Curtis J. Bish Wins Ray’s Race;Felmlee, Jeremiah Shingledecker, and Speer Also Win
(Franklin, PA July 25, 2021): The Pro Stocks took center stage at Tri-City Raceway Park, as the Penn Ohio Pro Stock Championship invaded the speedway for the annual running of Ray’s Race, which honored the late Ray Virgile. Ray was a huge supporter of the Pro Stock division, especially at his home track. The best regional talent joined with the Hovis Auto & Truck Supply contingent for a banner 41 car field. Taking the $3,500 win was Curtis J. Bish.
Joining him in victory celebrations were 59 year old Bob Felmlee in the Shawgo Real Estate LLC 410 Sprint Cars, Jeremiah Shingledecker in the Krill Recycling LLC 358 Modifieds, and Dalton Speer in the 4 Your Car Connection Mini Stocks.
“I was sorry to see Randy Wyant break or blow up, or whatever happened to him,” Bish said. At the time misfortune struck, Wyant was flying toward the checked flag on what should have been the last lap. That led to a pair of green-white-checkered runs to the finish and, on the second one, Bish was able to muscle his way past Chris Schneider who had inherited the lead from Wyant.
“That last lap pass, I was going to go to the top, but he missed the middle, and I turned under him,” Bish said. “I just tried to stay on the bottom after that.”
The Penn Ohio Pro Stock Championship race had Chris Schneider and Andrew Gordon on the front row. Doug Iorio, II and Randy Wyant were in row two. Alan Dellinger and Jamie Duncan lined up in the third row, with Tim Bish and Curtis J. Bish in the fourth. Joe Stajnrajh and Curt Bish, Jr. were set for for five, but Stajnrajh opted to start at the rear. William Hurrelbrink and Chris McGuire were set for row six.
Although Schneider led the field into turn one, it was Gordon who rode the rim to take the lead on the opening lap. Wyant settled into third, followed by Iorio, Dellinger, Curtis J. Bish, and Tim Bish.
Schneider found his comfort zone on the next lap and assumed the lead, with Gordon remaining close in second.
A caution seven laps into the race bunched the field up. While there were no changes up front when racing resumed, there was an intense three car battle for the third position involving Wyant, Dellinger, and Bish.
Wyant separated himself from the others and moved in on the leaders. He took over second by lap ten. Soon thereafter, a caution for Gordon’s spin put Wyant right behind Schneider for the restart.
When racing resumed, Wyant drove by Schneider and began to pull away. Bish moved into third, while Dellinger and McGuire fought for the fourth position.
Although there was one other stoppage along the way, Wyant had a commanding lead as the race drew to a close. It seemed as though Wyant would win easily, but his car exploded and the engine compartment burst into flames as he came through turn two.
That handed the lead back to Schneider, with Bish on his tail, McGuire, Dellinger, Jackson Humanic, and Noah Brunell.
It took two tries with green-white-checkered finishes to put it in the books. On the final restart, Bish went in low, and powered by Schneider. Schneider slid out of the groove coming down the back stretch, surrendering second briefly to McGuire. However, Schneider was smooth and fast in the corners and he regained the second position.
At the finish, it was Curtis J. Bish, followed by Schneider, McGuire, Brunell, and Dellinger. Josh Seippel was the hard charger, advancing 17 positions to get the sixth position. Humanic, Gordon, Jason Johns, and Jeff Broniseiwski took the other top ten credits.
Five heats were run under the Donovan & Bauer Auto Group banner for the Penn Ohio Championship Series and Hovis Auto & Truck Supply Pro Stocks. Wins were chalked up by Chris Schneider, Andrew Gordon, Curt Bish, Jr. Doug Iorio, II, and Randy Wyant. The dash run in honor of Ray Virgile went to Jackson Humanic. All participants in the dash were drivers who benefited from Ray’s generous sponsorship. The twin B Mains went to Patrick Fielding and Jason Fosnaught. The non-qualifiers race went to Matt Bernard. The evening’s fastest qualifier was Randy Wyant, turning in a lap of 20.248 seconds.
In the Shawgo Real Estate LLC 410 Sprint division, NASCAR star Alex Bowman had the pole, flanked by Bob Felmlee, Leyton Wagner and Jeremy Weaver, subbing for Bob McMillin, were in the second row. Ken Rossey, Jr. was paired up with Logan McCandless in the third row, with Jack Sodeman, Jr. and last week’s winner, A.J. Flick, in the fourth,. Points leader Brandon Matus rolled off in row five, with his dad, Brent, next to him. Darin Gallagher and Rod Jones had row six and trailing the field were Bryan Salisbury and Steve Bright.
