Grandview Sportsman Pit Notes 7/19/25 – Ryan Graver Goes Plus One for his First Sportsman Win of Season

Last week Ryan Graver came up one spot short at the Firecracker 40 finishing second place to Joey Vaccaro. But this week he got his one more position which landed him a Sportsman win at Grandview and his first trip to victory lane this season.

The 25 lap feature saw Taylor Kramer, Stephen Laubach and Ebby Ridge all lead in the first 7 laps until Ryan Graver moved into the lead from his 10^th starting position and checking out on the field to a 5 second margin of victory at the checkered flag.

Heat race winners for the 40-car sportsman field were Mark Mohr, Colton Perry, Tom Miller Sr and Stehpen Laubach.

Consolation winners were Gavyn Krupp  and Kyle Hartzell.

T.P. TRUCK EQUIPMENT NASCAR SPORTSMAN FEATURE FINISH (25 laps): 1. RYAN GRAVER (10), 2. Dakota Kohler (14), 3. Ebby Ridge (6), 4. Brett Grim (7), 5. Kenny Gilmore (19), 6. Mark Mohr (8), 7. Mike Schneck Jr. (22), 8. Chase Gular (13), 9. Dylan Swinehart (25), 10. Gavyn Krupp (21), 11. Decker Swinehart (11), 12. Teague Miller (20), 13. Colin Cox (17), 14. Jesse Landis (15), 15. TJ Mayberry (18), 16. Kyle Hartzell (22), 17. Joey Vaccaro (16), 18 Nathan Mohr (27P), 19. Lawson Szerencits (26), 20. Adrianna Delliponti (23), 21. Kenny Bock (12), 22. Kaitlyn Bailey (5), 23. BJ Joly III (4), 24. Stephen Laubach (3), 25. Colton Perry (9), 26. Tom Miller Sr. (2), 27. Taylor Kramer (1)

DID NOT QUALIFY: Alex Bartorillo, Richie Hitzler, Xavier Sprague, Mark Gaugler, Brayden Shelton, Jason Graber, Zach Steffey, Shannon Slaughter, Mike Stofflet, John McGeoy, Dennis Graber, Mark Behm, Brett Gilmore

HARD CHARGER: Mike Schneck Jr. +17

SPORTSMAN PIT NOTES – 7/19/25

Ryan Graver finished 1st from his 10th starting position posting his first win of the season a solid 2nd place finish last week at the Firecracker 40.

In victory lane Ryan reflected “We have been working hard and battling a lot of parts attrition all year long. We missed the setup a bit last week and ended up in second for it.”

“Tonight, we felt the top would be there. We kept our nose clean, got to the top and checked out. I was able to be balanced while driving through the lapped traffic and stayed on the top to just played defense right to the checkered flag.”

Back at the trailer Ryan commented “We missed hot laps, but in the heat race I felt we had a fast car and just raced smart. Once we got to second, we just settled in knowing we made handicap.  Come feature time I had a feeling that there was going to be a top way up there, so I only made a few small changes to tighten up, but apparently that’s all we needed.”

Early in the feature I was just being patient because I could feel the car was good right out of the box. So, I waited for the right time to start moving around and passing cars and after that everyone said I just checked out.  Once I was out front, I didn’t know how much of a lead I had so I kept pushing.  I knew we had a good car and felt confident I could make it through lapped traffic and then everything just seemed to fall in place.  We know we have a fast car, so it feels nice to finally get to go out and show everyone just how fast we are.”

“I would like to thank Ron Seltman of Fast Four for all his help, my crew and my dad for making all this possible.”

Dakota Kohler finished 2^nd from his 14^th starting position to post his best Grandview finish of the season.  He also posted a 4^th on Friday night at Big Diamond in the same car.  Dakota is one of two sportsman cars that race both Friday night and Saturday.  The other car running both Friday at Big Diamond and Saturday at Grandview is Mikey Schneck who is currently 2^nd in the sportsman points standings.

Dakota noted “This season at Grandview has been a bit struggle of a struggle and I just couldn’t get anything to work the way I wanted. We keep getting stuck in the back of the heat and just couldn’t hit on anything in the feature.  I started working with Logan Watt the past couple weeks and he’s helped completely turn our car around.”

“In hot laps the car was on the tighter side of what I wanted but the track was super heavy.  The heat was fairly good, but it was still a little snug to get it on the bottom correctly. The car was drivable and was able to go forward with the restarts in the heat.”

