pennsylvaniasprintseries Archives

Sweigart sprints to second Keystone RaceSaver title

By Frank Buhrman and Stephanie Dodson PORT ROYAL, Pa. (July 20, 2024) – Nick Sweigart wired the field at Port Royal Speedway Saturday to become only the second driver ever to win the River Valley Builders Pennsylvania Sprint Series’ biggest race, the Keystone RaceSaver Challenge, twice. The veteran driver, who returned to PASS last season after a couple of seasons running 410 sprints, collected his 11th career victory with his latest win. Seven of those have come at Port Royal. Sweigart joins Jeff Miller as the only drivers to win the Keystone RaceSaver Challenge twice in its 13 runnings. His seventh Port Royal win overall moved him into third place in overall PASS wins at the track, trailing only Miller and Garrett Bard, each with 12. In victory lane, the winner revealed that he plans to retire at the end of this season, making the win all the more meaningful. Owen Dimm, who joined Sweigart on the front row for the race start, finished second. Dimm was able to cut into Sweigart’s lead several times in [Read More]

Rhodes repeats as PASS ‘Power’ winner

By Frank Buhrman SPRING RUN, Pa. (July 19, 2024) – Thanks to a couple of rainouts, it took the River Valley Builders Pennsylvania Sprint Series until midseason to make its first appearance at its oldest stop, the quarter-mile Path Valley Speedway bullring, but Zach Rhodes and his fellow IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car competitors made sure the large crowd remembered why PASS keeps coming back. The McVeytown driver fought his way past Mike Alleman to take the lead with five laps remaining in the 25-lap feature and won the PASS portion of the special Dr. Crouse’s Night of Power program for the second consecutive year. The margin of victory was three-quarters of a second. Doug Dodson, who charged from 10th starting, also got past Alleman on the next-to-last lap and finished second, while Alleman, who was oh-so-close to his first feature victory since taking his only career checkered flag at this track 23 years ago, came home third. Jeff Weaver came home fourth and Jerald Harris was fifth. Kenny Heffner claimed the W.C. Eshenaur & Son [Read More]

Spahr wins from 11th at Port Royal

By Stephanie Dodson and Frank Buhrman PORT ROYAL, Pa. (June 22, 2024) – It was a performance reminiscent of a year ago for River Valley Builders Pennsylvania Sprint Series defending champion Logan Spahr. Starting 11th in a strong field of IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Cars, Spahr blasted through the field and took the lead from race-long frontrunner Doug Dodson with two laps to go, crossing under the checkered flags in front by 2.179 seconds for his second win of 2024 Saturday at Port Royal Speedway. That’s not in the same league as his performance last year, when Spahr won seven of the year’s first 10 races, but it was the team’s second of the year and at the least a hint of better things to come, and it was especially welcome with PASS’s return to Port Royal this weekend for the season’s biggest race, the Keystone RaceSaver Challenge. Despite the disappointment of not winning, it also was a boost for the veteran Dodson, who had scored top-10 finishes in six of seven starts this year but had [Read More]

Heffner hoists Hagerstown hardware

By Jim Haines HAGERSTOWN, Md. (June 15, 2024) – The annual Dad’s Night Out Race at Hagerstown Speedway didn’t disappoint from Kenny Heffner’s perspective. Heffner led the distance in winning the Saturday event, contended by 41 IMCA RaceSaver sprinters and co-sanctioned by the Virginia Sprint Series, Laurel Highlands Sprint Series and Pennsylvania Sprint Series. AJ Barton and Heffner paced the feature field to green with Heffner inching out front up top as Barton stayed low and stayed close with Zac Rhodes quickly in third with Tim Iulg and Austin Reed rounding out the early top five. After a quick caution, Heffner showed a smooth, steady pace keeping his lead as the field raced behind to track him down. Austin Reed made it to third with Barton still second as Rhodes and Iulg raced for fourth. As the laps were winding down and traffic came in to play, Reed was chasing down Heffner, but with the track smooth and wide Heffner was keeping a good pace as he came to pass the back end of the [Read More]

Young scores first PASS victory

By Frank Buhrman SELINSGROVE, Pa. (June 8, 2024) – Just over four years ago, Dustin Young, with no prior climbing experience, strapped on his hiking boots and set off to scale a mountain. He celebrated on the peak Saturday night. The mountain in this case was the River Valley Builders Pennsylvania Sprint Car Series, the boots were a driving uniform, and the mountain was the sweeping half-mile Selinsgrove Speedway. Standing “up top” on the wing of his number 24 Sprint Car in victory lane, Young waved the checkered and screamed out in victory at the end of Saturday’s 20-lap IMCA RaceSaver feature, which he had led from start to finish. Mountain climbers everywhere would have understood. The Danville resident began his racing career – no prior experience at all – at Selinsgrove little more than a week beyond exactly four years ago, and he failed to qualify for his first event. But improvement came quickly and he was the 2020 PASS Rookie of the Year. Since then, he has become a regular contender, earning a [Read More]

