JENNERSTOWN, Pa. – Despite intermittent rain and mist that plagued the Laurel Highlands on Friday night, Must See Racing drivers still got a chance to preview the Jennerstown Speedway half-mile ahead of the season-ending David D. Mateer Tribute Race.
A scheduled four-hour open practice for all competing divisions was shaved to just one session apiece after rain dampened Central Pennsylvania around 4:15 p.m. Showers then returned just before the scheduled 6 p.m. start time, forcing a second delay before cars finally hit the racing surface.
Six Must See Racing teams were on hand to shake down their cars on Friday, led by the two-car JR Motorsports tandem of Charlie Schultz and Adam Biltz. Also at the track were Bobby Santos III, Tom Jewell, Jerry Caryer and Jeff Bloom.
Five of those six drivers turned laps during the single eight-lap session that was completed before heavy mist rolled in and ended the night prematurely. Only Bloom, the sprint car track record holder at Jennerstown, was unable to get on-track.
No official times were recorded, but unofficial stopwatches had the drivers in the 16.1- and 16.2-second brackets Friday night, just under a second off Bloom’s record mark of 15.32 seconds set in 2005.
Schultz, who comes to Jennerstown fresh off a victory at Berlin (Mich.) Raceway last month, was also a part of an exhibition session for Must See Racing at the flat half-mile along with his teammate Biltz.
Though he had prior laps at the track before Friday, Schultz said not much translated between the two visits due to how many changes he and team owner John Reiser have made to the No. 9s since then.
“It was definitely a different feel to the car than when we were here in June,” said Schultz. “Basically, we unloaded with our Berlin setup that we won with and figured that was a good place to start. The two tracks, size-wise, are pretty comparable. Here the top speed is a little faster, but they’re both high-speed race tracks and I felt like they run at least a little similar to one another.
“We figure we can tune on this for tomorrow. The car was very stable and very comfortable,” Schultz added. “We had some good tires on it and I was really pleased, even with just the eight laps we got, and I think it’s a great baseline for us for race day.”
Santos, who picked up his first win at Madison (Wis.) Int’l Speedway earlier in the summer, noted that he didn’t feel like there were a lot of bullets he could gather from a single Friday night session.
“There’s only so much you can learn from such a short time on track,” he pointed out. “It’s a cool track, though. The straightaways are really fast. This team always brings a fast car every time we unload and I have no doubt we’ll be right in the thick of things when it counts tomorrow.”
Santos leads the Engine Pro Fast Car Dash bonus series standings entering the Jennerstown finale, holding a one-point advantage over Jimmy McCune in the race for the $500 top prize from Engine Pro.
Notably, the top two drivers in points – champion-elect Jimmy McCune and runner-up Anthony McCune – were not in attendance for Friday night’s open practice.
Jimmy McCune will collect his fourth series title just by signing in on Saturday morning.
Pit gates open at 10 a.m. on Saturday for the David D. Mateer Tribute Race. The Super Cup Stock Car Series will co-headline the night alongside the Must See Racing sprint cars.
