Dylan Swinehart Claims First 602 Crate Win at Grandview Speedway & Pit Notes

Grandview Speedway hosted point race #13 and a tripleheader with the 4^th Crate special under pristine skies with bright sunshine and very comfortable weather conditions for July with no humidity.  There were over 80 entries in attendance for the three division program.

The final feature of the night was the 602 Crates which was lead for 4 laps by pole sitter Dylan Hoch until a flat tire took him to the pits and drew the first caution.   Dylan Swinehart inherited the lead on lap 4 and maintained a comfortable lead right to the checkered flag for his first trip to a 602 crate victory lane.

In victory lane Dylan Swinehart stated “We weren’t sure about our tire selection for the feature but now I think we made the right call.  The car owner Steve Bauman wanted to shake the car down tonight for Oswego in the fall and for Logan’s primary car for next year.  Turned out to be a pretty good shakedown.  I like this crate series races as everyone has the same motor and is equal and comes it down to who has the better car and better line which produces good racing all around and is what racing is all about.”

The top ten was rounded out by Jimmy Leiby, Ryan Grim, Kyle Smith, Decker Swinehart, Logan Bauman, Richie Hitzler, Parker Guldin, Tyler Peet and Glenn Strunk.

The heat races were won by Dylan Hoch, Dylan Swinehart and Kyle Smith.

602 Crate Sportsman Feature (25-laps):

 1. Dylan Swinehart, 2. Jimmy Leiby, 3. Ryan Grim, 4. Kyle Smith, 5. Decker Swinehart, 6. Logan Bauman, 7. Richie Hitzler, 8. Parker Guldin, 9. Tyler Peet, 10. Glenn Strunk, 11. Cody Kline, 12. Steve Hicks, 13. Dylan Hoch, 14. Rob Wosyluk, 15. Kris Ney, 16. Brian Blankenbiller, 17. Dakota Kohler, 18. Jason Duppel, 19. B.J. Joly, 20. Joey Vaccaro, 21. Tyler James, 22. Kenny Bock, 23. Cody Manmiller, 24. Ryan Laise.

602 Crate Pit Notes

16 drivers competed in both the open sportsman and crate 602 divisions.

Top five drivers who competed in both the open sportsman and 602 crate divisions:

1. Kyle Smith  – 1^st in sportsman and 4^th in the crates
2. Jimmy Leiby – 9^th in sportsman and 2^nd in crates
3. Dylan Hoch – 4^th in sportsman and 13^th in crates
4. Parker Guldin -14^th in sportsman and 8^th in crates
5. Dakota Kohler – 10^th in sportsman and 17^th in crates

Dylan Swinehart pulled double duty and raced both his modified and the 22 entry of Steve Bauman.  Turned out to be a pretty good call for all involved as Dylan drove away with the 602 Crate feature win in the nightcap.  Dylan Swinehart recalled “We had a real good car and the Bauman’s have been getting it ready for a while now.  In the heat race we started in the front row with my car owner’s son Logan Bauman on the pole.  We had a real good car and I worked a top which didn’t have much grip but I was able to edge Logan out for the heat race win.  In the feature we started 2^nd and hit our marks every lap but got really lucky when the leader had an early right front flat or we probably would not have been in victory lane.  In these crates you are only going to be able to run the top if the track is dead slick.  I ran the bottom in 1 & 2 and because of the shade earlier in the day I could run 3 & 4 on the top since it had more bit from the shade.  I couldn’t run hard the whole race because we had tire worries and we were correct as I burned off a right front and right rear.  We went with the softer compound instead of the hard since we were not expecting any cautions and when the cautions came out I just had to make sure I kept the tires as cool as possible.”

Jimmy Leiby finished 2^nd from a 6^th starting position.  Back at the trailer Jimmy noted “For the crate race we changed the left rear back to the heat race tire and the right rear to a better tire because I knew the track was rubbered up and would eat the tires up.  We started 5^th and finished 2^nd tonight.  I got cam doctored by tech tonight and passed with flying colors.  Our crew was busy tonight as we had 4 cars with the addition our friend Rob Wosyluk in the 5W.”

Jimmy continued “Tonight Glenn Strunk switched to driving Jesse’s black car to help us with the setup.  He has the yellow one dialed in; so we decided to get him in the black car and help us dial that one in too.  Glenn was in a wreck tonight but everyone was in a wreck tonight.  He finished 10^th.”

Ryan Grim finished 3^rd from a 7^th starting position which was good enough to jump Ryan from 3^rd to 1^st in the point standings with 60 point lead over Glenn Strunk and Dylan Hoch.  Postrace Ryan commented “We have had a good car and have been consistent at all four of these crate races at Grandview.”

