Story By: MIKE LEONE / RUSH RACING SERIES – SARVER, PA – The Hovis Auto & Truck Supply RUSH Racing Series presented by Born2Run Lubricants will have a tripleheader of action this weekend (October 10-12) at Lernerville Speedway for the “Steel City Stampede”. The RUSH Late Model Flynn’s Tire/Gunter’s Honey Touring Series finale that will determine the $20,000 to-win championship. The RUSH Sportsman Modifieds in their “Manufacturers Night” presented by MSD Performance and the RUSH Sprint Cars Sunbelt Rentals Weekly Series will also be in action. The rain date is Sunday. The event will be streamed live on Dirt.TV.
Practice will be held Thursday night (October 10) with heat races for all divisions on Friday night followed by the conclusion of the event on Saturday. Action gets underway on Friday at 7 p.m. with group qualifying for the RUSH Late Models followed by heat race action. On Saturday, racing will begin early at 4 p.m.
One lucky eligible Touring Series driver will take home a $5,000 check thanks to the new Landrum Performance Springs “Loyalty Bonus”! That drawing will take place on Saturday for Touring Series member drivers that have competed in at least 75% of the Tour events, which is currently 12 drivers.
“This is always a great way to end our season,” stated RUSH Director Vicki Emig. “The RUSH championships annually comes down to this event. Our Late Model racers are always excited to get the chance to compete at Lernerville. The car counts have always been strong and the racing at Lernerville is always some of the best of the season. The Sportsman Modifieds have been given the opportunity to race numerous times over the past 11 seasons at Lernerville. Lernerville was a very important part of getting our RUSH Sprint division off the ground in 2018. All three classes always put on tremendous races at Lernerville.”
This year’s “Steel City Stampede” will be the 16th edition of the huge event that includes many of the region’s racing divisions all showcased in this end of the season blowout. There have been 13 different winners in 15 years with only one repeat RUSH Late Model winner and it took until 2019 to happen. Past winners include Josh Holtgraver (2009), Bryan Force (2010), Butch Lambert (2011), Max Blair (2012, 2019 & 2020), Dennis Lunger, Jr. (2013), Chad Ruhlman (2014), Jacob Hawkins (2015), John Mollick (2016), John Waters (2017), Colton Flinner (2018), Kyle Hardy (2021), Logan Roberson (2022), and Michael Norris (2023). With nearly all of those racers not expected to be in competition, there’s a high likelihood of another new winner.
FK Rod Ends “Shock the Clock Qualifying, heat races, and the Sunoco Dash will be run on Friday night for the Late Models. The fastest qualifier will receive $100 and all heat race winners will earn $25. The last chance B main(s) will kickoff Saturday’s program. The 30-lap feature will pay a $3,500 to-win. There will also be a $200 to-win, $150 to-start D&V Jewelers non-qualifier.
Four-time champion Jeremy Wonderling leads the Flynn’s Tire/Gunter’s Honey Tour in search of an unprecedented fifth title; however, this one would be the richest of his career with $20,000 on the line! On the strength of five podium finishes in the last six events including two victories and a $5,000 runner-up last Saturday at Pittsburgh, Wonderling has taken over the points lead for the first time of the season. Wonderling though has just a one-point lead on 14-year-old Brock Pinkerous, who is looking for his first career Lernerville win. In addition to his two Tour victories, Pinkerous has an additional four City Chevrolet Weekly Series wins to earn the 3C Graphix Futures Cup title.
Joe Martin’s string of four consecutive years in the runner-up spot in points has ended as Martin is currently third. Daryl Charlier is fourth in points and leads the $3,000 to-win 3C Graphix Rookie-of-the-Year title over Damian Bidwell, who is second in the RoY points. Sixth through 12th in points are Jim Rasey, Mike Wonderling, Austin Allen, Ashton Briggs, Brad Mesler, Ben Easler, and Kyle Zimmerman.
SRI Performance will award a $100 gift card to the fastest driver in warmups. The Late Model podium finishers will each receive a three-pack of Heritage Wine Cellars premier products. Precise Racing Products will award a $50 gift card for the “Pedal Down” Hard Charger that passes the most cars in the feature. Ontime Body & Graphic’s “Spoiler Alert” will award a spoiler kit to the 14th place finisher. The first feature non-qualifier will receive a $50 certificate from Holley Performance brands. There will also be five BOGO Landrum Performance Springs certificates given away through drawings. Forty lucky fans each night will receive a bottle of Dusted Steak Seasoning.
Meanwhile, the Hovis RUSH Sportsman Modifieds will join the “Steel City Stampede” for the 11th consecutive year in an $800 to-win event. In addition, eligible racers will take part in the “Manufacturers Night” presented by MSD Performance drawings where approximately $17,000 will be distributed on Saturday afternoon. Each eligible driver will received a product package valued at a minimum of $345 up to $1,100. If there are less than 28 eligible drivers, then some drivers will take home an additional package. (Note: all legal race cars are eligible to compete in the race event program whether the driver is eligible for the Mfg. drawings or not.)
Greg Martin won the inaugural race in 2014, while Nick Ritchey won his first ever at Lernerville in 2015. Rocky Kugel topped what was at the time in 2016 was a record field of 29 cars. Steve Slater won the 2017 show, while teen Blaze Myers scored a popular first Tour win in 2018 after coming out of the B main to also win the “Futures Cup” title. In 2019, Eric Gabany was victorious. Chas Wolbert capped off his 2020 championship season by winning his first. Garrett Krummert finally broke into victory lane in the 2021. Ben Easler clinched the 2022 championship to become the ninth different winner. Krummert won the Stampede make-up in April of this year to become the first repeat winner. Will there be a 10th different winner this year!?
2020 and 2021 champion, Chas Wolbert, returned to the RUSH Sportsman Modified ranks in 2024 and has already clinched his third championship worth $3,500. JC Boyer was the Wedge Motorsports “Route 7 Rumble” Series Champion. Logen Lockhart has just a one-point lead on Karston King in the 3C Graphix Futures Cup standings.
The Hovis RUSH Sprints will wrap up their seventh season and will be racing for $800 to-win. Past “Steel City Stampede” RUSH Sprint winners include Chad Ruhlman with two victories, while Gale Ruth, Jr., Zach Morrow, Blaze Myers, and John Mollick each have one victory. Most recently, Myers won the August 24 show over a 23-car field in their only appearance of the season at Lernerville. Mollick has already clinched his first Sunbelt Rentals Weekly Series Championship worth $5,000! Luke Mulichak leads Ricky Tucker III by seven points in the 3C Graphix Futures Cup standings.