MECHANICSBURG, Pa. — It had been eight months since Daryn Pittman last sat in a sprint car, at Williams Grove Speedway, and it was eight years since he last visited victory lane at Williams Grove but that didn’t stop him from walking off with the $8,000 top prize in the Lawrence Chevrolet 410 sprint car feature at the track on Friday night.
In fact, the 45-year-old Oklahoman scored a clean sweep of the night aboard the Don Kreitz No. 69k, earning $300 for quick time in time trials before going on to win his heat and then the main event.
And he did it all on a momentous day for his Hall of Fame Mechanic Dave Brown Sr. as the win came on Brown’s milestone 90th birthday.
In the Dirty Deeds 25 for HJ Towing & Recovery 358 sprint cars, Matt Findley scored his first ever checkers after years of trying to the tune of $2,500.
Pittman started third in the 25-lap 410 sprint Hoosier Diamond Series race and watched as Troy Wagaman Jr. and Dylan Cisney took the green from the front row.
Wagaman was in control over Pittman on the third lap when the first yellow flag of the race unfurled with three laps down for a spun Danny Dietrich who was running fourth.
The restart saw only one more lap get completed before Tony Jackson rode the first turn rail and turned over.
Pittman chased Wagaman for the next eight laps before squeezing to Wagaman’s inside in the second corner to get command.
Wagaman was hard to shake however as the Hanover pilot stuck close to Pittman for the next several laps as the pair worked through traffic.
However as the laps wore on Pittman began sneaking away only to see another yellow flag bunch the field with four laps to go.
The caution was for a slowing Freddie Rahmer who had been racing with Dylan Cisney for third when the pair made contact, causing both of their mounts to suffer damage.
Pittman pulled away on the restart to a 3.413 second lead at the finish for the 18th Williams Grove sprint car win of his career.
Wagaman was second followed by Lance Dewease, T.J. Stutts and Australian Ryan Newton.
The finish:
Feature (25 laps): 1. Daryn Pittman, 2. Troy Wagaman Jr., 3. Lance Dewease, 4. TJ Stutts, 5. Ryan Newton, 6. Lucas Wolfe, 7. Devon Borden, 8. Jeff Halligan, 9. Danny Dietrich, 10. Ryan Taylor, 11. Chad Trout, 12. Kyle Moody, 13. Freddie Rahmer, 14. Austin Bishop, 15. Dylan Cisney, 16. Aaron Bollinger, 17. Kody Hartlaub, 18. Kyle Spence, 19. Rick Lafferty, 20. Kyle Keen, 21. Matt Miller, 22. Tony Jackson