Duke is first 2024 PASS repeater

By Frank Buhrman SELINSGROVE, Pa. (June 2, 2024) – Ken Duke put all his experience to work, masterfully handling lapped traffic to hold onto the lead and become the first River Valley Builders Pennsylvania Sprint Series repeat winner of 2024, taking the 20-lap feature for IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Cars Sunday at Selinsgrove Speedway. The hometown driver, a two-time PASS champion and 2019 IMCA RaceSaver national champ, fought off a determined bid by Nick Sweigart – also seeking to become the season’s first repeat winner – and came home first by 2.617 seconds, building most of that margin in the last couple of laps after overcoming a final challenge in race traffic. The win was also the 24th in Duke’s career. He leads all active PASS competitors in victories. The race went non-stop … there were no caution flags in any of the PASS racing Sunday … with Duke taking the checkered flag after six minutes and 41 seconds of incredible racing, and that made lapped traffic the defining factor. Duke had taken the lead from fellow [Read More]

Speedy recovery, speedy driver Austin Reed

By Frank Buhrman PORT ROYAL, Pa. (June 1, 2024) – Talk about a quick turnaround! Just two weeks to the night after injuring his hand in a wicked flip into the trees while heading for a runaway win at Hagerstown Speedway, Austin Reed planted his no. 34 IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car in victory lane after charging through the field to win the 20-lap River Valley Builders Pennsylvania Sprint Series feature Saturday at Port Royal Speedway. He became the fifth different winner in PASS’s rain-hampered 2024 season, and the win was his eighth with the series and first at Port Royal. Reed started 11th in a tough field, already narrowed down from 44 entrants, and by lap 12 he was up to third, behind race-long frontrunner Owen Dimm and determined challenger Mike Melair. As Dimm and Melair waged a fierce battle for the lead, Reed patiently waited for his chance, and on lap 18 he pounced, passing both drivers. In those last two laps, the winner pulled away slightly and edged Dimm by 1.273 seconds, with Melair [Read More]

Rhodes scores PASS win at BAPS

By Frank Buhrman YORK HAVEN, Pa. (May 19, 2024) – The River Valley Builders PA Sprint Series’ return to BAPS Motor Speedway Sunday was just what Zach Rhodes and the Weaver Racing team needed, as they posted a wire-the-field performance for win number one in 2024. The McVeytown driver had finished 16th and 10th in the first two events of this overly wet season, decidedly disappointing after ending 2023 with a win at Port Royal Speedway before a World of Outlaws crowd. On this night, though, Rhodes took advantage of the best weather so far in 2024 to show the magic is still there. After grabbing the initial lead from fellow front-row starter Ken Duke, Rhodes used five perfect restarts to hold off Duke – and several other would-be challengers within striking distance – and crossed the finish line nearly three-quarters of a second ahead of the two-time PASS and 2019 IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car national champion. If anything, Duke had his hands even more full of challengers, fighting off determined bids by Dave Brown, defending PASS [Read More]

Sweigart rides high side to Port Royal PASS victory

By Frank Buhrman PORT ROYAL, Pa. (April 20, 2024) – Two weeks ago, Nick Sweigart committed to the high side of Port Royal Speedway’s racing surface, and while his racing line thrilled the crowd, he needed some late attrition among other front-runners for it to result in a fourth-place finish in the River Valley Builders Pennsylvania Sprint Series makeup of the 2023 Keystone RaceSaver Challenge. This Saturday night was very different. Hanging high, and hitting the wall once, the Myerstown veteran shot from his sixth starting position into second on the opening lap, then got past early leader Ken Duke at the beginning of lap three. From that point on, Sweigart was atop the Speed Palace leaderboard and despite his critical appraisal of his driving over the last half of the race, he held his lead in traffic and scored a 2.159-second victory over defending PASS champion Logan Spahr, who took the runner-up spot from Duke on the final circuit of the 20-lap feature. The feature ran non-stop and was completed in less than seven minutes. Only [Read More]

PASS heads back to Port Royal this Saturday

By Frank Buhrman PORT ROYAL, Pa. (April 18, 2024) – The River Valley Builders Pennsylvania Sprint Series batting average has dropped to .333 after a second postponement in three 2024 tries, so it’s up to Port Royal Speedway to successfully negotiate with Mother Nature and get things back on track this Saturday night. PASSIMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car teams are set to join 410 sprints and super late models for a sure-to-be-wild, hope-to-be-dry show at Port Royal. This past Friday night’s Spring Sprint Spectacular at Williams Grove Speedway fell victim to soggy conditions and the likelihood of high winds. The PASS tour is scheduled to race at the Grove next on Friday, May 24. In the meantime, Port Royal looms large, with two programs in the next three weeks. On Saturday, May 4, the same program of 410 sprints, super lates and River Valley PASS IMCA RaceSavers will bring out the cars and drivers again. Both the upcoming Port shows already have 40 or more teams preregistered. Heading that list is Keystone RaceSaver Challenge winner Ken Duke, runner-up [Read More]