McKean County is 3rd PA track this year to come off my hit list

#108 McKean County Raceway, East Smethport, PA (1/3-mile dirt) 6/29/06

Never did I expect to be able to log McKean County in for their special Thursday night program with a 60% chance of rain and the radar showing scattered storms all around and even rain hitting the speedway later on.

Despite the fact, the drive up was relatively rain-free with the exception of some showers through the Allegheny National Forest. The sky was dark to the west and north as I headed northeast to the speedway looking like I was bringing the rain with me. The few sprinkles of rain ended as I pulled into the parking at about 6:45.

The show was scheduled to start at 7. The headlining ULMS Late Models took to the track at that time as it appeared they were the only class to hot lap. After the late models finished hot laps, the national anthem was played and the super stock heat races hit the speedway.

Just a $10 admission was charged for the show which included a $2,500 to-win show for the ULMS Late Models plus super stocks, e-mods, street stocks, and 4-cylinder stocks. With the threatening weather, the crowd was fair at about 500 or so. Car counts were pretty good with 28 late models, 21 street stocks, 21 sportsman (e-mods), 19 4-cylinders, and 14 super stocks (limited late models).

After the completion of the two super stock, three street stock heats, and one late model heat the skies finally opened up. It really looked like the rain was going to set in for awhile and heavy at that, but surprisingly the rain was short-lived as the skies broke up.

The track, which was already tacky, was even faster once it was run back in. Racing resumed at about 8:45 and the remainder of the heat races and the B main were completed. The heats were all good racing as 3 of the 4 late model heats came right down to the finish.

After an intermission to groom the track, the super stocks were up first and their feature was cut from 25 to 20 laps. Randy Hall, who has dominated both the super stocks and e-mods, went on to victory. Hall has now won 4 of the 6 super stock features and 4 of the 5 e-mod features.

The late model feature was moved up ahead of the street stocks. 24 cars took the green for the 35-lap event. David Scott led the first couple laps before Rick Briggs took over. Sprinkles began to fall on about lap 6. Young Dave Hess, Jr., who has well over 100 career wins to his credit, came from the 5th starting spot and took the lead on lap 9.

Bob Close, who started alongside Hess in 6th, charged to the front and passed Hess in lapped traffic on lap 19 as rain began to fall. As the laps ticked off in the 20s, the rain seemingly picked up in intensity every lap. The only saving grace was no yellows, but as the lap count approached 30 it appeared questionable whether the event would or should make it to the 35 scheduled laps.

Todd Andrews began waving his hands to say that he could not see. On lap 33 some of the drivers began to slow and the yellow was displayed. Meanwhile on the backstretch, a lapped car got sideways and leader Bob Close drilled him at full tilt. Then Hess came in and hit both. It was one of the hardest impacts I've seen this year.

What an unfortunate ending to such a great race. With it now pouring and the surface gone with the red flag, the show was rained out shortly after 10:30. The controversial ending saw the win given to Close with Hess second and Briggs third.

Food prices were very reasonable as was the $10 admission and just $25 pit pass, which was no where near enough with the crowd to cover the expenses. They had a nice program for $2 on sale. The relatively new large aluminum bleachers have seat backs.

The racing was excellent. I think 2 heats would have sufficed for the stocks and e-mods and 3 for the late models. The intermission was a little lengthy with the forecast. All in all I thoroughly enjoyed the track and racing. For the most part the officials did a good job keeping the showmoving and were very professional at their jobs unlike many tracks. I was glad to see they cut the laps in the super stocks and moved the late models to second feature.

The area is very scenic around the speedway and with the sun, clouds, and rain made for a pretty spectacular sky with the mountains in the background and even a rainbow present during the rain. The weather and cloud movement is very difficult to read as I can now see how they get many of their shows in, while others rain out.

McKean County made for my 46th Pennsylvania track. I've now hit this year the 3 PA tracks I've been trying to get to for a long time now in Grandview, Hesston, and McKean County.

