RPW Column: Steven Drevicki Drives To USAC East Coast Sprint Victory Saturday At Grandview
News Director 
Column By: TOM WENNER / RPW – BECHTELSVILLE, PA – Steven Drevicki, Collegeville PA has not seen victory lane in USAC East Coast Sprint Car action since 2021, on Saturday Night at Grandview Speedway Drevicki crossed that task off his check list by scoring a dominating feature event victory.
Drevicki is a former 3x time USAC East Coast Champion, But has fallen behind and the past few years and has been searching to find that speed. Drevicki swept night winning heat race #2 and the feature using a 358 power plant instead of the more popular 360 race engines.
Steven fired from the 2nd starting spot and did not fall from the point all night. Timmy Buckwalter, driving the Heffner Racing Curt Michael tuned USAC East Coast #27 as a super-sub for Steven Snyder Jr. was slated to start on the pole and the car would not fire.
Buckwalter was forced to sit and watch the A Main from the pits. Drevicki drove past replacement pole sitter, Ed Aiken on the start and never looked back. Drevicki would be challenged on several restarts from Allentown, PA’s Briggs Danner, but Danner was never able to match the speed that Drevicki maintained the entire event.
Ed Aiken and Steven Drevicki led the 20 car Rapid Tire East Coast Sprint Car Field to the green flag.
At the drop of the green flag Aiken took the lead with Drevicki, Briggs Danner, Alex Bright, and Tommy Kunsman in chase mode.
On lap 2 Steven Drevicki took the DeGre Engineering #19 sprint to the Rapid Tire USAC East Coast lead. Aiken fell to 2nd with Danner, Bright and Kunsman sorting the early portion of the race on a very fast Grandview Speedway race track.
On lap 5 Briggs Danner took the Boulevard Truck Repair #39 into 2nd after a side by side battle with Ed Aiken.
On Lap 6 it was Alex Bright’s turn to assault Ed Aiken as the Rodota Trucking and Excavating #20 was side by side and looking for P3.
As the field clicked off lap 8, Drevicki was the race leader with Danner, Bright, Aiken and Kunsman the Top 5.
At the lap 10 mark of the A Main Drevicki was starting to hit lap traffic. Briggs Danner and Alex Bright were spread out with Ed Aiken, Tommy Kunsman, Bruce Buckwalter Jr, Joey Amantea following.
At the halfway mark of the event Drevicki was in lap traffic and Briggs Danner was running down the race leader. The event was clean and green without caution to this point. Bright, Aiken and Kunsman anchored down the Top 5.
On Lap 17 the first yellow flag of the night was shown as Jason Cherry and 3rd Place running Alex Bright were collected in turn 3 and stopped. Bright visited the work area and returned to action at the rear of the field. Drevicki remainder the race leader with Danner, Aiken, Kunsman and now Chris Allen Jr. the Top 5.
An attempt at green flag racing yielded another caution as Kunsman, Chris Allen Jr. and Jonanthan Swanson tangled in turn 4. Kunsman was able to keep going and hold his spot. Allen Jr. and Swanson were not. Mike Thompson and Bobby Butler retired at this caution. Allen Jr. and Swanson returned after visiting the work area. The field was reset with Drevicki the race leader, Danner, Aiken, Kunsman, Buckwalter Jr. and Joey Amantea the new Top 5.
We go back to green briefly for a lap before Alex Bright and Aidan Borden made contact in turn 3 and Borden sustained a nasty flip. Borden exited the race car safely and was taken to the Bally Ambulance to be checked out. The Grandview Speedway catch fence did it’s job, but the Borden race car came down on the tail tank with force.
The field was restacked and pushed off for 7 lap race to the checkered. Steven Drevicki is your race leader with Briggs Danner, Ed Aiken, Tommy Kunsman, and Bruce Buckwalter Jr. the Top 5.
The field goes back to green flag racing with Drevicki taking the lead. At lap 20, with 5 to go Steven Drevicki is walking away from Briggs Danner with the race lead. Aiken, Kunsman, and Joey Amantea are the new Top 5.
Steven Drevicki would cruise the feature event victory without a challenge over the final 5 laps. Briggs Danner would finish 2nd, Ed Aiken comes home 3rd, Tommy Kunsman holds down 4th, Joey Amantea 5th, Chris Allen Jr. rallied from the work area visit on lap 18 to finish 6th, Bruce Buckwalter Jr. 7th, Austin Graby 8th, Jonathan Swanson 9th and JT Ferry 10th.
This event would be the only ‘23 visit to Grandview Speedway from the Rapid Tire USAC East Coast Club, 29 Entries made it an strong night of racing at the Hill in Bechtelsville, PA.
Drevicki shared in the victory lane that they are still learning the new RPM power plant and knew once the track slicked off that they would be in good shape the rest of way. Steven talked about the 17 lap caution free run through lap traffic as cars were running two by two in front of him. Drevicki Thanked the large crowd who attended, his crew and sponsors in victory lane.
USAC East Coast Notes:
Grandview Speedway was packed on Saturday Night, The atmosphere was similar to a Thunder On The Hill or Freedom 76 event. With some local tracks falling to rain, the track benefited from staying on track and holding the event. If you arrived at the track at 500p looking for a parking spot, you were heading to nearby field as the track parking was at or near capacity.
It was nice to catch up 600 Micro Sprint Veteran Dakota Barlet who was helping on the Tommy Kunsman 21k USAC Sprint Car. Barlet is a winning 270/600 Micro Sprint driver at Shellhammer’s and Linda’s Speedway in PA.
Alex Bright and Rob Hummer USAC East Coast Team are as first class as it comes. Bright’s hammer down driving style sits well with the Hummer Motorsports Rodota Trucking and Excavating #20 Race Team. In talking with Bright during a break, they will not be chasing points with USAC East Coast this season. They are going to bounce around and chase races as the team as availability. Bright noted that you will see them on the upcoming USAC Eastern Storm and they plan to do some winged 410/360 shows. Alex is starting his own business and this is taking away from attending some shows together. The Hummer Rodota Trucking & Excavating will be force anytime you see them enter the race track.
RAPID TIRE USAC EAST COAST SPRINT FEATURE FINISH (25 laps): STEVEN DREVICKI, Briggs Danner, Ed Aiken, Tommy Kunsman, Joey Amantea, Chris Allen Jr., Bruce Buckwalter Jr., Austin Graby, Jonathan Swanson, JT Ferry, Billy Ney, Scott Frack, Jason Cherry, David Swanson, Michael Smith, Alex Bright, Aidan Borden, Bobby Butler, Mike Thompson, DNS – Tim Buckwalter
