SMITH WINS 25th OF HIS CAREER AT MERCER IN SPRINTS; TWO-IN-A-ROW FOR PRIEST IN MODIFIEDS; REITZ WINS #4 IN SPORTSMAN; NORMAN GET

Sat, Jul 12, 2003 -- Saturday Night Live

Written by: Mike Leone

Mercer Raceway Park completed another full four-division program of racing on Saturday night. All four winners established themselves as their respective division’s top winners. The feature winners included Jamie Smith-Luxaire Heating & Cooling Sprint Cars, Andy Priest-Campbell-Peterson Trail & Turf Big-Block Modifieds, Chad Reitz-New Castle School of Trades Sportsman Modifieds, and Gary Norman-Butterfield’s Pub Stock Cars.

Nickelodeon’s “SpongeBob SquarePants” met the large throng of children and was available for complimentary photos . His appearance was made possible by Armstrong Zoom Cable Internet Service and Ray’s Racing Collectibles. Grove City Auto Mall presented “Meet Your Heroes” autograph night for the Stock Cars and a record amount of kids participated in the bike races at intermission.

Jamie Smith became the first Sprint Car driver to score three wins on the season by capturing the 20-lap Luxaire Heating & Cooling Sprint Car feature event in a near flawless performance for his milestone 25th career win. “I don’t know how close anyone was to me out there, but it sure was comfortable and that’s usually a pretty good sign” revealed the Sewickley, Pa. winner. “When it’s going your way- it’s going your way. We’ve been running real well here the last few weeks. I just hope we can keep it up.”

Gary McCollum rocketed into the lead from the outside pole past Vaughn Nystrom at the start of the event with Chris Matthews in tow. Smith, who started eighth, moved up four positions on the opening lap and then ascended past Nystrom on the backstretch for third on lap two. Smith then closed on Matthews and made the pass for runner-up on lap four. Mike Shearer got upside down in turn one on lap six, which brought out the red. He was okay, but done for the night.

When racing resumed, Rob Eyler began to make his presence known racing around Matthews in turns one and two for third. Smith applied pressure to McCollum and made the winning move getting under McCollum coming off turn two on lap seven. Eyler caught McCollum and the two raced hard for second and was joined by 11th starting on Arnie Kent on laps 13 and 14. While the trio of McCollum, Eyler, and Kent battled for second, Smith began to pull away from the pack.

Eyler finally got past McCollum for second off the inside of turn four on lap 17; however, one lap later, Eyler looped his mount in the same location bringing out the final caution with 18 laps completed. When green replaced yellow, Smith raced on for his third victory in the past five events in his G.B.G., Inc./Alternative Power Sources/Agip Oil/Brunner Excavating/Auto Parts Exchange/IAC-sponsored #5G.

On lap 19, Kent used the bottom of turn four to get past McCollum for second. McCollum had one of his best career runs in third. Matthews came across the line in fourth for his best career Sprint Car finish and his first ever top five. Ralph Spithaler, Jr. was fifth after starting twelfth. Sixth through tenth were Charlie Holben, point leader Troy Preston, Chris Shuttleworth, Jeff Banyas, and Vaughn Nystrom. Heat winners over the 20-car field were Smith and Shuttleworth.

Chris Matthews of Kennerdell, Pa. was the highest finishing 360 Sprint Car for the second time this season and earned the $150 bonus as he continues to lead the 360 points. Other 360s receiving bonus monies were Shuttleworth, Banyas, and Nystrom.

After struggling for much of the season with his new Speed Palace big-block, Andy Priest made it back-to-back wins in the 20-lap Campbell-Peterson Trail & Turf Big-Block Modified Feature and jumped from third position into the point lead. “I’d like to make this a habit every night, but I don’t think the fans would like it” expressed the New Castle, Pa. winner. “We had a real good car and we keep working at it.”

Carl Murdick raced into the early lead from the pole position with Bob Dorman trailing. Steve Barr passed Jeff Schaffer for third on lap four. Dorman and a strong running Barr were racing hard for second on lap six when the duo got into the lapped car of Gordon Parrish bringing out the caution. This moved Schaffer to second, Dave Murdick to third, and 10th starting Priest up to fourth.

On the restart, Priest passed Dave Murdick for third then made a nice move in turns three and four to get past both Schaffer and Carl Murdick for the top spot on lap six. Lap seven saw 12th starting Frank Guidace and Kristyak race by Schaffer and Carl Murdick for second and third. By the halfway point, it was a three-car race for the lead with Priest on the bottom, Guidace on top, and Kristyak trailing.

On lap 14 Guidace got high and slipped off the backstretch, which allowed Kristyak to drive by for second. On the restart following a spin by Lee Miller, Guidace’s car broke and Carl Murdick, Travis Shingledecker, and Rick Kress were all collected. Three additional cautions slowed action and gave Kristyak numerous chances at Priest, but at the completion of lap 20 it was Priest taking his ninth career big-block win in his Mac Tools/Priest Speed Equipment-sponsored #21N. Priest’s third win of the year is now tops in the division.

“I want to thank everyone for coming out and putting up with all the yellows,” stated the happy winner. “Tommy (Kristyak) and I have been racing real clean. I think we’ve been putting on a good show and hope everyone appreciates it.”

Kristyak crossed the stripe in second. Dave Murdick was third for his best finish since May 18, 2002. Steve Young and Rick Hall were fourth and fifth. Rounding out the top 10 were Schaffer, Dean Pearson, Carl Murdick, rookie Travis Shingledecker, and Randy Snider. Heat victors over the 24-car field were Kristyak, Dorman, and Priest.

