Grandview Modified Pit Notes 7/09/22 – Jared Umbenhauer Claims First Grandview Win as a Team Owner Driver

Jared Umbenhauer moved from his 10^th starting position to take the lead on lap 23 from Dylan Swinehart and hold off a hard charging Brett Kressley to take his first Grandview win of the 2022 season.

Steve Swinehart took the early lead until the 2^nd & final caution flew for an 8 car tangle in turn 3.  On the subsequent lap 13 restart,  Dylan Swinehart moved into the lead with Jared Umbenhauer following into second place.  On lap 23 Umbenhauer took over the lead as Brett Kressley moved into second place.  Kressley was cutting the lead by .3 seconds per lap in the final few laps, but Umbenhauer held a 1.3 margin of victory at the checkered flag as Kressley just ran out of time and laps.

Heat winners for the 36 car modified field were Jared Umbenhauer, Bobby Gunther Walsh, Dylan Swinehart and Doug Manmiller.  Brad Brightbill & Mike Lisowski won the last chance consolations.

MODIFIED 20 LAP FEATURE FINISH (30 laps):

1.JARED UMBENHAUER, 2. Brett Kressley, 3. Jeff Strunk, 4. Doug Manmiller, 5. Craig Von Dohren, 6. Duane Howard, 7. Steve Swinehart, 8. Bobby Gunther-Walsh, 9. Tim Buckwalter, 10. Brad Grim, 11. Kevin Graver Jr., 12. Michael Storms, 13. Brad Arnold, 14. Jesse Leiby, 15. Cory Merkel, 16 Darrin Schuler, 17. Dylan Swinehart, 18. Mike Lisowski, 19. Mark Kratz, 20. Kevin Hirthler, 21 Brad Brightbill, 22. Ryan Grim, 23. Justin Grim, 24. John Willman, 25. Joe Funk, 26. Nate Brinker, 27. Ray Swinehart, 28. Bobby Trapper Jr.

DID NOT QUALIFY:

Brett Gilmore, Ryan Beltz, Ron Haring Jr., Kyle Lilick, Dan Waisempacher, Craig Whitmoyer, Eric Biehn, Chris Gambler

Grandview Modified Pit Notes 6/25/22

Jared Umbenhauer posted his first win of the season from his 10^th starting position.  Jared picked up his first win as a new car owner in 2022 after a career best 2021 season running 3^rd in the Grandview season points behind only Craig Von Dohren and Brett Kressley.

In victory lane Jared stated “We have tried everything this year and tonight we tried something a little different which finally got our first handicapped starting position of the season.  I knew we had something tonight.  This one is for my dad  who hasn’t been at the races for the past two weeks.  This is the first time I have won as a car owner and tonight we proved that this team can be successful.  It’s been a struggle this year with 3 DNF’s which we haven’t had any for a couple of years.  I can’t thank my guys and sponsors for sticking with me this season because without them I would be sitting in the stands watching.  We are out of the points chase so now we are going for wins the rest of the season.”

Back at the trailer Jared noted “Last race we changed a few things with our shocks, but got knocked out early in the feature and never got a chance to see what impact the changes had on the car.  This week we added a few adjustments and ended up with our best setup of the season.   The car was good on both the top and bottom and I just had to decide which lane to run.”  

Jared continued “We have had our struggles this season and I’ve been in three different cars this season at Grandview points events.  I drove my dad’s #5 one week when my motor was out getting repaired and then drove the Breitenstein 14 the following week since we hurt the motor in my dad’s # 5.  We are hoping all our early season motor struggles are now behind us and this win is just the first of many for us this season.”

Brett Kressley made his move forward early and finished a strong 2^nd from his 16^th starting position in the two caution feature.  Brett continues to lead the Grandview points standings with eight top five finishes and one 6^th place finish in 9 starts this season.

Brett commented “The top was definitely the place to be most of the night.  The track maintenance after the sportsman feature made a difference and it gave a few laps where you could maneuver around a little bit more.  We were fortunate the set up was pretty close for the track conditions and it seemed that towards the end of the race the lines were starting to get pretty even on top and bottom.  I definitely was using both top and bottom lines to make passes as I moved to the front.”

