SELINSGROVE, Pa. — Danny Dietrich has shouldered a lot of the blame for his shortcomings this year, but Saturday at Selinsgrove (Pa.) Speedway, he felt slighted.
The Gettysburg, Pa., driver led laps nine through 30 of the Selinsgrove National Open, then couldn’t close out a would-be seventh victory of the year when trouble with a lapped car arose.
“We were good just … probably the biggest jerk in the pit area racing side-by-side with another lapped car around the top, where he knows the leaders are going to be,” Dietrich said. “It’s frustrating. I feel like I was as fast as [winner] Anthony [Macri] … just ran second. First loser.
“It’s a courtesy thing, in a sense — especially when you’re already a lap down — it should be a courtesy to move over,” he added. “Maybe not move over, but quit racing side-by-side with a guy for 20th position when you know you have leaders coming.
“They were giving him the flag to let him know the leaders were coming,” Dietrich continued. “It’s just a d–k move. It doesn’t mean move over. It means hold your line. In the racing world, it’s a courtesy thing.”
His comments were directed toward Rick Lafferty.
Dietrich got through traffic without much obstruction until the scheduled lap-20 fuel stop. He ran down polesitter Brian Brown in the thick of things and built a two-second lead thereafter.
Once the final 20 laps resumed, Dietrich settled back in, but then got unnerved not long into the homestretch. Macri took advantage of the agitated Dietrich, and he couldn’t recover.
“I don’t know how you get through lapped traffic when it’s this fast and they are running side-by-side,” he said.
“Clean air is so important,” he added. “We are turning mid-16s in the feature. It’s an aerodynamic thing.”
• Logan Wagner totaled his car that won the Tuscarora 50 Saturday at Selinsgrove when the right-front tire rolled off the bead during his heat race. That didn’t bother him too much besides the fact he hates trashing equipment.
The Zemco Racing driver will close out his productive season (three wins and 12 podiums in 30 races) in two weeks with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Sprint Car Series at his wheelhouse, Port Royal Speedway.
He’ll do it with his Knoxville Nationals machine, a car that’s virtually brand new.
Wagner and crew will forgo the Williams Grove National Open this weekend.
• Lucas Wolfe can’t seem to catch a break.
The veteran driver doing his best to reestablish himself in the Jim and Laura Allebach No. 5w damaged another engine Saturday night at Selinsgrove Speedway.
He ran sixth before bowing out of competition six laps in.
It marks the fourth engine setback for Wolfe this year. He anticipates having enough resources to get through the remainder of the season, but those hopes, as well as mechanical inventory, are seemingly growing thinner by the week.
• A mud clot the size of a softball nearly ruined Anthony Macri’s dominant night Saturday at Selinsgrove Speedway.
The debris gashed the right side of his car with three laps to go, moments before the final stoppage of the night for Mike Walter II. It ricocheted off his leg and caved the car’s body panel in enough to restrict his range of motion with the throttle linkage.
Macri managed to snag his 12th sprint car win of the year, the latest good enough for $20,075.
• Half-mile clay ovals are rather foreign to Devon Borden, the driver from the Pacific Northwest who knows intense bullrings best.
So, it’s no surprise that Mike Heffner’s 18-year-old protege has an average qualifying position of 18.3 in 17 races on half-mile layouts this season.
It’s also no surprise to see Borden make great improvements along the way. The highly-regarded 410 rookie registered his first time-trial effort inside the top five at a half-mile oval Friday at Williams Grove Speedway.
Borden nearly translated that into a win, falling short after an epic battle with winner Brian Brown. He did, however, top another promising teenager in Gio Scelzi, who finished third.