By Brad Brickel
Tue, May 4, 2010

MECHANICSBURG, PA - The fans at Williams Grove Speedway in Mechanicsburg, PA spoke out loudly against child sexual abuse with their generosity on Friday April, 30th. Through a 50/50 raffle, ticket sales rose to over $2400 with half of the proceeds going to The Race Against Abuse of Children Everywhere and the other half to a lucky fan. Fans also received a free TeamRAACE poster at a pre-race autograph session.

In a night where several TeamRAACE drivers including Stevie Smith Daryn Pittman, Dave Ely, Bruce Buckwalter, Jr, Stevie Buckwalter, Trevor Kobylarz, PJ Gargiulo, Brian Leppo, Brett Arndt, and Curt Michael, as well as Family of Drivers racer Dave Shirk and many more were in competition, fans came out en force with their RAACE Foundation gear showing support for drivers and a cause that has been working hand in hand with the world of motorsports to raise awareness about the silent epidemic of child sexual abuse since its inception.

"It is the success and notoriety garnered by my brother and nephew that allowed me to see an opportunity to get this message of child sexual abuse awareness out to a huge audience and to do it in a way that would satisfy the two requirements I knew we needed to be a success: non-intrusive and highly visible. It was from this connection and insight that The RAACE Foundation and TeamRAACE was born" said Founder Kenneth Smith.

TeamRAACE began with a single racing team consisting of the #19, 410 Sprinter driven by Stevie Smith and crewed by Steve Smith Sr. Since that time TeamRAACE has grown to include over 47 different teams and individuals competing in various forms of motorsports around the country.

"This makes TeamRAACE an unmatched community in which to raise awareness of child sexual abuse by circumventing many social taboos. It brings the issue into the light and says: Here is an important threat to our children, let's talk about it, while minimizing any sense of being pushy or intrusive, a perception that could be counterproductive." Smith Added

Thanks to everyone at Williams Grove Speedway, The All Star Circuit of Champions, The ARDC Midget Series, the fans and the drivers for speaking up in the name of children everywhere. Thanks to you we are one turn closer to a world free of abuse.

On the track, the racing was as good as it could be for both the All Star Circuit of Champions Sprint Cars and The ARDC Midgets. Lance Dewease drew the pole position for the sprint car feature and the rest of the field was in for a long night. Dewease was never seriously challenged and won by a margin of 3.29 seconds. He earned $5000 for his 72nd career victory at Williams Grove. It was his 27th win in an All Star Circuit of Champions sanctioned event. 

While Dewease checked out early, a battle royal raged for the runner-up spot between Kerry Madsen, Brian Montieth and TeamRAACE driver Stevie Smith. Madsen took second place from Montieth on lap three and held the spot until Montieth reclaimed it on lap 24.  Madsen took it back one lap later, but Montieth refused to concede. Montieth's final charge came exiting the fourth corner racing to the finish line where he nipped Madsen by inches. Stevie Smith settled for fourth.  Alan Krimes, Mark Smith, TeamRAACE driver Brian Leppo, Aaron Ott, Rick Lafferty and TeamRAACE driver Curt Michael completed the top ten. Brian Montieth set fast time in qualifications with a lap of 17.389 seconds while the heat races for the 43 sprint cars in competition were won by Tim Shaffer, Justin Henderson, TeamRAACE driver Daryn Pittman and TeamRAACE driver Stevie Buckwalter. Aaron Ott won the B-Main, while the Dash went to Brad Sweet.

At the start of the ARDC Midget feature, "Slick" Nick Wean of Phillipsburg, NJ jumped from his third starting position into the early lead over Tracy Readinger and The RAACE Foundation's Family of Driver's Dave Shirk. Wean continued to lead until a third lap red flag stopped the action to clean up a fuel spill in the third turn. On the restart Wean again pulled away but was followed this time by TeamRAACE driver Stevie Buckwalter who had just crawled out of his 410 Sprint Car and was able to duck underneath Readinger in turn two and followed Wean down the backstretch. Buckwalter then blasted, by Wean, low on the frontstretch, on lap four to take the lead.

Buckwalter's sizable lead was wiped out when the red flag again came out, this time for a wild flip down the backstretch by Brad Sweet, who was racing Joe Darrah's #24 midget, which was driven by TeamRAACE driver Rick Eckert in the 2010 Chili Bowl. Sweet, who also competed in Kasey Kahne's 410 sprint was unhurt in the incident.

After the restart, Buckwalter was again able to pull out into a comfortable lead and was unaware of the torrid battle behind him between, Dave Shirk, Ryan Smith, Frank Polimeda and a fast closing Eric Heydenreich. Buckwalter took the checkered flag with a big lead over Wean and Heydenreich. Finishing in fourth place was Readinger followed by Mike Miller who started 13th and was racing for the first time in two years. Rounding out the top ten were The RAACE Foundation's Family of Driver's Dave Shirk, Ryan Smith, TeamRAACE drivers Bruce Buckwalter Jr., Stephanie Stevens and Brett Arndt. Heats for the 33 midgets were won by Ryan Smith, Stevie Buckwalter and Bruce Buckwalter Jr. with Frank Polimeda winning the consolation.

All Star Sprint Car Feature - 30 laps - 1. 30c-Lance Dewease, 2. 21-Brian Montieth, 3. 3-Kerry Madsen, 4. 1-Stevie Smith, 5. 87-Alan Krimes, 6. 7m-Mark Smith, 7. 71-Brian Leppo, 8. 25-Aaron Ott, 9. 0-Rick Lafferty, 10. 5g-Curt Michael, 11. 27-Daryn Pittman, 12. 22-Greg Hodnett, 13. 88-Todd Shaffer, 14. 83-Tim Shaffer, 15. 39-Doug Esh, 16. 51-Fred Rahmer, 17. 49-Brad Sweet, 18. 35-Justin Henderson, 19. 2-Dale Blaney, 20. 17s-Steve Buckwalter, 21. 15-Adam Wilt, 22. 59-Jim Siegel, 23. 69k-Don Kreitz, Jr., 24. 18-Ryan Bohlke.  DNQ: Brent Marks, Danny Dietrich,  David Gravel, Doug Dodson, Tyler Walker, T. J. Stutts, Dave Ely, Mark Coldren, Chris Meleason, Greg Wilson, Kyle Moody, Johnny Mackison, Jared Ridge, Cap Henry, Derek Sell, Bill Rose, A. J. Michael, Cory Haas, Chad Layton

ARDC Midget Feature - 20 laps - 1. 0-Steve Buckwalter, 2. 78-Nick Wean, 3. 11-Eric Heydenreich, 4. 2-Tracy Readinger, 5. 1-Mike Miller, 6. 16-Dave Shirk, 7. 34-Ryan Smith, 8. 83-Bruce Buckwalter Jr., 9. 26-Stephanie Stevens, 10. 46-Brett Arndt, 11. 44-Frank Polimeda, 12. 52-Tim Buckwalter, 13. 20-Carey Becker, 14. 49-Trevor Kobylarz, 15. 94-Brad Cox, 16. 25-Chris Zrinski, 17. 57-Jason Rice, 18. 12-Drew Heistand, 19. 3-John Heydenreich, 20. 91-Donnie Trent, 21. 75-Ryan Watt, 22. 55-Steve Craig, 23. 77-Alex Bright, 24. 51-PJ Gargiulo, 25. 24-Brad Sweet, 26. 6-Dusty Heistand. DNQ 89-Andrew Hannula, 84-Jimmy Cammock, 01-Steve Bull, 17-Donnie Hoffman, 9-Steve Lenig