By: Pam Baker 

Marble, PA…..3/28/2021………. Rex King, Jr. became the first winner for the BRP Modified Tour racing series for 2021. A beautiful evening was on tap for March with temperatures in the 60’s and the racing action was great for the Chiller Thriller held at Michaels Mercer Raceway.

     There were 29 drivers registered in the pit area for the first of seventeen races on the BRP Modified Tour schedule. By the top 12 redraw, Brad Rapp and Rex King, Jr. brought the 27 car starting field to the drop of the green flag. On the initial start, Gale Ruth, Sr. came to a stop in turn four to bring out the caution before a lap could be completed. On the second start a melee of cars came together in turn two bringing out the second caution. A third start found Jim Rasey stopping on the front stretch to bring out the third caution. 

     According to BRP rules after the third caution the field goes single file the rest of the race and once this happened a clean start took place with Rex King, Jr. jumping out into the lead. The race went green for seven laps with King, Jr. in the lead and Garrett Krummert trying everything to get by King, Jr. A caution flag on lap seven for Paul Kot brought the field together once again. On the restart, King, Jr. once took command but Krummert was hot on his rear bumper and once the leaders got into lapped traffic on lap fourteen the race between King, Jr. and Krummert really heated up. Rex King, Jr. was able to keep his cool and total control of his car and was able to lead until lap twenty-one when the caution flew once again for debris on the track. Another restart found King, Jr. once again in the lead and with five to go the caution flag flew for the last time for Brad Rapp who spun on the front stretch. The final restart saw King, Jr. in control and went the final five laps to get his first win of the season. King, Jr. picked up where he left off last season with the BRP Modified Tour as he captured the season finale last year at Hummingbird Speedway and now has his first win under his belt for 2021.The final finish saw Rex King, Jr. ahead of Garrett Krummert, Justin Haers, Chad Brachmann, and Erick Rudolph. Heat races were won by Haers, Krummert and Dave Murdick.

 Feature Finish: Rex King, Jr., Garrett Krummert, Justin Haers, Chad Bachmann, Erick Rudolph, Rex King, Sr., Dave Murdick, Rick Regalski, Greg Martin, Kyle Fink, Brad Rapp, Eric Gabany, Tom Glenn, Mark Frankhouser, Steve Barr, Shawn Kozar, Marshall Hurd, James Sweeting, Jim Rasey, John Venuto, Paul Kot, Jeremiah Shingledecker, Tony Pangrazio, Brian Sadler, Curt Bish, Jr., Rodney Beltz, Gale Ruth, Sr., Kevin Green – DNS; Steve Slater – DNS

By: Pam Baker

Franklin, PA……….The grand reopening of Tri City Raceway Park in Franklin, PA found a standing room only crowd in the grandstands and an overflowing pit area as well. Thirty-seven Modifieds from Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio and Canada attended the event that paid the winner a cool $5,000.

Chad Brachmann and Steve Feder the 26-car field to the drop of the green flag with Brachmann taking control of the race at the drop of the green flag. Brachmann would lead the first four laps of the event which slowed twice; first for Garrett Krummert who stopped on the front stretch and next for Kyle Fink whose car stopped in turn one. Krummert was towed off the track and Fink ended up continuing. Once the race resumed, Erick Rudolph in the Randy Chrysler #21K battled Brachmann for the top position and the two dueled each other for a few laps, side by side with Rudolph taking the lead at the line. After a couple of laps Rudolph was able to shake off Brachmann and opened up quite a lead over Brachmann.

Several cautions throughout the 40-lap event grouped the field together with the final caution on lap 34 for Rex King, Jr. who spun off of turn three. A six lap shootout was about to take place, but Rudolph shot into the lead at the drop of the green and at the end of 40 laps was half a track ahead of second place Brachmann. Rex King, Sr. finished third with eleventh place starter, Jimmy Weller, III riding home fourth. Fifth place went to New York driver, Justin Wright. Sixth through tenth found twenty-fourth place starter Jim Rasey with twenty-third place starter, Brad Rapp in seventh. Eighth place went to Kevin Bolland with Ricky Richer coming from twenty-first to finish ninth and tenth place went to Steve Feder.

Heat races were won by Steve Feder, Rex King, Sr., Jeremiah Shingledecker and Rex King, Jr. The B-Main was won by Ricky Richner.

Finish: Erick Rudolph, Chad Brachmann, Rex King, Sr., Jimmy Weller, III, Justin Wright, Jim Rasey, Brad Rapp, Kevin Bolland, Ricky Richner, Steve Feder, Kyle Fink, Jim Weller, Jr., Rex King, Jr., Rick Regalski, Shawn Fleeger, Dave Murdick, Brian Weaver, Jeremiah Shingledecker, Tom Winkle, Tom Glenn, Dillon Barr, Rodney Beltz, Mat Williamson, J.R. McGinley, Garrett Krummert , Eric Gabany, DNQ: Shayne Pierce, Randy Chronister, Mark Frankhouser, Max Smoker, Steve Barr, Justin Rasey, Carl Murdick, Kevin Hoffman, Richard Whitney, Erik Martin and Bob Warren.

