Grandview Modified Pit Notes 9/14/24 – Craig Von Dohren Wins Finale & Jeff Strunk Wins 2024 Modified Points Championship

Craig Von Dohren drove from his 24^th starting position to take his first win of the season over 2^nd place Jeff Strunk and Duane Howard in 3^rd place.

Polesitter Mike Laise took the early lead until the first restart on lap 4 when Kevin Graver charged to the front and put some space on the field.  A series of cautions brought Graver back to the field and the likes of CVD, Jeff Strunk and Mike Gular.  On 5th and final restart on lap 23, Kevin Graver switched to the bottom for the restart. Craig Von Dohren powered off the top to the lead and drove into victory lane for his first win of 2024 at the season final points race.  

A lap 4 incident ended the night early for both Frank Yankowski, Eddie Strada and Brett Kressley.  

Heat races for the 39-car modified field were won by Chris Esposito, Kevin Graver Jr, Tim Buckwalter and Bryant Rhoades.

The consolation races were won by Eddie Strada and Jared Umbenhauer.

Jeff Strunk’s 2^nd place finish locked up his 11^th Grandview Points Championship and his first one without a win during the season.

T.P. TRAILER NASCAR MODIFIED FEATURE FINISH (30 laps): 1. CRAIG VON DOHREN (24), 2. Jeff Strunk (16), 3. Duane Howard (16), 4. Mike Gular (23), 5. Kevin Graver Jr (4)., 6. Tim Buckwalter (12), 7. Doug Manmiller (13), 8. Cody Manmiller (8), 9. Jared Umbenhauer (22), 10. Craig Whitmoyer (9), 11. Jon Kellner (10), 12. Brandon Edgar (17), 13. Kyle Smith (20), 14. Bobby Trapper Jr. (7), 15. Ryan Grim (18), 16. Ryan Watt (11), 17. Nate Brinker (28), 18. Justin Grim (19), 19. Lex Shive (27), 20. Darrin Schuler (26), 21. Chris Esposito (3), 22. Eric Biehn (5), 23. Mike Laise (1), 24. Ron Haring Jr. (25), 25. Louden Reimert (29p), 26. Bryan Rhoads (2), 27. Frank Yankowski (6), 28. Brett Kressley (14), 29. Eddie Strada (21)

DID NOT QUALIFY: John Willman, Joe Funk, Eric Kormann, Kevin Hirthler, Glenn Owens, Mike Lisowski, Carroll Hine III, Ryan Beltz, Gary Wagner, Jimmy Leiby

HARD CHARGER: Craig Von Dohren +23

MODIFIED 2024 TRACK CHAMPION: Jeff Strunk (11^th career title)

MODIFIED PIT NOTES – 9/14/24 Season Finale and Points Championship Night # 17

Craig Von Dohren finished 1^st from his 24^th starting position to take his first win of the season on the last regular season points race.   In his heat race, Craig was in an early tangle which sent him to the pits early with a broken steering box and a DNF finish.  Craig returned to the track in the consolation and ripped from a deep 7^th starting position and grabbed the 2^nd transfer position in the consolation.

Craig found himself starting an unfamiliar 24^th starting position, but by lap 10 he was already in the top ten and continued to move forward until taking the lead on the lap 24 restart for his first win of the season.

In victory lane Craig noted “The top six drivers in points haven’t won a race this year until my win in the final race of the season and it just doesn’t make any sense.  We didn’t switch to coil springs quick enough, and it took us 4 months to figure out what other guys have learned two years ago but we are there now.  Congratulations to Jeff for winning these points.  He is a good racer and glad he is the one who won this year.”

Jeff Strunk finished 2^nd from his 16^th starting position and wrapped up the 2024 Grandview Modified points championship.  Jeff did not get a win a points race this season, but he did consistently post top five finishes with 8 and top ten finishes also with 8 with only one 12^th place finish.

Jeff reflected “It was a great way to end the points season. A win would have been nice, but I was trying to be a little conservative, play it safe and then the next thing I know there goes Craig flying by into the lead.  It was a great race between Craig, Mike and me in the final laps.”

“I think I won a championship here at Grandview one other time without a win during the season and that was in the Gagliardo 41. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, the competition is so tough here at Grandview every week.  Alot of talent to pass every week with the handicapping.  I’m very thankful for Norm putting me in the car and all the great people that help and support us. It’s so hard to win races and harder to win championship at Grandview, so to come out on top is a true testament to the dedication and sacrifices of our crew and their families throughout the season to make that happen. I can’t thank them all enough for their support.”

“It’s been 10 years since I won a championship here, so it makes this one very special and it already ranks right up there at the top of my resume.  It was a tough year personally losing my brother Glenn, my best friend Dale Planck, and my first championship since Bruce Rogers passed.  I would like to dedicate this championship to all three who I miss every day.”

“The prestige, money and everything that Grandview does for their champion is awesome and I can’t thank the Rogers family enough for all of that. They truly have the most passionate fans on earth and I’m so grateful to them every week.  Looking forward to the 76er which is always my favorite race of the year.  Thank you to our sponsors, crew, and everyone that made this happen. I’m so proud to be part of this championship team.  It’s an honor to be the champion at the greatest race place on earth and I’ll never leave racing at this place.”

Duane Howard finished 3^rd from his 15^th starting position.  A key moment for Duane was on lap 13 when he rode one wheel up onto the turn 1 & 2 boilerplate which drew a caution flag, but he never stopped and was able to return to his running position prior to the incident.  From there Duane was able to continue moving forward to a 3^rd place finished. 

