Grandview Sportsman Pit Notes 8/31/24 – Brett Gilmore Grabs Second Career Win Caution Filled Sportsman Feature

Brett Gilmore survived the chaos of 7 cautions from his 20^th starting position and found the top to pass Mark Mohr and Mickey Schneck to take his second career win at Grandview Speedway in the 32-minute feature.

BJ Joly was the early leader with Mark Mohr holding second place until a spinning car collected 3^rd place through 9^th sending most of the top ten to the pits and others to the back of the field on the 5^th caution of the night.  On the restart Mark Mohr moved into the lead but then caution flew again on lap 13 for a violent roll down the front stretch by Addison Meitzler destroying his car. Addison was able to walk away from the incident.  The 7^th and final caution came out on lap 15 with Mark Mohr continuing to lead with Mikey Schneck and Brett Gilmore moving into 2nd & 3^rd.  Morh and Schneck battled on the bottom while Gilmore went to the top and passed Schneck on lap 19 to move into 2^nd.  Gilmore continue to run the outside moving into the lead on lap 22 and then pulling away to take the checkered flag uncontested for his first Grandview win since 2015.

Logan Watt had what looked like a steering failure in his heat race as he made heavy wall contact in turn 3.  Logan was taken to the hospital for observation and was later released.

Heat races for the 39-car sportsman field were won by Steve Young, B J Joly, Steven Smith III and Shannon Slaughter.

Consolation races were won by Stephen Laubach and Mikey Schneck.

T.P. TRUCK EQUIPMENT NASCAR SPORTSMAN FEATURE FINISH (25 laps): 1. BRETT GILMORE (20), 2. Mark Mohr (2), 3. Mike Schneck Jr. (22), 4. Jesse Hirthler (23), 5. Joey Vaccaro (28), 6. Logan Bauman (27), 7. Adrianna Delliponti (16), 8. Gavyn Krupp (25), 9. Ryan Graver (26), 10. Dylan Swinehart (15), 11. Nathan Mohr (13), 12. Lawson Szerencits (3), 13. Brayden Shelton (6), 14. Stephen Smith III (2), 15. Jesse Leiby (24), 16. Parker Guldin (18), 17. Addison Meitzler (17), 18. BJ Joly III (1), 19. Jesse Landis (14), 20. Nate Horn (9), 21. Teague Miller (12), 22. Shannon Slaughter (7), 23. Colton Perry (4), 24. Steve Young (8), 25. Dakota Kohler (11), 26. TJ Mayberry (22), 27. Zach Steffey (27), 28. Stephen Laubach (20)

DID NOT QUALIFY: Jared LaBagh, Brett Grim, Tom Miller Jr., Randy Graber, Tyler James, Logan Watt, Chase Gular, Dennis Graber, Bastian Miller, Kenny Bock, Kyle Hartzell

HARD CHARGER: Joey Vaccaro +23

8/31/24 Race # 16 – SPORTSMAN PIT NOTES

A chaotic 32-minute feature had seven cautions in the first 14 laps and then ran green for the final 16 laps.  Most of the cars starting up front were taken out or relegated to the back of the field by a lap 10 spin in front of the field that collected much of the running top ten.   Three laps later, the red flag came out again on lap 13 for a violent roll down the front by Addison Meitzler who was uninjured in the incident. This was surely a night when running in the back provided some shelter and worked out for the better in the end.  The top 10 included winner (1) Gilmore from 20^th, (3) Schneck from 22^nd, (4) Jesse Hirthler from 23rd, (5) Vaccaro from 28^th, (6) Baumann from 27^th and provisional, (8) Gavyn Krupp from 25^th and (9) Ryan Graver from 26^th and also provisional.

Brett Gilmore took the win from his 20^th starting position to post his first win of the season at Grandview and his second career sportsman win since 2015.

Brett reflected “Car felt super smooth all night. Warmups were good and turned quick time but felt like it was going to be a little to free.  Dropped stagger for the heat.  Seemed to work and was in a handicapped position running the middle/top. On the restart I got turned and had to go back to 6th. Still managed to pull off a qualifying position on the last turn. Started deep in the feature again at 20th.”

“I said to my sponsor who was there “hey if I manage to pull this off make sure you come to victory lane” and we both laughed cause coming from 20th is a tall order around here.  Ran the bottom for a little seeing if I could pick some people off, but quickly saw the top was going to be fast.  Made it 3 wide a couple times through the middle just trying to make it work.  Avoided the first couple of small cautions and tried to keep my nose clean.  The big wreck in turn 4 gave me a ton of spots. I shot the gap and just hoped I would make it through unscathed. I must’ve missed the two cars by inches on either side.

