Make no mistake! There is no doubt about it! For the past six years,

Lincoln Speedway sprint car racing has belonged to Fred Rahmer.

    And for those who thought Lance Dewease would sweep the season finales at all four Central Pennsylvania tracks or Greg Hodnett might win his 20th race of the year before heading to Charlotte to take on the Pennzoil World of Outlaws this weekend, Fred Rahmer removed any doubt.

    Driving the last 17 laps without brakes, Rahmer pulled the slider on

Dewease in turn three of a 36th-lap restart to grab the lead and go on to win his 10th feature of the year at the Pigeon Hills racing facility. The win came in the Kenny Weld Memorial. It marked the sixth straight year that Rahmer's win total has reached double digits at Lincoln, and came EXACTLY one year after Rahmer announced in victory lane, the same event, that he was leaving the Al Hamilton Motorsports ride. That was a combination that had been the most successful in area sprint car racing, one of the most successful in national sprint car racing. And when Rahmer left Lance Dewease took over.

    Regarding his double-digit wins, Rahmer said, "If you get going on that, it don't mean nothing until you almost don't get it would be hard to start over on that streak so I wanted to keep that one going."

    Dewease, who had recently won the Selinsgrove National Open, the Port Royal Tuscarora 50, and the Williams Grove National Open, started on the outside of the front row and assumed the lead when polesitter and race-long leader Sean Michael was collected by a spinning Doug Esh on the third turn of the 18th lap.

    "We lost our brakes about 20 laps into the race and it tore the caliper off," said Rahmer on not having brakes through the second half of the race. "We were very fortunate Hodnett had trouble, Cris (Eash) had trouble and I guess it was just our night... and getting it there at the end made it all the better."

    "I was ready to pull in under the red. I had to run into the fence to stop. But, you know, everybody has a million excuses. We were just lucky."

    The Hamilton No.77, with Dewease at the wheel, looked unbeatable after pulling away from Rahmer on the 23rd and 24th-lap restarts, and held a 2.71 second lead over the Lincoln champion by the 33rd lap. But a 36th-lap caution for Josh Wells (who came to a stop on the backstretch while running tenth), gave Rahmer another shot at the leader. Rahmer took to the top side of turns one and two, then dove to the inside of the backstretch, setting up his patented third turn Lincoln pass for the lead.

    "Lance got a hole in the tire the same time I lost brakes it appeared to me to be up, but I'm sure it wasn't helping him," said Rahmer on Deweases's problem. " I don't know if he had a hard one or a soft one."

    Dewease also lost second to Keith Kauffman on the final lap having to settle for third.

    Kenny Weld changed racing and we were very fortunate to have him in our area," said Rahmer on the race's namesake. "We've had a lot of great racers here, but I don't know whether there were any that was ever better.

    "He was an unbelievably intelligent man and a great racer. It's nice to win a race in his honor."

    Reflecting, in victory lane, on last year's ride change, Rahmer said, "The Hamilton car was a great ride for me, and I won a lot of races in that car, but as many as I won in that, it sure as hell feels good to beat it."

    The only person happier than Rahmer may have been car-owner Joe Harz, the furniture store owner from Elmer, NJ.

    "What a season, it feels good to beat the red car... that's all I live for!" said Harz. "They may have everything they want to race, but this little team here can kick their ass when things are right at Lincoln Speedway."

            Friday night, October 11th, Lincoln Speedway will close out it's 2002 season with the postponed 13th Annual Manufacturers Appreciation Race for the 410 sprints. Another battle for Rahmer and Dewease. Perhaps the last area battle for the two outstanding sprint car performers. The two are expected to take part in a 25-lap feature for 410 sprints as part of the NAPA Auto Parts Thunder on the Hill 5-feature show on October 19th at Grandview Speedway.

    The Friday night show will see more than $64,000 in racing merchandise being given out as part of the night of sprint car racing. The Miller Brothers Thundercar point race will finally come to a conclusion as well as they join the sprint cars in a 7:30 p.m. show.

    Jeremy Brown ended years of frustration by capturing his first career Thundercar victory in the 20-lap nightcap.

    WITH TWO LAPS TO GO and nearly a straightaway lead, J.R. Fry thought he was home free. However, Fry saw his big lead erased by a late race caution flag and then he looked at the scoreboard and saw that six-time champion Howie Locke was in second.

    The race was on.

    Locke was able to pull right on Fry's bumper off the inside of turn two on the restart and again following the white flag, but couldn't gain enough momentum to take the lead.