Busy Night Planned To End Season At Raceway 7

Conneaut, OH (August 30, 2017): The 2017 season will end with a bang at Raceway 7 when Gibson Fireworks will put on a huge display during the night when season champions are crowned. None of the five divisions have had a champion clinch the title this season so every point in every heat and every feature will take on added importance. All this for a night of racing at the regular admission price!

Bob Vogt was a long-time competitor at Raceway 7 and was a Late Model class champion. Jackie Vogt was a scorer at the track for many years. Bob succumbed to cancer in 2003 while Jackie passed away in 2015. Both were loved and respected by fans, drivers, and crews. Their son, Bob Jr, competes in the Bonnell’s Auto Group Economod class and granddaughter Alexis Vogt competes in the Sunnyside Farms Transit Inc Mini-Stocks.

The Bonnell Collision Center E-Mods will have a packed night of racing with the richest payout of the year for the class. The advertised winner’s purse has increased from $1000 to $2000 with the infusion of extra cash from Cashen Ready Mix, The Home Tavern, and Mike Stoneman from Hide-a-Ways Lake Campgrounds. Cashen Ready Mix and HBR Trucks (Rick Pratschler) have added to the purse throughout the field so that the last-place finisher will receive $150. The Home Tavern is also donating $200 to be awarded to a random finisher (to be drawn by the feature winner) from sixth to 24th place. In addition, Joel Smith of Close Racing Supply is donating a $100 certificate to the “Hard Charger” and a tire for the winner! Heat and dash winners will also receive receive cash awards as follows: Heat 1: Tregler Race Engines, Heat 2: 955 Automotive, Heat 3: Johnson Gearing, Dash 1: AMSOIL by Gary and Bonnie Neubauer, Dash 2: McDonald Meats. Each preliminary race will pay $100 to the winners thanks to the preceding sponsors.

A group time-trial format will be followed with the groups set by a pill-draw. Each group will time-trial against each other to set the heat race line-ups. The top two finishers of each heat will compete in the first dash, which will set positions one through six in the feature with the third and fourth place finishers in each heat starting seventh through twelfth in the feature line up. The thirteenth through twenty fourth spots will be filled from the fifth on back in the heats. For cars not qualifying for the feature, $50 in tow money will be paid. Dan Davies was the 2016 winner of this event. Percy McDonald won the inaugural running of the memorial in 2015 by 1/1000 of a second over Dan Davies, the closest finish in Raceway 7 history!

Not lost in the shuffle is the season championship points battle! Up front, Gary Eicher, a three-time feature winner this season, leads the points championship battle over defending champion Joel Watson and last week’s winner, Troy Johnson, locked in a tie for second, by only seventeen points. Fourth is Ken Zimmer, a two time winner, with Mike Kinney filling out the top five. Only 39 markers separate the top four, so going into the final event of the season, the title is up for grabs along with the big purse. Jeremy Double also has a feature win this season, that coming on opening night.

The other four classes will also be in competition with the Evergreen Lake Park Campground CARS Crate Late Models showing former champion Kyle Zimmerman leading Darrell Bossard by nineteen points. Zimmerman has a single feature win while Bossard has not yet gone to Victory Lane. Dave Airgood, a three-time winner, is third with Alan Dellinger fourth, and defending champion Chad Wright rounding out the top five. Wright has two wins this season. June 2nd winner Chris Withers is currently seventh in points, behind Wendall Pinckney, not yet a winner this season.

The Bonnell Auto Group Economods championship race is extremely tight with Steve Haefke holding a narrow five-point lead over Tyler Frankenberry. Haefke has two wins this summer while Frankenberry has two. Opening night winner Brandon Blackshear is third, just six more points out of second! Fourth is Eric Reinwald with Mitchell Wright fifth. Each of the top five has at least one feature win this season. Gary Miller also collected a feature win, his first-ever at Raceway 7, on August 18.

Jimmy Kennerknecht has a solid 46-point lead over Don McGuire in the Campbell Mini Storage Street Stock championship tilt. Kennerknecht has three wins, including last Friday while McGuire has not yet visited the Winner’s Circle. Garrett Calvert is third, only ten points out of second. Calvert seems to be on the cusp of a win, perhaps will get that elusive first trip to Victory Lane this week. Jamie Duncan, another 105 points back, also has not won a feature in ’17, but getting closer, is fourth in the standings, with Anthony Marotto, also without a win, fifth. Tim Deutsch has two wins and is sixth, only six markers away from fifth. Bobby Whitling, Mike Miller, Chris McGuire, and 2016 champion Shaun Fawcett each have one win.

Joe Campbell, with one feature win, has a solid 40 point edge in the Sunnyside Farm Transit Mini Stock standings over Bill Fuchs, who has not yet won this summer. Defending champion Jason Easler, with one win, currently sits third another 27 points back. Zach Downes, with five wins in five visits, is fourth, another 54 points behind Easler. Fifth is Jim Jones, as yet winless at Raceway 7 in ’17. Former champions Dale Fraschetti and Bud Sergeff also each have one win.

Raceway 7 is located six miles south of Interstate 90 on Route 7 in the town of Monroe Center, OH and races every Friday night May — September. Racing begins at 7:30 PM every Friday. General admission for this special event is only $10, children 7-14 admitted for $5 each. Kids 6 and under are always free. NO PETS are admitted to the track! Fan and pit gates open at 5:30 PM. Pit admission is $25 width minimum age 18. Children under 18 admitted with a “Minor Release” form available at pit gate that must be filled out by a parent accompanying the youth. Race day information is available at (440) 594-2222. The track maintains a website at www.raceway7.com.