PERIGO WINS FIRST USAC EAST COAST FEATURE AT ACTION TRACK USA
Kutztown, Pennsylvania (July 12, 2023)………In order to achieve his first USAC East Coast Sprint Car victory on Wednesday night, Carmen Perigo not only had to fend off two of the most successful drivers in series’ history, but he had to battle a deflating right rear tire too.
But the Stoystown, Pa. throttle-jockey held on to claim the popular triumph at Championship Energy Action Track USA at Kutztown, Pennsylvania’s Action Track USA.
Some longtime race fans in attendance called it, “the best Sprint Car race I’ve seen this year” as the non-wing 360 sprinters presented a terrific 30-lap Iron Cowboy Classic that was sponsored by E. Schneider & Sons Scrap Metal Processing and Recycling.
Twenty cars took the green with Perigo quickly buzzing past pole sitter Preston Lattomus to lead lap one. Briggs Danner (started 8th) and Alex Bright (started 12th) were slicing their way through the pack on the racy bullring. Danner fought his way to fourth, then engaged in a highly entertaining three-way scuffle for second with Lattomus and Chris Allen Jr.
The trio was dicing with lapped traffic and one another as Perigo scampered to a commanding half-lap lead. The first 20 tours went clean and green before a caution wiped out Perigo’s huge advantage, and allowed Danner, who prevailed in that three-car dogfight, to restart right behind the leader.
Bright became a factor on the restart, sliding Lattomus for third in turns three and four. Driving the Heffner Racing Enterprises, Curt Michael wrenched No. 27, Bright made Danner his next victim, moving to the runner-up slot with a nice slider in one and two.
The second yellow flag of the race flew with just four circuits remaining. As the race went green once again, Bright and Danner battled fiercely for second, throwing haymaker slide jobs at each other while staying within striking distance of race leader Perigo.
“I looked at the scoreboard under that second caution and saw the numbers 27 and 39 and thought, ‘oh no, not them,’ but I should have expected them to be a factor, I guess,” laughed Perigo in victory lane. “And I could feel my right-rear going soft with about two to go. I think I bounced it off the wall a little too often.”
Danner wrestled the runner up position back from Bright and set sail after Perigo. The third (and final) caution came with two to go, giving Danner one more shot at the leader. Danner hung with Perigo on the restart, then went for the slider in turns three and four on the last trip around the clay. He drove Perigo up the banking, but the chauffeur of the No. 21 held his ground as they banged wheels and Perigo’s soft right-rear kissed the concrete one more time.
Perigo won the drag race to the checkered flag by a mere 0.335 seconds over Danner with Bright fading a bit at the end but holding on for third place money. Joey Amantea and Allen completed the top-five.
“Yeah, we banged wheels and got a little physical, but we were both going for the win,” explained Perigo afterward. “And I knew Briggs would lift a bit and give me room to straighten out after the contact. He’s a really good and really clean driver and it was fun racing with him like that.”
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USAC RAPID TIRE EAST COAST SPRINT CARS PRESENTED BY CAPITOL CUSTOM TRAILERS RACE RESULTS: July 12, 2023 – Action Track USA – Kutztown, Pennsylvania
FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. 20-Timmy Buckwalter (2), 2. 39-Briggs Danner (8), 3. 18T-J.T. Ferry (3), 4. 11-Mike Thompson (6), 5. 83-Bruce Buckwalter Jr. (7), 6. 39x-Scott Frack (9), 7. 44-Gary Huston (5), 8. 3H-Heidi Hedin (1), 9. 17-Christian Bruno (4). NT
SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. 19-Steven Drevicki (1), 2. 23B-Preston Lattomus (4), 3. 7-Ed Aikin (8), 4. 7B-Aidan Borden (7), 5. 87-Austin Graby (6), 6. 96-Lee Kauffman (5), 7. 1-Patrick Chilmonik (3), 8. 45-Brett Rose (2). NT
THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. 21-Carmen Perigo (1), 2. 71-Chris Allen Jr. (4), 3. 88J-Joey Amantea (5), 4. 27-Alex Bright (6), 5. 23m-Kenny Miller III (8), 6. 5B-Bobby Butler (7), 7. 29-Dalton Herrick (2), 8. X-Brendan Hires (3). NT
SEMI: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Scott Frack (1), 2. Bobby Butler (3), 3. Dalton Herrick (6), 4. Brendan Hires (9), 5. Gary Huston (4), 6. Patrick Chilmonik (5), 7. Brett Rose (8), 8. Heidi Hedin (7), 9. Lee Kauffman (2). NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Carmen Perigo (2), 2. Briggs Danner (8), 3. Alex Bright (12), 4. Joey Amantea (5), 5. Chris Allen Jr. (3), 6. Timmy Buckwalter (9), 7. Steven Drevicki (7), 8. Kenny Miller III (15), 9. J.T. Ferry (6), 10. Mike Thompson (10), 11. Brendan Hires (19), 12. Scott Frack (16), 13. Dalton Herrick (18), 14. Preston Lattomus (1), 15. Bobby Butler (17), 16. Aidan Borden (11), 17. Bruce Buckwalter Jr. (13), 18. Ed Aikin (4), 19. Austin Graby (14), 20. Gary Huston (20). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Carmen Perigo.
USAC RAPID TIRE EAST COAST SPRINT CARS PRESENTED BY CAPITOL CUSTOM TRAILERS POINTS: 1-Briggs Danner-655, 2-Steven Drevicki-584, 6-Joey Amantea-469, 3-J.T. Ferry-463, 4-Bobby Butler-444, 5-Bruce Buckwalter Jr.-437, 7-Ed Aikin-419, 9-Mike Thompson-373, 10-Chris Allen Jr.-365, 10-Carmen Perigo-359.
NEXT USAC RAPID TIRE EAST COAST SPRINT CARS PRESENTED BY CAPITOL CUSTOM TRAILERS RACE: August 5, 2023 – Lincoln Speedway – Abbottstown, Pennsylvania
