IMPERIAL, Pa. — The 35th annual “Pittsburgher” weekend kicked off on Friday night at Pittsburgh’s PA Motor Speedway as the Hovis Auto & Truck Supply RUSH Dirt Late Model Flynn’s Tire Touring Series raced in night one of the Bill Hendren Memorial presented by FK Rod Ends.
Race No. 19 of the season attracted an impressive 44 cars from seven different states plus Ontario, Canada.
Tim Shaffer’s accolades in sprint car racing are certainly impressive. The National Sprint Car Hall of Famer has 68 career All Star Circuit of Champions victories and four series titles, 27 career World of Outlaws wins, $150,000 victory in the 2010 Knoxville Nationals and a $100,000 win in the 2018 Sprint Car World Championship at Ohio’s Mansfield Speedway just to name a few.
In 2019, Shaffer began to dabble in RUSH Late Model racing and has continued to do so when time permits from his full-time sprint car schedule. Last year, Shaffer won twice in his late model at Pittsburgh and did the same this year in RUSH City Chevrolet Weekly Series action.
On Friday night, making just his seventh RUSH Late Model start of the season, Shaffer put on an impressive performance from start-to-finish against the star-studded field of 44 cars. After going sixth to second in the dash, Shaffer inherited the lead on lap six of the feature when leader Jeremy Steele slowed and was never challenged over the final 24 laps.
Shaffer earned $4,000 for his popular victory in night one of the Bill Hendren Memorial. Shaffer became the eighth different winner of the season in Flynn’s Tire Touring Series competition and 43rd all-time.
“This is amazing,” acknowledged the 56-year-old Aliquippa, Pa. driver. “To win a RUSH race here is awesome. We don’t get to work together much as a team so this is pretty neat. These cars are so tricky and hard to learn, and you have to change your driving so much. I love working on it and it’s a whole new thing for me.
“There are three times the setup on these compared to a sprint car; it’s got my attention and I just love it.”
“This was a new engine from Ingram and I was worried about it getting hot, but I got it cooled down pretty decent,” revealed the ‘Steel City Outlaw.’ “He (Mike Ingram) does a great job. I just had to get my car right. The guys asked what changes I wanted to make and I said we don’t need to make any, I just need to learn how to run this thing.
“I’m pretty sore from flipping on Tuesday night in the sprint car so to come out here and win makes up for it. It’s amazing what they (Hendren Family) do for us up here. They don’t have to come up here and put this race on, but they do and we appreciate it.”
How It Went Down
Steele, a South Carolina invader, rocketed into the early lead, while Michael Norris passed Shaffer for second. Shaffer though regained the runner-up positions when he snuck under and past Norris in turn two on lap two. Shaffer then ran down Steele and the two were running side-by-side for the lead on lap five when Mason Zeigler lost the driveshaft to bring out the caution.
When racing resumed on lap six, Steele lost fuel pressure allowing Shaffer to bolt into the lead before five cars got tangled up at the back to bring out the second and final caution of the event.
Shaffer was never challenged over the final 24 caution-free laps.
Feature Finish (30 Laps)
1. TIM SHAFFER (45) 2. Jacob Gunn (14G) 3. Michael Norris (Dabeeco 1) 4. Daryl Charlier (Petrelle 184D) 5. Michael Duritsky, Jr. (90J) 6. Zach Gunn (17G) 7. Ben Policz (14B) 8. Tommy Schirnhofer, Jr. (8s) 9. Clinton Hersh (16) 10. Cole Petrelle (184) 11. Brock Pinkerous (555) 12. Garret Paugh (03) 13. Colby Beighey (36) 14. Michael Reft (9R) 15. Brent Trimble (1) 16. Tom Klein (77) 17. Dan Lepro (2L) 18. Frank Magill (05) 19. Logan Zarin (Beach 33x) 20. Ryan Frazee (17) 21. Brandon Burgoon (Chernik/Bentz 60) 22. Cody Dawson (36) 23. Jeremy Steele (22) 24. Justin Chance (Lukon 184C) 25. Jeremy Wonderling (3J) 26. Mason Zeigler (25z). DNS: Demetrios Drellos (111). (Note: Jeremy Wonderling took a Tour provisional & Cole Petrelle took a Track provisional)