6/29/2022
RUSH Late Model Series
WESTERN PA DOUBLEHEADER WEEKEND ON TAP FOR HOVIS RUSH LATE MODEL FLYNN'S TIRE TOUR; $3000 TO-WIN EVENTS AT DOG HOLLOW FRIDAY & PITTSBURGH SATURDAY + B
WESTERN PA DOUBLEHEADER WEEKEND ON TAP FOR HOVIS RUSH LATE MODEL FLYNN'S TIRE TOUR; $3000 TO-WIN EVENTS AT DOG HOLLOW FRIDAY & PITTSBURGH SATURDAY + BONUS MONIES FROM ONTIME BODY
By Mike Leone
June 29, 2022 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Pulaski, PA)...After another successful "Bill Emig Memorial" presented by Sunoco Race Fuels at Lernerville Speedway last weekend, the Hovis Auto & Truck Supply RUSH Dirt Late Model Series presented by Born2Run Lubricants is set to resume its Flynn's Tire Touring Series this weekend with a doubleheader of events in western Pennsylvania. On Friday night (July 1), the Series will visit Dog Hollow Speedway located near Strongstown and then will head to Pittsburgh's PA Motor Speedway in Imperial on Saturday night (July 2). Both events will pay $3,000 to-win in addition to $600 of bonus monies put up by Ontime Body & Graphic each night! Warm-ups begin at 7 p.m. on Friday night and 6 p.m. on Saturday night.
Even though Dog Hollow Speedway was one of the first four founding speedways to run Chevrolet Performance Crate Late Models in the Northeast weekly beginning in 2007, last year was the first time the RUSH Touring Series had ever made an appearance at the track. Kyle Hardy went down in the history books as the inaugural winner as he went on to win the 2021 Flynn's Tire Tour Championship.
The 2022 season is the Indiana County speedplant's 24th anniversary, which began operating in 1998. After being closed for the latter part of 2019 and all of 2020, Dog Hollow has been under the helm of new management team, RFR Motorsports, beginning in 2021. The RFR partnership includes western Pennsylvania residents Mark McClellan and Kyle Smith, Sr.
Thus far this season, Dog Hollow has completed just three Hovis Weekly Series events due to Mother Nature. Michael Duritsky, Jr. has won all three. Duritsky not only leads Dog Hollow's "Track Pack" points, but also sits atop the Hovis RUSH National Weekly Series standings.
Saturday night will mark the first of four 2022 appearances by the Flynn's Tire Tour at "Dirt's Monster Half-Mile". Saturday will be the running of the annual "Herb Scott Memorial". The "Jook George Steel City Classic" will take place on August 6 (rain date August 7) and the "Bill Hendren Memorial" on September 30-October 1 are also on the Tour's 2022 schedule at PPMS.
Herb Scott was one of the most well-known and respected driver who ever raced in western Pa. His side-by-side battles with Joe Mihalic were nothing short of legendary. Ten times during his hall of fame career, Scott won the track championship at Heidelberg (1956-1960, 1962-1965, and 1967). His first win came in his first year of racing at New Kensington Speedway in 1948. His 500th win came at Lernerville Speedway, and his final feature win came at Schmucker’s Speedway in September of 1979. He would go on to win a total of 520 career features!
There have been 22 RUSH Tour events completed at Pittsburgh with 13 different winners all-time. Kyle Lukon leads the list with five including a sweep of all three events in 2019. Ryan Montgomery and Michael Norris, who won two shows last year, both have three wins. The only other repeat winner is track regular Daryl Charlier. Single wins go to Tommy Schirnhofer, Jr., Colton Flinner, John Mollick, Mike Pegher, Jr., Jacob Hawkins, Garret Paugh, Levi Crowl, Jeremy Wonderling, and Kyle Hardy.
Pittsburgh has been able to complete seven Hovis Weekly Series events this season with an amazing seven different winners! Charlier, Lukon, Michael Reft, Cole Petrelle, Ben Policz, Philip Bubeck, and Norris have been able to find victory lane. Will there be an eighth different winner in eight events on Saturday night!?
"We're looking forward to a great doubleheader weekend," expressed RUSH Director Vicki Emig. "Dog Hollow and Pittsburgh are only 80 miles apart. Despite last year's inclement weather at Dog Hollow, it was their best show of the season. Friday night will be a great night of racing for Late Model fans with both ULMS and RUSH on the same card, and several racers are expected to do double duty. No track has hosted more RUSH Late Model Tour shows than Pittsburgh and they once again lead the way with four events in 2022. Saturday will be a great tune-up for the prestigious 'Jook George Steel City Classic' five weeks later. We also have to thank Mark McClellan for his awesome gesture of posting $1,200 of bonus monies this weekend!"
Thus far this year, the Flynn's Tire Touring Series has completed eight events with an average car count of 38 per event! The Tour is coming off a season high 56-car count at Lernerville, which saw Mark Whitener win $20,000 for the local team of Dirk Neal and Brian Daugherty.