Jeff Strunk finished 3^rd from a 12^th starting position in the 30 lap feature.  Except for the three races were he has been involved in tangles; Jeff has finished top five in the 6 other points races which includes 3 second place finishes. 

Back at the trailer Jeff noted “We had a tough competitive heat race with CVD and Umbenhauer and made the invert.  Track was very different this week.  The clay that was laid down in the offseason is different and has thrown us some curve balls reading the track during the night this season.  The track was very fast all night, but we could still pass.  With the sportsman running first, I thought the track would get wider and slow down, but it did not.  Our Zubi 88Z has been strong all season long while we search each week for a little more speed to get us up with the 19K and 30.  At this point in the season, I think we are getting closer to the 19K and 30 every week.  The red flag hurt our chance at a win this week.  We got pinned on the bottom on the restart, but I think we had a winning car if things would have played out a little different.  Jared drove a great race through traffic and was the first to get to the front.”

Doug Manmiller finished 4^th from his 14^th starting position and continued his string of top five finishes.  Doug’s average finish this season has been 4th in nine races and his only finish out of the top five has been one 7^th.   

Doug reflected “Car was very good in heat and the track was fast on the top, and I was able to move around.  In the feature I felt really good prior to the red flag.   After the red flag the car didn’t feel the same.  At the end of last season, we have found the set up that seemed to work for me and it has continued to work for us this season.”

Craig Von Dohren finished 5^th with a late charge from his 16^th starting position.  Craig got stuck with an inside starting position but later found space to make a late surge forward for a 5^th place finish.  Craig is currently 80 points behind current points leader Brett Kressley.

Duane Howard finished 6^th from his 13^th starting position and currently sites 5^th in the Grandview season point standings. 

Duane reflected “ We were a little off tonight and I thought we would be better tonight.  This week we change a lot, and I anticipated a fast car, but it didn’t work out that way tonight.  You had to be up top tonight on the lip.  I was still trying to scoot around the bottom and ended up losing a spot late in the race.  We took a big swing at our setup and made some major changes that didn’t feel any better.  At this point I don’t know what we need to do to get better and closer to Kressley and Von Dohren.  We will keep making adjustments with the hopes of finding more speed.”

After two weeks of DNQ’s Steve Swinehart rebounded with a 7^th place finish from a 4^th starting position for his second top ten finish of the season.

Steve reflected “We are learning a new suspension and it has resulted in two DNQ’s in the past two weeks.  We are hoping we have all that DNQ business behind us now since we have now have our new baseline setup.  In my heat race I was just trying to keep pace with by nephew Dylan and was running the high cushion on the top.  I like the technique to run the bottom, but you have to go where the car and or track is faster which lately seems to be more upstairs.” 

Steve continued “In the feature we fired off nicely with zero changes from the heat race and it was nice to be out in front until the two yellow hurt our chances.  Car was already starting to free up too much before yellow.  The yellow bunched the field up and secluded me to parts of the track not in my favor.  Pretty sure all the top dawgs in front of us at the end had hard RRs on. We were forced to stick with a soft tire, our hard tire took too much stagger out for the beginning on a regroomed watered track.”

Bobby Gunther Walsh finished 8^th from a 3^rd starting position.  Bobby reflected “It may have only been a heat race, but it was a moral victory for our team to be able to get the win and hold off the likes of Brett Kressley and Duane Howard for three restarts.  In the feature we were able to pass some cars and got our 2^nd top ten of the season.  The car is working and does what you want it to do, and that is thanks to my crew chief Jeff Paulson, Ron Seltmann (shocks), and our engine builder Wayne Hyrowich.  Our new carb has helped with restarts, and all this is helping with my driving confidence, focus and intent in the car.   Grandview is a tough place to race with a lot of great drivers and can be humbling very quickly but it also is a lot of fun to compete at this very high level with some of the best in the business each week while providing great racing entertainment for our fans.”

 Timmy Buckwalter finished 9^th from his 24^th starting position overcoming early carburetor issues while switching from coils to bars.

