Story By: MIKE LEONE / SHARON SPEEDWAY – HARTFORD, OH – Sharon Speedway is set for a special presentation of “Steel Valley Thunder” this Saturday night (August 3). The Hovis Auto & Truck Supply Big-Block Modifieds and “Ray’s Race” for the Gibson Insurance Agency Pro Stocks will share the spotlight both racing for $2,000 to-win!
Also in action will be the Billy’s Garage RUSH Sprint Cars and the Whelen Econo Mods presented by Alcon Mechanical. It’s Virgile Iron & Steel and Sara Cipriano at Novus Home Mortgage Hermitage Night. Race time is 7 p.m.
The Hovis Auto & Truck Supply Big-Block Modifieds presented by Autism Awareness, King Bros. Ready Mix Concrete, King’s Sanitary Services, Russ King Racing, and Thermo Supply will make their third of six visits during the 95th anniversary season as the ground pounders will again battle for $2,000 to-win, $200 to-start (complete payoff below). It’s also the first of three straight appearances by the Big-Block Modifieds leading up to the BRP Tour event on August 17 part of the “Lou Blaney Memorial”.
Ayden Cipriano won his first career Big-Block Modified race on June 1 on a night sponsored by his mother’s Sara Cipriano at Novus Home Mortgage Hermitage, while Erick Rudolph won a caution-free thriller two weeks later for the New York driver’s fifth career win at the track. There have been 639 races run with 96 different winners all-time. Rex King, Jr. has the most wins amongst active drivers with 28.
For the second straight year, “Ray’s Race” will take place at Sharon for the Gibson Insurance Agency Pro Stocks. “Ray’s Race” honors the late Ray Virgile of Oil City, Pa., who was a longtime supporter of auto racing in the region and specifically the Pro Stock division. The seventh annual event will pay $2,000 to-win, $150 to-start (complete payoff below)!
There has yet to be a repeat winner in the six previous events. At last year’s event, Tyler Dietz won his first career Sharon feature. Past “Ray’s Race” winners include Chris Schneider (2022 at Tri-City), Curt J. Bish (2021 at Tri-City), Noah Brunell (2020 at Tri-City), Tim Bish (2019 at Mercer), and Andrew Gordon (2018 at Tri-City). Will there be a seventh different winner on Saturday!?
Thus far this season there have been three different winners in four Pro Stock races. Christian Schneider won the May 18 opener for $1,000 part of the World of Outlaws Sprint Car show. Curt J. Bish then followed it up with a pair of victories before Jordan Perkins won his second career feature last Saturday night.
The Billy’s Garage RUSH Sprint Cars will be making their sixth appearance of the season. Arnie Kent won the June 12 opener for his first win at Sharon in nearly 22 years. Since then it’s been the Blaze Myers and John Mollick show as each driver has won a pair of features. Most recently on July 20, Myers nosed out Mollick to win by the closest of margins, 0.001 seconds, prior to Myers flipping after the checkered flag. Mollick, who had never won in the division at Sharon prior to his June 22 win, leads the $5,000 to-win Sunbelt Rentals Weekly Series points over Brent Rhebergen. The former UMP Mods and Super Late Model standout has gotten hot of late with a pair of victories to move past Myers for second and will now try and win his first career Sharon Sprint Car feature on Saturday night.
Rounding out the four-division program will be Whelen Econo Mods presented by Alcon Mechanical. The Econo Mods will be competing for the fourth straight week and had strong car counts of 23, 24, and 23 during the month of July. Joe Gabrielson won the opener on June 15 in his debut in the division and then won last Saturday night for his 11th career win at the Hartford, Ohio. Dennis Lunger, Jr. won the $800 special on July 12 part of the World of Outlaws Late Model program then won added a $600 payday on July 20. Jeremy Double is still looking for his first win of 2024 to become the division’s all-time winningest driver.
Summit Racing Equipment will present the hard charger award to the Big-Block Modified division. The driver that passes the most cars in the feature will receive a $100 Summit gift card. In the event of a tie, the tiebreaker will be the driver that finished highest in the feature.
The Performance Bodies “Nosed Out” program will award a $100 Performance Bodies gift card redeemable only at Wedge Motorsports to a driver in the Pro Stocks or Econo Mods. The recipient amongst any of those competing divisions will be the driver that most closely beat out another competitor for any finishing position on the lead lap. Tiebreaker will be the driver with the best finishing position.