MAYBERRY, TEETS AND GILMORE WIN OPENERS AT GRANDVIEW SPEEDWAY
BECHTELSVILLE, PA APRIL 3, 1999 . . . In front of a huge
opening night crowd at Grandview Speedway, Tom Mayberry
wheeled the Mike Kelly owned A&T Chevrolet/Golden Corral
Modified stock car to victory in the 37 lap NASCAR Modified
feature race on Saturday night. And in the companion features
Jeff Teets drove his Harry's U-Pull It Auto Parts entry to
victory in the 15-lap feature for NASCAR Late Models while
Charley Gilmore drove his own unsponsored racer to fan
popular win in the 15-lap Sportsmen feature race.
For Mayberry and car owner Kelly it was the start of a
chase to a second championship. The duo was together as a
team in 1991 winning the track title and then split in 1993.
When Ray Swinehart, who drove the Kelly owned car to a track
championship in 1998 decided to form his own team, Mayberry
was hired back as the driver by Kelly. And on Saturday night
while Mayberry rode to victory Swinehart had to be wondering
if he had made the right decision as he and his broken racer
sat watching from the infield.
Sam Martz looked like he was on his way to the opening
night feature win, kicking off the 37th consecutive season of
stock car racing at Grandview Speedway. However after leading
23 of the first 24 laps, Martz got caught up behind a slower
moving car that "refused to move out of the groove." With
Martz struggling to get by the slower mount Tom Mayberry
roared by on the outside to take the lead and on the same lap
Martz finished what had been an impressive night of racing
hanging from the boiler plate guard rail in the first turn.
On the restart Mayberry was able to resume command of
the $3,000 to win feature race and held off challenges from a
variety of competitors. At the finish the Sellersville, PA
resident was just a narrow margin in front of Jeff Strunk and
the Kenworth/Cummins entry which had run with the leaders all
through the feature. Chip Slocum, who had lead the first lap,
finished a strong third followed by Rick Schaffer and Glenn
Strunk.
It was the second time that Mayberry had won an opening
night feature race, the last time being in 1981 when he drove
for Jerry Eshelman.
John Durling was another that looked like he was on the
way to an opening night win. He lead all but about 300 feet
of the feature race for the late models. With Jeff Teets on
his rear bumper for much of the feature event, marred by a
large number of cautions, Durling was able to keep the Golden
Chevrolet/Hardee's Restaurant sponsored machine in front.
However in the fourth turn of the final lap Teets was able to
shoehorn his Harry's U-Pull It Auto Parts entry in front
Durling and grab the win. The Coplay, PA racer earned $600
for his efforts. Durling finished second followed by Dean
Stoudt, Chuck Sennott and Lou Egrie. The feature was cut from
20 laps to 15 because of the time limit being enforced by
track officials.
And in the 15-lap feature for the Sportsmen stock cars
veteran driver Charley Gilmore, who is rumored to have been
at Grandview Speedway on opening day 37 years ago, drove to
his first win since August, 1987. For Gilmore it marked a
milestone in that he has now won at least one feature race in
each of the last four decades at Grandview Speedway.
The Kutztown, PA based racer, who was a kingpin at
tracks such as Dorney Park and Nazareth Raceway, tracks that
no longer exist, was able to hold off some strong challenges
from the younger set to drive his unsponsored entry to
victory. In fact some observers believe the car that Gilmore
was driving may have been older than some of the racers he
was competing against.
In second spot in the Sportsmen feature was Scott
Singley coming back from an early race altercation. Third
went to Bobby Yeager followed by Lance Hoch and Wayne
Nicholas.
More than 100 race cars were in the pits for the opening
night action with qualifying heats for the modifieds being
won by Chip Slocum, Jeff Strunk, Sam Martz, Ray Swinehart and
Sam Schoenly. Consolation races went to Rich Wisdo, Bill
Gensler and Smokey Warren while the Automotive Machining
Services Cash Dash was won by Sam Martz.
In qualifying events for the Late Models, as part of the
Easter Eve tripleheader that included the Easter Bunny
visiting with the youngsters and giving away some prizes,
John Durling, Jeff Teets and Rick Todorow were winners while
Scott Miley earned the consolation win.
Sportsmen qualifiers were won by Charley Gilmore and
Paul Kline.
NASCAR stock car racing returns to Grandview Speedway on
Saturday, April 10, 5 p.m. with NASCAR Modifieds, NASCAR Late
Models and Sportsmen, at least 13 events of racing. Starting
this Saturday some lucky youngster in the stands will have an
opportunity to win a ride in the track pace vehicle and have
their photograph taken in victory lane after the Cash Dash.
For information on racing at Grandview Speedway
(Bechtelsville, PA) telephone 610.754.7688 or visit their
website at www.grandviewspeedway.com.
NASCAR MODIFIEDS, 37 LAP FEATURE.....Mayberry, Jeff Strunk
(Bechtelsville), Chip Slocum (Ewing Township, NJ), Rick
Schaffer (Woxall), Glenn Strunk (Boyertown), Jon Kellner,
Kerry Kratz, Sam Schoenly, Danny Erb, Donny Erb, Smokey
Warren, Terry Meitzler, Bob Trapper, Kevin Hartnett, Shawn
Reimert.
NASCAR LATE MODELS, 15 LAP FEATURE....Teets, John Durling
(Reading), Dean Stoudt (East Greenville), Chuck Sennott
(Gilbertsville), Lou Egrie (Philadelphia), John Giesler,
Randy Stoudt, Ron Chrisman, Sam Schlossberg, Ed Hoffman.
SPORTSMEN - 15 LAP FEATURE......Gilmore, Scott Singley, Bobby
Yeager, Lance Hoch, Wayne Nicholas, Joe Biasi, Troy Moyer,
Bob Lilick Jr., Stephen Lozorak III, Donn Edgar.