Chad Reitz became the speedway’s top winner of 2003 by scoring his fourth win in the 20-lap New Castle School of Trades Sportsman Modified feature. “There was plenty of bite and I could run right up to the wall,” described the Franklin, Pa. winner. “I thought if I could get by Gary (Smoker) on the first couple laps, I could get out there and run my own line. Every week I try something different. Sometimes you look like an idiot and sometimes you come out looking like a rose.”

From the sixth starting position, Reitz blasted by Les Myers, Gary Smoker, Curt Matthews, Mike Gibson, and Zack Moran and had the lead before one lap was completed. Behind Reitz, Smoker and Myers got past Moran to take second and third on lap two. Two cautions slowed action with three laps completed. On the restart, eighth starter, Rick Hall, took third away from Myers.

The final caution was displayed with 10 laps completed for Bill Adams. The last 10 laps went green to checkered. Chad Reitz endured heavy lapped traffic on lap 18, which allowed Smoker to close on Reitz at the onset. But Reitz wasn’t to be denied as he got through lapped traffic and took the checkered flag first for the seventh time of his career in his World of Wheels/Schwab Ford/Moore’s Auto Body-sponsored #9.

Smoker was second ahead of Hall, who recorded two top fives on the night. Point leader Jerry Schaffer was fourth ahead of brother Jeff Schaffer. Winning the heat races over the 27-car field were Hall, Jerry Schaffer, and Smoker. Ron Eperthener, Jr. won the B main.

Gary Norman joined the night’s other three winners by establishing himself as the division’s top winner in 2003 after winning the 15-lap Butterfield’s Pub Stock Car feature for the third time this season. “We had a tear-off problem,” explained the New Castle, Pa. winner. “I had a lot tear-offs get stuck on the windshield and I couldn’t see. I was a little better on the inside. He (Andy Thompson) couldn’t run the high line and I could. He was slower when he was running the high line, but on the inside he’d pull me so I stayed on the bottom.”

From the pole position, Clyde Roberts led the opening lap before Duane Grinnell look over on lap two. Grinnell, Roberts, and Thompson were three-wide for the lead on the backstretch on lap three as Thompson moved into runner-up. On lap four, Thompson went to the bottom and passed Grinnell for the lead off turn two. Norman, who started ninth, went ahead of Roberts for third on lap five then used the outside of turn four to race pass Grinnell for second on lap six.

Thompson and Norman raced side-by-side on lap nine with Norman getting the edge off turn four for the lead. Norman would lead the rest of the way in his Gabany’s-powered, Ken Neely Lumber/Triple-S Auto Sales-sponsored #9N for his 10th career win and moved into fifth place on the all-time Stock Car win list.

Thompson held on to second at the finish. After restarting last, Shaun Hooks came all the way back through to place third. Rick Norco was fourth as Rusty Moore completed the top five. Moore, Norman, and Hooks won the heat races over the 27-car field.

Luxaire Heating & Cooling Sprint Cars: 1. JAMIE SMITH 2. Arnie Kent 3. Gary McCollum 4. Chris Matthews 5. Ralph Spithaler, Jr. 6. Charlie Holben 7. Troy Preston 8. Chris Shuttleworth 9. Jeff Banyas 10. Vaughn Nystrom 11. Joe Sanger 12. Todd Bauer 13. Butch Beasley 14. Rob Eyler 15. Jeremy Cook 16. Pup Nystrom 17. Chad Levingston 18. Mike Shearer 19. Gary Kriess, Jr.-DNS 20. Mark Murphy-DNS.

Campbell-Peterson Trail & Turf Big-Block Modifieds: 1. ANDY PRIEST 2. Tommy Kristyak 3. Dave Murdick 4. Steve Young 5. Rick Hall 6. Jeff Schaffer 7. Dean Pearson 8. Carl Murdick 9. Travis Shingledecker 10. Randy Snider 11. Jim Faas 12. Steve Barr 13. Rodney Beltz 14. Jeremy Paup 15. Shawn Kozar 16. Frank Guidace 17. Rick Kress 18. Lee Miller 19. Adam Kozar 20. Bob Dorman 21. Ed Alcorn 22. Gordon Parrish 23. Jeremiah Shingledecker 24. Greg Unrue, Jr.-DNS.

New Castle School of Trades Sportsman Modifieds: 1. CHAD REITZ 2. Gary Smoker 3. Rick Hall 4. Jerry Schaffer 5. Jeff Schaffer 6. Dave Murdick 7. Andy Paden 8. Ron Eperthener, Jr. 9. Les Myers 10. Steve Toth 11. Jim Rombold, Jr. 12. Curt Matthews 13. Todd Daniels 14. Rich Ferguson 15. Bill Adams 16. Dave Cogswell 17. Mike Gibson 18. Barry Bulfone 19. Morgan Sasse 20. Zack Moran 21. Jerry O’Rock, Jr. 22. Joe Gibson 23. Matt Reeher 24. Fred Sasse DNQ-Kevin Green, Kristin Jordan, Bill Thompson.

Butterfield’s Pub Stock Cars: 1. GARY NORMAN 2. Andy Thompson 3. Shaun Hooks 4. Rick Norco 5. Rusty Moore 6. Doug Iorio 7. Terry Kroner 8. Andy Buckley 9. Terry Wheeler 10. Bill Schall, Jr. 11. Duane Grinnell 12. Jarrot Moore 13. Phil Kaufman 14. Bobby Whitling 15. Anthony Lombardo 16. Ken Hunt 17. Don Greenlee 18. Tim Zuschlag 19. Mike Mathieson 20. Clyde Roberts 21. Bill Lanigan 22. Brian Booher 23. William Smiley 24. Rick Lanigan-DNS 25. John Reiser-DNS 26. Ron Iorio-DNS 27. Rich Chess, Sr.-DNS.