“ In the feature, I wasn’t too sure how the track was going to be. Honestly, I figured it was going to hold moisture longer than it did based on the way the track had been all night.  The bottom blew off quickly and felt like it was going to go away. Starting in 14^th and I was up to 8th or 9th by the first yellow on lap 2.  By the red flag on lap 6 I was already up to 5th and on the restart moved into 4^th.”

“I felt like I could get Grim, but he was still on the top and could carry speed and got down in front of me and we all pretty much just rode. Around halfway, I started moving around and saw Graver pulling away on the top so I tried diamonding the corner and was getting some good runs, but it wasn’t enough to get by Grim and Ridge.  At that point I switched to hammering the top as much as I could. Sometimes it was alright but if you hit it wrong it would shove the nose and get the car tight until I figured that out.  I started to get it going and I think it was with around 5 to go when I started really making ground.  I got by both Grim and Ridge with 2 laps to go but had nothing for Graver who was checked out.”

Eddy Ridge finished 3^rd from his 6^th starting position and posted his best finish of the season.

Eddy stated “last week was tough.  We had a good car in the heat race and finished well, which gave us a great starting position for Firecracker 40 in 7th.  We tore the rear out of the car and fell out to a 25^th place finish.

“We changed the rear and made a few corrections from last week which gave us a better car this week.  In the heat race we were running right with the two top cars and that put us 6^th on the starting grid in the feature.”

We went in the right direction on our changes for the feature.  I led to around lap 10 when the car started getting loose and Ryan went around me for the lead.  I believe we know what we must change to correct our problem in the feature.  I believe we just need to tighten up a bit for the end of the race and we are on track to get this done.  We’re racing against guys that have really good stuff and basically, we put this car together with parts we had laying around the shop and from flea market parts.  Looking forward to returning this week and trying some new stuff to get the car better.”

“I want to congratulate Ryan on his win, and he did a great job.”

“I’d like to thank all our sponsors Gulch Tavern, DiPalantino Paving & Seal Coating, Villani Bus Service, Keith Hoffman Speed & Supply as well as our crew members – Jimmy, Kimmy, Marv, Cathy, my sister Michelle, and Jimmy’s daughter Gabby.”

Brett Grim finished 4^th from his 7^th starting position posting his best finish of the season.

Brett recalled “We started the year out on torsion bars and were good but now found the coils provide much more grip with the right sight deal.  Ron Seltmann from Fast Four Racing Shocks took me in last year when I first started racing.  Ron has helped and guided me ever since and a sincere thank you to him for all his help.”

“In hot laps and the heat, the car was fairly balanced and had good speed.  Come feature time it was just a tick too free, but we were very happy with a 4th place finish.

“I would like to thank my grandfather and dad for helping get the car ready each week as well as mom and sister for all the things they do to help prepare each week.”

“Congratulations to Ryan Graver on his win.”

Kenny Gilmore finished 5^th from his 19^th starting position and has moved into third in the sportsman points standing with 8 races remaining.

Kenny commented “In the heat race I got the right rear tire too hot, and the tire grew and I had too much stagger.  I wasn’t going to qualify but Brett blew his motor in front of me which allowed me to qualify from the heat.”

“In the feature the car was pretty good, but I can make it better.  I don’t have any one specific thing to make it better, just making small changes each week and maybe by the 38er I’ll have it figured out.”

Mikey Schneck finished 7^th from his 24^th starting position and posted his best finish of the season.  Mickey has been racing every Friday at Diamond and Saturdays here at Grandview and currently sits 2^nd in the points standings at both tracks.  He has another car that is set up for Big Diamond and just changes cars for Grandview on Saturdays.  He has been consistent top ten and top five finishers at both tracks with potential for a win every week.

Mikey noted “The heat just didn’t give any opportunity to get forward from our 8^th starting position and the track was one grove on the top without any cautions.  I qualified from the consolation into the 24^th starting position.

“In the feature I actually surprised myself with the 7^th place finish after starting 24th.  I got impatient trying to get around cars and had trouble figuring out the lines that guys in front of me where running which held me up from catching the top five cars.”

Next up on Saturday, July 26 will be Modifieds, Sportsman & Vintage with hot laps at 6:15 and racing at  7:30 pm.