10/26/2020
USAC East Coast Sprint Cars
Breaking Down The Top 10: 10th, Billy VanInwegen
Nick Fillman, USAC ECSC
With the early season events on the series trail being lost, or postponed by the COVID-19 Pandemic, what was supposed to be an early summer stop at the Orange County Fair Speedway, quickly turned into the series season opening event in the series first ever visit to the historic oval.
A surprise entrant on the event was Billy VanInwegen Jr of Port Jervis, NY. The weekly Big Block and Small Block modified driver at the speedway is no stranger to Orange County nor, to the world of open wheel sprint car competition. Billy V has made a handful of starts behind the wheel of a Steve Buckwalter owned midget at the Chili Bowl nationals, and can be found making a number of starts with multiple different winged 360 series in NY, NJ, PA area. However, VanInwegen headed into the evenings event as a rookie with the wings off of a sprint car.
The first timer got things off to a great start aboard the number 56 entry that he has normally piloted in winged sprint car events by finishing fourth in his heat race at OCFS. Billy V would storm from his 12th place starting position and collect an extremely impressive 2nd place effort in his series debut behind event winner Steven Drevicki.
Following the injury of Tim Buckwalter, Billy V received the nod from car owner Bill Gallagher and Curt Michael to pilot the 5G entry for a the next five events that VanInwegen entered starting at the Georgetown Speedway.
In the five events that VanInwegen and Gallagher ran, the team collected one heat race victory, five top ten finishes, four top five finishes, and a pair of third place finishes.
Billy V nearly won the feature event at the Delaware International Speedway until Kenny Miller lll was able to slip by and collect the victory. Everywhere the 5G team went with VanInwegen behind the wheel the team was solid and ran clean and consistent races.
While most of the starts with the Rapid Tire, USAC East Coast Sprint Car Series that VanInwegen made in 2020 were as a result of the closure of most modified tracks in New York, VanInwegen was a welcome driver to the series and the pit area. Currently plans for VanInwegen to return to the series in 2021 for a handful of starts remain undetermined, but should the talented Empire State driver enter any events in the 2021 season, he will no doubt be found at the front of the field as a threat for the feature event win.
Article Credit: Nick Fillman
Submitted By: Nick Fillman