HARTFORD, Ohio — Dave Blaney retired in style Saturday night at Sharon Speedway — the track his family owns.
The former NASCAR Cup Series racer and National Sprint Car Hall of Famer won the 16th annual Lou Blaney Memorial, which remembers his legendary dad and raises funds for the Alzheimer’s Association. He celebrated by retiring in victory lane.
Blaney regained the lead back from Ryan Smith on lap eight then held off a last-lap charge by central Pennsylvania standout Danny Dietrich to win the 30-lap Lou Blaney Memorial for the third time.
In the 16-year history, Blaney is the only sprint car driver to win the event more than once and Saturday night’s sendoff was worth $12,000 for the 95-time World of Outlaws winner and 1995 champion.
“This is big,” the 61-year-old father of NASCAR champion Ryan Blaney said. “This is a race Dale (Blaney) and I try to win every year. To beat that guy (Danny Dietrich) in my last race…because I’m officially done right now — there’s no better way to retire than to win this one.
“It was a great race,” added Blaney. “I don’t think I was the fastest car by any means. The 6 (Smith) had trouble and the 48 (Dietrich) was all over me, but we hung on. I tried to protect and saw where Danny was getting his runs from. You don’t think too much and run as hard as you can and hope you don’t give him a lane to drive up in front of you. I can’t believe we did it. This is awesome. Thank you to everyone for coming out.”
Dietrich, Cale Thomas, Cap Henry and Tim Shaffer completed the top five. Dale Blaney was sixth.
Erick Rudolph joined Blaney as a three-time winner of the Lou Blaney Memorial on the Big-Block Modified side.