Brian Brown leads all 30 laps at Selinsgrove Speedway for Jim Nace Memorial/National Open title

Brian Brown leads all 30 laps at Selinsgrove Speedway for Jim Nace Memorial/National Open title

Story By: Tyler Altmeyer/ASCOC

Photos By: Dan DeMarco/RacersGuide.com

SELINSGROVE, PA (September 16, 2017) – Adding to a rapidly expanding resume, “Blackjack” Brian Brown ruled Central Pennsylvania soil on Saturday evening during his visit to Selinsgrove Speedway, claiming the 35th Annual Jim Nace Memorial/National Open with the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions. The Grain Valley, Missouri, native led all 30 circuits at the historic venue to score the $8,000 payday, ultimately crossing under the final checkers ahead of a pair of Central Pennsylvania’s finest, Brock Zearfoss and Greg Hodnett.

The Arctic Cat All Star victory was the first of Brown’s career, also becoming the 16th different Arctic Cat All Star winner at the Selinsgrove half-mile in 16 starts.

“My engine builder over here, Charlie Garrett, used to build the engines for Jim Nace’s car, as well as be good really good friends with him. Charlie told me that if I could only win one race in Central Pennsylvania, let it be the Jim Nace Memorial,” Brian Brown explained, driver of the Casey’s General Store/FVP/Impact Signs/No. 21. “This one is for Charlie Garrett. This trophy is going back to his shop. What an awesome job by this whole team. We love coming out here. The fans in this area of the country know how to support sprint car racing. Everyone knows how special this race is. This is definitely a dream come true; unbelievable.”

Despite leading all 30 circuits, Brown’s campaign at the top of the running order did not go completely uninterrupted. A series of cautions, two of which on lap four for back-to-back red flag incidents, were obvious distractions for Brown. Traffic came into the picture for the first time on lap eight which held up Brown just enough to allow James McFadden, Brock Zearfoss and Greg Hodnett to track down the race leader. By lap ten, the top-four were racing nearly nose-to-tail while navigating through slower cars. In Brown’s favor, a caution on lap 13 would end any further challenges by those racing behind him.

The main event’s final caution on lap 22 set up a clear track and clean air for Brown, not reaching the tail of the field again until the mid-point of lap 29. The former Knoxville (IA) Raceway track champion was chased to the checkers by recently crowned Port Royal Speedway champion, Brock Zearfoss, and Greg Hodnett.

“I glanced up at the scoreboard a few times and saw [Greg Hodnett] was moving around,” Brown stated. “I knew I had to go out there and lay down some good laps. I got beat last week by trying to save my tires and be smarter than everyone else. It was ‘win it or put it in the fence’ tonight and here we are.”

“Any half-mile really fits my style,” Brown said. “This is just a testament to our whole team. They gave me a phenomenal car here tonight. It’s not easy to just come out here and run in Pennsylvania for a month. It takes a lot of time and preparation. It takes everyone to believe in us and say ‘go out there and have some fun.’”

For the final time this season, the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions will headline competition in the Keystone State, this time paying a visit to the oldest active dirt track in the state.

Bedford Fairgrounds Speedway in Bedford, Pennsylvania, will host Tony Stewart’s Arctic Cat All Stars on Sunday evening, September 17; the second appearance of the season, as well as the sixth in Series history. Washington native, Trey Starks, is the most recent winner during Arctic Cat All Star competition at the Bedford half-mile, holding off Dale Blaney and Lucas Wolfe for a $5,000 payday on April 30, 2017.

Bedford Fairgrounds Speedway officials will allow pit access beginning at 4:00pm on Sunday, September 17. The mandatory drivers meeting will take shape at 5:30pm, followed by hot laps at 6:00pm. More information can be found on the Web at www.bedfordspeedway.com.

Contingency Awards/Results: Selinsgrove Speedway- Saturday, September 16, 2017:
Event: 35th Annual Jim Nace Memorial/National Open
EMi Driver’s Meeting: 40 Entries
State Water Heaters Warm-Ups: Brian Brown – 16.086 seconds
Lincoln Electric Fast Qualifier: Trey Starks – 15.995 seconds
Ford Performance Heat #1: Tim Kaeding
All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads Heat #2: Blane Heimbach
Hunt Brothers Pizza Heat #3: Ryan Smith
Daido Engine Bearings Heat #4: Anthony Macri
JE Pistons Dash #1: James McFadden
JE Pistons Dash #2: Brian Brown
Classic Ink USA B-Main: Trey Starks
Daido Engine Bearings Main Event Winner: Greg Hodnett (3rd)
MSD Performance Hard Charger Award: Trey Starks (+16)
Outback Steakhouse A-Main 5th Place Finisher: Trey Starks
Outback Steakhouse A-Main 10th Place Finisher: Tony Stewart
Outback Steakhouse A-Main 15th Place Finisher: Brandon Matus (16th)
(Lincoln Electric, Daido Engine Bearings, MSD Performance, Outback Steakhouse: Need decal to qualify for contingency award)

