portroyalspeedway Archives

Sweigart Dominates PASS Opener

By Frank Buhrman PORT ROYAL, Pa. (Apr. 19, 2025) — “Nitro Nick” Sweigart’s plan to focus on Port Royal Speedway in 2025 got off to a perfect start Saturday with a dominating victory in the 20-lap River Valley Builders PA Sprint Series feature at the “Speed Palace.” The veteran driver from Myerstown, already the leading career winner at Port Royal among active RaceSaver IMCA Sprint Car competitors, officially won Saturday’s feature by 1.399 seconds over Logan Spahr, but he had given up multiple large leads when the race’s four yellow flags waved, only to quickly rebuild his margins at the next green. Despite the efforts of several challengers, none could compete with the Jon Williams-owned no. 89. The win was Sweigart’s 12th in a PASS career that dates to 2017, but it was his eighth at Port Royal, where he trails only Garrett Bard (13) and Jeff Miller (12) in career victories. He and Miller are the only two-time champions of the Keystone RaceSaver Challenge at Port Royal, and he will defend his champion title when the race takes place on [Read More]

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]

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]

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]

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]

Duke adds Keystone Challenge to IMCA RaceSaver resume

By Frank Buhrman PORT ROYAL, Pa. (April 6, 2024) – Drew Young and Doug Dodson seemed ready to settle the 12th annual Keystone RaceSaver Challenge between themselves; third-running Ken Duke admitted he had nothing for the leaders. Then, with two laps to go in the River Valley Builders Pennsylvania Sprint Series’ biggest race of the year Saturday at Port Royal Speedway, both Young and Dodson slowed with flat tires. Duke admitted he broke out in a smile when he saw that had happened. He had the lead, but he had veteran Roger Irvine, 2023 PASS points runner-up Zach Rhodes, Jeffrey Weaver and high-riding Nick Sweigert on his bumper for the restart. Known for strong restarts, Duke didn’t flinch, but then he had to do it again after Rhodes brought out the caution with yet another flat tire with one lap to go. No matter. Duke’s second restart was as good as the first, and the two-time PASS champion and 2019 IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Ca national champion again held off the challenges and returned to victory [Read More]

The numbers add up: PASS is rocking in 2024

By Frank Buhrman PORT ROYAL, Pa. (April 3, 2024) – The River Valley Builders Pennsylvania Sprint Series isn’t usually like NASCAR, starting the season with its biggest race, but thanks to last weekend’s rainout at Path Valley Speedway and last October’s weather issues at Port Royal Speedway, that’s what’s happening in 2024. The new season gets underway Saturday, April 6 at Port Royal with the 12th annual Keystone RaceSaver Challenge, postponed from 2023 to become the ultimate season opener in 2024. The race has received a significant sponsorship boost from the Pennsylvania Game Commission, and the division is sponsored at Port Royal by Penns Valley Meat Market. With nearly a week before the green flag, the pre-registration (entry) list has topped 50 and may be headed toward one of its highest totals ever. With 410 sprint car racing also on tap, plus that many IMCA/RaceSaver Sprinters fighting for a spot in the KRC starting field, this is a day of racing not to be missed. Even if this wasn’t the Keystone, though, all signs point [Read More]

Heffner joins list of 2023 PASS winners

By Frank Buhrman PORT ROYAL, Pa. (July 15, 2023) – Kenny Heffner came out on top of a fierce, three-way battle for the lead Saturday night at Port Royal Speedway, re-taking the top spot from Zach Rhodes with two laps to go to win the 20-lap feature for the River Valley Builders Pennsylvania Sprint Series. Veteran Roger Irvine, who led early in the race and was the other racer in the fight for victory, came home third. The IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car barnburner had a story for each of the drivers seeking the win. For Heffner, the victory was his career fourth and third at Port Royal, but his first since joining with former PASS regular Cale Reigle as car owner. Rhodes was seeking his first-ever PASS victory, although he won a Virginia Sprint Series feature earlier this year at Winchester, Va. Irvine has been a PASS racer since 2004, skipping a couple of years along the way and driving only once or twice in others, and has four career wins, but the last was [Read More]

Young wins first PASS feature, Spahr streak ends at six

By Frank Buhrman PORT ROYAL, Pa. (June 3, 2023) – Drew Young had been getting closer and closer. The third-year driver broke through Saturday night at Port Royal Speedway, winning the 20-lap River Valley Builders Pennsylvania Sprint Series feature and ending Logan Spahr’s 2023 undefeated streak. Young’s third-place finish in the second heat race put him in the feature redraw, where he drew the outside of the front row and then led all the way, masterfully handling traffic in the non-stop race to score a 5.328 second victory over Mike Melair, who registered his second runner-up finish of 2023. It has been an impressive climb for Young, who had never driven a race car before he brought his IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car out for the first in August of 2020. After four races that season, he became a regular in 2021 and earned three top-10 finishes in 20 starts. He added a pair of top-five’s last season and has regularly been more competitive this year, including taking a second at Port Royal on May 6 [Read More]