For the second week in a row, central Pennsylvania is taking center stage in the Sprint Car World. Only this time, it’s for a different reason.
Pennsylvania Speedweek dominated the headlines with a 10-race series that ended last Sunday. This week, it’s a shake-up with two of the area’s premier teams and a two-day Silly Season stretch that we normally see in November.
First, Chris Shuttlesworth left Anthony Macri last Friday. Fast forward to this Thursday, and Macri’s crew chief, Jim Shuttlesworth, quit the team and is joining forces with car-owner John Stehman to form Shuttlesworth-Stehman Racing.
That is only part of the equation. Devon Borden was offered the seat at Shuttlesworth-Stehman Racing and accepted after leaving his ride with Heffner Enterprises and the familiar No. 27 owned by Mike Heffner Thursday evening.
“I feel like we are 100 percent dedicated to John Stehman and Shuttlesworth-Stehman Racing,” said Chris Shuttlesworth, who will also join his father Jim at Shuttlesworth-Stehman handling the shock end of the deal. “We are going to keep rolling. I think we are going to be fast out of the box, at least that is what I’m hoping.
“Honestly, this has been planned for about two months. The deal John made with my Dad is something he can’t walk away from. So, I’m always going to help my Dad any way that I can.”
A partnership was struck between the Shuttlesworths and Stehman earlier in the season. According to Chris Shuttlesworth, the deal wasn’t supposed to kick in until after the 2022 campaign was complete with Macri.
That all changed over the last week. Circumstances let to a turn, and both Chris and Jim Shuttlesworth made the decision to leave early after helping Macri’s team to 25 wins the last couple of seasons. It was also announced via Twitter that noted crew chief Bernie Stuebgen will be helping Anthony Macri this weekend.
“My Dad agreed to make it to the end of the year, but there were some other things that happened, and he wasn’t really happy about it and quit,” Chris Shuttlesworth said.
“I’m super-excited for what is going to happen next year. I have nothing but good things to say about Anthony and his family, but it’s time to move on.”
The Shuttlesworths leaving Macri was the first domino to drop. Next came Borden, officially, letting Heffner know that he got an offer.
After talking to Heffner, Borden’s trip to Stehman’s camp became a reality. It ends a tenure that included three wins, two of which came at Williams Grove Speedway and the other at Port Royal.
“Devon told me that he got an offer, a very, very good offer,” Heffer said via text message. “I told him to take it. There’s nothing that I want to see more than a young man like him advancing his racing career.”
Heffner indicated that he hasn’t made any decisions regarding his 410 Sprint Car team. He will still have a car in action this weekend, as the Heffner Enterprises No. 5G driven by Briggs Danner will compete in Friday’s USAC East Coast event at Williams Grove and Saturday’s Mach 1 Chassis 360 National Open at Selinsgrove Speedway.
As for Borden, he is tentatively scheduled to start with Shuttlesworth-Stehman Racing Saturday night at Selinsgrove Speedway. The team will debut the 410 portion of the program next week.
“If this would’ve happened Tuesday, we would be on the track Friday at Williams Grove,” Chris Shuttlesworth said. “It happened on Thursday, and we can’t really make it happen, but we are anxious to get started and moving forward.”