Restarted 5th and then and there I thought I had a chance.  Addison got around me, and I watched the wreck unfold right in front of me. I’m glad he’s alright because that was a huge hit.  After that whole mess they sent Dylan to the rear, and I wasn’t really sure why.  I didn’t think he got into BJ Joyl, but nonetheless I restarted 3rd, and I tried the bottom for a couple laps and saw that Mike and Mark were not going to come off the bottom. So, I decided I’d run the top. Give it the old Charley Gilmore special and sail it in. Got around Mike and he gave me plenty of room.  Got behind Mark and just got on his bumper a couple times to let him know I was there. Got a good run off of 2 on Mark and he gave me the top.  I just kept hitting my marks and beating up the top.  Coming down the back stretch I knew I had it.

I think surviving last night was all about patience and luck. I just avoided the mayhem and tried to stay out of the mess.  It feels so good to be back in victory lane after 9 years. Tire wear was phenomenal, whatever Brad has been doing is working because it has been a very fast track.

Unfortunately, with the rules they came out with our pan hard bar is not legal for 2025, but I’m not too worried about it because I’ll figure something out.  It’s not a left side and it’s what my dad developed in 2021, and we won the points with it.  Cannot thank my dad and my sponsors enough for supporting me. And a big thanks to the fans for coming out every week.

Mark led for ten laps until Brett Gilmore found the top and went around Mark for the lead on lap 21. Mark finished 2^nd which was his best finish of the season.    

Mark stated “I thought the heat race went well as we ran third the entire heat and I felt pretty good heading into the feature.  We made some adjustments after the heat that the car liked in the feature, and we took the lead on a restart from the outside and I thought rolling the bottom the rest of the way was the way to go.  When I saw Brett roll the outside on me with 3/4 to go, I was shocked as I thought there was nothing up there.  After all the issues we have had these past few weeks and losing an engine running 2nd tonight was a confidence booster for us and we finally got the monkey off our back this season.

Honestly after Big Diamond Friday night we thought we might need the backup car.  We went 22nd to 13th in 3 laps and got caught up in someone else’s wreck and wiped out the entire front end and had to rebuild early Saturday morning and afternoon to get ready in time to get car washed and roll it right in trailer.

“The new motor is running well, and we have made some changes that have been a difference for us this week and it showed Saturday night.  The car has been there all year, and we have been close but struggled with ongoing engine and carb issues which hopefully are now behind us.”

Mikey Schneck finished 3^rd from his 22^nd starting position and continues to post consistent top five finishes in the past three weeks with a 4^th, 4^th and 3^rd. Mikey is currently 3^rd in the point standings only 116 points behind leader Dylan Swinehart with two races remaining in the season.

Mikey noted “The 3rd heat was weird again and was slick off in turn 3-4. The track was just heavy and hammer down, so it seemed like everyone was same speed and there was nowhere to make passes.  Missed qualifying by one spot and went to the consolation once again.  Once I was able to get moving in the consolation, I just kept my line smooth and was able to win it.”

“The feature was going well, and I was making passes all over the track. I think with them not watering for our feature it threw a curve to some people.  I was up to about 10th maybe when the huge pile up happened.  I just saw a hole open and went for it.  They put us single file on the restart and the cone way up to the wall and the leader went there and stopped so I hit the back of car in front of me and it put my front end off.  I still felt like I was faster on the bottom than the leader and was about to get the pass then I saw Brett on the top.  I tried the top early, but I went backwards.  Just think my tire went away and I had nothing left for them on the last 3 laps.”

Jesse Hirthler finished 4^th from his 23^rd starting position.

Jesse stated “The heats are tough now that they are after the sun goes down, so the track doesn’t blow off at much.  I’ve been struggling making the invert for the last of couple weeks. Some weeks not even making it in the consolation. That’s what happened last week, didn’t qualify and had to use one of my provisionals.  Started 27th and my car was good from the drop of the green. We were able to finish 7th after making a last lap mistake which cost us 5th or 6th.”

“This week we did a little better and made it through the consolation and I just knew it was time to do what I did last week.  I started 24th so was a little further up then last week and again moving up spots right on the start. I was able to work all the way up to 8th.  I saw the accident starting on the back stretch with a car spinning down the track and I thought the top of the track would be clear but for some reason the whole track was blocked, and I had to stop with nowhere to go. From there I didn’t get phased and got back to work restarting in the back at 17th with about 12 laps to go.  I was able to miss a wreck and that put us in a good position to move forward. I think on the last single file restart I started 7th and worked my way up to 4th while still going to the front. Overall, I’m happy with the past 2 weeks and hope we can figure something out with these heat races in the last couple weeks of the season so we can get a decent starting spot in the feature.”

