This is one of the busiest weekends in auto racing. The Labor Day weekend also signals that the season, for some tracks, is almost over for this year.  It is a great weekend to get out and see some local racing.

    FRED RAHMER WON THE CINDY ROWE AUTO GLASS sprint car championship at Lincoln Speedway. His Saturday night win, his ninth of the season, earned him enough points to give him his sixth title in a row.  "I'm glad to win it for Joe," said Rahmer on clinching the title for car owner Joe Harz (a furniture dealer from Elmer, NJ). "He gave us good stuff.  It just took us a while to get it going. Tonight was the best we've had the car all year. The track was good. It was just unfortunate the way things went."

    Rahmer felt bad that a sixteenth lap incident, during a caution lap

restart, had him and Doug Esh collide with Esh being sidelined. "I sure didn't want to win that way," said the veteran sprint car racer.

    This Saturday night, August 31, Lincoln Speedway will hold the 8th Annual Bobby Abel Memorial for the super sprints. This event will mark the final Cindy Rowe Auto Glass point race for the super sprinters who have only two more race dates at the Pigeon Hills (Abbottstown) oval following the Abel Memorial. Joining them will be the 358 sprints and INEX Legends. In addition, a spectacular FIREWORKS display will cap off the evening racing activities.

Gates will open at 5:30 p.m. with hot-laps getting underway at 7 p.m.

    We would be remiss if we did not point out that on Saturday night at

Lincoln Speedway Eric Stambaugh won his second 358 sprint feature of the season and it was Steve Clabaugh winning his 24th career thundercar feature.

    LANCE DEWEASE, usually at Lincoln Speedway on Saturday nights, headed over to Port Royal Speedway where he had earned a starting spot in the Gumout Series sprint feature earlier in the season. He won what is called by some, World of Outlaws II, 30 lap feature. The event had been postponed from April 27th and then was rained out on Thursday, August 22nd. In fact a second Gumout event scheduled for Thursday has been cancelled.

    Word is that the Gumout Series will be disbanded at the end of the

season.

    The second 30-lap feature for the Port Royal regulars was won by Greg Hodnett but the big news was the Keith Kauffman, able to finish second in the feature, earning his 11th track title.

    Ken Dickson was able to win another Late Model feature and then surprised everyone by announcing his retirement from the sport. Dave Leahy won the 12-lap Pro Stock feature and Bill Powell was declared the champion of that division.

    Lots of excitement coming up at Port Royal Speedway. No racing this Saturday, August 31st as Tracy Byrd, the country music star, will be performing as the Fair opens.

    On Monday afternoon, September 2, Foss Jewelers of Lewistown, PA will present the 52nd annual running of the Labor Day Classic for Sprint Cars. The Stong's Auto Parts Pro Stocks will run a special Memorial Race honoring the late Daryle Stong. No time was given for the start.

    On Friday night September 6th Pepsi Cola of Selinsgrove presents the night before the Tuscarora 50 racing activities. Aumiller's Insurance Sprint Cars and Late Models are scheduled to compete. No starting time given.  And the 35th annual Tuscarora 50 for sprint cars is set for Saturday,  September 7th. And no starting time given for that one. You'll have to call the track at 717.527.2303 for more information.

    BIG DIAMOND RACEWAY in Minersville, PA was rained out on Friday night. They come back with two shows this weekend. On Friday night, August 30, the Modifieds will run in a qualifying event, 20-laps, for the Coalcracker 100. The KARS 358 sprints will be featured along with the Sportsmen stock cars. Action gets underway at 8 p.m.  And on Sunday, September 1, the Coalcracker 100, paying $10,000 to win for the modifieds, will be presented at 7 p.m. And there will be a 20-lap event for the Roadrunners.

    On Friday, September 6th the NASCAR Modifieds, Sportsmen and Roadrunners will be featured in an 8 p.m. show.

    AT WILLIAMS GROVE SPEEDWAY on Friday night Greg Hodnett, probably one of the hottest sprint car racers in the country, won another when he took the top honors in the Gumout Series Sprint Car 30-lap feature.

    This Friday night, 7:45 p.m. the sprints run in the Jack Gunn Memorial Triple 20's. With more than $40,000 in prize money being posted it should attract a stellar field of racers.

