the magic of Pepka, PWE wrestling, a remote controlled race car kid‘s challenge, a Sunday morning worship service with Rev. Dan from Racers for Christ, and a J&J Sprint frame and kit given away by Pancho‘s Racing Parts. This year nearly 150 veicles were on display over the weekend with nearly the same number of vendor spaces being occupied.
As always a group of judges picked the “Best of Show” winners in several categories. There were also “People’s Choice” awards voted on by the fans with the trophies sponsored by Jack Giambalvo Motor Company. In the “Best of Show” awards, the Middleswarth Racing #7 sprint car of Keith Kauffman took top honors in the 410 Sprint Car class. The new paint scheme on the Middleswarth Potato Chip car is very impressive. Using the black and green colors the team has used the past several years, they went a step further this year. Now the lower half of the car and wing appears to be covered in potato chips. In the Super Sportsman/358 Sprint/305 Sprint ranks, the Highlands’ Tire #3 358 sprint of Pat Cannon was the winner, while the Late Model/Limited Late Model honors went to the Seymore Racing #81s Limited Late Model that will be driven by Bobby Beard. The Stock Car Class winner was the number 10 Monte Carlo of Charlie Pennsinger. Pennsinger will move from the xtreme stock car class at Susquehanna to the pure stocks at Hagerstown. The winner in the Micro Sprint/Legends/Midget Class is interesting as well. The car is the raffle car for the Sidewinder Sprint Organization. The car, which someone will win is #08. The Go Kart/1/4 Midget Class winner was the #25H go kart of Troy Hockenberry. In the Vintage/Restored Class, was the newly restored Ed Zirkle #33 Sprint Car.
The People’s Choice Awards were determined by votes from fans attending the show. Each dollar donated was a vote. This year fans donated more the $2300 to the York County Racing Club’s Injured Driver’s Fund, while making their votes. The top five winners were first the #43 limited late model of Jake Jones, second the #18 limited late model of Travis McClelland, third the #10 358 sprint car of Zach Eucolano, fourth the #71 Swope Salvage sprint car of Brian Leppo, and fifth the #1 limited late model of Gene Knaub.
Friday evening included the Ms. Dirt Trackin’ Contest that was sponsored by CarSoup.com and WHP-TV CBS 21, and crowned an extremely attractive young racer from York-New Salem it’s winner by the name of Lindsay Krug. Early Saturday evening at Dirt Trackin’ two drivers Scott Haus and Jason Covert recieved their YCRC Hall Of Fame awards from the recent York County Racing Club banquet, as they were unable to attend that function because of other banquets at which they were also receiving awards.
Kudos have to go the entire Wise Motorsport Marketing group spearheaded by Kirk Wise, for another great production in the Memorial Hall Expo Center this past weekend, as there were more fans, teams, cars, vendors and fun than ever before.