FREMONT, Ohio — Fremont Speedway has been in existence for 72 years in the Sandusky County Fairgrounds. Hope appropriate on the night the Sandusky County Fair kicked off, there would be a new driver to sit atop the track’s all-time win list.
Paul Weaver, 56, of Fremont, Ohio – his home sits just blocks from the speedway – earned his 77th career feature win at The Track That Action Built.
Weaver’s sixth victory of the year and fourth in a row on Fremont Fence Night catapulted him over long-time all-time win list leader the legendary Art Ball.
D.J. Foos, back racing after being severely burned in April, led the first 18 laps of the 30-lap feature. Weaver, who started fifth, took command on lap 19 and had to fend off a late race challenge on a restart to claim the win aboard his Steve Brown’s B&B Drain Service, Hampshire Racing Engines, M&L Excavating backed No. 1W.
“I never thought I would catch Art. He ran for a long, long time. I don’t know how much longer I can do this,” said Weaver, a four-time and defending track champion. “I knew D.J. would be good at the end of the race so I just tried to stay behind him and save the tires for something at the end and every time I actually got a good run and he faded the yellow would come out.
“Then I had to fend off the slide jobs from Zeth (Sabo) on a slick track. We kept it in one piece for the end.”
Former 410 sprint track champion Bryan Sebetto came on very strong toward the end of the race to nail down a runner-up finish.
“Our car was really free at the beginning of the race and we backed up,” said Sebetto. “The longer we went the better I was. Even though the last caution let me have a shot at DJ I actually wished we could have gotten into lapped traffic because I really could go just about anywhere and was damn good the second half of that race.
“We were really good here the early part of the season and we changed some things looking for more speed and Guy and I and Kevin put our heads together and tried to get back to how we were earlier in the year.”
For Foos, just to be back racing after a lengthy rehabilitation, was a win as he brought the Bobby Clark owned machine home in third.
“I’ve done this my whole life and I was pretty much off for 10 months…with the winter,” said Foos. “While I was off I did some thinking and I realized I’ve gotten to drive for some really damn good car owners…all hall of famers and I got to race with the Clarks for the fair and I got to race with my dad. We just got beat tonight. I’ll take it to the grave that I got to be behind Paul Weaver for his taking over for most wins ever.
“I also can’t say enough about all the people in this sport, my wife Bethany, my mom and dad…every one that chipped in and helped me out through all of this.”
Feature Finish (25 Laps)
1. 1W-Paul Weaver[5] ; 2. 01-Bryan Sebetto[6] ; 3. 4x-DJ Foos[2] ; 4. 5Jr-Jimmy McGrath Jr[3] ; 5. 10X-Dustin Stroup[9] ; 6. 26-Jamie Miller[7] ; 7. 5K-Kasey Jedrzejek[1] ; 8. 5-Kody Brewer[13] ; 9. 5DD-Dustin Dinan[22] ; 10. 16-Lee Sommers[21] ; 11. 10TS-Tyler Schiets[11] ; 12. 2-Brenden Torok[18] ; 13. 9R-Logan Riehl[15] ; 14. 4K-Blayne Keckler[20] ; 15. 51M-Haldon Miller[16] ; 16. 61-Tyler Shullick[12] ; 17. 28-Shawn Valenti[19] ; 18. 34-Jud Dickerson[8] ; 19. 29-Zeth Sabo[4] ; 20. 49I-John Ivy[10] ; 21. 63-Stuart Brubaker[14] ; 22. X15J-Jody Keegan[17]