8/9/2025
USAC East Coast Sprint Cars
Danner Dazzles at Diamond
Briggs Danner of Allentown Pa, has checked off plenty of milestones in his career — wins on the national stage, big micro sprint triumphs, and SpeedSTR success. But one thing had eluded him: a victory at Big Diamond Speedway.
Under a full moon in the mountains of Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, 22 Innovative Machining Technology Sprints signed in. Heat race wins went to Danner, and a pair of Reading Pa residents Steven Drevicki, and Billy Ney, setting the stage for the redraw. Ney pulled the pole, Danner drew six, and point leader Drevicki started ninth.
The front row was Ney and Bethlehem, PA’s Tommy Kunsman Jr., who has been focusing on national micro sprint competition in 2025. Ney grabbed the early lead at the drop of the green, looking to finally shake off a season of bad luck, but a lap-one caution for Brendan Hires slowed the pace.
On the restart, the battle for the lead quickly heated up. Kunsman slipped by Ney, only for Christopher Allen in the 71 to take the spot. Meanwhile, Danner — in the potent Hogue No. 39 — was lurking from sixth. A lap-five caution for Troy Fraker bunched the field again.
The drama spiked on lap six when Ney and Danner tangled in turn one fighting for position. Ney came to a stop, Danner continued. Bad luck for Ney was back.
Just 1 restart later Danner made the move of the night — diving from high to low out of turn four to pass both Kunsman and Allen in one daring swoop.
The yellow flew again as Ed Aikin and Christian Bruno made contact in turn 3, causing Bruno to do a 360 and go to the rear.
On the restart, Danner began pulling away, but Drevicki wasn’t done. From ninth, the defending champion methodically worked through the field. By lap 15, he had passed Kunsman for second and was chipping away at Danner’s two-second lead.
Traffic was looming when a caution for Gary Huston with seven laps to go set up one final challenge. On the restart, Drevicki tried every line the speedway had to offer, but Danner’s 39 was too strong.
At long last, Briggs Danner can add a Big Diamond win to his resume!
That victory also means Danner will have his work cut out for him tomorrow at New Egypt Speedway — by rule, he can start no better than eighth. But with $1,000 on the line from E. Schneider & Sons Recycling for a weekend sweep, you can bet he’ll be going all out to bring the broom.
BDB Graphics Heat 1: 1.Steven Drevicki (19 Drevicki) 2. Chris Allen Jr (71 Allen) 3. Christian Bruno (17m Bruno) 4. Kenny Miller III (23m Miller) 5. Ronald Helmick (22R Helmick) 6. Olivia Thayer (39T Thayer) 7. Lee Kauffman (96 Kauffman) DNS Brendan Hires (2 Hires) TIME: 2:36.494
E Schneider and Sons Heat 2: 1. Briggs Danner (39 Hogue) 2. Bobby Butler (5B Butler) 3. Patrick Chilmonik (1 Chilmonik) 4. Brett Rose (45R Rose Bros) 5. Jacob Galloway (27G Galloway) 6. Dirk Rimrott (27 Rimrott) 7. Troy Fraker (12W Fraker)
Boulevard Truck Repair Heat 3: 1. Billy Ney (83s Ney) 2. Joe Kata (10 Kata) 3. Tommy Kunsman Jr (21k Kunsman) 4. Ed Aikin (7 Aikin) 5. Bruce Buckwalter (83 Buckwalter) 6. Jason Cherry (67 Cherry) 7. Gary Huston (44 Huston)
E SCHNEIDER AND SONS SCRAP A MAIN: 1. BRIGGS DANNER (6) 2. Steven Drevicki (9) 3. Kenny Miller III (10) 4. Tommy Kunsman Jr. (2) 5. Chris Allen Jr. (4) 6. Bobby Butler (7) 7. Ed Aikin (12) 8. Ronald Helmick (13) 9. Joe Kata (8) 10. Bruce Buckwalter (15) 11. Jacob Galloway (14) 12. Jason Cherry (18) 13. Patrick Chilmonik (3) 14. Olivia Thayer (16) 15. Lee Kauffman (19) 16. Brett Rose (11) 17. Dirk Rimrott (17) 18. Gary Huston (21) 19. Christian Bruno (5) 20. Billy Ney (1) 21. Troy Fraker (20) 22. Brendan Hires (22)s
Notes:
E Schnider and Sons Recyling added $100 to all the starters for this weekend and a bonus for the sweep
The B-Main was cancelled after TWF (Troy Fraker) added the start money for the 2 non qualifiers to start the race.
Bitner Automotive Fast Time: Briggs Danner 14.623
Hoosier Poker Chip *Free Tire was a 17. Dirk Rimrott
JPA Racing Products Hard Luck: Billy Ney
C&C Landscape Hard Charger: Steven Drevicki
Next Race: New Egypt Speedway in New Egypt NJ Saturday August 9th
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