selinsgrovespeedway Archives

Heffner bags PASS ‘Hunting Season’ checkers

By Frank Buhrman SELINSGROVE, Pa. (Sept. 16, 2023) – If you want somebody else to win, it’s probably not a good idea to let Kenny Heffner start up front. The Watsontown racer drew the outside front-row starting position Saturday night at Selinsgrove Speedway, raced out ahead of fellow front-row starter Nick Sweigart, fought off an early challenge (and another one later on) from Ken Duke, and led all 20 laps to win one of the biggest River Valley Builders Pennsylvania Sprint Series races of the season, the Race to Hunting Season sponsored by the Pennsylvania Game Commission as part of the 25th FANiversary Tour, marking a quarter century of PASS/IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car competition in Central Pennsylvania. A six-year veteran of RaceSaver competition, Heffner collected his fifth career victory, his second of 2023 and his career second at Selinsgrove. He won by 1.090 seconds over Kruz Kepner, whose late charge through the top five earned him the runner-up spot. Hometown veteran Duke, who leads active PASS racers with five career wins at Selinsgrove, held on for third, [Read More]

Melair steers to Selinsgrove PASS win

By Frank Buhrman SELINSGROVE, Pa. (Aug. 26, 2023) – Whether fighting for the early lead, flying on a clear track, or cutting through traffic, Mike Melair had the edge Saturday night, taking home the victory in an exciting, non-stop River Valley Builders Pennsylvania Sprint Series 20-lap feature at Selinsgrove Speedway. The Warrington driver took the no. 36 IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car across the finish line .466 seconds ahead of Nick Sweigart to score his first win since June of 2021 at Hagerstown. He appeared to win a race later that year at Lincoln, but in his excitement forgot to go straight to the scales after the race and was disqualified. This year he was leading at the white flag at Path Valley Speedway but came home second, and he had another runner-up finish at Port Royal Speedway. Unfortunately, he also had an unwelcome amount of bad luck and bad pill draws for starting position. Saturday, the feature start re-draw was kind, giving Melair the pole position after a runner-up finish in his heat. From there [Read More]

PASS to joins All Stars Sunday at Selinsgrove

By Frank Buhrman SELINSGROVE, Pa. (Aug. 18, 2023) – The River Valley Builders Pennsylvania Sprint Series joins Tony Stewart’s Tezos All Star Circuit of Champions this Sunday at Selinsgrove Speedway to honor the memory of one of the region’s legendary sprint car drivers, Kramer Williamson, with the running of the Kramer Cup. The IMCA RaceSaver sprinters will run qualifying events and a 20-lap feature in support of the All Star’s $10,000-to-win feature. Coming off a super successful weekend that saw 41-car fields at both Lincoln and Bedford Fairgrounds Speedways, PASS will be looking for another strong turnout to turn heads among those on hand for the traveling All Stars. Leading the group will be point leader Logan Spahr, who has won nine of the first 20 PASS features run this year and is looking at the possibility of setting a single-season victory record, set by Logan Wagner in 2013 and tied by Garrett Bard last season, with 12 wins each. Spahr scored a dominating victory Sunday in the Junior Ritchey Tribute at Bedford, but he [Read More]

Young is fastest at Selinsgrove for second PASS win

By Frank Buhrman SELINSGROVE, Pa. (July 29, 2023) – Drew Young’s breakout season kicked up another notch Saturday night when the Beaver Springs driver took his second career victory in the River Valley Builders Pennsylvania Sprint Series feature at Selinsgrove Speedway. Young drew the pole position, traded the lead with Doug Dodson and led the last half of the 20-lap race, followed throughout by Dodson, who finished 2.068 seconds behind. Friday night’s Big Diamond winner Zach Rhodes started and finished third, followed by Kenny Heffner and Austin Reed. Young had started on the pole and led the field into turn one on the opening lap, only to have Dodson use the high side to assume the lead coming off turn two. Dodson led nine laps before Young slipped past him on the inside and grabbed the lead for good. It was the second career win for Young, who had no prior racing experience and is in his third full season with PASS. The breakthrough IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car victory came less than two months ago, on [Read More]

Reed repeats PASS win at Selinsgrove

By Frank Buhrman SELINSGROVE, Pa. (July 8, 2023) – Austin Reed squeezed past Zach Rhodes on the outside after a brief but furious battle for the lead and went on to win the 20-lap River Valley Builders Pennsylvania Sprint Series feature Saturday night at Selinsgrove Speedway. It was the second straight win at the Snyder County oval for the veteran from Etters, who finished second in PASS points last season, and it came on a night that saw misfortune strike several front-runners, while those with better luck entertained the fans with some great on-track action. Reed claimed a victory margin of 1.77 seconds at the checkers. Rhodes, who drew the pole position after winning his heat race, led the first 17 laps and nearly scored his first career PASS win – he won an IMCA RaceSaver feature earlier this year with the Virginia Sprint Series at Winchester, Va. He hung on for second place ahead of a hard-charging Doug Dodson, who took third from Kruz Kepner on the final lap after starting ninth. Thirteenth starting [Read More]