Back at the trailer Timmy reflected “We tried bars on the car tonight for the first time in a year.  We had some carburetor problems in the heat but got it figured out for the feature and had a good run.  This was kind of like starting over.  I don’t know, really not sure if bars were any better or any worse for us but it was a little more comfortable for me to drive.  The car did feel good and we just got to keep digging.  We made this switch over the rainout week, and we will try it again next week to see if we like it.”

Brad Grim finished 10^th from a 6^th starting for his second top ten finish of the season.  Brad noted “We were just tight all night long.  We were trying some different things and it wasn’t really good, but we salvaged a top ten, and we are looking for much better results.”

Michael Storm finished 12^th from a 26^th starting position and has progressed to a better finish each of his three weeks of racing this season.  Next week he enters the handicap and will be looking for his first top ten in the Norm Hansell 357.

Michael commented “The heats have been tough and I’m still struggling getting use to being in the back.  In the consolation we seemed to figure some things out with the car. In the feature I felt decent and I’m becoming comfortable in the car.”

The first big wreck of the season ended the night for 8 cars.   The yuke tire sent a car up the track and a pile-in ensued which ended the night for Joe Funk, John Willman, Justin Grim, Ryan Grim, Brad Brightbill and Nate Brinker.  The race resumed after about a 15 minute red flag.

The season is half over with 9 races in the books and 9 to go.  At the midway point, the top ten has the usual suspects but also has some new faces this year.  Brett Kressley and Craig Von Dohren are battling it out weekly just like last year.  Doug Manmiller has moved forward this season into 3^rd in the point standings with consistent top 5 finishes in all but one (a 7^th) of the 9 races.   Howard, Strunk and Umbenhauer continued to battle for a top 5 position.

New to the current Grandview top ten are Timmy Buckwalter, Cory Merkle, Mike Lisowski and Jesse Leiby.

Timmy Buckwalter has remained a solid 4^th all season long which was not unexpected when he announced he would be racing weekly at Grandview.  The top 5 just got a bit tougher with the addition of Buckwalter to an already historical stacked top 5.

Cory Merkel is currently 8^th in points and coming off his 2021 modified rookie season.  Cory has been a consistent qualifier and averaging a 15^th place finish.  There are only 11 cars that have qualified for all 9 points races and Cory is among them.  Cory almost missed the field this week but went from last to 4^th on the last lap of his consolation race to secure the final position in his consolation race.  In the feature he finished 15^th from his 27^th starting position which continued his streak of qualifying for all 9 of the Grandview points races so far this season.

Cory reflected “We were running good in the heat until we got a flat RR that ended our heat early. In the consolation we started 8th and I knew I had a big challenge on my hands to make the field. Worked up to 5th and spun with one to go. On the restart i decided to try the top and see what was up there and I got lucky and it stuck. I was able to grab the last spot and go from 6th to 4th on the final lap.”

Jesse Leiby finished 14^th from his 25^th starting position rebounding from a DNQ last week.  Jesse stated “Heat was tough. Track was top dominant all night.  I spun out once in the heat do to driver error and once from getting hit with mud so hard it folded the panel next to me.

We had a carburetor issue which we got fixed for the consolation and that got the car rolling in the right direction.  In feature we had the wrong gear for the track conditions and just took what we could and finished 14^th.”

Dylan Swinehart led for 10 laps and he was running in 3rd on lap 28 when the engine went up in smoke taking him out of the race with only 2 laps to go. Last week he was also was running up front when a spin and tangle retired him for the night. Dylan has had several engine failures this season, but the 81 team always seems to find a way to return by next week if at all possible.

The T.P. Trailer NASCAR Modifieds and T.P. Truck Equipment NASCAR Sportsman will be joined by the United Racing Club Sprint Cars in a three division program next Saturday, July 16 starting at 7:30 pm. The program will include qualifying events for all three classes leading to the 30-lap T.P. Trailer Modified feature, the 25-lap T.P. Truck Equipment Sportsman main, and the 25-lap URC Sprint car feature race.

Pit gates will open at 4 pm. with grandstand gates opening at 5:30 pm. warm-ups will be starting at 6:15 pm. Adult grandstand admission is $25, while children ages 6-11 are $10, and children ages 5 and under are admitted free of charge.