This past Saturday night, history was made at Hummingbird Speedway in Reynoldsville.
(Photo: Blaze Myers makes history at Hummingbird Speedway. Photo by Rick Rarer.)
For the first time in the 59 year history of the track, sprint cars competed on the third mile speedway.
A nice field of 18 wingless sprint cars filled the pits along with the track’s regular divisions, bringing the car count to over one hundred for annual Ina’s Memorial Shootout.
Franklin’s Blaze Myers, Brian Hartzell, and Chad Ruhlman would get the evening started by winning their respective heat races.
In the feature, Myers took early command and from there would hold off the two of the toughest in the class.
Ruhlman and Gale Ruth made their presence known as they stalked the leader the entire race.
Just as Myers looked to have the win in his hands, the yellow flag flew on the final lap for a car spun out in turn four. This set up a two lap dash for the win. The restart would find Ruhlman right on Blaze’s back bumper as the two ran nearly side by side, the final two laps keeping the fans on the edge of their seats.
When the checkers flew, it was Myers edging Ruhlman for the historic win.
Ruhlman, who is the winningest RUSH sprint car driver in history, would have to settle for the runner-up spot while Blaze took his second consecutive win of the season. Ruth rounded out the podium.
The show was such a success the RUSH Sprints have been added to the card for one more show this season on Saturday, September 2.
Brandon Conner bested Franklin’s Josh Seippel to win the Ina’s Memorial pro stock special worth $1,500.
Hummingbird Speedway will be back in action this Saturday night when the BRP Mod Tour featuring the area’s best big block modifieds join the weekly program
AJ Flick continued his winning ways over the weekend, scoring his eleventh win of the 2023 season in exciting fashion on Friday night at Lernerville Speedway. Alex Ferree won the late model feature while New York invader Eric Rudolph scored another win in the big block feature.
Lernerville Speedway will be back in action this Friday with another Fab 4 racing program.
Sharon Speedway will be in action this Saturday when they present the Super Late Model Showdown Presented by Stackhouse Construction, which will find the winner taking home $3,000. Rounding out the card Saturday will be the pro stocks, and the RUSH wingless sprint cars, and modifies.
Several area sprint car drivers will be headed east on interstate 80 to Clinton County Speedway this Saturday for the track’s biggest race of the season.
The Phil Walter Classic will see the winner take home $6,300 for their efforts. AJ Flick, Darn Pifer, and Carl Bowser are just a few of the locals expected to be in attendance.
Unfortunately, the BOSS wingless sprint show scheduled at Tri-City Raceway this Sunday has been cancelled. The track has replaced the BOSS segment of the show with the regular winged 410 sprints.
The track’s weekly divisions will also be in action this Sunday with racing slated for 6:00 p.m.
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