    Time trials will lock the twelve fastest cars into the first feature. The

remainder of cars will be split into two ten lap qualifying races and the top five in each will transfer to the first feature.

    The qualifying procedure goes on but the key point is that it will make for an exciting night of sprint car racing.

    GRANDVIEW SPEEDWAY in Bechtelsville, PA was a victim of rain on Saturday night. That means the point title will be decided with just two nights of point races left on the schedule. Jeff Strunk has a lead

of more than 200 points in the chase for the very lucrative NASCAR Modified title. Doug Manmiller and Craig VonDohren, defending champion, are still in the chase. In the Late Models seven feature winner Randy Stoudt has a 36 point edge over former champion Lou Egrie. Chuck Schutz, a former champion, and Dean Stoudt, a four time champion, are still in the running for the title.
    The NASCAR Modifieds and Late Models, at least 13 events of racing, will be in action this Saturday, August 31st at 7:30 p.m. Racing is sponsored by Kreiser Racing Fuels. 
    IT TOOK THE FOLKS WITH THE UNITED DIRT TRACK RACING ASSOCIATION PRO DIRT CAR SERIES six pages to tell me that they will complete their show started on July 13th on Friday, August 30th at Hageerstown, MD Speedway. The show will

pick up where it left on July 13th.

    Time trials have been completed, as had two of the four ten lap heat

races. There will also be two Polaris ATVs Consolation races and it is all topped off with a $10,000 to win 50-lap 7th Annual Maryland Silver Cup Nationals.

    The Hagerstown Sportsman cars will also be part of the show. Pit gates open at 4 p.m. Hot laps are set for 6:30 p.m.

    Action returns on Saturday night with a 7 p.m. starting time for a Ronnie McBee/Ron Hays Memorial featuring the ITSI late models. In addition there will be racing for the sportsman, pure stocks and enduro dash competition.

    ON SATURDAY NIGHT at Selinsgrove, PA Speedway Chad Layton won the 30-lap summer championship event for sprint cars sponsored by Penn Selin Air. It was his eighth win of the season.

    Dave Reed won the late model feature leading all the laps for his first

career victory. And it was Gary Kerstetter winning the 12-lap pro stock main event. Bill McNeal won his sixth 10-lap roadrunner racer of the season.

    Two nights of racing at Selinsgrove Speedway will be featured this

weekend. On Saturday night it will be 358 sprint cars, late models, pro

stocks, roadrunners and Penn Mar vintage race cars. This will be the final points race of the season.

    And on Monday, 7 p.m., the special Labor Day show will feature the 410 sprint cars in the Middleswarth Potato Chips Susquehanna Valley Sprint Car event and there will be racing for the Super Sportsmen.

    SUSQUEHANNA SPEEDWAY in Newberrytown, PA offers a Sunday, September 1 season finale. The 7 p.m. show, the Coors Sprint Series York County Nationals, will pay $7500 to win. That assures a stellar field of 410 sprint racers. And there will be Twin 20 features for Super Late Models plus an Enduro event.

    This past Friday, Todd Burley of Spencerport, NY won the 358 Modified feature. Just 24 modifieds were on hand.  Former track champion Scott Thunberg won the Street Stock feature. The 4-Cylinder race was won by John Stoll and the Enduro event was won by Tom Slanker.

    LANCO'S CLYDE MARTING SPEEDWAY, located in Brickerville, PA, has a big weekend of racing. It will be "MICRO MANIA" at the one-eighth mile banked oval, as the Sportsman (250cc air-cooled engines), 125 cc, 250cc four-strokes, 250cc liquid-cooled two-strokes, and the 600cc micro sprints battle for more than $20,000 in prize money.

    Gates open at 10 a.m. on Saturday, August 31. Time trials happen at 2 p.m. There is a kid's Big Wheel race (where is my Big Wheel?) and a lot of racing entertainment. The features happen on Sunday with racing getting the green after a warm-up session at 2 p.m.

    The past two years have seen more than 180 micros show up for the racing action and this year it is expected that things will be pretty much the same. For information on race days telephone 717.949.3559.