Fan Notes from Friday's Opener at Attica Raceway Park

A good crowd assembled Friday for Attica's opener (Tom Myers) 4/13/2018 – Finally, we had some good weather that allowed us to race! Temperatures were in the upper 70’s and it was a little breezy but everything was perfect by feature time.

Sam Rutigliano, one of the most beloved football coaches the Cleveland Browns have ever had, always says, “Consistency is the proof of Authenticity.” If Sam is right, then Attica Raceway Park is certainly authentic because they consistently have good car counts, a nice track surface, great facilities and they always run a fast, smooth and efficient show. Year after year, Attica is one of the best places to watch sprint car racing. Racers love coming to Attica because they know what to expect….same with the fans. Thank you, Rex Lejuene and all the staff at Attica. We will see you again this year as often as we can make it there!

Frankie Nervo There were forty-four 410 sprints on hand to battle. Some surprises were Max Stambaugh and Trevor Baker. Both were to follow the All Star tour this year but recently had a change of heart and will now pick and choose where and when they run. Other notables on hand were Gary Taylor, who had what looked to be Kyle Larson’s 2017 ride, maybe purchased at the conclusion of last year’s season. D.J. Netto from California, was driving the 11n Nuemiester entry wrenched by the Linders. Dale Blaney was making his debut in the Coomer Motorsports 21. Past Knoxville Nationals A main top 10 finishers Cap Henry and Lee Jacobs were also in the pits. Adding to the car count, Kelsey Ivy and Nate Dussel have both moved up to the 410 ranks. Kevin Swindell also had his car here with driver Tom Harris, who is from Banbury, Oxfordshire, England! I understand Tom won a lot of races where he is from and 3 years ago decided to wade into the sprint cars here in the States. One interesting entry was the 21n Nervo car piloted by rookie Frankie Nervo. This car and paint scheme hadn’t been seen in Ohio for many years but the fans remember when Robby Nervo drove the sky blue 21n some 20-25 years ago. And of course, all the regular Attica and Fremont FAST series racers were on hand. It’s always tough to pick a winner because at least 20 of these guys are all fast and win races. It’s a very competitive group of cars and drivers and that’s why many non-regulars like to come here and take them on. You never know who is going to win.

Dale Blaney They qualify 3 cars at a time by heat race groups. The track was tacky and there was not much passing during the 5 heat races. The top 3 transferred to the feature. Dale Blaney won heat 1 followed by Trey Jacobs and D.J. Netto. Heat 2 was won by Gary Taylor followed by Broc Martin, and Chris Andrews. In heat 3, Brandon Wimmer and Craig Mintz tangled and rolled over, both would return later. Ryan Broughton, who was leading at the time, lost a left side wing panel and had to pit. Brubaker won the heat followed by Dan McCarron and Rob Chaney, who was driving the famous Holbrook 83 car. In heat 4 it was Cap Henry winning, followed by Lee Jacobs and Travis Philo. Cap has a new sponsor and beautiful paint scheme this year. His sponsor is Beer Barrel Bourbon and Cap is really thrilled to have them as a sponsor. In heat 5 the winner was Cale Thomas who passed Brian Lay. Max Stambaugh finished in 3rd.

After this, there were 2 B mains. The top 4 would transfer to the A main. Tyler Gunn, D.J. Foos, Phil Gressman and Craig Mintz were the top 4 finishers. Mintz squeezed by Wimmer on the last corner to gain the last transfer spot. In the second B main, the winner was Byron Reed followed by Shawn Valenti, Jordan Ryan and Jess Stiger.  After the B mains, the track crew worked at knocking off the sizeable cushion that had developed. They flattened it out up to the top of the turns. As the track was being worked on, I took a stroll over by the pit concession stand. I noticed that one of the push trucks parked there was a white Ford Bronco. On the window it said, NO! I am not O.J. ! I thought that was funny.

Stuart Brubaker won Friday's opener at Attica For the feature, Broc Martin and Trey Jacobs started on the front row. When the green dropped, Broc grabbed the lead and pulled away. Trey started to fall back and was passed by Stuart Brubaker. 10 laps were run before the first caution for an infield tire that was hit and moved up into the racing groove. On the restart, Brubaker drove hard into turn 1 and got under Martin and then sped away. Behind Martin, Cap Henry was moving up from his starting position 12, and had passed Jacobs for 3rd. Byron Reed, up from 17th, was challenging Jacobs for fourth but didn’t get it done as Trey held on to finish fourth. Dale Blaney seemed to fall back and then he finished in 10th, where he started. That’s a new team and will take some time to get working but the Coomer 21 is a fast car.

Again, thank you to Attica Raceway Park. It was a great evening and hopefully I will see you next weekend. It will be a big weekend for the All Stars as Friday April 20th is the make- up Spring Nationals show at Attica. Then on Saturday, the All Stars travel to Wayne County Speedway.