The Racesaver 305 sprint car class has taken off tremendously and become greatly popular at central Pennsylvania and New Jersey dirt tracks.
The Racesaver 305 sprint car class has taken off tremendously and become greatly popular at central Pennsylvania and New Jersey dirt tracks.
There are two different groups. The oldest is PA Sprint Series (PASS) and the second is the Mid-Atlantic Sprint Series (MASS). Both series follow the IMCA Racesaver 305 rules that are used all over the country.
PASS runs mostly in Central Pennsylvania and had a 44-race schedule this season. MASS runs mostly throughout New Jersey with one stop in Delaware and featured a 19-race schedule slate in 2021. Some of the shows on both of their schedules are combined shows with both series at tracks in Central Pennsylvania. There were six combined shows for the two series this year.
On April 17, there were 38 MASS sprints at New Jersey‘s Bridgeport Speedway and 22 PASS sprint cars at Path Valley Speedway in central Pennsylvania on the same day. That means there were 60 Racesaver 305 sprint cars running the same night in relatively the same region.
On nights when the two series run together, they frequently attract more than 50 entries. Drivers also tow in from the Western Pennsylvania Laurel Highlands series and the original Racesaver series, the Virginia Sprint Series, plus the Carolina Sprint Tour. The active driver list for PASS and MASS together includes more than 160 drivers.
The big event for the Racesaver 305s in the Northeast is the Keystone Racesaver Challenge. It was run for the 10th time on Oct. 23 at Pennsylvania‘s Port Royal Speedway.
During the first nine years of the event, it averaged 50 cars per year with the high car count of 57 set in 2017. This year‘s Keystone Racesaver Challenge blew the past events out of the water with 70 entries taking on the fast, half-mile dirt track.
Eight drivers have won the Keystone Racesaver Challenge and four of them — Jake Waters, Jeff Geiges, Nick Sweigart and Garrett Bard — had a shot to join Jeff Miller as the only two-time winners of the event.
Erin Statler is the only driver who has raced in every Keystone Racesaver Challenge with her best finish of seventh coming in 2015. This year she was inducted into the PASS Hall of Fame.
Ken Duke Jr. has one of the strongest records of any competitor in the eight years he has run with three top-five finishes and six top-10s, the most of any racer. Duke is a past Racesaver national champion and PASS champion. He was among the favorites to win the Keystone Racesaver Challenge.
Drivers representing the many nearby regional Racesaver series entered the event, along with most of the MASS and PASS winners from the 2021 season. Among them was this year‘s PASS champion, Garrett Bard. Bard is also the defending Racesaver national champion.
The victory went to the Buckeye Stated driver Justin Clark ventured to Port Royal Speedway for the fourth consecutive October and finally went home with the big victory. It was his 17th Racesaver triumph of the season.
Clark also earned the Ohio, Indiana and national Racesaver championships for 2021. Clark has raced all over Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania this year, also making stops in North Carolina and Nebraska.
The Racesaver series is growing rapidly all over the country with the Northeast very strong with the PASS and MASS growing rapidly and producing some entertaining shows.