Bowman got the jump on Felmee at the start of the race, with Wagner, Sodeman, and Weaver following. Just as the field was getting settled in, Logan McCandless and Rod Jones tangled in turn four. Jones was out for the night, but McCandless was able to restart.
Bowman resumed the lead, and Sodeman moved into second. Felmlee and Wagner were in tow.
Bowman found a hole on the inside of turns one and two, bouncing through the corner and losing several positions. Soon thereafter the wing collapsed and he limped to the pit area ending his maiden voyage at Tri-City Raceway Park.
That handed the lead over to Felmlee, who had worked around Sodeman.
Felmlee continued to lead, as Brandon Matus and Flick started to move toward the front. Matus was the first casualty, spinning in turn four. When Flick did likewise several laps later, he was unable to rejoin the field dud to some front suspension damage.
Felmlee led the rest of the way. Sodeman lost second to his protege, Darin Gallagher, on lap 22. Brandon Matus worked his way back to the fourth spot, followed by Brent Matus.
Logan McCandless came back through the pack for sixth. Bryan Salisbury and Steve Bright were the last cars running at the finish. Wagner and Flick rounded out the top ten based on their laps completed.
Felmlee, who scored his thirty-second career win at Tri-City, had a tearful moment in victory lane. It was his first trip there since May 29 of 2011. “It was great, it’s a lot of work,” the veteran said. He explained that he was not troubled by the cautions at all, adding with a sly smile, “I am old and I need to relax a little.” He also remarked that he came back from racing motocross to get back into Sprint Cars. “I am doing it for this year and maybe next.”
The pair of Donovan & Bauer Auto Group heat races for the Shawgo Real Estate LLC Sprints went to Sodeman and Felmlee. There was no B Main.
In the Krill Recycling LLC 358 Modifieds, Travis Shingledecker had the pole, while his brother, Jeremiah started last due to his three consecutive wins. Next to Travis was Nick Joy. Kyle Inman and Kole Holden, substituting for Jimmy, went off in row two. Max Smoker and Kyle Fink had the third row occupied, with Lonnie Riggs and David Scott, pinch-hitting for Tom Holden, in the fourth row. Row five belonged to Kevin Hoffman and Sid Unverzagt, Jr. Jim Rasey, sitting in for D.J. Schrader, and the Reno Rocket, Les Myers, were in row six. Then came Kevin Green and Eric Beggs ahead of Jeremiah Shingledecker.
Travis Shingledecker moved to the lead at the drop of the green, followed by Joy, Inman, and Kole Holden.
Eric Beggs brought out his first caution on lap two, but Travis Shingledecker remained the leader when things got going again. Inman moved past Joy for the second spot and he was hounding Travis for the lead.
Inman made his move to the front of the field by lap five and Travis Shingeldecker was holding off Kole Holden, Scott, Joy, and Jeremiah Shingledecker, who had charged from the rear of the field.
Shortly before the halfway mark, Jeremiah Shingledecker put a strong move on Joy of the fourth spot. There was heavy contact in turn three and Joy went around, collecting Riggs in the process. Jeremiah Shingledecker was sent to the rear for the incident but, due to attrition, the penalty was not so severe.
On the restart, Inman led Travis Shingledecker, Kole Holden, and Scott. But Jeremiah Shingledecker was on the move again. He reached the top five quickly and soon he was challenging his younger brother for second.
Inman pulled up lame coming down the backstretch and that made it a sibling rivaly between Travis and Jeremiah. Travis put up the good fight, with Jeremiah looking high and low for a way around Travis. Travis moved down half a lane, taking away Jeremiah’s preferred inside line. So, with no place left to go, Jeremiah went back to the top. He drew up alongside Travis several times.
On lap 17, Jeremiah used the high line and came off turn four side by side with Travis. Travis did not back off, and his car drifted high, so Jeremiah checked up.
The next lap, Jeremiah made the same move. However, this time he had more momentum, and he came off turn four ahead to Travis. He swooped into turn one with the lead and went on to victory.
“I’d like to take my hat off to my brother,” Jeremiah said. “He drove a good race. I thought he had me. He made that car pretty wide. I was convinced that he was not going to back off, so I had to.”
After the brothers Shingledecker came Sid Unverzagt, Jr., Kole Holden, and Nick Joy. Lonnie Riggs came back for sixth. Rasey, Scott, Fink, and Inman were scored in the top ten.
The heat races for the Krill Recycling Modifieds were presented by Donovan & Bauer Auto Group. The winners were Jeremiah Shingledecker and Kyle Inman. There was no B Main.
