4 Timer! Drevicki’s Back on Top as 2024 USAC East Coast Sprint Champ

Steven Drevicki, 2024 USAC Rapid Tire East Coast Sprint Car Presented by Capitol Renegade champion. (Steve Koletar Photo)

Richie Murray

December 10, 2024

Speedway, Indiana (December 10, 2024)………Just a short six years ago, Steven Drevicki became the first USAC East Coast Sprint Car champion. Since that time, he’s gone on to become the first two-time champion, the first three-time titlist, and now in 2024, he conquered the series once more to become the first four-time king.

In 2024, Drevicki (Reading, Pa.) prevailed once with a feature victory in July at New Jersey’s Bridgeport Motorsports Park, and throughout the course of the 12-race series, never once did he finish worse than fifth to add on to his record of previous Rapid Tire Service USAC East Coast Sprint Cars Presented by Capitol Renegade championships in 2018-2019-2020.

Drevicki briefly held the point lead in early May, but by the last weekend of the same month, he had gained a stranglehold at the top of the series that he never relinquished the rest of the way en route to a 133-point margin of victory, the second largest in the seven year history of the series at the wheel of his Drevicki Racing/DeGre Engineering – Road Runner Race Fuels – Reading Crane/RPM/HP Chevy.

Meanwhile, Briggs Danner’s (Allentown, Pa.) reign as a series champion came to a close after capturing titles during the previous two seasons in 2022 and 2023. In 2024, Danner participated in a limited USAC East Coast schedule, appearing in just eight of the 12 shows as he ran a more national schedule this season. Nonetheless, he still finished fifth in the standings by leading a series-high 117 laps and tallying a series-high five USAC East Coast feature victories, including Pennsylvania’s Bedford Speedway in April, Grandview Speedway in May, Williams Grove Speedway in June, Action Track USA in July, then scored the series finale at New York’s Outlaw Speedway in September, the first ever visit by the series.

Due to work commitments, Kenny Miller III (Morgantown, Pa.) also participated in a limited schedule, but made it count when he showed up to compete, winning twice, once in May in wire-to-wire fashion at Delaware International Speedway and again in September at Action Track USA, taking advantage when Danner got caught up in lapped traffic and rolled to a stop with just seven laps remaining.

Joey Amantea (Mount Pocono, Pa.) captured, perhaps, the most thrilling feature event of the year in April at Pennsylvania’s Port Royal Speedway. After the top-two of Alex Bright and Briggs Danner tangled and stopped in a dramatic accident with just 10 laps remaining, Amantea and Christian Bruno waged war in a see-saw battle that saw the two exchange slide jobs lap after lap after lap. In the end, Amantea led the final four laps to pocket a half-mile victory.

Bruno (Deptford, N.J.) got redemption in the series’ return to Port Royal in August after sweeping the night by winning his heat race, then leading all 20 laps of the feature to tally his first career USAC East Coast Sprint Car triumph. After previously earning a career best points finish of seventh in 2020, Bruno took a major step forward in 2024 to finish as the series’ runner-up.

In all, two drivers became first-time USAC East Coast Sprint Car winners in 2024. Back in June, Danny Varin successfully defended his home turf at Utica-Rome Speedway and was standing in victory lane by night’s end, a familiar scene for the Fonda, N.Y. native. In fact, Varin has won many modified events at the speedway, and in 2023, defeated the All Star Circuit of Champions in winged 410 sprint car competition. Varin has now won in six different divisions at Utica-Rome, including Sportsman Modified, big block modified, 305, 360 and 410 winged sprint cars and now a non-wing 360 sprint car.

Alex Bright (Collegeville, Pa.) added one USAC East Coast Sprint Car victory by delivering a sweeping performance in May at Delaware’s Georgetown Speedway. After that night, he took over the points lead and remained in contention for his second career series title entering the summer. However, by the end of June, his Heffner Racing Enterprises team had closed up shop on its non-wing team, leaving Bright without a full-time ride. Bright found work later in the season with the Hummer Motorsports team who he won the championship with in 2021.

Bruce Buckwalter Jr. (Mechanicsburg, Pa.) was one of two drivers to finish inside the top-10 in all 12 rounds of the season alongside Drevicki which aided him to a career-best third in the standings. Likewise, Ed Aikin (Lincoln University, Pa.) also experienced a career best USAC East Coast season by finishing fourth in the standings.

Matthew Swift (Lebanon, Pa.) picked up Rookie of the Year honors for his 10th place finish in the standings. Alex Bright and Christian Bruno shared the most heat race wins with the series this season with each grabbing five apiece.

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2024 USAC EAST COAST SPRINT CAR STAT LEADERS:

Driver Champion: Steven Drevicki

Rookie of the Year: Matthew Swift

Most Wins: 5-Briggs Danner

Most Laps Led: 117-Briggs Danner

Most Top-Fives: 12-Steven Drevicki

Most Top-Tens: 12-Bruce Buckwalter Jr. & Steven Drevicki

Most Heat Race Wins: 5-Alex Bright & Christian Bruno

Most Feature Starts: 12-Bruce Buckwalter Jr. & Steven Drevicki

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2024 USAC EAST COAST SPRINT CAR DRIVER POINT STANDINGS:

POS. PTS. DRIVER, HOMETOWN

1. 828 Steven Drevicki, Reading, Pennsylvania

2. 695 Christian Bruno, Deptford, New Jersey

3. 607 Bruce Buckwalter Jr., Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania

4. 602 Ed Aikin, Lincoln University, Pennsylvania

5. 566 Briggs Danner, Allentown, Pennsylvania

6. 536 Alex Bright, Collegeville, Pennsylvania

7. 457 Bobby Butler, Milford, New Jersey

8. 443 Carmen Perigo, Stoystown, Pennsylvania

9. 415 Jason Cherry, Blandon, Pennsylvania

10. 272 Matthew Swift, Lebanon, Pennsylvania

11. 242 Joey Amantea, Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania

12. 225 Gary Huston, Middletown, New York

13. 217 J.T. Ferry, Drums, Pennsylvania

14. 217 Dalton Herrick, McDonough, New York

15. 130 Scott Frack, Gilbertville, Pennsylvania

16. 122 Michael Smith, Red Lion, Pennsylvania

17. 77 Danny Varin, Fonda, New York

18. 69 Thomas Radivoy, Circleville, New York

19. 65 Patrick Chilmonik, Milford, New Jersey

20. 51 Aidan Borden, Jackson, New Jersey

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2024 USAC EAST COAST SPRINT CAR FEATURE WINNERS:

Apr 26: Bedford Speedway - Bedford, Pennsylvania