Qualifying

Group (A)
1. 44-Trey Starks, 15.995; 2. 1z-Dale Blaney, 16.333; 3. 17-Caleb Helms, 16.377; 4. 3K-Tim Kaeding, 16.412; 5. 24-Lucas Wolfe, 16.509; 6. 95-Hunter Mackison, 16.696; 7. 91-Anthony Fiore, 16.767; 8. 13-Brandon Matus, 16.834; 9. C4-Jim Shuster, 17.057; 10. 33-Brent Matus, 18.76

Group (B)
1. 21-Brian Brown, 16.103; 2. 29-Danny Dietrich, 16.44; 3. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss, 16.453; 4. 12-Blane Heimbach, 16.505; 5. 14-Tony Stewart, 16.522; 6. 35-Tyler Esh, 16.549; 7. 5-Justin Barger, 16.642; 8. 38-Steve Buckwalter, 16.649; 9. 9C-Roger Campbell, 17.155; 10. 10-Joe Kata, 17.836

Group ( C )
1. 10H-Chad Kemenah, 16.208; 2. 27-Greg Hodnett, 16.263; 3. 11-TJ Stutts, 16.32; 4. 94-Ryan Smith, 16.349; 5. 29S-Jason Shultz, 16.455; 6. 1080-Jordan Mackison, 16.641; 7. 8M-TJ Michael, 16.663; 8. 7-Kyle Reinhardt, 16.668; 9. 33M-Max Stambaugh, 16.801; 10. 49-Mallie Shuster, 17.232

Group (D)
1. 3-James McFadden, 16.459; 2. 0-Rick Lafferty, 16.584; 3. 39M-Anthony Macri, 16.586; 4. 41-Ryan Taylor, 16.656; 5. M1-Mark Smith, 16.671; 6. 7C-Caleb Armstrong, 16.704; 7. 33W-Michael Walter, 16.788; 8. 51-John Garvin, 17.193; 9. 35S-Daryl Stimeling, 17.298; 10. 22-Brandon Spithaler, 17.476

Heat #1 – Group (A) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 3K-Tim Kaeding [1]; 2. 24-Lucas Wolfe [5]; 3. 17-Caleb Helms [2]; 4. 13-Brandon Matus [8]; 5. 95-Hunter Mackison [6]; 6. 91-Anthony Fiore [7]; 7. C4-Jim Shuster [9]; 8. 33-Brent Matus [10]; 9. 44-Trey Starks [4]; 10. 1Z-Dale Blaney [3]

Heat #2 – Group (B) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 12-Blane Heimbach [1]; 2. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [2]; 3. 29-Danny Dietrich [3]; 4. 21-Brian Brown [4]; 5. 14-Tony Stewart [5]; 6. 35-Tyler Esh [6]; 7. 5-Justin Barger [7]; 8. 38-Steve Buckwalter [8]; 9. 9C-Roger Campbell [9]; 10. 10-Joe Kata [10]

Heat #3 – Group ( C ) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 94-Ryan Smith [1]; 2. 27-Greg Hodnett [3]; 3. 10H-Chad Kemenah [4]; 4. 11-TJ Stutts [2]; 5. 29S-Jason Shultz [5]; 6. 7-Kyle Reinhardt [8]; 7. 33M-Max Stambaugh [9]; 8. 8M-TJ Michael [7]; 9. 1080-Jordan Mackison [6]; 10. 49-Mallie Shuster [10]

Heat #4 – Group (D) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 39M-Anthony Macri [2]; 2. 3-James McFadden [4]; 3. M1-Mark Smith [5]; 4. 41-Ryan Taylor [1]; 5. 7C-Caleb Armstrong [6]; 6. 0-Rick Lafferty [3]; 7. 51-John Garvin [8]; 8. 22-Brandon Spithaler [10]; 9. 35S-Daryl Stimeling [9]; 10. 33W-Michael Walter [7]