#108 McKean County Speedway, 6/29/06
#107 Hesston Speedway, 6/17/06
#106 Grandview Speedway, 5/16/06

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Hesston Speedway next to come off my hit list

#107 Hesston Speedway, Hesston, PA (1/2-mile dirt), 6/17/06

An open Saturday night allowed me to knock off Hesston Speedway, a track I've been wanting to get to for many years now.

Located between about 7 miles south of Huntingdon between State College and Bedford, the drive took me 2 and half hours to conquer.

Before leaving I called to confirm the 305 sprints were on the card and to make sure racing was slated to start at 6 as that was what was advertised on their website. The lady said yes with hot laps at 5:30 and racing at 6. That seemed early for a Saturday night track in the summer night.

It was one of, if not, the year's hottest days of the year in western Pa. as it was 91 when I pulled into the parking lot at about 4:45. There is only one drive in for both the spectators and pit parking as another drive was roped off.

The sprint cars and a few others pit in the outer pit area off turn one, while the majority of the other cars pit in the infield.

I knew racing wasn't going to start on time as the racers were steadily arriving between 5:30 and 6 and the track was still being run in at that time. A driver's meeting was called in the infield at about 6 followed by heat in the motors for the sprints, and eventually hot laps.

Very few fans were in the grandstands at 6 as they continued to flock in until almost 7:30. Hesston has drive-in parking high above the backstretch and I'd say at least 200 fans were back there coupled with probably 400 in the main grandstands. The main grandstands sit high atop the speedway. The thick wooden bleachers are very steep giving a great view of the speedway.
The track itself reminded me of a tad smaller Hagerstown less the red clay as it was hard and smooth. The announcer and flagman both were above average, which surprised me for a track in this area.

An excellent field of cars were on hand including 27 limited late models, 24 305 sprint cars, 24 street stocks, 18 hobby stocks, and 12 4-cylinder stocks.

The heat races finally began at 6:52. In the first heat race a stock got loose coming off turn four and came back across the track causing another car to get upside down necessitating a length clean-up. The program dragged on as it was 8:50 when the heat races were finally completed.
After a 20 minute intermission, the street stock feature took the green at 9:10. Thankfully the 15-lap event went non-stop and it was a good one with lots of side-by-side racing, in fact the winning pass made by Bill Heffner on lap five was a 3-wide move.

The featured attraction of the night was the 30-lap limited late model special paying $1,000 to-win. This race was delayed when a car got sideways in turn two and the collision forced another car to get upside down causing another delay. Eight cautions slowed action in the first 10 laps. The last 20 laps ran green-to-checkered with Derek Byler picking up the win after taking the lead on lap 9. The cautions ruined what was a good 5-car race for the lead early on as just 12 of the 26 starters finished the event.

Over an hour later at 10:30 the 305 sprint feature took the green. Veteran Jim Kennedy passed Rod Ort on the second lap and survived a scare in lapped traffic when two cars spun directly in front of him on lap 16, but was somehow able to avoid the accident. Kennedy went on for his 1st win of the season. Kennedy is well into his 70s and I saw him win last season at Lincoln Speedway in a major snowstorm. Of course, Kennedy thrilled the crowd with his famous yodeling act. The win was very popular to say the least. The 305 sprint cars are a very competitive and affordable division. They race bi-weekly at Path Valley weekly at Hesston along with series visits to tracks like Port Royal, Lincoln, and Williams Grove. Their car counts continue to rise as the week before Hesston had 29 cars. The amazing part is that their races pay less than $300 to win.

With it being nearly 11 and a two and half hour drive home, I headed for the exits not watching the hobby stock and 4-cylinder features.

The show/track had many positives and negatives. Positives...announcer, flagman, viewing, car count, racing itself, and the food selection and quality was certainly impressive.Negatives...nearly 1 hour late start as five hours after the scheduled start time they still had two features left, slow clean-up & race operation in general. Constantly having cars stop to get their fenders pulled out gets annoying. I think 10-lap heat races (12 or more cars) are too much especially on 1/2-mile tracks.

Overall it wasn't a bad show, somewhat better than what I had expected.
Hesston made for my 45th Pennsylvania track.

107. Hesston Speedway, Hesston, PA 6/17/06
106. Grandview Speedway, Bechtelsville, PA 5/16/06

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