SJDR - Hill Raceway News and Race Results

The Hill Raceway
News & Race Results
www.thehillraceway.com

09/18/06

The Hill Raceway Debuts to Packed House

(Rew,PA) The Hill Raceway opened the ’06 season with a great crowd and some furious racing action. The completely renovated facility’s first night was a ‘learning experience’, according to first year promoter, Doyle Harris. “I consider it a success. People had a good time, the racers did a great job, all in all, we’re pretty happy.”

In the track’s newest class, the Eldred Paint and Body Chargers, which features 13 to 18 year-old racers, it was Eldred’s Damian Bidwell taking the first heat win for the division. Feature action saw Olean’s Jeff Ganoung Jr, besting Amanda Close, Bidwell, and Brandon Buchanan for the win. Buchanan survived a round of synchronized spinning which took Bidwell and Close out of first and second places.

The highly competitive Phillips Auto Depot Mini Stocks saw heat wins by Bill McKinney, and Dave Lowe over a very tough field. 12 cars took veteran flagman Johnny Powell’s green for the feature, with McKinney launching from a front row starting position to the lead, eventually lapping the entire field. Reigning class champion, McKinney was distantly followed across the stripe by Duke Center’s Mike Coast, Olean’s Steve Mowrey (who ‘beat feet’ from the event at Allegheny Mountain Raceway), Bud McKinney, and Joe Boylan.

In the GTS Thunder STOX division, Olean’s Jesse Tarr, and Duke Center’s Mark Higley each took heat honors. At the start of the feature, Rixford’s Dave Schoonover gunned past the battling pair of Higley and Tarr to the lead. Higley held on for second, and Bradford’s Dana Haner came from out of the top five for third. Bradford’s Doyle Harris Jr, and Hinsdale’s Barry Muscheweck rounded out the top 5.

Fifteen Marty’s Auto Street Stocks were on hand for action under the lights. Andy Michael and Jason ‘Bo-Dobbie’ Dobson were heat winners, setting up a ‘showdown after sundown’ on the ź mile oval. At the drop of Powell’s green, Michael, from the pole, dove to the inside groove, with Dobson setting deep and literally drag racing off turn two at the start and successive re-starts. The feature was marred by an incident involving perennial racing ‘nice guys’ Ken Shelly and Olean’s Bill Witter, when a red flag was thrown for a small fire in Shelly’s ride, and Witter impacted the stopped #57 of Shelly. Both cars were retired for the remainder of the event. On the re-start, Michael again got the drop on Dobson, and cruised to a half lap victory, (Sweeping events at Freedom, Mckean, and The Hill for the weekend). Rounding out the top five were Dennis Harriston, former Track Champ Joe Layfield, and Arron Peters.

What the Southeastern Transmission Sportsmans lacked in numbers, they more than made up for in action. Darren Tarabori won the battle, but lost the war, taking a convincing heat win, but shattering his engine in the process, with fire extinguishers making an appearance along with the checkered flag in victory lane. In the 25 lap feature, a gang fight erupted with regional hot shoe Scooter Pangrazio, and Tim Peterson. Pangrazio let the 07p of Peterson slip by in the early stages, and Scooter used the low line to power by, but not without pressure by the 17x of Rich Michael. Damon Lewis had to watch from his 4th place position. As word gets out, this will be the class to watch.

This Sunday, the RRS Superstocks will return to The Hill Raceway for an Edmond’s Gm Super Center $750 to win event. Additional information is available at www.thehillraceway.com.

New Management Breathes Life Into Former Bradford Speedway

(Rew PA) Doyle Harris, local oilfield contractor, has given a new ‘lease on life’ to the local speedway, in Rew, PA. The venerable racetrack where many of the local racing legends have gotten their start, had over the last 10 or so years, fallen on some hard times, and Harris decided that it was time to fulfill a dream to ‘bring it back’, so to speak.

Doyle talked it over with the track’s current owner, Dennis Thomas, and decided to lease the facility for the 2006 season. Thomas, who has operated the track over the last 7 seasons, decided that he needed a break, and that Harris might be just the ticket to turn the facility around. “I really just thought that the place needed some new blood”, Thomas said. “Doyle has done a lot already. I think he’ll do well.” Harris, and a large group of volunteers, has already added many improvements to the facility that has been a Sunday night staple for nearly 60 years, and the results are phenomenal. “We’ve painted anything that didn’t grow, and cut down everything that did, that didn’t look nice”, Harris quipped. Along with new track manager, Matt Gleason, they put in place enough changes to warrant a new name for the facility, “The Hill Raceway”.

First and foremost, two new classes were added to the Sunday night lineup. The ‘Modifieds’ became a weekly series, and a new 13-18 year old ‘Charger’ class was added to the regular program. “We asked a lot of people what they’d like to see, and it was the modified class, hands down…..I was very surprised at the amount of interest that people have in the place. We’re pretty optimistic about this season”. The start time has also moved to 6:30, so racing will be “under the lights on Sundays.”

The track, which most racers will tell you, has one of the best racing surfaces in the region, and once held a NASCAR race, in the 40’s, did need some ‘sprucing up’. 800 feet of new concrete barriers replace the steel wall that has been standing since 1983, and the outer fence was torn down, new supports installed, and completely repainted. The stands that witnessed the rise of so many local racing legends were gone through, and new supports installed, before getting a fresh coat of paint. A new ‘VIP’ area graces the tower that overlooks the action. For those that haven’t made the trip to ‘The Hill’ in recent years, these improvements compliment the new lighting system, drainage system, and on and off ramps that Dennis Thomas installed over the last couple of years. “It’s not ‘state of the art’ by any stretch”, Harris admitted “but it is a huge improvement over the previous years. I think that if you haven’t seen the place in a couple of years, you’ll be very surprised”.

According to Harris, “We are really pushing the ‘family entertainment’ aspect of the program. We have very good personnel, and are keeping our prices low, so that it isn’t an ‘empty the wallet’ deal to come and have some fun.” One of the big events of the season, will be the ‘Open Wheel Frenzy’ show featuring the Patriot Sprint group, the 270 micro sprints, and modifieds, thunders and streets, sponsored by Elk Power, on June 4th “ Everyone I’ve talked to is really excited for that show.” Harris added.

Action at the newly renovated facility kicks off Sunday April 23 at 1pm with a practice session for any type race car. Grandstands are FREE for all fans and for the curious eyes that have been waiting to see the changes to the facility. Harris will also be leasing the track on Fridays to a local kart racing group, KATT RACING (www.kattracing.com) and has some ‘Thursday Night Thunder’ shows on the schedule, which can be found at www.thehillraceway.com.