MECHANICSBURG, Pa.: Steve Buckwalter probably didn’t know what to expect when he rolled into Williams Grove Speedway Friday night.
On Thursday, Buckwalter competed in the USAC Silver Crown race at the Indiana State Fairgrounds. As soon as he climbed out of the car and changed, he hopped in the truck and headed East.
There was no chance for Buckwalter to oversee any maintenance or changes. But it didn’t matter … his crew had him covered.
Buckwalter did the rest. After a red flag wiped out the initial start, the Royersford driver got the jump on T.J. Stutts and found the rubber to capture the 25-lap Walt Dyer Tribute worth $4,610.
“I just have to thank my crew and those guys,” said Buckwalter after his ninth career win at the speedway. “They worked their asses off.
“I was out in Indy running Silver Crown last night. I drove straight through, got here late, and they had everything ready. Hats off to them.”
Continued Buckwalter, “I have to thank Buzz from A1 Engines. He kind of turned our season around. The last couple of years, we’ve had nothing but engine trouble. Ever since he put this thing together, we haven’t had a lick of trouble. Not one engine problem.”
Stutts surged in front when the green flew, grabbing the top spot over Buckwalter from his outside-pole starting spot. Greg Hodnett and Anthony Macri followed, as the field headed down the frontstretch to complete Lap 1.
Before the first circuit could be completed, a five-car melee ensued out of Turn 4. Rodney Westhafer, Mallie Shuster, Ryan Taylor, Chad Trout and Danny Dietrich were involved, and the red flag was thrown. All drivers were OK.
Buckwalter took advantage of the complete restart. He blasted out front and took the lead over Stutts and Hodnett, who got past Macri coming out of Turn 4 to take the third position.
“I was a little pissed when it came out, because I ran to the center, and it stuck so good,” Buckwalter said of the red flag. “I’m like, ‘I’m going to be able to get around him.’
“Then that yellow came out, and I was sure his crew was going to tell him the groove is there, so I figured I got to try and get the jump.
“He got me there on the first start, but we kind of left at the same time on the second start. But, under the red, I got the temp up in the motor and took off better.”
That was pretty much the race. Hodnett was able to go up one lane to get Stutts coming out of Turn 4 on Lap 7, but Buckwalter had built up a 2.2-second lead.
Hodnett was able to close to within 1.552 seconds by Lap 10. Lance Dewease, who was displaying the Walt Dyer Brickmobile colors for the event, slipped past Macri for fourth two laps later.
There were times it looked like Hodnett was going to be able to challenge for the win. He closed the gap to 1.204 seconds on Lap 19 and 1.095 seconds one lap later.
“I was so good on the top, or I should say the middle, and there were a couple of times I thought about going there because I felt I could’ve swept around him,” Buckwalter said. “But, you don’t know where the guys are behind you.
“Sometimes, if you get out of line, you get passed. I don’t know how I could explain that to the car owner … that we ran the bottom and moved off the bottom and gave the lead up.
“I just didn’t know where anybody was going. I figured if I just stick on the bottom, that if the top was in, someone would’ve been by me sooner. I felt that slow on the bottom, and everything just worked good.”
The track was locked down on the bottom, and Buckwalter hit his marks over the final four circuits to take the win by .805 seconds. Hodnett was second, followed by Stutts, Dewease, and Macri.
“This is something special,” Buckwalter said. “I’m sure Clair is going to stick this one in his office.
“You know, I never met Walt, but I ran micros for years back at Linda’s, and we would haul ass up here to catch the feature. I always said one year I would get in that car, but he retired before I got to this point.
“Guys like him and [Al] Hamilton, they put this place on the map. They kept everybody in rides, and this is something special.”
Austin Bishop started on the front row and took advantage, jumping out front and holding off Ken Duke Jr. to win the 20-lap PASS/IMCA main event.
Duke made a late bid and fell short to finish second. Jeff Geiges, Scott Ellerman, and Zach Newlin completed the top five.
410 Sprint Car Feature Finish, 25 Laps: 1. Steve Buckwalter; 2. Greg Hodnett; 3. TJ Stutts; 4. Lance Dewease; 5. Anthony Macri; 6. Brock Zearfoss; 7. Lucas Wolfe; 8. Cory Haas; 9. Aaron Ott; 10. Brian Montieth; 11. Brandon Rahmer; 12. Freddie Rahmer; 13. Ryan Smith; 14. Danny Dietrich; 15. Alan Krimes; 16. Tyler Ross; 17. Robbie Kendall; 18. Mallie Shuster; 19. Jordan Givler; 20. Adrian Shaffer; 21. Eric Tomecek; 22. Ryan Taylor; 23. Chad Trout; 24. Rodney Westhafer.
305 Sprint Car Feature Finish, 20 Laps: 1. Austin Bishop; 2. Ken Duke Jr.; 3. Jeff Geiges; 4. Scott Ellerman; 5. Zach Newlin; 6. Jay Krout; 7. Darren Miller; 8. Kyle Smith; 9. John Scarborough; 10. Dave Grube; 11. Jaremi Hanson; 12. Nick Sweigart; 13. Mike Allman; 14. Larry McVay; 15. Rick Stief; 16. Christian Rumsey; 17. John Walp; 18. Dave Brown; 19. Jonathan Jones; 20. Reed Thompson; 21. Steph Dodson; 22. Josh Guiler; 23. Colton Hoover; 24. Kassidy Kreitz; 25. Alex Putusky; 26. Cale Reigle.