Virginia racer Logan Roberson continues to lead the Flynn's Tire Tour points thanks to three victories and eight top 10 finishes in eight races; however, his lead has dwindled to just nine points over Joe Martin, who has finished in the tour four at each of the last six events. Three-time Tour champion, Jeremy Wonderling continues to trail his brother Brady in the battle for the third spot. Despite failing to qualify for his first feature of the year, Breyton Santee continues to hold on to the fifth position. Completing the top 10 are Matt Latta, Cody Dawson, Andy Michael, Ashton Briggs, and Brandt Graham. Craig Graham, who is 13th in points, leads the D&V Jewelers "Wheelman" Non-Qualifier Championship points.
Each night will include $100 "Shock the Clock" Qualifying and $25 to-win heat races presented by FK Rod Ends. The Sunoco Dash will set the beginning rows of the 30-lap feature lineups and will award the winner a $100 Sunoco fuel gift card. The "Fill'er up with Sunoco Bucks" program will include an additional $400 of Sunoco fuel card giveaways each night; two $100 random draws for drivers in the top 15 of Tour points and another four $50 random draws for all other competitors.
Precise Racing Products will award a $50 gift card for the "Pedal Down" Hard Charger that passes the most cars in the feature each night. The TBM Brakes “Tough Brake of the Night” will award three bottles of Xtreme6 Racing Brake Fluid each night. The feature winner each night will receive a 5-Gallon Race Jug from Precise. Ontime Body & Graphic's "Spoiler Alert" will award a spoiler kit to the ninth place finisher on the first night and the 10th place finisher on the second night (note: if a driver has already won a spoiler this season, spoiler will be awarded to the next position). Performance Bodies will award a $100 gift card to the first non-qualifier each night part of the "Nosed Out" program.
Mark McClellan, who owns Ontime Body & Graphic in addition to being the co-promoter of Dog Hollow, has posted the following $600 of bonuses at both Dog Hollow and Pittsburgh this weekend:
• $100 to the last car on the lead lap in the feature
• $100 to the hard charger in the feature
• $100 to the hard luck recipient
• $100 to the Ontime Spoiler Alert recipient (9th place is the first night, 10th place the second night)
• $100 to a driver in the top 10 in track points (random draw at the drivers meeting)
• $50 to the B main winner(s)
• $50 to the non-qualifier winner
Feature Payoff Each Night: 1. $3,000 2. $1,500 3. $800 4. $650 5. $600 6. $500 7. $475 8. $450 9. $425 10. $400 11. $325 12. $300 13. $275 14. $270 15. $265 16. $260 17. $255 18-24. $250.
D&V Jewelers Non-Qualifier Payoff Each Night: 1. $200 2. $190 3. $185 4. $180 5. $175 6. $170 7. $165 8. $160 9. $155 10-24. $150. Tow $125
You do not have to be a member of RUSH to compete only to receive Weekly and/or Tour points. The entry fee for each night is $100. AMB/MyLaps transponders will be used; Westhold transponders will NOT work. Units are available to rent for $25. Driver radio channel will be 454.000.
On Friday at Dog Hollow, RUSH registration will open by 4 p.m. with the drivers meeting at 6:30. Warm-ups are slated for 7 followed by qualifying and racing.
On Saturday at Pittsburgh, RUSH registration will open at 3 p.m. with the drivers meeting at 5:35. Warm-ups are slated for 6 followed by qualifying. Racing is at 7 p.m.
Dog Hollow Speedway is located 3.5 miles north of Route 422 in Strongstown, Pa. just off Route 403 North at 76 Hamill Road, Northern Cambria, PA 15714. Anyone wishing to contact the speedway, can e-mail rfrmotorsports@gmail.com For more information, visit their website at www.doghollowspeedway.net and like their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/doghollowspeedway.
Pittsburgh’s PA Motor Speedway is a ½-mile dirt track with a GPS address of 170 Kelso Rd, Imperial PA 15126, which is located just off the Noblestown exit on Routes 22/30. For more information, check out their website at www.ppms.com or call 412-279-7223. The track number on race day is 724-695-3363 or 724-695-0393. As for their social media outlets, you can like their page on Facebook at www.facebook.com/PittsburghsPennsylvaniaMotorSpeedway or follow them on Twitter @PAMotorSpeedway.
The RUSH Racing Series is brought to you by Hovis Auto & Truck Supply together with Born2Run Lubricants along with the support of Hoosier Tire, Bilstein Shocks, Sunoco Race Fuels, Bazell Race Fuels, Insinger Performance, MSD Performance, Holley Performance Products, FK Rod Ends, Schoenfeld Headers, Jones Racing Products, TBM Brakes, Performance Bodies & Parts, Racing Electronics, Wrisco Industries, Frankland Racing Supply, Landrum Performance Spring, Ontime Body & Graphic, Sherwood Wheels, Alternative Power Sources, Precise Racing Products, Lincoln Electric, Velocita-USA, Waterstone Mortgage Hermitage, Wedge Motorsports, 3C Graphix, D&V Jewelers, DrumPreserve, CrateInsider.com, Marthinsen & Salvitti Insurance Group and Terry Bowser Excavating.
E-mail can be sent to the RUSH Racing Series at info@rushracingseries.com and snail mail to 4368 Route 422, Pulaski, PA 16143. Office phone is 724-964-9300. The RUSH Late Model website is www.rushlatemodels.com. Like our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/rushlatemodels and follow us on Twitter @RUSHLM.
Article Credit: Mike Leone