Dash #1 (4 Laps)
1. 3-James McFadden [1]; 2. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [2]; 3. 27-Greg Hodnett [4]; 4. 12-Blane Heimbach [3]; 5. 3K-Tim Kaeding [5]

Dash #2 (4 Laps)
1. 21-Brian Brown [1]; 2. 39M-Anthony Macri [2]; 3. 10H-Chad Kemenah [4]; 4. 24-Lucas Wolfe [3]; 5. 94-Ryan Smith [5]

B-Main (12 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 44-Trey Starks [1]; 2. 0-Rick Lafferty [4]; 3. 5-Justin Barger [6]; 4. 38-Steve Buckwalter [7]; 5. 7-Kyle Reinhardt [9]; 6. 91-Anthony Fiore [10]; 7. 1080-Jordan Mackison [5]; 8. 8M-TJ Michael [8]; 9. C4-Jim Shuster [13]; 10. 35-Tyler Esh [3]; 11. 10-Joe Kata [19]; 12. 33W-Michael Walter [11]; 13. 33-Brent Matus [20]; 14. 9C-Roger Campbell [14]; 15. 22-Brandon Spithaler [18]; 16. 33M-Max Stambaugh [12]; 17. 1Z-Dale Blaney [2]; 18. 51-John Garvin [15]; 19. 35S-Daryl Stimeling [17]; 20. 49-Mallie Shuster [16]

A-Main (30 Laps)
1. 21-Brian Brown [2]; 2. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [3]; 3. 27-Greg Hodnett [5]; 4. 39M-Anthony Macri [4]; 5. 44-Trey Starks [21]; 6. 24-Lucas Wolfe [8]; 7. 29-Danny Dietrich [12]; 8. 94-Ryan Smith [10]; 9. 29S-Jason Shultz [17]; 10. 14-Tony Stewart [18]; 11. M1-Mark Smith [13]; 12. 38-Steve Buckwalter [24]; 13. 5-Justin Barger [23]; 14. 41-Ryan Taylor [15]; 15. 3K-Tim Kaeding [9]; 16. 13-Brandon Matus [16]; 17. 95-Hunter Mackison [19]; 18. 10H-Chad Kemenah [6]; 19. 51-John Garvin [25]; 20. 0-Rick Lafferty [22]; 21. 3-James McFadden [1]; 22. 12-Blane Heimbach [7]; 23. 11-TJ Stutts [14]; 24. 17-Caleb Helms [11]; 25. 7C-Caleb Armstrong [20] Lap Leaders: Brian Brown [1-30]

Current Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions Driver Standings (September 16, 2017):
1. Chad Kemenah – 5824
2. Ryan Smith – 5494
3. Caleb Armstrong – 5230
4. Max Stambaugh – 4908
5. Caleb Helms – 4828
6. Brandon Spithaler – 4551
7. T.J. Michael – 4489
8. Tyler Esh – 4463
9. Tim Shaffer – 4350
10. Brandon Matus – 4318

Additional Arctic Cat All Star Series Info:
Those seeking additional information regarding the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions should visit its official online home at www.allstarsprint.com. Series updates and breaking news will be posted regularly on the official Twitter account of the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions: https://twitter.com/ASCoC. Find full text results from each and every event, as well as an up-to-date schedule, online at www.allstarsprint.com/schedule/.

About the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions:
All Star Enterprises, LLC, wholly owned by Tony Stewart, d/b/a the All Star Circuit of Champions, is a winged sprint car series. The All-Star Circuit of Champions Sprint Car Series is one of the oldest traveling 410 sprint car organizations and is a staple of grassroots, open-wheel racing. Formed in 1970 by Bud Miller, the series has largely been considered the first ‘outlaw’ Sprint Car organization of the modern era. After a 10 year stint as owner of the All Stars, Miller passed control of the series to Bert Emick in 1980; a reign that would continue through 2002. Guy Webb then purchased the series from Emick in the summer of 2002 and served as the series President for the next 12 years. Motorsports entrepreneur Tony Stewart agreed to terms with Guy Webb to become the sole owner of the original winged sprint car tour in January of 2015.

About Arctic Cat:
The Arctic Cat brand is among the most widely recognized and respected in the recreational vehicle industry. The company designs, engineers, manufactures and markets all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), side-by-sides and snowmobiles, in addition to related parts, garments and accessories under the Arctic Cat® and Motorfist® brand names. Arctic Cat Inc.’s world headquarters is located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. More information about Arctic Cat and its products is available at www.ArcticCat.com.