August 10, 2014

Content Provided by Paul Oyler

When Rex King, Sr. took part in round one of the Smackdown! at Mercer Raceway Park back on July 12, his night did not go as he had hoped, as his was the first car to exit the race due to a lap one, turn one incident. Sunday night, he gained redemption for that, winning the twice-delayed Smackdown! night 2 event in the BRP Modified Tour feature.

Chris Schneider continued to enjoy his visits to Mercer Raceway Park, scoring the win in the inaugural visit of the Penn Ohio Pro Stock Championship Series. Andy Feil took the checkers in the Bonnell’s Rod Shop Outlaw Sprint Warriors, while George Englert closed out the night with yet another roof-flapping win in the Rock Concrete Mod Lites.

Rex King, Sr. was grateful for the win, and acknowledged that the car was “just hooked up tonight. I could go high or low, it didn’t matter.” And King did use every line on the track to out-duel Dave Murdick for the win, as the two cagey veterans waged battle for the entire race, first for positions as they moved towards the front, and then for the lead over the closing laps of the race.

The full field of cars was led to the green flag by Rex “Cooter” King, Jr. and Kevin Hoffman, with the younger King grabbing the initial lead after two quick cautions on the opening lap. After those cautions were out of the way, the race wouldn’t slow again until lap 33, and for the first 20 laps it looked like King Jr. was going to leave the entire field in his dust. But as the laps clicked off and lap traffic became three-wide and even four-wide at times, King Sr. and Murdick began to reel in “Cooter.” As it turned out, not only was King Jr. having to deal with the traffic but he was also dealing with an ill race car, as his machine developed a fuel line problem.

By lap 20 King Sr. and Dave Murdick began swapping second and third place between them, all the while continuing to narrow the gap to the front-running King Jr. Finally, on lap 30, King Sr. slipped past his son to grab the lead, and Murdick quickly advanced to the second spot, while Jeremiah Shingledecker entered the fray, taking third.

The final caution flew on lap 33, setting up a two-lap shootout for the win. Murdick took a quick lead on the ensuing restart, but by the time they had circled back for the white flag, King had regained the advantage and held off Murdick for the win. Shingledecker was third, while Kevin Hoffman secured fourth place. Eric Gabany, who won Saturday night’s feature for the Approved Toilet Rentals 358 Modifieds, was the standard bearer for the Mercer small blocks this night, finishing with a strong fifth place run.

Lonny Riggs, winner of Smackdown! night 1, finished sixth, while, Rex King, Jr. managed to hold on for seventh place. Dr. Brad Rapp slotted into eighth after going pit-side on lap one and restarting from the tail of the field. Tommy Kristyak, who started 22nd, finished in ninth place, while Shawn Fleeger scored an impressive tenth place finish, giving the Mercer small blocks four of the top 10 finishers.

There were 29 Modifieds on hand for this second night of Smackdown! The heat winners were Rick Richner, Dave Murdick, and Dr. Brad Rapp. Tommy Kristyak prevailed in the B Main.

BRP Modified Tour/Approved Toilet Rentals 358 Modified Smackdown!: Rex King, Sr., Dave Murdick, Jeremiah Shingledecker, Kevin Hoffman, Eric Gabany, Lonny Riggs, Rex King, Jr., Brad Rapp, Tommy Kristyak, Shawn Fleeger, Randy Chrysler, Steve Barr, Tom Glenn, Rick Regalski, Tommy Mattocks, Eric Martin, Mark Frankhouser, Brett Clarke, Shayne Pierce, Rick Richner, Kyle Fink, Justin Wright, Jimmy Holden, Carl Murdick, Bob Warren, Chris Haines, Kevin Green (DNQ), Matt Reeher (DNQ), Frank Guidace (DNS).

---Immediate Release---

After our first four races of the season, drivers have brought up an issue regarding lapped cars and where they should lineup on restarts. The rule was for lapped cars to have their choice whether they would like to hold their position or to restart at the tail behind the lead lap cars. The Modified Tour, Inc board members have voted to change that rule. Now effective immediately, the tour will use the host track’s racing procedure in regards to the issue.

Also brought up at the board meeting was the rule regarding the leader being able to choose whether to start on the inside or outside of the front row. The rule in place was that it was mandatory for the leader to restart the race on the inside of the front row. The board members voted to leave that rule the same and bring it up for discussion at the end of the season in regards to the 2015 season.

The next board meeting will be at Kings Restaurant in Reno, PA at 6:30 PM on September 10, 2014 if anyone is interested in attending.