ACTION TRACK DOMINANCE FOR DANNER!
By: Nick Fillman
Kutztown, Pennsylvania (July 10, 2024)………For the fourth time in the 2024 season, Briggs Danner went to victory lane as a winner with the Rapid Tire Services USAC East Coast Sprint Car Series presented by Capitol Renegade, this time scoring his third victory at the bullring of Kutztown, Pennsylvania’s Action Track USA.
Bobby Butler and Christian Bruno shared the front row of the 30-lap Iron Cowboy Classic. Bruno quickly took the race lead away from Butler and put some distance between himself and Butler. Quickly, however, Danner moved from his fourth place starting spot to the runner up position and began his hunt of Bruno for the race lead.
As Bruno and Danner entered turn three on lap four, Danner pulled the slide job on Bruno for the race lead, officially leading on lap five. The caution flag was displayed for the first time at the completion of lap five for a slowing Ed Aikin as Danner led over Bruno, Kenny Miller lll, Butler and J.T. Ferry.
When the feature got back going, Miller wasted no time moving by Bruno for the runner up spot, utilizing the same move that Danner did on Bruno, to steal the second spot from Bruno. Miller now tried to saddle up and run down Danner for the race lead as Danner was setting a torrid pace at the front of the field.
Just about halfway through, Danner began to encounter lapped cars at the tail end of the field. First, it was the solo car of Gary Huston, then came the gridlock. A five-car duel for positions at the tail end of the field held up Danner immensely as he tried high and low, picking off a pair of cars as the laps continued to wind down. Miller quickly went from being more than a half track behind Danner to within the same corner as Danner tried to pass the lapped cars.
Behind the top-three, a hornet’s nest of action took place between Butler, Ferry, Carmen Perigo and Steven Drevicki who were locked in an entertaining battle for position at the back end of the top-five.
While Danner was picking through lapped cars, it appeared that Scott Frack had checked up just a bit more than Danner had planned as the Frack machine went spinning after light contact in turns one and two. The caution flag was again displayed, this time on lap 19, setting up a 12-lap dash to the finish.
All but the distance of a heat race was left in the feature event with Danner nailing the restart and pulling away from Miller. Bruno held onto third, but the driver on the move was Perigo who found a middle groove on the speedway, lower than many of the leaders, and began picking off positions.
Miller kept Danner honest as he never let the No. 39 get too far ahead, but ultimately, was not able gain any time on Danner for the race lead. Meanwhile, Perigo had moved by Bruno for third and was beginning to pressure Miller for second.
Try as they might, Danner maintained his distance from the rest of the field and collected his fourth feature event win of the season. Miller yet again was the runner up with Perigo third, Bruno fourth and Drevicki completing the top-five.
Danner picked up another win on the season, his first since June 5 in the Bill Gallagher Memorial at Williams Grove Speedway. The team had missed the previous two events, but with good reason. In his return to the series, Danner was victorious after showing impressive, near dominant, speed during his run through the USAC Eastern Storm events where he collected his first national series win and nearly three others.
For the second straight event, Miller came up just one spot short in the feature event. Back-to-back runner-up results may not be what Miller and team have in mind, but the speed the team has is undeniable. Again, while Miller is not a full-time driver with the series due to his busy work schedule, the results are there just about every time the No. 23m hits the speedway surface.
Perigo explained in top-three interviews that he thought he had something for the race leaders, and he was likely correct. Perigo had discovered a line right through the middle of speedway that no other drivers had found at the front of the field. Perigo was the Iron Cowboy Classic feature winner last season, but was not able to capitalize on his line with the leaders. Perhaps, if the caution flag had flown again, Perigo may have had a chance to put his line to the test, but on Wednesday night, he was forced to settle for third.
Bruno continued his extremely consistent season by adding yet another top-five finish to his resume. Bruno led laps early, but unfortunately for him, unlike his heat race, Danner caught and passed the No. 17B for the race lead. While Bruno and team did not grab the win after leading laps early, they went to victory lane as the winners of the 600 sprint feature later on in the evening.
Completing the top-five and adding to his points lead, and looking like he could be well on the way to his fourth career USAC East Coast championship, was Steven Drevicki. It doesn’t take much of a conversation for Drevicki to admit that Action Track USA is not his favorite stop on the series trail, but running a smart race and picking positions up when available are a recipe for success. Drevicki pulled the number eight pill, the worst of the redraw, and slowly picked off cars for his top-five run. The positions came a little easier later on in the feature event run as Drevicki began to follow the line of Perigo as he marched his way to the front.
There was a rather large supply of bonus money available to teams on Wednesday night, which was a welcome sight to many as we hit the dog days of summer. Chris Spotts Welding offered cash bonuses of $150 to the heat race winners (Miller and Bruno) as well as a $100 bonus to the hard charger for the evening, Perigo (10th to 3rd). Additionally, a big thank you to John Schneider of E. Schneider & Sons Recycling who added $500 to the winner’s share and an extra $100 to every position from second through the rest of the field.
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USAC RAPID TIRE EAST COAST SPRINT CARS PRESENTED BY CAPITOL CUSTOM TRAILERS RACE RESULTS: July 10, 2024 – Action Track USA – Kutztown, Pennsylvania – Iron Cowboy Classic
FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, all transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. 23m-Kenny Miller III (5), 2. 22R-Ronald Helmick (1), 3. 19-Steven Drevicki (7), 4. 18J-J.T. Ferry (8), 5. 96-Cameron Smith (2), 6. 39x-Scott Frack (6), 7. 44-Gary Huston (4), 8. 88J-Joey Amantea (3). NT
SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, all transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. 17-Christian Bruno (1), 2. 39-Briggs Danner (7), 3. 7-Ed Aikin (2), 4. 5B-Bobby Butler (8), 5. 21-Carmen Perigo (4), 6. 1-Patrick Chilmonik (6), 7. 83-Bruce Buckwalter Jr. (5).
ALSO AT THE TRACK: 3H-Heidi Hedin
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Briggs Danner (4), 2. Kenny Miller III (3), 3. Carmen Perigo (10), 4. Christian Bruno (2), 5. Steven Drevicki (8), 6. Cameron Smith (9), 7. Bobby Butler (1), 8. J.T. Ferry (6), 9. Bruce Buckwalter Jr. (14), 10. Scott Frack (11), 11. Ed Aikin (5), 12. Ronald Helmick (7), 13. Gary Huston (13), 14. Patrick Chilmonik (12), 15. Joey Amantea (15). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-4 Christian Bruno, Laps 5-30 Briggs Danner.
HARD CHARGER: Carmen Perigo (10th to 3rd)
USAC RAPID TIRE EAST COAST SPRINT CARS PRESENTED BY CAPITOL CUSTOM TRAILERS POINTS: 1-Steven Drevicki-621, 2-Ed Aikin-500, 3-Christian Bruno-473, 4-Alex Bright-465, 5-Bobby Butler-447, 6-Briggs Danner-418, 7-Carmen Perigo-315, 8-Jason Cherry-310, 9-Matthew Swift-272, 10-Joey Amantea-242.
NEXT USAC RAPID TIRE EAST COAST SPRINT CARS PRESENTED BY CAPITOL CUSTOM TRAILERS RACE: August 2, 2024 – Clinton County Speedway – Mill Hall, Pennsylvania
