Story By: JEFFREY AHLUM / GRANDVIEW SPEEDWAY – BECHTELSVILLE, PA – This Saturday night Grandview Speedway will present a huge night of racing under the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Racing Series banner as part of the 60th season anniversary celebration.
This week’s race program on Saturday, August 13 will feature the T.P. Trailer NASCAR Modifieds in the biggest race of the summer, the 52nd annual running of the Forrest Rogers Memorial. The race, run every season to honor the founder and builder of Grandview Speedway, will once again be run over the 50-lap distance, and reward the winner a pay envelope worth $10,000 for the victory.
The T.P. Truck Equipment NASCAR Sportsman will also be part of the program that will include qualifying events leading to the 50-lap T.P. Trailer Modified Forrest Rogers Memorial feature and the 25-lap T.P. Truck Equipment Sportsman main event, all getting started at 7:30 pm.
Pit gates will open at 4 pm. with grandstand gates opening at 5:30 pm. and warm-ups will be starting at 6:30 pm. Adult grandstand admission is $30, while children ages 6-11 will be $10, and children ages 5 and under are admitted free of charge.
Representatives from Dorney Park and Wildwater Kingdom will be on hand to promote hiring opportunities for their special event, HAUNT, to be held in the fall at the park. Anyone can be a MONSTER! Everyone is invited to stop by and visit the Dorney Park HAUNT team, they are looking to hire MONSTERS starting at $15 an hour and want YOU to join their team.
The Modified qualifying heat races will be sponsored by Dorney Park and Wildwater Kingdom for this special night of racing during the Forrest Rogers Memorial.
Prior to the racing action on Saturday will be the weekly Low Down and Dirty Meet and Greet. This week’s drivers include the Hirthler family of racers with Modified driver Kevin Hirthler and Sportsman drivers Brian and Jesse Hirthler. The Meet and Greet is held in the main gate area starting at 5 pm. and is a great time for fans to meet the drivers up close, collect some autographs, take photos, and talk racing one on one.
Saturday’s program will be the final in a series of race events recorded and produced by ATVN-TV. The races will be broadcast on a tape-delayed basis on the following Tuesday night, with further replays to follow. ATVN airs on channel 4/1004 HD (Lehigh Valley) and channel 8/608 (Delaware County). The air dates and times can be found at astound.com/ATVN.
Entering the action for this week’s Forrest Rogers Memorial, Craig Von Dohren, a nine-time winner of the Forrest Rogers Memorial race, was the feature winner last Saturday night and remains on top as the T.P. Trailer Modified point leader.
Brett Kressley finished third in the feature last Saturday to remain in the second spot in points while Doug Manmiller finished the main event in ninth to hold down third in points, Jeff Strunk was runner-up in the feature to Von Dohren and holds down the fourth spot, while Duane Howard scored a tenth place finish to maintain the number five position in points.
The current top ten in T.P. Trailer Modified points are 1. Craig Von Dohren – 3426, 2. Brett Kressley – 3315, 3. Doug Manmiller – 3194, 4. Jeff Strunk – 2987, 5. Duane Howard – 2890, 6. Tim Buckwalter – 2724, 7. Jared Umbenhauer – 2319, 8. Cory Merkel – 1905, 9. Ryan Grim – 1878, 10. Kevin Hirthler – 1861.
In the T.P. Truck Equipment Sportsman, Brian Hirthler remains on top of the standings after having his two-race win streak broken and ended up with a solid second place behind winner Decker Swinehart.
Dylan Hoch remains second in points after an eighth-place finish, with Jimmy Leiby holding down third after finishing in tenth, Kyle Smith holds down fourth after an early exit from last week’s feature due to a crash, and Parker Guldin maintains fifth after a non-top ten outing.
The current top ten in T.P. Truck Equipment Sportsman points are 1. Brian Hirthler – 2687, 2. Dylan Hoch – 2416, 3. Jimmy Leiby – 2113, 4. Kyle Smith – 2073, 5. Parker Guldin – 1715, 6. Mike Schneck Jr. – 1672, 7. Cody Manmiller – 1657, 8. Dakota Kohler – 1600, 9. Cole Stangle – 1456, 10. Jesse Hirthler – 1430.