The 4 Your Car Connection Mini Stocks went to the post with Hemi Kinneston and Bodey McClintock on the front row. Justin Bailey started third with D.J. Macrae next to him. Evan Sobieski and and Dalton Speer were in the third row, and Mike Barr and last week’s winner, Chad Greeley were next in line. Row five was populated by Levi Maskal and Nick Steiger. The sixth row had Tyler Ellenberger and Jamie Tasker.
In the 4 Your Car Connection Mini Stock feature, it did not take long for the cream to rise to the top. Justin Bailey and Dalton Speer, the two contenders for the points championship, were batting for the lead. Speer took command before the halfway mark, and drove to the win.
Following Speer and Bailey across the line were Maskal, Greeley, and Body McClintock. Taking sixth was Macrae, with Jesse Armstrong, Sobieski, Matt Urey, and Howard Garlick completing the top ten.
There were a pair of heat races contested for the Donovan & Bauer Auto Group. The winners in the 4 Your Car Connection Mini Stocks were Dalton Speer and Justin Bailey. There was no B Main.
Next week, August 1, Tri-City Raceway Park will have a Sunday Thunder program, consisting of the Shawgo Real Estate LLC 410 Sporint Cars, Krill Recycling LLC 358 Modifieds, Hovis Auto & Truck Supply Pro Stocks, and 4 Your Car Connection Mini Stocks. The same program will be repeated on August 8 and 15, when the chase for the points championship will come to an end. No racing is scheduled for August 22 or 29. The Renegade Monster Trucks will entertain the fans on Saturday, August 28.
Further information about Tri-City Raceway Park can be obtained by calling the track office at 724-967-4601, or by e-mailing the office at tricityracewaypark2020@gmail.com. Or, you can check the web at Tri-CityRacewayPark.com, or the Facebook page at Tri City Raceway Park. Tri-City Raceway Park is located just a few miles north of Franklin, PA, at 3430 State Route 417 in Oakland Township.
Penn Ohio Pro Stock Championship/Hovis Auto & Truck Supply Pro Stocks: Curtis J. Bish, Chris Schneider, Chris McGuire, Noah Brunell, Alan Dellinger, Josh Seippel, Jackson Humanic, Andrew Gordon, Jason Johns, Jeff Broniseiwski, Westley McGray, Nick Kocuba, Jamie Duncan, Patrick Fielding, Bob Sloss, Tim Bish, Jason Fosnaught, Randy Wyant, Curt Bish, Jr., Doug Iorio, II, William Hurrelbrink, Dylan Cecee, Leigh Weheeler, Joe Stajnrajh.
Pro Stock Dash: Jackson Humanic, Joe Stajnrajh, Tyler Wyant, Josh Seippel, Randy Wyant, Patrick Fielding, Charlie McMillen, Curtis J. Bish, Bob Sloss, Bobby Whitling (DNS).
Pro Stock Non-Qualifiers Race: Matt Bernard, Gary Fisher, brett McDonald, Josh Blum.
DNQ: Chase Lambert, Tyler Wyant, David Baker, Shawn Hooks, Andy Buckley, Shane Applebee, Bobby Whitling, Zachary Gustafson, Larry Kugel, Charlie McMillen, James Barber, Darr Diegelman, Mike Miller.
Shawgo Real Estate LLC 410 Sprints: Bob Felmlee, Darin Gallagher, Jack Sodeman, Jr., Brandon Matus, Brent Matus, Logan McCandless, Bryan Salisbury, Steve Bright, Leyton Wagner, A.J. Flick, Ken Rossey, Jr., Jeremy Weaver, Alex Bowman, Rod Jones.
Krill Recycling LLC 358 Modifieds: Jeremiah Shingledecker, Travis Shingledecker, Sid Unverzagt, Jr., Kole Holden, Nick Joy, Lonnie Riggs, Jim Rasey, David Scott, Kyle Fink, Kyle Inman, Max Smoker, Eric Beggs, Kevin Hoffman, Kevin Green, Nathan McDowell (DNS), Les Myers (DNS).
4 Your Car Connection Mini Stocks: Dalton Speer, Justin Bailey, Levi Maskal, Chad Greeley, Body McClintock D.J. Macrae, Jesse Armstrong, Evan Sobieski, Matt Urey, Howard Garlick, Hemi Kinneston, Tyler Ellenberger, Michael Barr, Shaylene Kelsey, Diezel Marvin, Kelly Clark, J.R. Shaner, Devin Erwin, Jamie Tasker, Paul Marsh, Jr., Nick Steiger, Charles McClintock (DNS).