Story By: MIKE LEONE / RUSH RACING SERIES – PULASKI, PA – After another successful “Jook George Steel City Classic” where 47 cars competed on July 27 at Pittsburgh PA Motor Speedway, the Hovis Auto & Truck Supply RUSH Dirt Late Model Flynn’s Tire/Gunter’s Honey Touring Series will return to action this coming week with a tripleheader of action!
It all starts on Tuesday (August 6) at Woodhull (NY) Raceway followed up by Marion (PA) Raceway on Saturday (August 10) and wraps up at Eriez (PA) Speedway on Sunday (August 11) with “Manufacturers Night” presented by MSD Performance.
The cars and stars of the Flynn’s Tire/Gunter’s Honey Tour will convene on Woodhull Raceway in New York’s southern tier for the second straight year in the “Darwin Davis Memorial” as the Platinum Event will pay $4,000 to-win on Tuesday night! Davis was a former racer, who lost his life in a tragic automobile accident in 2008. His nephew Bryce was the 2017 RUSH Tour Champion and has one victory this season. The event carries a rain date of Wednesday (August 7).
Last year, an excellent field of 34 cars turned out despite rain throughout the day, and it was Jeremy Wonderling scoring the popular victory. Wonderling resides only 30 miles from the high banks of Woodhull. The only other appearance by the Tour to Woodhull was back in 2014 when Wayne Robertson was victorious.
Woodhull is in its sixth year as a RUSH weekly-sanctioned track. Woodhull has completed 11 City Chevrolet Weekly Series events to date this year with five different winners. Leading the way is Brett Marlatt with five victories followed by John Waters with three. Single winners include Steve LeBarron, Austin Allen, and most recently Kurt Stebbins.
The Flynn’s Tire/Gunter’s Honey Tour will return to Marion Center for the second visit of the season on Saturday night (August 10) with $3,000 on the line. Last season, Jeremy Wonderling won a thriller in the first ever RUSH Tour race at Marion Center in front of a huge crowd. This season on June 8, Wonderling repeated his fortunes winning again at the 1/4-mile. The show this year attracted 29 cars, which was an all-time high for Crate Late Models in the history of the facility.
On Sunday, Eriez Speedway in Erie, Pa. will host what will be their first Tour race of the season after the first scheduled show was rained out on May 12 and the June 29 make-up date. Sunday will mark the 13th edition of “Manufacturers Night”, which will take place at Eriez for the fifth time with over $30,000 of valuable product giveaways! Each participating racer on Sunday is guaranteed to walk away with an item valued at the very minimum of $400!
The complete list of packages for the Late Models are posted below. It’s possible that drivers can win multiple prizes if any prizes are left over. In the event of more than 50 cars, additional packages will be added so that every competing driver will receive a manufacturers package valued at a minimum of $400. Also, one lucky driver will win a $550 certificate from Absolute Powder Coating towards the powder coating of a new chassis; this will be in addition to his or her manufacturers package.
MSD Performance proudly presents all of the RUSH Series “Manufacturers Nights” and contributes product as well. The drawings will take place immediately following the drivers meeting, which will get underway at 5:30 p.m. Drivers need to be registered by that time in order to participate in the drawings. The RUSH Stock Car “Manufacturers Night” with more than $6,000 of giveaways will also take place on Sunday night.
Past locations of “Manufacturers Nights” with car counts in parentheses are Sharon Speedway in 2012 (57), Pittsburgh’s PA Motor Speedway in 2013 (40), McKean County Raceway in 2014 (43), Eriez in 2015 (47), Tri-City Raceway Park 2016-2018 (58, 48, 45), Pittsburgh in 2019 (36), Eriez in 2021-2023 (46, 39, 52) while the 2020 drawings was contested through the Weekly Series points due to COVID-19. The average car count for “Manufacturers Night” is 46.5!
There have been 13 RUSH Tour events completed all-time at Eriez. Max Blair has seven victories, while his father Rob has one in a substitution role for Max. Kyle Hardy swept both events in 2021 in route to the championship. In 2022, Logan Roberson won the May event for his first Eriez win, while Josh Ferry scored an upset career first Touring Series victory in July on “Manufacturers Night” presented by MSD Performance. Last year, Wonderling won the spring race finally getting his first Tour win at Eriez, while Blair topped a huge field of 52 cars at “Manufacturers Night” event in the summer.
Eriez has fought Mother Nature much of the year and has only completed six City Chevrolet Weekly Series events with five different winners. Jason Genco is the only repeat winner. Other winners include Andy Michael, David Parker, Shane Crotty, and Breyton Santee. Michael’s victory was his first ever at Eriez, which Crotty’s was his first career in a RUSH Late Model.
Fourteen-year-old Brock Pinkerous leads the Flynn’s Tire/Gunter’s Honey Tour into the week thanks to six top five finishes in eight starts including his first two career Tour wins. Pinkerous though has just a nine-point lead over four-time Series Champion, Jeremy Wonderling, who is the only other driver with multiple victories this season. Joe Martin, who has finished runner-up in points each of the last four years, is third in points as he is still in search of his first win of 2024.
Daryl Charlier is up to fourth in points and leads the $3,000 to-win 3C Graphix Rookie-of-Year standings. Jim Rasey is having his best season to date in his third year on the Tour driving for Jim Wrightsman and is fifth in points. Austin Allen and Damian Bidwell are sixth and seventh in points respectively and are two more drivers battling for the Rookie-of-the-Year crown. Mike Wonderling is eighth over Kyle Zimmerman, while Brad Mesler and Ashton Briggs are tied for 10th in points. Just three points separate drivers in 9th through 12th in points!
FK Rod Ends “Shock the Clock” Qualifying will be held each night with the fastest qualifier earning $100 followed up the $25 to-win FK Rod Ends heat races. The Sunoco Dash will set the beginning of the feature lineup each night with the winner receiving a $100 Sunoco fuel card.
The “Fill’er up with Sunoco Bucks” program will include an additional $400 of Sunoco fuel card giveaways; two $100 random draws for drivers in the top 15 of Tour points and another four $50 random draws for all other competitors each night. The podium finishers will each receive a three-pack of Heritage Wine Cellars premier products each night. Precise Racing Products will award a $50 gift card for the “Pedal Down” Hard Charger that passes the most cars in the feature each night. Ontime Body & Graphic’s “Spoiler Alert” will award a spoiler kit to the ninth place finisher on night one, 10th place finisher on night two and 11th place finisher on night three. The first feature non-qualifier will receive a $50 certificate from Holley Performance brands each night. There will also be five BOGO Landrum Performance Springs certificates given away through drawings each night. Forty lucky fans each night will receive a bottle of Dusted Steak Seasoning.