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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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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posted by Mike Leone at 12:23 PM
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