COLUMN By BRYAN HOUSEHOLDER
For The York Dispatch

The 20th edition of Pennsylvania Sprint Car Speedweek is now in the history books -- and what a Speedweek it was.

For the first time since 2005, all the Speedweek events made it into the record books without a rainout.

Eight races in nine days can take its toll on man and machine, but there were 11 teams that made it to all eight races. In all, 77 different drivers took part in Speedweek this year, and among them they produced some interesting results.

It took until the final race to get a repeat winner during this year's Speedweek. The first seven races produced seven different winners. Mark Smith, Ed Lynch Jr., Tyler Walker, Alan Krimes, Lance Dewease, Daryn Pittman and Greg Hodnett each scored wins, before Pittman scored a repeat win in the final race of the series.

In the end, Pittman's win still wasn't enough. He fell 35 points short of unseating Hodnett as the series champion. For Hodnett it marked his second consecutive Speedweek title and his third career Speedweek crown.

Along the way there were a lot of interesting plot lines.

In the opener, Smith passed Lincoln and Speedweek King Fred Rahmer for the lead and the eventual win.

In the second race at Bedford, western Pennsylvania king Ed Lynch Jr. finally scored his first win against his eastern counterparts. Lynch has more than 200 wins in the western part of the state, but he had never before beaten the midstate drivers on their own turf.

The third race, at Grandview, had a bizarre ending. Race winner Walker had to be taken from victory lane in an ambulance. Walker injured his knee while performing his traditional victory lane back flip. He had to sit out the rest of the series, and may miss several more weeks of racing.

In the fourth race, at Hagerstown, Alan Krimes scored his first win in more than a year. Krimes had entered that night as the Speedweek point leader, and finally made it to victory lane. He would hold onto the series point lead until his car faltered in warm-ups at Port Royal. Krimes missed time trials, but did qualify through his heat race. Later, more problems were discovered, and the team didn't make it to the final race at Selinsgrove.

At the fifth race, Dewease was last out for time trials and timed in 27th in a field of 31 cars. With the new series format in place, Dewease was still able to secure a good starting spot and went on to win the feature.

For the second year in a row, Pittman took the biggest race of the series, the Mitch Smith Memorial at Williams Grove. That race paid $10,000 to win. Pittman also won the final race of the week after a stirring duel with Dewease.

Series champion Hodnett scored his lone win on the seventh night at Port Royal. A week of strong finishes helped Hodnett secure the series crown.

One other note of interest -- at Hagerstown NASCAR racer Dave Blaney returned to his roots to compete in the Speedweek event. Blaney proved he hasn't lost his dirt-track skill with a run from 19th to seventh in the feature.

On a humorous note, during the heat race, it appeared as if Blaney forgot where he was racing. Not really, but as many know, Blaney races for one of the so-called "Start and Park" teams in NASCAR. On Wednesday evening, when the first yellow flag flew in his heat race, Blaney headed to the pit area. However, this time it was just for some adjustments, and he returned to action. Blaney just missed qualifying in his heat race, won the B-Main and then began his march through the field in the feature.

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