LEHIGHTON, Pa. — Winning is nothing new to Brain DeFebo. After all, he’s done it 110 times in his career. But winning in a car other than his own is something that he’s never experienced – that is until Saturday night at Mahoning Valley Speedway.
DeFebo got a call from car owner Tom Wanick III to drive his No. 1W knowing that his signature No. 53 was out of commission due to an engine issue. After a solid fourth place run with the same car in the May 21 Tom Wanick Jr. Memorial, Wanick III reached out to DeFebo to drive it again in Saturday’s 35-lap feature.
The result? Reward the popular owner with his first win in nearly 21 years.
“When Tom Wanick calls and says, ‘I want you to drive the car,’ you know you’re hopping into the best and you say yes,” said DeFebo.
DeFebo started third and on the opening lap pulled off a thrilling three-wide pass for the lead over polesitter Jacob Kerstetter and Bobby Jones.
Jones was quick to move into second and from then on it was a battle of titans as the pair engaged in a virtual nonstop fight to the finish. Time and again Jones was trying every way possible to pass for the lead but keeping his guard up on each lap DeFebo withstood the onslaught.
There would be only one caution which only added to the intenseness of the perennial champions match up. With nine laps to go the action was halted when Frank Parastino spun off the front straight. This gave Jones an opportunity to line up alongside DeFebo.
But as the race resumed so too did the one-two clash.
“It could have went the other way and I just had to get back in my rhythm and do what we had been doing up to then,” DeFebo noted.
DeFebo showed the way and right down to the wire as they stayed glued nose-to-tail. The restart helped Nick Baer pull in close with the front pair but at the drop of the checkered flag it would be DeFebo collecting his first win of 2023.
“He (Jones) was putting it to me there and I knew I couldn’t get off the bottom and if I did it would open up that lane and he and the rest would freight train me,” DeFebo said.
Baer had a solid third. Lou Strohl was in the hunt and raced in the top five from the get-go and scored fourth while points leader Kyle Strohl rounded out the top five.
For Wanick, it marked his first win since September 14, 2002 at Evergreen Raceway with Chris Ammon behind the wheel. At the time it was his father, Tom Jr., who was the team owner.
“It was excellent. I always looked up to (car owner) Butch Balas and he always told me if you ever get the chance to put Brian in your car and I listened to him this year,” Wanick said. “I was supposed to go to Seekonk for the (NASCAR Modified) Tour race but I had to work so instead I decided to come down to Mahoning and I called Brian to race the car.
“I put him in my dad’s race and he did a hell of job and tonight with him and Gary (Slusser crew chief) they did fantastic. We’ve been trying so hard to get a win here at Mahoning and I couldn’t be happier, I love coming here.”
DeFebo added that it was indeed good to have his team along which included Gary Slusser, his mom Sophie Welsh and Genevive Yamelski whom did not attend the Wanick Memorial race.
“When we were here for the 150 it was a good car and we just didn’t have enough time to get it 100% right,” DeFebo said. “Today we were more comfortable with it and I also had my crew chief Gary Slusser, my mom and Gennie with me.
“Anytime you can drive a race car its fun and we have a lot more to go, we’re far from done.”
Geary Rinehimer Jr. won the street stock feature, Cody Kohler earned the Pro 4 feature, Cody Boehm scored the Hobby Stock win while Jake Oswald was victorious in Junk Car feature competition.
Feature Finish (35 Laps)
1. Brian DeFebo, 2. Bobby Jones, 3. Nick Baer, 4. Lou Strohl, 5. Kyle Strohl, 6. Johnny Bennett, 7. Nevin George, 8. Terry Markovic, 9. Jacob Kerstetter, 10. BJ Wambold, 11. Frank Parastino, 12. Rich Cooper, 13. Makayla Kohler