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MCKINNEY SCORES UPSET TRI-CITY WIN TO BECOME 8TH DIFFERENT WINNER IN
9 FASTRAK NORTHEAST LATE MODEL TOURING RACES
By Mike Leone
August 31, 2008 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Franklin, PA
For the first time ever, the FASTRAK Northeast Late
Model Touring Series paid a visit to Mike Graham and Roger Crick's
Tri-City Speedway with heat races on Saturday and B mains and the
feature on Sunday night. With picture perfect weather all weekend for
the Oil Region Classic, 34 cars from all over western Pennsylvania,
eastern Ohio, and western New York turned out for race #9 of 12.
Prior to Sunday night, Carl McKinney had never finished in the top
five of a FASTRAK Touring Series event and in fact had never won a
Late Model feature of any kind in his career. McKinney erased that
distinction as he ran a flawless race to score the biggest upset
victory in the two-year history of the FASTRAK Northeast Touring
Series. McKinney became the eighth different winner in nine races
this season with his wire-to-wire victory in the 30-lap affair worth
$2,000 plus an additional $100 from Tri-City's divisional sponsor 4
Your Car Connection.
"This is just awesome," exclaimed the soft-spoken Mars, Pa racer, who
is the Tri-City Speedway E-Mod Champion the past two seasons. "This
is my first one ever and I really wanted to get to victory lane bad.
The car was on a rail and I just wanted to protect the bottom. I have
to thank my sponsors and the crew behind. A big thanks goes out to
Lynn Geisler for getting this car squared away on Wednesday- he still
knows what he's doing."
McKinney drew the pole position and raced to the lead. It was three-
wide for second on lap two with Dick Barton advancing to second past
Chad Myers. Touring Series and National Weekly Series point leader,
Max Blair, entered the picture when he went three-wide with Myers and
Aaron Ridley for third on lap five. Blair grabbed the spot with
Ridley to fourth.
Barton began to track down McKinney on lap six, while Blair closed on
the front two on lap 10. By lap 12, Blair was all over the veteran
Barton. While the battle was on for second, McKinney continued to
lead and opened up some ground by the halfway point. Blair made a
nice move in turn two to duck under and past Barton for second on the
16th circuit.
Blair now set his sights on McKinney and began to reel in the leader.
Last Sunday night at Eriez Speedway, Blair took a first win away from
Tom Snyder, Jr. with four to go and hoped to do the same with
McKinney as he was right on the leader with 10 laps to go. McKinney
though was able to clear the lapped car of Chris Haines, while Blair
got caught behind Haines allowing McKinney some breathing room.
Barton closed in on Blair on lap 22 and then two laps later Blair
again erased McKinney's advantage. On lap 26 though, Blair again had
trouble clearing a lapped car. This time it was Myers, and the two
made contact, which allowed McKinney to get away. And that was all
she wrote as McKinney's Mikan Motors/Hufnagel- Majors Trailer
Sales/Results Chiropractic- sponsored #6M beat Blair to the finish by
1.827 seconds in an event timed in 10:59.067 that saw all 24 starters
complete the 30-lap event. McKinney also has four E-Mod wins this
season and 10 for his career at Tri-City.
Blair extended his Touring Series point lead to 39 and his National
Weekly Series to five over Bobby Powell with his runner-up finish.
Barton, who is still searching for his first Touring Series win of
the season, was third. Chatsworth, Georgia's Aaron Ridley, a third
cousin of former NASCAR racer and one-time Winston Cup winner Jody
Ridley, finished fourth after starting seventh in his debut in the
Bob Williams #8, which was driven to last year's championship by Alan
Dellinger. Tom Snyder, Jr. passed Butch Lambert on lap 17 to finish
fifth and trails Barton by one point for third and Powell two points
for second.
Completing the top 10 were Lambert, Powell, 17th starter Dennis
Lunger, Jr., Jim Frank, and John Lacki. After getting in the feature
with a last lap pass in the first B main, Raceway 7 champion Jay
Watson passed the most cars in the non-stop feature coming from 24th
to finish 11th. On Saturday, Ridley, Barton, McKinney, and Blair won
the heat races and John Haggerty and Steve Hollabaugh opened Sunday
with victories in the two B mains.
FASTRAK Northeast Late Model Touring Series Race #9 (30 laps $2,100
to-win): 1. CARL MCKINNEY (6M) 2. Max Blair (111) 3. Dick Barton
(Nielson 28B) 4. Aaron Ridley (Williams 8) 5. Tom Snyder, Jr. (1F) 6.
Butch Lambert (27) 7. Bobby Powell (Bidwell B1D) 8. Dennis Lunger,
Jr. (Schwartz 17L) 9. Jim Frank (14*) 10. John Lacki (7) 11. Jay
Watson (7x) 12. Kyle Zimmerman (17) 13. Roger French (-1) 14. Steve
Hollabaugh (3H) 15. Dereck Frank (16*) 16. Justin Kann (Powell 100)
17. Rusty Moore (17M) 18. Chad Myers (01) 19. Steve D'Apolito (84)
20. Chris Haines (35H) 21. Bob Kish (5) 22. Bob Diver (23) 23. John
Haggerty (49) 24. Tony Hyde (12) DNQ: Andy Buckley (Robinson 34R),
Bobby Whitling (7w), Tyler Dietz (10), Bryan Salisbury (26), Tom
Copeland (98), Alex Anderson (Woodard 22x), Jason Stanke (44), Bryant
Hank (28), Mike Pegher, Jr. (Geisler 1C), Brian Booher (Hoover 00H).
Lap leaders: McKinney (1-30)
Heat winners: Aaron Ridley, Dick Barton, Carl McKinney, Max Blair
B main winners: John Haggerty & Steve Hollabaugh
Car count: 34
Next up for the FASTRAK Northeast Touring Series will be race #10 of
12 this Friday, September 5 at Dog Hollow Speedway in Strongstown,
Pa. The event will pay $1,200 to-win, $150 to-start. Racing begins at
7:30 p.m. Dog Hollow will be followed by Mercer Raceway Park on
Saturday, September 13 and McKean County Raceway on Friday, September
26 for $1,200 to-win events.
2008 FASTRAK Northeast Touring Series associate sponsors thus far are
Race 1, Fame RV Center, Yoder's Performance Specialty & PRC, Bullitt
Chassis, and Fred Beans Parts.
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