Duane commented “The goal was to keep the car straight and not banged up like the four previous weeks.  We just wanted to keep the wheels under the car and not bend anything up but then in the feature we rode the boiler plate which wasn’t in the plan. I didn’t think anything was bent so we kept the car going and luckily never came to stop so we got our position back.  I was just going to blend in and ride it out, but then you know when we got things going and we were going to take a shot at a win and ended up 3^rd.  It’s a nice springboard for us to 76er next week.”

Mike Gular finished 4^th from his 23^rd starting position.  Mike had a tangle on the first lap of his heat race but still managed to finish 6^th from 9^th starting position and then qualified from his consolation.

Mike noted “The top was dirty with marbles and the pack stretched out so just not enough time to get forward in the heat.  We qualified from the consolation.  In the feature I started next to Craig and just followed him to the front.  I passed Craig and got into 2^nd but was just a little free and he got back by me for the win.  Not a bad night but we didn’t win a points race this year after winning four last year in a partial season here.  We’ll figure out what we are missing for the 76er.”

Kevin Graver finished 5^th from his 4^th starting position and led until the 5^th and final restart on lap 24.  Kevin posted his best finish of the season.

Kevin stated “Car is pretty much the same as it’s been all year.  We just finally had a chance to show what we got without any gremlins creeping up for the essential the first time this season.  We had a good car in the heat race.  We probably didn’t adjust enough for the feature, but the car was still very good.  I might have made the wrong lane choice on that last restart, but I can’t say for sure.  Restarting with these guys that run here mat Grandview surrounding you is tough for sure.  I believe if we had a few less cautions than five, I could have won the race and still held on lap 24 and the final restart.  Tires held up good, and I’d like to say I probably chose the wrong lane on the last restart.  I thought I’d change it up and was hoping that I could slide up in front of Craig off of 4 and run my line like I had been all night.  I feel that had I been able to keep the lead into turn one we still had a shot to win.  All in all, a great night for us to lead into the 76er with a top five which is under much better conditions than last year when our car had a broken motor for the 76er.”

Timmy Buckwalter finished 6^th from his 12^th starting position.  Timmy got as far forward as 3^rd but then faded a bit and finished 6^th.

Timmy reflected “We had a good car and was much better in the heat tonight.  The good car translated right into the feature and for the first 15 laps went forward right to 3^rd.   I misjudged the pass for 2^nd and got into the wall a bit which bent the rear.  The car wasn’t the same after that.  I can’t let these good runs get away and need to clean up the mistakes and finish the good runs clean when we get them.”

“This car is our new car that did flip at Big Diamond, and we have been and still are really close on having the whole program dialed in with this car.  When our luck does come, we have been stepping on it, after putting ourselves right in the position where we wanted to be.”  

Doug Manmiller finished 7^th from 13^th starting position.

Doug reflected “We had a good run for the heat race but just didn’t make enough changes for the feature.  We were decent in the feature but needed to be better.  I did get to race with Cody over the line for the first time which was exciting.”

Cody Manmiller finished “8^th from his 8^th starting position.  Cody stated “Car was good last night. There were certain times throughout the feature where I got caught in the wrong lane at the wrong time and it cost me a few spots.  I’m happy with my night and a top ten.  I passed cars, and it was the best cars at Grandview that passed me, so I’ll take it.”

Jared Umbenhauer finished 9^th from his 22^nd starting position after contact and stopping on the track early on in his heat race.

Jared noted “We were in the last heat and just couldn’t get through on the top in the heat so had to go to the consolation and qualified from there.  Car didn’t turn well in traffic which overheated the tires, and I was just hanging on for a 9^th place finish in the feature.”

Craig Whitmoyer finished 10^th from his 9^th starting position.  After a wild heat race which saw Craig fall to the back of the field with a push and then survive some contact to finish 4^th and transferring to the feature in the handicap.

Craig reflected “In the heat race the car pushed at the start but we were able to ride it out and make the handicap for the feature which always helps at Grandview.”

“In the feature we made changes to the car which were good but got held up behind some cars for a while and once we cleared them, we were able to work back forward to 10^th.  We’re going to make some more changes and try to improve for next week.”

Mike Laise has found some late season speed improvements in the last few weeks and qualified for the past two features.  Mike was able to stay in the top three for 20 laps and through several cautions until the transmission yoke broke ending his night. 

Mike stated “We have made great progress with our speed and handling in the past three weeks and still have some fine tuning to do on the car and the driver as well.  We are getting close and looking forward to the 76er.”

On Friday, pit gates open at 3 pm, with grandstand gates opening at 5:30 pm, drivers meeting at 5:30 pm, with the pill draw following the drivers meeting. Warmups are at 6:15 pm, and racing at 7:30 pm. Pit admission on Friday is $40, and no license is required. There is no rain date for the Friday event.

Racers are reminded that the Freedom 38 is open to regular Sportsman division drivers only (track or series), drivers who compete regularly in Modified division competition are not eligible to compete.

On Saturday, September 21, the 54^th annual Freedom 76 will be run for the 358 Modifieds. The program includes qualifying heats, consolations, cash dash and the Minuteman 20 leading up to the 76-lap Championship main event.

Pit gates open at 9 am, for car inspections, fans will be able to enter the Grandstand areas between 9 am, and 12 Noon to reserve seats with blankets, with grandstand ticket windows opening at 3 pm. Pill draw for position is at 4:30 pm, with the drivers meeting at 5 pm, warm-ups are at 6 pm, with racing starting at 7 pm.

Adult Grandstand tickets on Saturday will be $40, students 10-15 with ID are $20, while children ages 9 and under are admitted free of charge. Pit admission will be $45, and no license is required. There will be no advanced tickets sold for this event, and the rain date is Saturday, September 28.