LEHIGHTON, Pa. – The Mahoning Valley Speedway Hall of Fame Series, a race five special run amid the Modifieds, Street Stocks and Hobby Stocks, has been rapidly gaining interest among drivers from all three classes.
The MVSHoFS will be centered on an elite group of track legends including Doug Hoffman, John “Peepers” Yerger, George Wambold, Marvin Bartholomew and Hal Renninger.
While the five races will be determined with special distances and purses for the Modifieds, the Street and Hobby Stockers are also being included which has greatly bettered an already thrilling set of events.
For the Modifieds race number one is slated for Opening Night and honors Hoffman and his No. 60. Thus the feature will be 60 laps. Next will be a 77-lapper paying tribute to Yerger. That will be followed by an 81-lap affair which belongs to the celebrated Wambold. The next feature will be 85 laps, the number made famous by Bartholomew and finally a 99-lapper that is associated with Renninger.
“We’re very excited to bring the Hall of Fame Series to Mahoning Valley,” said track promoter Keith Hoffman.
“We wanted to honor all these important drivers for their contributions to the track. Our loyal fans and drivers will now have the opportunity to compete in meaningful specials throughout the season.”
With the anticipation of the start of the season and race number one draws near many drivers have made it their intent to not miss out on this unique structure of races.
“I really like the idea of the Hall of Fame Series,” said Zane Zeiner, who often takes in the special type shows at Mahoning Valley and does so most times as a winner.
“This works out great for me running once each month and then be able to spend time with my son who will be racing there too with a Sport Mod so this helps all around. We’re definitely going to do all five Series’ races.”
Over the years there has been a variety of series type races at Mahoning and Zeiner is no stranger to winning them either. In 2012 he captured the Modified Madness Series.
“I think it’s pretty neat. There’s a lot of famous drivers that are associated with Mahoning and to get to compete in something called Hall of Fame with the great names that go along with it is something special and if we can get one of those wins it would be that much sweeter.”
Not surprising Matt Hirschman was quick to throw his hat into the ring. Hirschman has 18 wins at Mahoning and of them is a record 14 special event features. He feels the MVSHoFS will be a great set of races for the Modifieds.
“I thinks it’s twofold. One it’s a great way to honor the past greats from the track and the area in general and the history that they represent and it means a lot to recognize that,” explained Hirschman.
“And doing it that it reflects their car number for the laps, every race is different. You can approach each race a little bit different based on the amount of laps and the races may play out completely different each time and that’s something exciting to prepare for.”
Each of the Modified features will have a car in that respective show with a number as a tribute to the night’s honoree. Hirschman will carry Doug Hoffman’s 60-Over for the first event.
“I have a lot of respect for Doug and his career and what he accomplished for a driver from this area. It’s an honor for me to carry his number for the first race being run in his name,” added Hirschman.
“It just so happened we share the same car number. That number goes back to Dorney Park and part of the reason that Doug and his family went with the 60 was because they liked my dad’s car from Dorney Park when he had the 60 so there is a tie-in there to the car number,” he continued.
“We’ve won with that car number from Maine to Florida and both the Hoffman family and Hirschman family have won a lot of races with that car number so it’s very recognizable in the northeast on both dirt and asphalt.”
Click below to keep reading.