Grandview Modified Pit Notes 8/16/25 – Tim Buckwalter Scores his First Modified Win of the Season

Timmy Buckwalter and Matt Yoder battled side by side until both cars made hard contact on lap 23 breaking Yoder’s momentum and moving Buckwalter into the lead and to his first win of the season. 

Polesitter Matt Yoder took the early lead and then the only caution/red flag of the feature came out on lap 17 for a tangle bunching the field back up.   On the restart, Yoder and Buckwalter raced side by side for 5 laps until Buckwalter threw a slide and then two drivers made contact which launched Buckwalter into the lead while Yoder lost momentum and fell back into 3^rd. Buckwalter then held off Louden Reimert and Jeff Struck to take his first win of the 2025 season.

Heat race winners for the 38-car field were Matt Yoder, Mike Gular, Eric Kormann and Eddie Strada.

Consolation’s winners were Eric Biehn and Rick Laubach.

MODIFIED FEATURE FINISH (30 laps): 1. TIM BUCKWALTER (6), 2. Louden Reimert (12), 3. Jeff Strunk (10), 4. Jared Umbenhauer (13), 5. Matt Yoder (1), 6. Logan Watt (16), 7. Eric Kormann (4), 8. Ryan Watt (9), 9. Duane Howard (14), 10. Doug Manmiller (17), 11. Ryan Beltz (2), 12. Brian Hirthler (7), 13. Mike Gular (15), 14. Rick Laubach (22), 15. Cody Manmiller (8), 16. Craig Whitmoyer (20), 17. Kyle Smith (24), 18 Chris Esposito (27), 19. Carroll Hine III (28), 20. John Willman (5), 21. Mike Laise (3), 22. Eddie Strada (11), 23. Craig Von Dohren (18), 24. Ron Haring Jr. (19), 25. Eric Biehn (21), 26. Justin Grim (23), 27. Ray Swinehart (25), 28. Bobby Trapper Jr. (26)

DID NOT QUALIFY: Ryan Graver, Ryan Grim, Bobby Trapper Sr., Clay Butler, Chris Gambler, Kenny Bock, Darrin Schuler, Joe Funk, Bobby Gunther-Walsh, Glenn Owens

HARD CHARGER: Louden Reimert +10

MODIFIED PIT NOTES  – 8/16/25

With only four weeks remaining in the season the NASCAR Grandview Modified points championship saw some dramatic developments this weekend.   On Friday night points leader Brett Kressley was injured at Big Diamond which unfortunately ends his championship run for the 2025 season.  When the dust settled on Saturday night’s racing it was Duane Howard, Mike Gular and Jared Umbenhauer emerged as the top 3 contenders all within 19 points of one another.  Louden Reimert’s 2^nd place finish propelled him into 4^th in the points standings, only 104 points behind leader Duane Howard with four weeks of racing remaining.  Looking like one of the best championship points battles in recent memory is about to unfold.

Timmy Buckwalter posted his first win of the season from his 6^th starting position. and only his second top five/ten of what’s been a tough and trying season for the 942 team.

In victory lane Timmy reflected “I really thought I had cleared the 5, but I didn’t clear him and hate doing that kind of racing.  We have struggled all year and a big thanks to Dennis and Donna Wells for having faith in me and sticking with the program through some pretty tough times.”

“We hurt a motor on Friday night at Big Diamond and changed the motor this morning.  The crew guys should be ready to buy boats and go fishing.  We have been struggling with mechanical and driver stuff nearly every week.”

“We were racing hard for a bunch of laps, he got underneath me and drove me to the wall, going into the corner.  I didn’t mean to get into him, but it was time to go.”

Back at the trailer Timmy commented “In the heat race we made the invert which is an important half of the battle every night, but we did have a carburetor hesitation which needed to be addressed before the feature.  We probably had dirt in the carb, and you must be 110% for the feature so we changed the carburetor for the feature.  It turned out to be the right move because we had an awesome car in the feature.”

“In the feature we moved forward from our 6^th starting spot one position at a time and arrived in 2^nd on lap 12.  After the lap 17 red flag which was the only caution of the night; I was not worried about tires but figured it was going to come down to finding were to go and it would turn into a slider battle.”

“After the restart it was pretty much side by side and hard racing.  At some point you have got to turn left.  The contact on lap 23 with the 5 was not intentional but they may not think that.”

