Fan Notes from the FAST/OSCS race at Attica Raceway Park

Attica Raceway Park (Tom Myers) Attica, Ohio 6/10/16 - I figured there would be a good car count of 410 sprints at Attica Friday evening for the FAST / OSCS race, so I made the short trek after work and was greeted by nice weather and a healthy field of 40 cars. 

The FAST series is the Fremont/Attica Sprint Title. I don't know exactly when it was started, maybe this is their 8th or 10th year, I didn't find it on their website. In any case, it was created to provide weekly local shows with minimal travel and a good payout for the drivers..as well as economical entertainment for the fans. And they have succeeded at doing just that. The quality of cars for these FAST events is very good. These guys can race, no doubt.  OSCS stands for the newly created Ohio Sprint Car Series. It is a similar idea, but this new group races mostly at southern Ohio tracks like Atomic and Hilltop, but also has races scheduled at Wayne County and Millstream too. In any case, it's good to have better paying weekly shows for the 410 guys, and I am a fan. 

When I arrived, I was pleased to discover that, in addition to the regular FAST series competitors and some of the Ohio Sprint Car Series racers, a few of the All Star guys were here too because Tony Stewart's group had the evening off. This made for a very good night of racing and some intrigue as well. Dale Blaney, Chad Kemenah, Sheldon Haudenschild, Caleb Helms, and TJ Michael joined Danny Smith, Cole Duncan, Jac Haudenschild and others to take on the regular FAST guys like Byron Reed, Craig Mintz (who drives the beautiful 09 Real Geese sponsored car and who also provides Carson Macedo with a ride when he comes to Ohio, numbered 09x)  Caleb Griffith, Dean Jacobs, Chris Andrews, Travis Philo, and many more, including 3 racers from Australia! Welcome to the USA mates and good luck to Daniel Harding, Bruce White and Stuart Williams.  

By the way, if you enjoy train watching, there is a Norfolk Southern line that runs north and south right next to the track...and it is very busy. 3 trains rumbled through in the ten minutes it took me to get from my car to the grandstand.....    

Ok, back to racing. I enjoyed time trials. They run 3 cars on the track at a time and of course, they are spaced out, and it makes the time trials go so much quicker. The cars in each heat are picked before time trials, so you are timing only against the other cars in your heat race...Sheldon Haudenschild and Dale Blaney ended up with the two quickest times of the evening. With 8 cars in each heat, we ended up with 5 heat races on the night, which is very cool. During time trials, the track had developed quite a ledge in turn 3 and 4. The track crew scraped it off and watered it and the track looked really good for the upcoming heats.

A shout out goes to Brittany Phillips, who did a great job singing the National Anthem. She has a nice voice and sang it straight, not trying to be fancy with it and it was a very good job!  Thank you Brittany!

Craig Mintz A makeup 305 feature was run before the 410 heats and that slicked off the track a little, but the heats were still good.  Heat 1 finished with Zablocki and Mintz in that order. Heat 2 was Brian Lay and Sheldon Haud. Heat 3 finished with Chris Andrews at the front with Dale Blaney finishing second. It's TJ Michaels and Travis Philo in heat 4 and heat 5 gets us Caleb Griffith at the front with Byron Reed chasing in second. The track was fast up around the cushion but the ledge developed again and it started drying out up to it. Some guys were having luck hugging the inside and jumping off the turns as their left rear tire grabbed the tacky surface. The top two finishers in each heat then entered a redraw to determine the feature starting order. 

The show was really running smooth and fast. Two B-mains were up for the 410 cars, with the top 3 in each making the A-main.   D.J. Foos , Broc Martin and Rob Chaney finished 1,2,3 in the first B-main. Dean Jacobs put on a nice show to come from the back and win the 2nd B main. Caleb Helms and Ryan Myers finished 2nd and 3rd. It was kind of shocking to see Stuart Brubaker not make the A-main. He has a fast car and has won some features around here...but seems to be struggling right now. Also not making the feature were Danny Smith and Jac Haudenschild.

Chad Kemenah The first six rows in the 30 lap A-main lineup were Lay - Griffith, Philo - Kemenah, Reed - Blaney,  Zablocki - Duncan, Andrews - Mintz, Sheldon Haud -TJ Michaels . The feature started and stopped about 4 times before it got going. Rob Chaney and Chris Andrews had to exit before lap 2 was completed. They both had terrible luck trying to get started and both were involved in an altercation on the starts...twice. 

When we got going, Lay got the lead with Griffith trailing and Kemenah right behind. Kemenah passed Griffith and with 8 in the books, Kemenah passed Lay for the lead. Lay stayed close and dogged the leader until he was able to pass for the lead on lap 16. By this time, Bryon Reed had entered the mix and after dispatching Kemenah, Reed passed his way into the lead spot on lap 21, using the low, low groove. Reed them sped away for the victory. Score one for the FAST guys! Lay and Kemenah finished 2nd and 3rd. Dale Blaney hung around in the 4th spot but couldn't mount a charge. Caleb Griffith faded to 7th as TJ Michael up from 11th, and Sheldon Haud, up from 12th, captured the 5th and 6th spots respectively. 

I was walking to my car at 10:22. A very good race and a smooth, efficient program. Thank you Attica and the FAST and OSCS groups as well.