Lonnie Wheatley
CLUTE, Texas (September 25, 2019) – Last weekend’s All Star Circuit of Championship set of events through Central Pennsylvania and Maryland was exactly what Aaron Reutzel and the Baughman-Reutzel Motorsports No. 87 Sprint Car team needed to secure a second consecutive All Star Circuit of Champions title.
With a Friday night win at Williams Grove Speedway and a Sunday score at Hagerstown Speedway to push his season win total 17 overall to go along with a podium finish in Saturday’s Dirt Classic at Lincoln Speedway, Reutzel and the Folkens Brothers Trucking/Dissolvalloy Downhole Revolution Triple-X team have all but finished off a second series championship in a row.
“All we have to do is show up on Saturday to win the championship,” Reutzel said of Saturday’s All Star portion of Eldora Speedway’s Four Crown Nationals in Rossburg, OH.
“That was the primary goal coming into the season and we’ve done it again,” Reutzel. “Between Josh (Baughman) and everyone else on this team, I have a great bunch of people around me that make all this happen.”
Along with Saturday’s All Star Circuit of Champions finale, Reutzel will also take in a pair of World of Outlaws events this weekend beginning with Wednesday night’s card at Illinois’ Jacksonville Speedway and then Friday’s “Befour the Crowns Showdown” at Eldora.
Reutzel goes into this week’s events with at least one feature one over each of the past six weekends since racing to a top-five finish in the Knoxville Nationals aboard the Precision Catalyst/Hollywood Blasting & Coating/Beard Equipment machine.
Reutzel wasted little time getting his first win of last weekend by wiring the All Star field at Williams Grove Speedway’s “Tommy Hinnershitz Memorial” for his 14th series score of the year and second in a row atop the storied half-mile Central Pennsylvania clay oval in Mechanicsburg.
After a heat race win, Reutzel drew the pole for the Dash and won that to secure the pole starting position for the feature before leading all 30 laps en route to the $6,000 payday.
“We actually missed it some in qualifying, but it worked out and put us front row in the heat race and then we drew the pole for the Dash,” Reutzel says.
From there, Reutzel took care of his end of the deal by keeping the field at bay aboard the Nattress Construction/Momentum Racing Suspensions entry.
“We were really good in the feature, we were low in three and four and running the top of one and two,” Reutzel explains. “I got to lapped cars and I noticed they were starting to pull away some, then I heard someone down low. I moved to the bottom and felt it starting to take some rubber and that was pretty much it.”
Moving on to Lincoln Speedway’s $20,000-to-win Dirt Classic on Saturday night, Reutzel set his 21st quick time of the year to kick off the night and then earned the front row outside starting position for the feature with finishes of first and fifth in twin heat race action.
Reutzel led the initial 24 laps of the main event before settling for third at the stripe.
“It was dead slick for the ‘A’, it was really good,” Reutzel says. “When (Brian) Montieth got by, I was just biding my time. When we got to lapped traffic, I wasn’t sure what I could do and what I couldn’t do.”
Reutzel found his opportunities and made one last bid at the win.
“I about had him once, but I got too greedy with the gas and spun the tires and let him back by,” Reutzel explains. “I tried a Hail Mary on the last lap for the win but it didn’t stick and let Danny (Dietrich) by for second.”
Reutzel and crew finished out the weekend at Maryland’s Hagerstown Speedway on Sunday.
After a heat race win and a Dash win, Reutzel gunned into the feature lead from the pole position and led all 30 laps to score his 15th series win of the year and 17th overall.
“We had such a good car,” Reutzel says. “We got out front and I never had go run harder than 80%, everything just fell into place and the car was perfect. It’s nice to have those kind of nights.”
With the All Star Circuit of Champions title effectively locked up, Reutzel looks to add to the win column with this week’s racing action in Illinois and Ohio.
2019 Quick Stats: 76 races, 17 wins, 38 top-fives, 51 top-tens.
Next Up:
Wednesday – World of Outlaws Sprint Cars at Jacksonville (IL) Speedway.
Friday – World of Outlaws Sprint Cars at Eldora Speedway (Rossburg, OH).
Saturday – All Star Circuit of Champions season finale at Eldora Speedway’s (Rossburg, OH) “Four Crown Nationals”.
Keep Track: Keep track of Aaron Reutzel’s on-track action including schedule and results at http://www.aaronreutzelracing.com/, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Aaron-Reutzel-Racing/117666254913127 or on Twitter at @AaronReutzel. You can also e-mail Aaron at aaronreutzel@yahoo.com.
If you would like Aaron Reutzel Racing press releases e-mailed directly to you, send your e-mail address to Lonnie Wheatley at lonniewheatley@gmail.com.
Penning the recurring series of “The Wheatley Chronicles” articles on www.sprintcarmania.com, Lonnie Wheatley provides media, public relations and more for select tracks, drivers and events. For more information, Wheatley may be contacted at lonniewheatley@gmail.com.