“We’ve had a black cloud over us this season fighting ignition and fuel issues almost weekly and it’s not been the greatest year for us.  The crew guys never gave up and always kept digging.  I can’t thank Dennis & Donna Weller as well as the crew enough for staying the course this season to make this win happen.   Hopefully we now have some momentum which we can carry into the end of the season, the Coal cracker and 76er.”

Louden Reimert finished 2^nd from his 12^th starting position and was also the hard charger of the night at +10 leading to a pivotal points night to say the least which has propelled Louden to 4th place in the points standings only 104 points behind points leader Duane Howard as a result of recent developments with former points leader Brett Kressley who sustained a season ending injury on Friday night at Big Diamond.   

A key to Louden’s night was that he was able to move from 5^th to 4^th on the final lap in the heat catching Ron Haring Jr at the checkered and moving his starting position in the feature from 19^th to 12^th .

Louden recalled “We had a good car all night long and could pass and move forward in both the heat and feature.”

Jeff Strunk finished 3^rd from his 10^th starting position posting back-to-back 3^rd place finished this week at Big Diamond and Grandview.  Only Jeff and Logan Watt have two modified wins this year at Grandview.

Jeff reflected “An all around good night for us making the invert in the heat race and going 10^th to 3^rd in the feature with a straight car and no real close calls.  It was good hard clean racing with Louden coming through the pack this week.”

Jared Umbenhauer finished 4^th from his 13^th starting position after another week of heat race drama. 

In the heat race Jared was involved in an early tangle that resulted in flat tire sending Jared to the pits and back to the rear of the field again. Jared came back out and was able to run from last to 3^rd and qualify in the invert despite being in a tangle and having a flat tire.

Last week Jared even had a worst time of it. In the heat race he was involved in a tangle that tore the shock tower off sending him to last starting position in the consolation which he was able to turn into a 3^rd place consolation finish and qualified 26^th for the feature.  In the feature, Jared proceeded to run from 26^th to 7^th in the 50 lap Forrest Rogers Memorial feature.

With the unfortunate and unexpected injury to Brett Kressley and the combination of the two hard fought 4^th and 7^th place finishes in the last two weeks, Jared has moved into the top 3 in the points standings and within 19 points of leader Duane Howard with four races remaining.

Matt Yoder finished 5^th from his pole position after a commanding lead for 23 laps until contact with Timmy Buckwalter damaged his front end. 

Matt has raced a few races in Floyd Brost’s # 17 and then arrived last week with his own # 5.  In only two races in his own car Matt quickly made his presence known after being only 7 laps away from his first win.

Matt Yoder stated “We had a good car for the Forrest Rogers so this week we just tweaked it a little.  Car felt really fast in hot laps.  In the heat we got a good start from the pole, ran the bottom for a lap or 2, and then moved up to the top to take the win in heat # 1.  Car felt really good in the heat, so we didn’t make too many changes for the feature.”

In the feature we handicapped to the pole position and had a good car right at the start.  A few times we were a little tight entering the corners but definitely felt like we were the car to beat.  After the red flag restart, we exchanged sliders for a lap or 2, then I got a little more pace and he tried sliding me a few times, but I was able to drive around it on the outside.  I think he knew he had to do something. Unfortunately, that slider where he hit me wasn’t even close to being clear and it dented in my door and shoved my nose up into the loose stuff.  After that, the car wasn’t fully the same.  Still happy to bring home a top 10.  Any time I can run with Strunk, Reimert and Umbenhauer it’s a good night.  Red flag delay didn’t really affect the car.  Obviously, we wish it would have gone green.”

“Our challenges are we run a low buck single car/engine team.  It’s usually just me and my 66-year-old dad as crew.  Saturday, we did have another crew guy.  Have to thank the best engine builder out there – Nick Gatto.  He definitely gives us power enough to win. I also have to thank the Reimert’s for always giving advice. Davies Hardscaping is our main sponsor and without them we wouldn’t be out there at all.”

Next up on Saturday, August 23 will be a two division program of Modified and Sportsman with hot laps at 6:15 and racing at  7:30 pm.

This post is dedicated to Ernie Saxton.  The Grandview Speedway racing fraternity begins this week of racing in mourning after the passing of long-time race announcer, public relations expert, and one-of-a-kind personality Ernie Saxton.  Ernie was instrumental in Grandview’s media relations which will impact announcers, photographers, writers, and videographers for years to come.