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Blane Heimbach (12) races under Justin Whittall (67) at Selinsgrove (Pa.) Speedway during the 41st Jack Gunn Memorial.

Williams Grove To Host Jack Gunn Memorial

MECHANICSBURG, Penn. — Williams Grove Speedway will host the Jack Gunn Memorial Twin 20s for the All Star Circuit of Champions Sprint Cars on Friday, Aug. 26.

The event will honor the former promoter, Jack Gunn, who heralded the speedway from 1967 to his untimely death in 1980.

The featured program will be sprints only.

The Jack Gunn Memorial twin 20-lap mains will each pay $4,000-to-win with total purses for each feature worth over $20,000 each as part of the Hoosier Diamond Series. Time trials will set the heat starting grids while the winner of the first 20-lap main event will draw for an inversion to start the second feature event. 

Both feature races will carry full points toward the Lawrence Chevrolet 410 sprint car Williams Grove Speedway track title while All Star points will be awarded for the first main event only. 

Friday’s program will be the 45th time in Williams Grove history that twin 20s have been presented, dating back to 1961 when Johnny Mackison Sr. and Dick Tobias scored wins. The twins have only ever been swept three times — first by Bod Folkenroth in 1963 followed by Van May in 1983 and Fred Rahmer in 1995.

The most recent twin 20s were run in 2019 when Aaron Reutzel and Lance Dewease took wins.

The event cemented Reutzel in the record books as the first traveling All Star to claim a checkered flag at the oval.

The All Stars point leader, Tyler Courtney, will lead the travelers into the Gunn Memorial. Courtney has five wins on the season over his closest pursuer in points, Justin Peck, who also holds five victories.

Other series winners this season expected to compete in the twins include Parker Price Miller, Cap Henry, Zeb Wise and Hunter Schuerenberg. Local drivers that have beaten the band this season both at home and on the road should also be in the field including Danny Dietrich, Brent Marks and Anthony Macri. 

That trio alone accounts for a total of nine series wins on the year, including five for Macri who won the only other All Star show at Williams Grove this season.Â