DRUMS, Pa. – The sprint car racing season in central Pennsylvania ended Nov. 12 at BAPS Motor Speedway, with Brent Marks in victory lane for his 11th Champion Racing Oil/Hoseheads.com Central PA Sprint Cars Point Series triumph of the year.
Marks also won seven features outside the region, giving him 18 total victories.
The central Pennsylvania racing season is one of the longest in the country — and in a cold region. As usual, the season started at Lincoln Speedway on Feb. 26 with Freddie Rahmer claiming the victory, leaving only two months without a sprint car race in the Keystone State.
Anthony Macri is the 2022 Champion Racing Oil/Hoseheads.com Central PA Sprint Cars Point Series champion by a large margin after garnering 22 series wins at eight area tracks. He accumulated 58 top-10 finishes to put him out of reach in the points.
Danny Dietrich was second in the point series with 60 top-10 finishes but only 12 victories. With 42 top-10 efforts, Brent Marks ended up third in the standings despite many journeys outside the state to race.
Rounding out the top-five finishers in series points were Freddie Rahmer in fourth with 51 top-10 finishes and six wins and Lance Dewease in fifth with 33 top-10 efforts and 10 wins.
There were 104 races run with 87 being possible for one driver, with some shows running the same nights. The series visited 14 tracks with 32 different winners. There were 115 drivers earning points.
Port Royal Speedway ran 28 races with Lincoln Speedway at 27 and Williams Grove Speedway at 24 races. Selinsgrove Speedway presented seven 410 sprint car shows, with New Jersey’s Bridgeport Motorsports Park having five, BAPS Motor Speedway four and Bloomsburg Fair Raceway running two events.
Bedford Speedway, Big Diamond Speedway, Clinton County Speedway, Grandview Speedway, Hagerstown (Md.) Speedway, Kutztown Action Track and Path Valley Speedway all had one show.
We expect all of those tracks to be back on the schedule this season except maybe Bloomsburg Fair Raceway as the town is giving them some noise-ordinance problems.
The sale of Grandview Speedway fell through and the third-mile track will return with sprint cars for the Thunder on The Hill shows.
There were 87 410 sprint car races in central Pennsylvania alone where teams were able sleep at home and limit travel expenses. With some travel, Dietrich and Macri both ran 93 shows.
Justin Peck ran the most shows of anyone in the country with 99 events. California’s Gio Scelzi, who spent considerable time in the region, ran 84 races with Brent Marks at 83. By racing in central Pennsylvania, drivers have the opportunity to run more shows than anyone else in the country.
The new season begins with a two-day event at Lincoln Speedway on Feb. 25-26. The Central PA Sprint Car Point Series title sponsor this year will be J&S Classics owned by Jim and Sandy Kline.
This story appeared in the Jan. 4 edition of the SPEED SPORT Insider.
Also new, the World of Outlaws will be in Pennsylvania for two weekends in March, after they leave Florida.
