Barberville, FL – February 16, 2008 – By Tom Skibinski, Advance Auto Parts Super DIRTcar Series PR Director
Jimmy Horton almost wasn’t able to save his best for last, yet having one of the fastest cars for the second straight night gave him a chance and the Neshanic Station, New Jersey speedster took advantage to survive and score a dramatic win Saturday night in the Advance Auto Parts Alltel 50 finale at Volusia Speedway Park.
New Jersey state rivals Brett Hearn and Billy Pauch finished together for the fourth straight night, producing the fourth tie in history for the coveted Alltel DIRTcar Nationals Big-Block Modified points title.
“Motors have been keeping me entertained here the whole week,” said Horton, 51, after parking the Schmidt Racing no. 5 Lincoln Auto Body/Troyer entry in Alltel Victory Lane at VSP for the sixth time, his first since February of 2006. “We broke a motor in warm-ups the first night, don’t really know why, then ran decent the next night. Last night we were real good and I was having a lot of fun until getting into that jingle.”
“Tonight everything was pretty good then all of a sudden it jumped out of gear. I thought the motor broke so I said I’ll give it one more try and put it back in gear and she took off again. I think when it jumped out of gear it might have over-revved the motor and broke a rocker arm because with about seven laps to go it started skipping. I said sorry Dieter (Schmidt, owner), its going to the end,” Horton added.
Early race leader Jimmy Phelps hung on to finish second four car-lengths behind for his first top-five tally of the week in the H&H Motorsports no. 98H Mohawk Northeast-New England Race Fuels/Troyer mount. After suffering a flat left-rear tire just after grabbing the lead from Phelps on lap 18, Friday night winner Dale Planck charged back through to place third ahead of co-champions Pauch and Hearn.
Stocked with a fresh Morrison motor under the hood of his JIR Motorsports no. 27J Troyer machine, Danny Johnson jumped out early from his pole-position start until Phelps drove around as the pair throttled out of turn two. Pauch, Planck and Horton chased the leaders in the early going with Hearn yet to find his way into the top-10 with first five laps complete.
Central New Yorker Dave Rauscher backed his Magee Transportation Services-Monadnock Disposal Service/Bicknell down the home stretch to incur the first of seven yellow flags just as upstarts Mark Forte Jr. and Rob Bellinger tangled in turn two. Jeremy Markle and Steve Downs hooked up in the same spot two laps later to quickly bring out a second caution with the front-five racers remaining together with 10 in the books.
Planck finally moved past Pauch for third on lap 13 and overtook Johnson for the runner-up slot two laps later then set his sights on the leader. This time it was Mark Forte Sr. locking horns with Bellinger in the initial turns to force another slowdown, just what Planck was looking for as he ducked low to forge his first lead on lap 18. But that lasted only one more circuit as Planck’s left-rear Hoosier went soft allowing Phelps to regain the point .
The no. 1W Will Brown Truck Repair-K&A Excavating/Bicknell mount of Pauch suddenly came to life on the lap 20 restart, blasting from fourth to first, going around Andy Bachetti then under Phelps as Johnson sandwiched the leader coming out of turn four. Horton was left to watch in fifth while Hearn moved in to make it a six car battle with half the race still to go.
Horton moved back past Hearn then disposed of Bachetti and when Johnson had a tire go down under yellow, Horton was riding in the top-three and getting faster as the race wore on. Horton flew past Phelps on a lap 26 restart and sped high around Pauch to forge the final lead change on lap 28. With the “Sensational One” out front, only the positions behind him changed as Horton held on for his 83rd career DIRTcar Big-Block Modified feature win.
“This is the way we wanted to start out,” Horton stated. “Dieter went out and bought some Troyer cars and it really made a difference. Other than blowing a motor on Wednesday and the mishap on Friday, we’ve done alright this week.”
With 17 of the 28 open-wheel starters completing the entire 50-lap distance, the top-10 positions were filled by veterans Pat Ward and Alan Johnson, Bachetti, Rick Laubach and Matt Sheppard. The Alltel DIRTcar Nationals points championship was the seventh for Hearn and third for Pauch, ironically, with each also tying for the title on other time; Hearn with Bachetti in 2005 and Pauch with Jeff Kappesser in 1982. Identical finishes of 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th were recorded by each driver during the four-day affair.
“It’s a great way for the team to start out with four top-5s,” said Hearn, the defending overall Hoosier-Sunoco Mr. DIRTcar Big-Block Modified Champion. “We didn’t have the best car by any means but just kept digging. Our goal is to finish in the top-five all the time, and we know the wins will come if we keep running up front.”
Added Pauch, “We came down here to win so its always nice to do good and get the title that goes along with it. Its definitely been a while. I think 1982 was the first time I ever came down to Florida. We’re happy the way things worked out this time around, hopefully we can carry the momentum back home. Right now Hagerstown and Virginia are already on our schedule.”
With the 2008 Alltel DIRTcar Nationals safely in the recordbook, teams packed up and headed home to get ready for the start of DIRTcar NorthEast's 33rd season at their hometrack. The first major event of the season is the Advance Auto Parts Super DIRTcar Series Big-Block Modified opener scheduled at Hagerstown (Md.) Speedway on Saturday, March 22. The 23-race Advance Auto Parts Series continues through October with Orange County Fair (NY) Speedway hosting the 47th Eastern States 200-lap season-finale on October 19.
Headquartered in Roanoke, Va., Advance Auto Parts is the second-largest retailer of automotive aftermarket parts, accessories, batteries, and maintenance items in the United States, based on store count and sales. As of October 6, 2007, the company operated 3,228 stores in 40 states, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. The company serves both the do-it-yourself and professional installer markets.
