VONDOHREN, DESANTIS AND TODOROW WIN FEATURES, JEFF STRUNK AND

DEAN STOUDT WIN CHAMPIONSHIPS AT GRANDVIEW SPEEDWAY

BECHTELSVILLE, PA SEPTEMBER 2, 2000 . . . Craig VonDohren,

Meme DeSantis and Rick Todorow won the NASCAR stock car

racing battles at Grandview Speedway on Saturday night. Dean

Stoudt and Jeff Strunk won the wars.

Former multi time track champion Craig VonDohren (Barto)

made a rare appearance at Grandview Speedway wheeling the

Stauffer Construction #114 to victory in the first 30-lap

NASCAR Weekly Racing Series Modified feature. Rick Todorow

(Quakertown) waited until the final point race of the season

for the Exide ShorTrack Late Models to win his first feature

of the season. And Meme DeSantis (Blandon), who took 26 years

to win his first feature at Grandview Speedway, won his third

of the season taking the second 30-lap NASCAR Modified feature.

And when all the figures were in, the points counted,

Jeff Strunk (Bethel) had won his first NASCAR Modified

championship at the Bechtelsville, PA oval. Strunk tallied

4246 points to second place finisher, defending champion

Terry Meitzler (Kutztown) with 4110. And in the Exide

ShorTrack Late Model championship chase Dean Stoudt (East

Greenville) won his fourth track championship, the last one

coming in 1993, with 4515 points. Kyle Pensinger (Lyons) was

second with 4475. Stoudt was able to win the championship

with consistent performances but did not have a feature win

to his credit this season.

Keith Brightbill ran an impressive race in the first 30

lapper for modifieds leading until the 23rd lap. Donny Erb

and Chip Slocum each got by Brightbill but never officially

lead a lap. On the 22nd lap VonDohren, coming from 14th

starting spot, squirted from fourth to second on a caution

restart. On the 23rd lap VonDohren showed that he had not

forgotten how to get around Grandview as he took the lead and

went on to win the $2,200 first place money. Chip Slocum

(Ewing Township, NJ), who had been in the thick of the battle

for the final ten laps, finished second followed by Jeff

Strunk, Keith Brightbill (Sinking Spring) and Ray Swinehart

(Bechtelsville).

The 20-lapper for Exide ShorTrack Late Models saw Randy

Stoudt (Pottstown) take the early lead and set the pace for

14 laps. On the 15th circuit of the one-third-mile clay oval

Rick Todorow put his Juniper Auto Care/Auto Body entry in

front of the pack. Stoudt (no relation to the new champion)

came back to challenge Todorow but at the end Stoudt had too

little and was a little too late as Rick Todorow won his

first of the season. Stoudt finished a close second followed

by Ed Trimbur (Eagleville), Bill Henning (Lansdale) and Dean

Stoudt (East Greenville). Kyle Pensinger, challenged Stoudt

for the title, finished sixth.

The second 30-lap feature for the NASCAR Modifieds had

Rick Schaffer (Woxall) in front at the start and setting the

pace for the 30 car starting field for 11 laps. Randy Bailey

(supposedly retired as a driver) came on strong to grab the

top spot in brother Dennis Bailey's second car. Bailey held

command with Meme DeSantis, Jon Kellner and Jeff Strunk on

his heels. At the 25 lap mark DeSantis was able to scoot past

Bailey and take the lead. Once in front DeSantis had his

hands full holding off the Bailey to grab his third win of

the season. In victory lane DeSantis dedicated his win to

crew member "Moose" who was missing from the night's action

because of illness. Second spot went to Randy Bailey

(Kutztown) followed by Jeff Strunk, Jon Kellner (Lansdale)

and Craig VonDohren.

Qualifying heat wins for the more than 60 modifieds on

hand went to Doug Manmiller, Kerry Kratz, Donny Erb, Rick

Schaffer and Randy Bailey. The consolation race wins were

taken by Kenny Gilmore, Sam Martz and Danny Erb. Doug

Manmiller won the Cash Dash worth $400.

For the Exide ShorTrack Late Model racers the qualifying

event wins went to Randy Stoudt, Ed Trimbur and Sam

Schlosberg. John Giesler won the consolation.

Marking his fifth decade of late model stock car racing

C.C.Lick, who ended his career a number of years back because

of a racing accident, brought out the #13 late model and made

an attempt to qualify for the feature race.

Stock car racing returns to the Grandview Speedway on

Saturday, September 9 with the running of the 30th annual

T.H. Properties Freedom 76 Modified Classic with $20,000

going to the winner. Many of the top names in dirt track

modified racing are expected including five time winner Billy

Pauch, Duane Howard, Craig VonDohren, Jeff Strunk, Terry

Meitzler and a host of others. Last year more than 90

modifieds were on hand. Racing starts at 7 p.m.

At 3 p.m. there will be activities for the kids

including facepainting, fingerprinting, the Moon Bounce and

clowns. For young and old there will be autograph sessions

and driver interviews.

And the Stacy Miller Charity Auction will give attendees

a chance to bid on a variety of items including driver

uniforms from Steve Grissom, Andy Belmont and Glenn

Fitzcharles. There will be hoods, fenders and side panels of

race cars including one from Kenny Brightbill, Blaise

Alexander, Ward Burton and Bobby Allison. Dozens of items

will be auctioned off to raise money for Stacy Miller, a

young lady left blind by a Fourth of July celebration

firecracker accident.