Hawley’s $5,000 win his sixth in a row in Mercer Sprints; Swartzlander takes #3 in Modifieds
By Mike Leone
September 15, 2001
Mercer (PA)...The fifth annual Chuck Marsh Memorial was held at Mercer Raceway Park on Saturday night. Collecting wins and celebrating in the Moore’s Auto Body victory lane were Jimmy Hawley-Luxaire Heating & Cooling Sprint Cars, Brian Swartzlander-Bolland Machine Big-Block Modifieds, and Andy Buckley-Butterfield’s Pub Stock Cars. Gregg McCandless and Andy Priest won the relay drivers bike race sponsored by National City Bank and shared $100. Track champions Tom Quarterson, Lou Blaney, Steve Young, and Andy Buckley signed autographs in Champions Row on the McElwain Family of Dealerships "Meet Your Hero" cards prior to racing. Over $2,500 was collected for the Red Cross for disaster relief and will be named on behalf of the fans, drivers, the Marsh Family, and Mercer Raceway Park.
Jimmy Hawley closed out the year in fine fashion by capturing his sixth Luxaire Heating & Cooling Sprint Car win in a row in the 40-lap fifth annual Chuck Marsh Memorial. Hawley’s eighth win of the season was worth $5,000. "Doc (Crawford-car owner) is donating everything to Red Cross to try and help out the victims," said the West Middlesex, Pa. winner. "I think that’s a great gesture on his part. It’s been a tough week. I want to dedicate this to all the people that had problems in New York City and Washington. God Bless America that we’re here. I want to thank everyone for a great year. I had a lot of fun racing here."
Rob Eyler raced into the lead from the pole position, while Hawley and Scott Bonnell passed Jason Jacoby for second and third on the opening lap. Hawley ran down Eyler and made the winning move going three-wide to the outside of Eyler and the lapped car of Bob Lime off turn four on lap four.
Tim Shaffer was the man on the move from the seventh starting spot. The World of Outlaw star was behind the wheel of his former car, the J&M Motorsports #55. Shaffer passed Jacoby on lap six to crack the top five. He then drove around Gary Edwards on lap seven and followed that with a pass of Bonnell for third on lap nine. Scott Priester brought out the first caution with nine laps completed when he slowed.
When racing resumed, Shaffer drove under Eyler in turn one for second. Bonnell and Arnie Kent also got by Eyler on lap 10. Kent, who started ninth, took over third from Bonnell on the 15th circuit. Point champion, Tom Quarterson, worked his way to the front from the 10th starting spot. Quarterson disposed of Bonnell on lap 21 for fourth, while up front Hawley and Shaffer pulled away and battled intensely through traffic. Dan Shetler stopped action with 26 laps completed.
When green replaced yellow, Quarterson charged by Kent for third using the outside. Shaffer was all over Hawley in traffic, but got into the back of Gregg McCandless and spun off the track bringing out the caution with 32 laps completed. That would be the last threat Hawley would see as the last eight laps went non-stop for his 18th overall win of the season and 29th of his career at Mercer, which came aboard the Dr. John and Debbie Crawford-owned, Mihalchak Motorsports #cIII.
"Tim runs with the World of Outlaws," stated Hawley. "He started here in western Pa. and is great race car driver that deserves everything he has done. They are a family that laid everything on the line to race. I knew he was going to be tough."
Quarterson concluded a fine season for the Powell Family taking second in the #27, which was worth $2,500. Kent was third and earned $1,200. Shaffer had worked his way back up to second again on lap 38 only to get upside down on the final lap. He was still credited with fourth as no more cars were on the lead lap. Troy Preston was fifth. Rounding out the top 10 were Jacoby, Edwards, Rod George, Kevin Andrusky in his first start since an injury at Tri-City Speedway on May 6, and Dave Wagner. Heat winners over the 29-car field were Bonnell, Hawley, and Eyler. Ed Lynch, Jr. won the B main.
Brian Swartzlander topped the 25-lap $1,300 to-win Bolland Machine Big-Block Modified feature for his third win. "It’s a tough time for our country," stated the Leechburg, Pa. driver. "We almost didn’t come because of that, but the guys worked real hard on the car. I seen the great one (Lou Blaney) coming alongside of me. I held on and won- it was exciting!"
New York star, Ron Smoker, raced by sprint car driver Mike Lutz, who was behind the wheel of the Tim Temple #35, on the start and appeared to have the car to beat. Smoker continued to build his lead, while Les Myers moved into second on lap four. Swartzlander entered the picture on lap seven taking the fourth spot away from Rodney Beltz. Just as Smoker began to work traffic, the first caution appeared for J.R. McGinley. On the following restart, a six-car melee occurred, which included the second-place car of Myers.