Advance Auto Parts Super DIRTcar Series – Volusia Speedway Park, February 16, 2008
37th Annual Alltel DIRTcar Nationals Event #4
BIG-BLOCK MODIFIED FEATURE
FIN STR CAR# DRIVER/HOMETOWN
1 4 5 Jimmy Horton/Neshanic Station,NJ($5,000)
2 2 98h Jimmy Phelps/Baldwinsville,NY
3 8 77x Dale Planck/Cortland,NY
4 17 20 Brett Hearn/Sussex,NJ
5 6 1w Billy Pauch/Frenchtown,NJ
6 21 42p Pat Ward/Genoa,NY
7 25 14j Alan Johnson/Middlesex,NY
8 3 34 Andy Bachetti/Sheffield,MA
9 18 14 Rick Laubach/Quakertown,PA
10 13 44s Matt Sheppard/Waterloo,NY
11 12 7j Joe Isabell/Pennellville,NY
12 19 22 Mario Clair/St-Edmond,QUE
13 20 91w Larry Wight/Phoenix,NY
14 10 32 Jim Rasey/Southington,OH
15 5 8s Rich Scagliotta/Bound Brook,NJ
16 22 56 Vince Vitale/Phoenix,NY
17 24 18 Sean Beardsley/Central Square,NY
18 7 8 Rob Bellinger/Dexter,NY
19 14 43 Keith Flach/Ravena,NY
20 23 79 Jeremy Markle/Port Jervis,NY
21 11 48too Dave Rauscher/Waterloo,NY
22 9 55 Jamie Mills/Milford,DE
23 27 30 Jordan Watson/Milford,DE
24 28 m40 Mark Forte,Jr./Blue Anchor,NJ
25 1 27j Danny Johnson/Rochester,NY
26 15 71 David VanHorn/Phillipsburg,NJ
27 16 40 Mark Forte,Sr./Blue Anchor,NJ
28 26 39w Steve Downs/Georgetown,DE
DID NOT QUALIFY(7)
1-Darwin Greene/Susquehanna,PA
20p-Pierre Berthiaume/Quebec City,QUE
20s-Steve Haggan/Flemington, NJ
t21-Roger Chrysler/Lewiston,NY
66w-Wallace Stacey/Kahnawake,QUE
85-Dan Vauter/Forest City,PA
923-Colin Jackson/Peckville,PA
Lap Leaders: D.Johnson (1-2), Phelps (3-17), Planck (18), Phelps (19), Pauch (20-27), Horton (28-50).
Cautions: 7 (lap 6, lap 8, lap 17, lap 19, lap 26, lap 31, lap 42).
QUALIFYING
Heat Races (8 laps, top 5 finishers transferred to feature)
#1: D.Johnson, Scagliotta, Mills, Sheppard, Hearn, Ward, Beardsley, Vitale, Stacey.
#2: Phelps, Pauch, Rasey, Flach, Laubach, Greene, Jackson, Haggan, A.Johnson.
#3: Bachetti, Bellinger, Rauscher, VanHorn, Clair, Markle, Watson, Chrysler, Forte Jr.
#4: Horton, Planck, Isabell, Forte Sr., Wight, Downs, Berthiaume, Vauter.
Consolation Round (12 laps, top 8 finishers transferred to feature)
#1: Ward, Vitale, Markle, Beardsley, A.Johnson, Downs, Watson, Forte Jr., Greene, Haggan, Berthiaume, Chrysler, Jackson, Stacey, Vauter (DNS).
Alltel DIRTcar Nationals Point Standings (FINAL)
POINTS CAR# DRIVER / HOMETOWN
214 20 BRETT HEARN/Sussex,NJ
214 1w BILLY PAUCH/Frenchtown,NJ
198 14j Alan Johnson/Middlesex,NY
194 42p Pat Ward/Genoa,NY
184 77x Dale Planck/Cortland,NY
176 44s Matt Sheppard/Waterloo,NY
176 98h Jimmy Phelps/Baldwinsville,NY
162 22 Mario Clair/St-Edmond,QUE
140 5 Jimmy Horton/Neshanic Station,NJ
136 14 Rick Laubach/Quakertown,PA
132 91w Larry Wight/Phoenix,NY
118 8s Rich Scagliotta/Bound Brook,NJ
115 56 Vince Vitale/Phoenix,NY
114 43 Keith Flach/Ravena,NY
114 34 Andy Bachetti/Sheffield,MA
108 71 David VanHorn/Phillipsburg,NJ
100 39w Steve Downs/Georgetown,DE
100 m40 Mark Forte,Jr./Blue Anchor,NJ
100 55 Jamie Mills/Milford,DE
92 7j Jeff Isabell/Pennellville,NY
92 18 Sean Beardsley/Central Square,NY
89 117 Kevin Hirthler/Boyertown,PA
87 32 Jim Rasey/Southington,OH
82 8 Rob Bellinger/Dexter,NY
78 79 Jeremy Markle/Port Jervis,NY
74 85 Dan Vauter/Forest City,PA
63 27j Danny Johnson/Rochester,NY
62 30 Jordan Watson/Milford,DE
62 48too Dave Rauscher/Waterloo,NY
60 40 Mark Forte,Sr./Blue Anchor,NJ
53 66w Wallace Stacey/Kahnawake,QUE
41 20p Mike Perrotte/Plattsburgh,NY
40 1 Darwin Greene/Susquehanna,PA
40 20s Steve Haggan/Flemington, NJ
40 t21 Roger Chrysler/Lewiston,NY
40 923 Colin Jackson/Peckville,PA
36 7j Joe Isabell/Pennellville,NY
30 OB's Bob Hentschel/Pine Bush,NY
20 71r John Reome/Greenfield Center,NY
10 20p Pierre Berthiaume/Quebec City,QUE
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