SOUTH AMHERST, Ohio – Past Attica Raceway Park and Fremont Speedway track champion Craig Mintz took time out last Saturday night to take on a challenge.
For the first time in more than 20 years, Mintz drove a race car on a pavement track.
Mintz wheeled the Linder Speed Shop wrenched No. 11N of car owner Ed Neumiester at Lorain County Speedway with the Must See Racing Sprint Car Series presented by Engine Pro.
“We wanted to run with these guys a couple years ago,” said Mike Linder before the day started. “They had a race scheduled at Sandusky and Lorain so we bought tires got everything ready, then the two races was cancelled. We sold a couple of the tires but when they announced this event early on, we geared back up and got ready to go. The decision was made if they were only paying one dollar to win, we were going to run this race.”
“We just want to have fun,” added Mintz. “We’re at a certain age now, the Linder’s and myself, we just wanted to do and try something different. We have been running that local scene now for well over 20 years on the dirt, so it’s just something different. We really want to see if we can be competitive or not. It has been a long time, 19 or 20 years of the dirt stuff … and we just want to see if we can be competitive with a dirt car. It’s a challenge; the Linder’s have drove me to try this. They started talking to me in December, and I finally said hell, let’s do it, I’ll drive anything. And you know a couple sponsors – Gill Construction came on board – and Ed furnished us the car so here we came.
“In hot laps we were pretty good; I don’t know where we were at. We went out to qualify at about mid pack when we went out and set fourth quick time overall. It has just gotten to the point to see how competitive we are, and this is an opportunity, we don’t get many. It is really cool to see the guys get really excited about it. It’s not something we do every day, a different element for us,” Mintz added. “You know, we weren’t there to beat anybody or impress anybody. We just wanted to be competitive and have fun. The guys were all relaxed down there in the pit area and just enjoying everything. It’s great to see that.
“It’s a challenge and we accepted it.”
It was a success for the dirt group. They managed to take an older four-bar car with a 360 engine to a podium finish.
Mintz eventually earned the pole, then led the first 14 laps and held his own before getting passed by eventual winner Jimmy McCune and Troy DeCaire. He finished third.
“For a bunch of dirt guys, we were happy with that,” Mintz noted. “We were not here to ruffle any feathers, not here to cause trouble. We just wanted to race and be competitive. To come out of there with a top five … we will take it back to Gibsonburg and be happy.
“It was just about having fun; that’s all we wanted to do.”