Joey Vaccaro finished 5^th from his 28^th starting position.   Joey was scheduled to start 11^th but was late coming out and sent to the back for the start of the feature.  It turned out to be some good racing luck, as on a lap 10 a spinning car virtually collected the entire top ten and as fate would have it Joey moved up from 18^th to 11^th after the incident.

Joey reflected “It was definitely a wild night. We started 3rd in our heat and got 4th making the handicap which was a good start to our night.

“We were supposed to start 11^th, but I had to go pit side right before the race started so that sent me to the back of the field and 28^th starting position.  On the first yellow I ended up on the wall in turn 4 but after that incident we were able to start moving forward and get through all the wrecks to come.  It was nice to finally get to run a full show and it seems like we’ve been battling different issues for so long.  We’re still battling the setup on the car but tonight was a step in the right direction.  Now hopefully we can finish the rest of the year strong.”

Logan Bauman finished 6^th from his 27^th provisional starting position.  Logan has hit his stride in the last three races with a 6^th, 10^th and another 6^th today.  Logan was able to put a provisional to good use and go forward 21 positions.

Logan then went home and loaded up the modified and went to the Coal Cracker at Big Diamond on Sunday where he was able to post a 9^th place finish in the 72 lap $15,000 to win race and post his career best modified finish.  

Adrianna Delliponti finished 7^th from her 16^th starting position.

Adrianna reflected “We started the night off in heat race 1 without running the track in so the first 5 laps were effectively track run-in and I used 3 tear-offs in those 5 laps.  Regardless our car was no good again.  Logan’s unfortunate steering failure incident gave me an opening to make the feature, and I felt really bad for Logan and hope he is doing well.  When the heat resumed, I was able to squeeze into the feature in the last qualifying spot.”

“In the feature the car was great for ten laps and then it just sucked, and I was just hanging on for dear life for the rest of the race.  I had three close calls and just missed Addison as he came down the track after his flip.  We got 7^th tonight and it was nothing more than pure luck and getting positions from attrition.  It’s hard to believe after a night like this but we are one piece and have nothing to fix on the car this week. That’s good because we still have a setup to chase again this week which has been missing for a few months now.”

Gavyn Krupp finished 8^th from 25^th starting position.

Gavyn noted “In hot laps the car felt good and was nice and smooth.  The heat race was really stacked with a lot of good drivers.  I started 5th and knew I had some work cut out for me. On the start I stayed in 5^th but then fell back to 7th or 8th and I ran there until a caution came out for a spin by Brett Gilmore which I was able to get around.  I started 5th again and finished 6th place finish in my heat race.”

“We had to run a consolation, and we didn’t change anything to the setup.  We just ran how it was and we finished 3rd and made the show.”

“Come feature time we change some stuff to make the car tighter in the feature. I started 25th in the feature and I knew to be patient and keep a look out for what was going on in front of me. I was calm and smooth me and just chugging along with Logan Bauman and made it up to an 8^th place finish.”

Ryan Graver finished 9^th from his 26^th starting position.  After what has been a disappointing and bad luck filled season to date, Ryan has begun to show some solid consistency with a 9^th, 11^th & 12^th in his last three races.

Ryan noted “In the heat race we felt pretty good and felt like we had a car that could qualify but unfortunately the car shut off and wouldn’t start back up.  In the consolation we just didn’t have the speed to pass cars and missed out on qualifying.”

“For the feature time we used a provisional and just did our best to survive the mayhem.  We passed a couple cars, but it was mostly all about just about surviving the wrecks for us.”

Dylan Swinehart finished 10^th from his 15^th starting position.  Dylan was able to avoid all the on-track wrecks, but a lap 13 penalty sent him from to the back of the field. 

Dylan’s 10^th place finish was still enough to move him into first place in the season points standings for the first time this year with a 25-point lead over 2^nd place Logan Watt.

Dylan stated “We had a really good chance to win another feature, but it was taken away from us. That’s all I have to say about that.”

Next up on Saturday, August 31 is a two-division program of modified and sportsman racing along with the Outlaw Racing Vintage Series.  Modified and Sportsman will have qualifying races leading up to the 25-lap Sportsman and 30-lap Modified main events.  Pit gates open at 4:00 and Spectator gates at 5:00 with hot laps at 6:00 and racing at 7:30.