YORK HAVEN, Pa. – The laps had run out Thursday at BAPS Motor Speedway, but Freddie Rahmer’s pep carried well into the night.
Rahmer flourished in his debut for Rich Eichelberger, driving his new car owner’s No. 8 to a third-place finish after starting 12th in the 30-lap feature.
A wide smile, the kind of bearing that’s eluded Rahmer as of late, emerged. He hadn’t knifed through the field in that manner for a podium finish since May.
“Shit just [hasn’t] worked out,” Rahmer said of his last month. “I’m happy we put a whole night together and showed a little bit of something, you know?”
Rahmer delivered on his optimism that this is the long-term path for him to try and reach the next level.
Next year, he will shift his driving priorities to Eichelberger’s No. 8 as opposed to his No. 51 family car.
“I’m really looking forward to [driving for] Rich,” he added. “It’s a very unique situation. He’s a beyond great guy, and the people around him, I know we’ll get along. I’m just really looking forward to it, really.”
The Eichelberger-Rahmer pairing hadn’t run any laps together until the Greg Hodnett Foundation Race.
Since they came to terms in mid-July, they’ve wanted to run some practice sessions. Rainy summer weather, however, has made that difficult.
Rahmer planned to sit out Thursday’s race at BAPS. Parts failures and detrimental engine issues have forced his family to be diligent the remainder of the season.
More parts failures during the Tuscarora 50 weekend at Port Royal (Pa.) Speedway immediately made BAPS the perfect debut location for the 410 team.
“It’s good to get that out of the way and get a whole race in,” Rahmer said.
Rahmer will race his No. 51 the rest of the year at Williams Grove Speedway in Mechanicsburg, Pa., and Lincoln Speedway in Abbottstown, Pa. But there is room for more races in the Eichelberger No. 8 before 2022.
Eichelberger has owned race cars for 50 years and he still races weekly at BAPS in the super sportsman class at 71 years old.
Now, he wants to field a first-rate 410 team through all his knowledge gained over the years.
Eichelberger lived that vision, even if for a night, on Thursday.
First day on the new job for Freddie Rahmer.
— Kyle McFadden (@ByKyleMcFadden) September 16, 2021
He’s long raced his family No. 51.
Next year he’ll be racing Rich Eichelberger’s No. 8 for majority of his schedule.
Tonight the new pairing breaks things in for the first time.
https://t.co/E2EsgYiC37 pic.twitter.com/k8qYitYMyT
Rahmer made quick work of the cars in front of him. He pulled aggressive slide jobs and made the bottom work to his advantage, unlike other competitors.
“Boy … I’m just … really pleased,” Eichelberger said through a wide smile. “I haven’t had butterflies in my stomach for a long time.”
The only constraints on Rahmer’s evening were a near miss in time trials and not having enough laps in the feature.
Rahmer came one-thousandth of a second shy of Brent Marks’ fast-time mark in his group. That would have locked Rahmer in the six-car redraw, greatly improving his starting position.
“Maybe we could have been in contention for second, or maybe even with [winner Danny] Dietrich,” Rahmer said. “You just never know on those restarts.”
On a restart with five laps to go, Rahmer picked off Justin Peck to slide into fourth.
When the final caution flag waved with two laps to go, he picked off Ryan Smith for the final step on the podium.
Just like that, the first memory with his new team, hopefully for many years to come, unfolded on the frontstretch.
“This is the golden opportunity,” Rahmer said. “I’m going to do everything I can for them. We’re going to have fun, too, but we want to win some races.”