Reed scores first PASS win of 2023

By Frank Buhrman SELINSGROVE, Pa. (June 10, 2023) – Austin Reed probably hasn’t had the 2023 River Valley Builders Pennsylvania Sprint Series season that his team had hoped for, but a hard-fought win at Selinsgrove Speedway Saturday night just might prove the turning point. The Etters driver took advantage of an outside front row starting spot to out-drag Kenny Heffner for the early lead, then held off the most determined of charges by fellow veteran Doug Dodson to earn the IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car victory. Dodson, who had finished ahead of Reed in their heat race, finished 0.613 seconds back at the checkered flag, after trying every move available to get by. Starting fourth, he had moved into the runner-up position on the first lap. The two drivers waged their most heated battle after a lap nine caution when Dustin Young and Colton Hoover tangled in turn four. The race went non-stop from that point, allowing the two racers to put on a hard-racing exhibition. Six-time winner Logan Spahr took third from Heffner late, completing [Read More]

Spahr sets PASS record with fifth straight win

By Frank Buhrman SELINSGROVE, Pa. (May 20, 2023) – Technically, it took two days. Logan Spahr’s quest to become the first River Valley Builders Pennsylvania Sprint Series driver to win five feature races in a row started late Saturday night at Selinsgrove Speedway and ended with the checkered flag falling on the Lewisberry driver and his Eshenaur Racing no. 5 IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car just seconds after midnight. In a non-stop feature that took barely six-and-a-half minutes to run, Spahr had accomplished what no one else had done in 25 years of PASS competition, and it wasn’t easy. Even with an advantageous third-place starting slot for the 20-lap feature, Spahr was looking at two-time PASS champion, 2019 IMCA RaceSaver national champ and hometown veteran Ken Duke in front of him, along with fast-improving Croix Beasom. Duke got the jump on Beasom to lead into the first turn as the race started with Spahr quickly moving into second. The two then spent the first half of the race two-to-three car-lengths apart, with Duke holding his advantage. [Read More]

PASS record is on the line at Selinsgrove

By Frank Buhrman SELINSGROVE, Pa. (May 18, 2023) – In 25 years of River Valley Builders Pennsylvania Sprint Series competition, no driver has ever won five consecutive feature races. Logan Spahr of Lewisberry will go for that record Saturday night, May 20 at Selinsgrove Speedway. Actually, the driver of the Eshenaur Racing no. 5 KR MacDonald/High Tech Metals/RL Snyder Electric Sprint Car has already won five straight, but that streak extends back to the final race of 2022, the Keystone RaceSaver Challenge. It’s the 2023 streak that sets the record. Last week at Path Valley Speedway, Spahr won his fourth in a row this year, a feat accomplished by only one other driver in PASS history: Logan Wagner in 2011. Several accomplished PASS competitors have won three straight, including Garrett Bard, Tyler Reeser, Mark Watkins, Craig Robinson, Ritchie Fitz, Judi Bates, Vince Snyder and Joe Davis. Only Spahr and Wagner have won four straight. A strong field of IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car challengers will do their best to deny Spahr the record Saturday, including Seth [Read More]

Selinsgrove hosts Sunday opener for NY-Penn IMCA Modified Series

SELINSGROVE, Pa. (April 18, 2023) – A first-ever event at Selinsgrove Speedway is first on the schedule for the third annual Close Racing Supply NY-Penn IMCA Modified Series presented by MR Graphix. Friesen Performance IMCA Modifieds chase an appropriate $2,023 top check in the 2023 season lidlifter this Sunday, April 23 at the central Pennsylvania speed plant, located in the heart of the scenic Susquehanna River Valley. Winner of the 25-lap main event becomes eligible to qualify for the Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational. In addition to Speedway Motors Weekly Racing national and DeVilbiss Racing Chassis Eastern Region, Pennsylvania State and series points will be awarded. Midosa USA pays each heat winner $100 and another $100 going to the hard charger in the main event courtesy of Force Flow Pressure Services. “We are excited to kick the season off at Selinsgrove for the Icebreaker 25 with such a historic track where we can make more history at the famed facility,” said Jake Maynard, NY-Penn series promoter and Eastern Region director. Pit gates open at 4 p.m. with hot laps at 6:20 p.m. [Read More]

Reed snares Race to Hunting Season PASS win at Selinsgrove

By Frank Buhrman SELINSGROVE, Pa. (Sept. 17, 2022) – Austin Reed captured his second major race of the Pennsylvania Sprint Series season Saturday, leading from start to finish to capture the Pennsylvania Game Commission-sponsored Race to Hunting Season at Selinsgrove Speedway. The win came 2-1/2 months after Reed’s victory in the Nittany 40 at Clinton County Speedway. Those have been the two highest-paying PASS events among the 33 run so far this year. That race had featured a furious battle between Reed and Garrett Bard, but while Selinsgrove was hardly easy, nobody got alongside Reed to attempt a pass, and his final margin of victory over runner-up Josh Spicer of Julian was 1.615 seconds. The moment of uncertainty for Reed’s win came on lap 17, when Doug Dodson hit the wall in turn two, bringing out the race’s only caution and erasing a huge lead. But Reed got a good jump on the restart and the crowd’s attention soon turned to a torrid battle for third place between Logan Spahr and Bard. For several laps they traded slide jobs [Read More]