OSWEGO, N.Y. – In one of the most stunning turns of events in Budweiser International Classic history, Jeff Abold finally put his family surname in the Oswego Speedway history books as a Classic winner by leading only one lap of Sunday’s 60th edition – the final one.
Abold closed from five seconds back when race leader Dave Shullick Jr.’s No. 2 Nicotra Racing entry sputtered on fuel coming to the white flag, ultimately passing the defending ISMA winged supermodified champion in turns one and two and going on to capture the biggest win of his career.
“The last restart, when I could finally see the leaders – I knew I had a shot,” Abold said in victory lane. “A lot of guys can fall off at the end of this race and our car just kept getting better and better. I didn’t want to lay back as far as I did for so long because I got caught up in a couple jingles, but everything held together and it all came to us.”
“I said late in that last run, ‘If I can get to second, I can be in position in case something happens,’ and sure enough, something happened and we took advantage. I never expected it to fall in our lap, but we were there and we got one today. It’s unbelievable.”
An emotional victory lane celebration saw hugs from Abold’s father Pat and a slew of crew members and other competitors – arguably one of the most popular Classic winners in recent memory.
“This won’t sink in for a while,” Abold added with a laugh. “What an amazing finish. This is something my family has wanted for so long. My grandfather had history with this speedway and my dad came close but never won this race. This is for them, for my crew and everyone that has helped us out. The Abold family finally got one here on Labor Day weekend.”
While Abold was the eventual winner, it was Osetek Racing’s Keith Shampine who dominated the day in his No. 55 Osetek Technologies machine. Shampine took the top spot from outside polesitter Pat Lavery on lap 14 and led 131 consecutive laps during the early and middle stages of the event.
However, Shampine ran out of fuel on lap 145 and had to pull to the pit area, losing multiple laps as his car failed to refire on the access lane. When he was finally able to refire, he was 10 laps down and out of a shot at his first Classic victory.
That left the field in the hands of Shullick, who took over the race lead and appeared to be well on his way to victory as he drove out to a four second lead ahead of teammate Otto Sitterly inside of the final quarter of the race.
However, the event’s last of seventh cautions – appearing with 30 to go when Kody Graham spun his car at the base of turn four – set up a barn-burning run to the finish.
