Story By: MIKE LEONE / RUSH RACING SERIES – PULASKI, PA – After five consecutive rain outs to start the 2025 season, the Hovis Auto & Truck Supply RUSH Dirt Late Model Flynn’s Tire/Gunter’s Honey Touring Series will try yet again to kick-off the season with a doubleheader weekend of action.
Stateline Speedway in Busti, NY will host the Tour on Saturday night (May 10) at 6 p.m. followed 50 miles west at Eriez Speedway in Erie, Pa. on Sunday evening (May 11) at 6:30 p.m. Both races will pay $4,000 to-win.
The “Bill Law Memorial” returns to Stateline for the eighth time on Saturday night, but first under new track owner Bill Catania and with the event’s highest payoff to date! Ironically the inaugural “Bill Law Memorial” event in 2017 opened the Tour campaign at Stateline for the first time and will do the same on Saturday night.
In 2011, Law was diagnosed with small cell lung cancer and passed away in July 2012. Law’s involvement in racing began in the late 1970s as he loved having muscle cars and going to the drag strip in his high school days. Even though he never actually raced, he stood behind racing 100%. In the early 1980s, Law and Leon Szweda put an asphalt car together and raced at New York’s Holland Speedway.
Law’s taste for racing moved to the dirt tracks in the mid-1980s as he helped Tom Taber for several years. He met a lot of great people that he became very good friends with; one was Bob “The Bird” Baldwin. The Law Family traveled with him and his family racing from Pennsylvania to West Virginia to Maryland.
As Bill’s son Jon was getting older, they got involved in Go-Kart racing as the family would travel all over New York and Pennsylvania. Bill was still involved in auto racing as they would race Go-Karts during the day and sell parts and fuel at night at the races. As Jon got older, Bill bought him an IMCA Modified. A few seasons later, Jon and Bill bought a Limited Late Model. That lasted a couple years until Jon was starting his own family and got away from the racing scene.
Law was the first person to have a Crate Late Model in the region when the class debuted in 2007 in the Northeast. Law had several drivers over the years behind the wheel of his #14 including Baldwin, Ward Schell, Rich Gardner, Jon Law, Curt VanPelt, David Scott, and Kyle Scott. Bill’s grandson, Kyle Murray, has raced RUSH Late Models over the years. With the Scott Family owning Stateline for the first seven years, it was always fitting the “Bill Law Memorial” took place at their track as Jean and Jim Scott’s son David and grandson Kyle drove for Law.
The 2017 event was the first ever Tour event at Stateline in the history of Chevrolet Performance Late Models in the Northeast as a big crowd watched a thriller as Jeremy Wonderling held off standout and track dominator Max Blair for the victory. The 2018 event was just as good as Damian Bidwell made a late race pass of Scott Gurdak for his first Tour win in more than three years. In 2019, Wonderling again held off Blair after withstanding a mid-race rain delay. The COVID-19 pandemic cancelled the 2020 event. Wonderling was victorious again in 2021 topping a Stateline record 43-car field. Joe Martin won his first career Stateline race in 2022 after waiting out an hour and a half rain delay. In 2023, Wonderling won the event for the fourth time in six years this time over a 42-car field! And last year, eventual Tour Champion, Brock Pinkerous, won as 43 cars were again on hand matching the record from 2021.
The Flynn’s Tire/Gunter’s Honey Tour will return to Stateline on August 9 once again teaming up with Eriez, which will host “Manufacturers Night” presented by MSD Performance the following night. It’s the first time Stateline has scheduled more than one Tour event in any one season.
Meanwhile, there have been 14 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”. In 2023, Wonderling won the spring race finally getting his first Tour win at Eriez, while Blair topped a 52-car field at “Manufacturers Night” event in the summer. Last year, rain won both attempts at the first show, while Wonderling captured the “Manufacturers Night” event over an Eriez record 55-car field.
Both tracks fell victim to rain last weekend for their scheduled 2025 City Chevrolet Weekly Series openers. This weekend’s events will also offer points to RUSH member racers for National Weekly Series points as well as City Chevrolet Track Pack points and Russ King Racing Futures Cup points for those eligible racers.
“This is a nice, annual weekend for our northern RUSH Late Model teams to be able compete in two $4,000 to-win Tour events and also for our traveling teams as the two tracks are just 50 miles apart,” stated RUSH Director Vicki Emig. “We have to thank Bill Catania for continuing RUSH sanctioning in not only the Late Model and Pro Mod divisions at Stateline, but adding the RUSH Stock Cars weekly, a second Tour show along with events for our Sprint Cars and Sportsman Modifieds! And the Alexander Family have been strong supporters of RUSH at Eriez as they’ve continued the foundation and support the Rohrer Family established years ago. We’re thankful that the Law Family has allowed us the opportunity to continue to be able to have the ‘Bill Law Memorial’ as a Tour event, and we look forward to honoring Bill on Saturday night.”
After a record $76,200 points fund was posted for the 2024 season, the largest following of 13 full-time teams competed on the Tour in addition to a record average car count of 40 despite several big events being rained out. That same point fund will return in 2025 as $20,000 will again be on the line along with the 3C Graphix $3,000 to-win Rookie-of-the-Year and the $5,000 Landrum Performance Springs “Loyalty Bonus”. Over the off-season, it was also announced that all 2025 Flynn’s Tire/Gunter’s Honey Touring Series events will pay a minimum of $4,000 to-win, $300 to-start. At least 18 teams are expected to compete for the 2025 championship.
Each night, $100 “Shock the Clock” Qualifying and $25 to-win heat races will be presented by FK Rod Ends. The Sunoco Dash will set the beginning rows of the feature lineup and will award the winner a $100 Sunoco fuel gift card. The “Fill’er up with Sunoco Bucks” program co-presented by Bazell Race Fuels will include an additional $400 of Sunoco fuel card giveaways; two $100 random draws for drivers in the top 15 of 2024 Tour points and another four $50 random draws for all other competitors.
The 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 first place finisher on night one and the second place finisher on night two. 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 each night.
Feature Payoff each night: 1. $4,000 2. $2,000 3. $1,000 4. $800 5. $700 6. $600 7. $550 8. $500 9. $475 10. $450 11. $425 12. $400 13. $375 14. $360 15. $350 16. $340 17. $330 18. $320 19. $310 20-24. $300.
D&V Jewelers Non-Qualifier Payoff each night: 1. $200 2. $190 3. $185 4. $180 5. $175 6. $170 7. $165 8. $160 9. $155 10-24. $150. Tow $125
You do not have to be a member of RUSH to compete only to receive Weekly and/or Tour points. The entry fee is $100. AMB/MyLaps transponders will be used; Westhold transponders will NOT work. Units are available to rent for $25 and no cost to Stateline or Eriez regulars that have Westhold transponders.
For Saturday at Stateline, pit gates and RUSH registration/pre-race tech opens at 3 p.m.. Driver’s meeting will be at 5:30 p.m. Driver radio channel is different at Stateline as 469.500 is used.
For Sunday at Eriez, pit gates open at 3:30 p.m. (access prior). Driver’s meeting will be at 5:45 p.m. Driver radio channel is 454.000.