PORT ROYAL, Pa. — The remnants of Hurricane Ian pushed the inaugural Brian Montieth Classic to Thursday, which means some racers got the chance to race three days in a row.
The titular eight-time Lincoln track champ returned to Lincoln Speedway for the first time in two years.
When Montieth stepped away from racing, nearing the end of the 2020 racing season. No one knew if they’d ever see The Edge hit the track again.
The sport can be very demanding, especially having over a two-hour drive to the shop for the last 17 years.
Coming back to the place he dominated the last decade, brought back a lot of memories.
“I’ve never really had to win, it was more of just the racing experience and the atmosphere; the electric and just excitement of being in a central Pennsylvania race track," said Montieth.
Officially now retired, Montieth’s racing career stretched over 40 years. It started when he was 6 years old. He has over 500 wins in a quarter midget,and 95 career sprint car wins with 66 of them alone at Lincoln Speedway; which put him currently 5th on Lincoln's all-time wins list.
July 15, 1995 was his very first 410 sprint car win at Lincoln and his last win came on May 25, 2020; when sprint car racing made its return after the world was put on hold during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Montieth said, “It was either a gift or a curse and honestly, I took it as a gift because it slowed me down enough to see what I was missing. Getting back to being a dad that I haven’t been in 20 years, so it’s good.”
It was only fitting the for track in the pigeon hills to celebrate the 8-time track champ with the inaugural Brian Montieth Classic.
“I’m not a very flashy guy. To me, I always did it as fun, as a hobby," said Montieth. "The race came up and I thought about it and it’s not really, my name might be on it, but it isn’t actually about me. It’s about everybody that’s been associated with my entire racing career from the time I was 6-years-old until the time I walked away because without any one of those people, it wouldn’t have been possible."
Thirty-six cars filled the field at Lincoln. Cameron Smith made his debut in the Trone Outdoor Motorsports No. 39, just two nights before he picked up his fourth 358 feature of the season.
Gio Scelzi picked pill number one and quickly established his lead out front.
Buddy Kofoid picked off one after another and with three laps left, Buddy the Dirt Driver was on Hot Sauce's tail, but unfortunately lap traffic got in the way of Buddy making a move.
Then, the caution waved with the white flag in the air. Scelzi lead every lap and picked up his first career win at Lincoln.
Posse shines over Outlaws
On night one of the Nittany Showdown on Friday, a couple of young guns looked for their first World of Outlaws win.
It was a near-perfect night for Anthony Macri. He won his heat, stole the dash win away from Justin Whittall and led all 25-laps of the feature, winning his first Outlaw feature.
"Pretty surreal," said Macri. "Not many are able to accomplish an Outlaw win, so to be able to do it and you know, pretty early in my career, is pretty special."
The Pa Posse swept the podium with Lance Dewease and Logan Wagner but Saturday night wouldn’t fair well for the five-time track champ.
Wagner came to a stop during hot laps, didn't qualify, then came to the checkered in the B-Main; he caught Noah Gass', backed up into the wall, and somehow, the car came to a rest with the car straight up in the air.
Shark Racing's Jacob Allen showed speed in qualifying but has to race his way in as the shark won the B-Main.
It's another Pa Posse front row with Brent Marks winning the dash and Macri.
Marks had a decent lead on Macri until a restart put the duo battling for P1. As they swapped, Macri looked to have finally taken the lead, but Devon Borden and Whittall got together and that just erupted chaos in three and four.
Back to green, Macri knocked on Marks’ door. He cut to the inside, pulled in front and officially took the lead on lap 15.
The concrete kid pulled away to sweep the Nittany Showdown.
The 23-year-old picked up the 23rd win of his incredible season. But, even more remarkable, thanks to Walkapedia, Macri is the first driver to win his first two Outlaw features on back-to-back nights since Lynn Paxton in 1979. Crazy awesome stat!
The 305 feature followed, Garrett Bard took the lead with three laps to go and picked up his 13th feature.