Kyle Smith finished 4^th from his 3^rd starting position but the winner of the sportsman feature tonight had high hopes and expectations to sweep the doubleheader with his 602 crate entry.  Back at trailer Kyle stated “Car was good and with such a good starting position as 3^rd I was hoping we could do better than 4^th.  Around lap 5 the track started taking rubber and became one lane around the bottom.  We used the harder tire tonight but still destroyed it.  The extra racing wore the track out.”

Decker Swinehart finished 5^th from a 4^th starting position.  Postrace Decker recalled “We had a really fast car but the track was just one lane down around the bottom at around lap 12.  I started getting tight as the track started taking rubber.  On these nights when we run both the open sportsman and crate features it is a lot of racing and not a lot of time to make changes between races.  After Big Diamond last night we changed the front axle tie rod and radius rod.”

The Swineharts and Bauman team share the same shop.  The shop had their best night ever as a group with Dylan winning in the Bauman’s 22 entry; Decker finishing 5^th and Logan finishing 6^th in their 14 entry.  Dylan did not compete in the sportsman division but both Decker and Logan qualified for the open sportsman feature and the 602 crate feature.

Richie Hitzler returned to racing after a month off but returned to crate racing since his modified motor broke a month ago and is not yet repaired.  Richie finished 7^th from a 22^nd starting position.  Postrace Richie recalled “I have a loaner crate motor to use the rest of the season and Grandview was night one.  We started with the wrong gear and had to chase the setup and we were up against the chip all night.  We used the sportsman heat race as a shakedown and missed the last chance race making adjustments.  In the crate heat I was overdriving the car and actually driving it like a modified and looped it and finished 8^th place in the heat race.  In the feature we managed to finish 7^th from a 22^nd place finish with the wrong gear in the car.”

Parker Guldin finished 8^th from a 13^th starting position.  Parker noted “I was worried about the crate heat races because I drew a 50 for the draw.  Luck is certainly not one of my strong suites.  In the heat we finished 5^th from our 9^th and dead last starting position which we were more than pleased with.  That got us a 13^th starting position in the feature and we finished 8^th which is our best crate finish of the season.  The crew busted their butts all night long and I’m thankful for their continuing efforts which allowed us to have our best doubleheader night ever with a 14^th in sportsman and an 8^th in 602 crates and to also maintain our 10^th position in the open sportsman points at Grandview.”

Glenn Strunk finished 10^th from an 18^th starting position in Jesse Leiby’s black # 9.  Glenn was involved in the lap 1 melee that involved ten cars but was able to continue without pitting and salvage a 10^th place finish with his years of experience.  Glenn raced the first three events of the Grandview 602 crate series in Jimmy Leiby’s yellow 9L entry but now has switched to the black 9 to evaluate the setup in the car and see if his years of experience can find as adjustments or changes that will help dial the car in.  Glenn is currently second in points and only 45 points behind Ryan Grim in the 602 crate point standings.

Dylan Hoch was on what looked like a run to victory lane from his heads up pole starting position which he quickly turned into a commanding lead but on lap 5 disaster struck with a flat tire which sent the 35 entry to the pits and the back of the field for a 13^th place finish.

Dakota Kohler races every week in the open sportsman division with his 604 crate but there is something about the doubleheader races that brings out his best efforts and best luck of the season.  All four of his best open sportsman outings have come on doubleheader dates – 5^th, 6^th, 5^th and 10^th this week.  Couple that with 602 crate results on doubleheader dates of 5^th, 10^th, 23^rd and 17^th and he has all his best Grandview finishes of the season at doubleheader races.  Back at the trailer Dakota recalled “the 604 was good in the heat and we just got stuck in traffic and didn’t want to wreck anything knowing we were going to be rushed if we had to fix anything with the two heat races and two features on the card tonight.  We finished 7^th in the heat and that sent us to the consolation which we won and got into the open sportsman feature.  I started 19^th in the feature and we finished 10^th but had things we can work on.  This is the first time in a very long time that we can work on making the car better during the week instead of fixing damage all week long.”

Dakota continued “In the crate heat race we started 3^rd with our 602 crate and finished 3rd.  The track was just about gone when we went out for the heat but the car was still good.  We started 9^th in the feature with the heads up start that Grandview uses for the 602 crate features.  We were after the modified feature; so I was expecting the track to be pretty used up so we went with hard tires.  On one of the cautions; when I was trying to get the tires up to temperature I heard a metallic bang coming from the right side so I was thinking great the shock mount just broke but then the car didn’t flop over on the right rear so I continued and everything seemed fine.  On the next yellow; the noise was still there but louder and I rode it out another 4 laps until I started to hear it under green and then I pulled in because I didn’t know exactly what it was and didn’t what something to break on us in front of the field.  When we put the car on the stands in the pits; we found that putting the car on the short rods with the coils had the car so hiked up that the driveshaft was hitting the torque arms and making the banging noise.  I still think we definitely had a top 5 car in the crate 602 feature.”

The next race at Grandview Speedway is a Modified & Sportsman doubleheader on Saturday August 7^th with racing starting at 7:30 PM.