When action got restarted, Swartzlander was now third and moved into runner-up on lap nine by passing Lutz. Smoker’s night came to an end on lap 12 when he pulled off the track with front-end problems. This moved Swartzlander into the lead with Blaney now second. Tim Doran, who started ninth, entered the mix on lap 21 taking the position away from Lutz. Andy Priest’s engine went up in smoke necessitating the final caution with 21 laps in the record books.
When green replaced yellow, Doran was able to get by Blaney for second, but wasn’t able to overtake Swartzlander, who put his McCutcheon Enterprises/Precise Tool & Die/Tap-So-Clean-sponsored #83 in victory lane. Doran finished the year out strong with six feature wins, an Australian Pursuit win, two seconds, and one third in the last 10 events. Blaney was third over Beltz and Steve Young, who started 13th. Completing the top 10 were Dean Pearson, Dave Harbaugh, Skip Moore, Jeremiah Shingledecker, and Rob Curtis. Heat victors over the 32-car field were Swartzlander, Blaney, and Jeff Schaffer. Bill Dorman won the B main.
Andy Buckley won the final tune-up before the Little Guy Nationals for the Stock Cars Saturday night by scoring the $500 win in the 20-lap Butterfield’s Pub event. Following two cautions in the first three laps, the last 17 laps went green-to-checkered and Buckley drove a masterful race through lapped traffic to score his score his second straight special win. Buckley’s sixth win and eighth of his career at Mercer came in his Hapeman Electronics/Arctic Cat-sponsored #965. Brian Miller, who started fifth, took over second from Gary Robinson on lap four, but was no threat to Buckley. Gary Miller, Jr. had a strong run coming from eighth to finish third after passing Robinson for the spot on lap 11. Robinson dropped to fourth over Ron Iorio. Picking up heat wins over the 47-car field were Iorio, Robinson, Jeff Buccella, and Russ Kapalin. Bobby Whitling and Bill Hanna won the two B mains.
Luxaire Heating & Cooling Sprint Cars (40 laps): 1. JIMMY HAWLEY ($5,000) 2. Tom Quarterson 3. Arnie Kent 4. Tim Shaffer 5. Troy Preston 6. Jason Jacoby 7. Gary Edwards 8. Rod George 9. Kevin Andrusky 10. Dave Wagner 11. Ben Moore 12. Gregg McCandless 13. Charlie Holben 14. Scott Bonnell 15. Chad Hill 16. Dan Shetler 17. Rob Eyler 18. Mike Kekich 19. Mark Murphy 20. Gale Ruth 21. Ed Lynch, Jr. 22. Scott Priester 23. Buddy Cochran 24. Bob Lime DNQ-Bill Kiley, Butch Beasley, Jim Chappel, Bob Whitacre, Gary Kriess, Jr.
Bolland Machine Big-Block Modifieds (25 laps): 1. BRIAN SWARTZLANDER ($1,300) 2. Tim Doran 3. Lou Blaney 4. Rodney Beltz 5. Steve Young 6. Dean Pearson 7. Dave Harbaugh 8. Skip Moore 9. Jeremiah Shingledecker 10. Rob Curtis 11. John Buchanan 12. Mike Lutz 13. Andy Priest 14. J.R. McGinley 15. Carl Murdick 16. Lonny Riggs 17. Dave Schrader 18. Ron Smoker 19. Les Myers 20. Scott Gurdak 21. Gary Risch, Jr. 22. Jeff Schaffer 23. Bill Dorman 24. Guy Griffin DNQ-Lee Miller, Dana Gearhart, Greg Unrue, Tom Armstrong, Rick Kress, Frank Guidace, Nick Ritchey, Adam Siegel.
Butterfield’s Pub Stock Cars (20 laps): 1. ANDY BUCKLEY ($500) 2. Brian Miller 3. Gary Miller, Jr. 4. Gary Robinson 5. Ron Iorio 6. Bobby Whitling 7. Jeff Buccella 8. Gary Norman 9. Mike Aley 10. Terry Kroner 11. Greg Beach 12. Russ Kapalin 13. Rich Howell 14. Terry Wheeler 15. Scott Hooks 16. Bill Hanna 17. Bob Sloss 18. Sam Fisher 19. Dan Fedorchak 20. Doug Iorio 21. Rusty Moore 22. Willie Aley 23. Duane Grinnell 24. Rick Norco DNQ-Mike Boyd, Jim McFadden, Butch Skiles, Rick Anthony, Chris Hake, Tim Mailliard, Jim Geidner, Ed Hays, Corey Ruffo, Tim Zuschlag, Dick Pascorell, Wayne Johnson, Rich Chess, Sr., Mark Covert, Mike Watson, Erick Cwynar, Phil Kaufman, Tim Deutsch, Chris Seamen, Terry Feely, Keith Nagy, Lonnie O’Brien, Bob Garris