7/12/2024
USAC East Coast Sprint Cars
Action Track Dominance for Danner!
Kutztown, PA. July 10th, 2024. Nick Fillman, USAC ECSC.
For the fourth time in the 2024 season, Briggs Danner went to victory lane as a winner with the Rapid Tire Services, USAC East Coast Sprint Car Series presented by Capitol Renegade, this time scoring his third victory at the bull ring of Action Track USA.
Bobby Butler and Christian Bruno shared the front row of the thirty lap “Iron Cowboy Classic” at Action Track USA. Bruno quickly took the race lead away from Bobby Butler and put some distance between himself and Butler. Quickly however, Briggs Danner moved from his fourth place starting spot to the runner up position, and began his hunt of Bruno for the race lead.
As Bruno and Danner entered turn three on lap four, Danner pulled the slide job on Bruno for the race lead, officially leading on lap five. The caution flag then was displayed for the first time at the completion of lap five for a slowing Ed Aikin, with Danner taking the feature event lead over Christian Bruno, Kenny Miller lll, Bobby Butler and JT Ferry.
When the feature event went back going, Kenny Miller lll wasted no time moving by Bruno for the runner up spot, utilizing the same move that Danner did on Bruno to take the race lead, to steal the second spot from Bruno. Kenny Miller now tried to saddle up and run down Briggs Danner for the race lead, as Danner was setting a torrid pace at the front of the field.
Just about half way through the feature event, Danner began to encounter lapped cars at the tail end of the field. First it the solo car of Gary Huston, then came the grid lock. A five car duel for positions at the tail end of the field held up Danner immensely as he tried high and low, picking off a pair of cars as the laps continued to wind down. Kenny Miller quickly went from being more than a half track behind Danner, to within the same corner as Danner tried to pass the lapped cars.
Behind the top three, a hornets nest of action took place between Bobby Butler, JT Ferry, Carmen Perigo and Steven Drevicki who were locked in an entertaining battle for position at the back end of the top five.
While Danner was picking through lapped cars it appeared that Scott Frack had checked up just a bit more than Danner had planned as the Frack machine went spinning after light contact in turns one and two. The caution flag was again displayed, this time on lap nineteen, setting up an eleven lap dash to the finish.
All but the distance of a heat race was left in the feature event, with Danner nailing the restart and pulling away from Miller lll. Bruno held onto third, but the car on the move was Carmen Perigo Jr who found a middle groove on the speedway, lower the many of the leaders and began picking off positions.
Kenny Miller lll kept Danner honest as he never let the 39 of Danner get too far ahead, but ultimately was not able gain any time on Danner for the race lead. Meanwhile, Carmen Perigo Jr had moved by Bruno for third, and was beginning to pressure Miller lll for third.
Try as they might, Briggs Danner maintained his distance from he rest of the field and collected his fourth feature event win of the season. Kenny Miller yet again was the runner up, with Carmen Perigo Jr third, Christian Bruno fourth, and Steven Drevicki completing the top five.
Briggs Danner picked up another win on the season, the first since June 5th in the Bill Gallagher Memorial. The team had missed the previous two events, but with good reason. In his return to the series, Danner was victorious after showing impressive, near dominant, speed during his run through the USAC “Eastern Storm” events where he collected his first national series win, and nearly three others.
For the second straight event, Kenny Miller lll came up just one spot short in the feature event. Back to back runner up results may not be what Miller and team have in mind, but the speed the team has is undeniable. Again, while Miller is not a full time driver with the series due to his busy work schedule, the results are there just about every time the 23m hits the speedway surface.
Carmen Perigo Jr explained in top three interviews that he thought he had something for the race leaders, and he was likely correct. Perigo had discovered a line right through the middle of speedway, that no other drivers had found at the front of the field. Perigo was the “Iron Cowboy Classic” feature winner last season, but was not able to capitalize on his line with the leaders. Perhaps if the caution flag had flown again Perigo may have had a chance to put his line to the test, but on Wednesday night he was forced to settle for third.
Christian Bruno continued his extremely consistent season adding yet another top five finish to his resume. Bruno lead laps early, but unfortunately for him, unlike his heat race Briggs Danner caught and passed the 17B for the race lead. While Bruno and team did not grab the win in the USAC Feature after leading laps early, they went to victory lane as the winners of the 600 sprint feature later on in the evening.
Completing the top five adding to his points lead, and looking like he could be well on the way to his fourth career USAC East Coast Championship was Steven Drevicki. It doesn’t take much of a conversation for Drevicki to admit that Action Track USA is not his favorite stop on the series trail, but running a smart race, and picking positions up when available are a recipe for success. Drevicki pulled the number eight pill, the worst of the redraw, and slowly picked off cars for his top five run. The positions came a little easier later on in the feature event run as Drevicki began to follow the line of Carmen Perigo Jr as he marched his way to the front.
There was a rather large supply of bonus money available to teams on Wednesday night, which was a welcome sight to many as we hit the dog days of summer. Chris Spotts of Chris Spotts Welding, had cash bonuses of $150 to the heat race winners (Kenny Miller lll, and Christian Bruno) as well as a $100 bonus to the hard charger for the evening, Carmen Perigo Jr (10th to 3rd). Additionally a big thank you to John Schneider of E Schneider and sons recycling who added $500 to the winners share, and an extra $100 to every position from second through the rest of the field.
Next up, the series will have some time off and return to action for a busy month of August, kicking off on August 2nd at the Clinton County Speedway. Then to Delaware International on August 10th, and a double weekend August 17th and 18th at Port Royal and Action Track USA!
USAC East Coast at Action Track Results:
Heat 1 (10 Laps, 4 Redraw, All Qualify): 1. 23M-Kenny Miller III[5]; 2. 22R-Ronald Helmick[1]; 3. 19-Steven Drevicki[7]; 4. 18J-JT Ferry[8]; 5. 96-Cameron Smith[2]; 6. 39X-Scott Frack[6]; 7. 44-Gary Huston[4]; 8. 88J-Joey Amantea[3]
Heat 2 (10 Laps, 4 Redraw, All Qualify): 1. 17-Christian Bruno[1]; 2. 39-Briggs Danner[7]; 3. 7-Ed Aikin[2]; 4. 5B-Bobby Butler[8]; 5. 21-Carmen Perigo Jr[4]; 6. 1-Patrick Chilmonik[6]; 7. 83-Bruce Buckwalter Jr[5]; 8. (DNS) 3H-Heidi Hedin
Feature Event (30 Laps): 1. 39-Briggs Danner[4]; 2. 23M-Kenny Miller III[3]; 3. 21-Carmen Perigo Jr[10]; 4. 17-Christian Bruno[2]; 5. 19-Steven Drevicki[8]; 6. 96-Cameron Smith[9]; 7. 5B-Bobby Butler[1]; 8. 18J-JT Ferry[6]; 9. 83-Bruce Buckwalter Jr[14]; 10. 39X-Scott Frack[11]; 11. 7-Ed Aikin[5]; 12. 22R-Ronald Helmick[7]; 13. 44-Gary Huston[13]; 14. 1-Patrick Chilmonik[12]; 15. 88J-Joey Amantea[15]
Lap Leaders: Christian Bruno (1-4), Briggs Danner (5-30)
Hard Charger: Carmen Perigo Jr, +7 (10th to 3rd).
Article Credit: Nick Fillman
Submitted By: Nick Fillman
