Fred Rahmer won his 400th career Sprint Car feature this weekend at Lincoln Speedway in PA… Here’s the story:
ABBOTTSTOWN, PA, 4/4/09 - It was all about redemption Saturday night. Salfordville’s Fred Rahmer, the winningist driver in the history of Lincoln Speedway, had failed to qualify for the first time the last time out. Saturday night, the ten-time track champion had only one thing on his mind - winning. Ninth-starting Rahmer passed Wellsville’s Scott Geesey on the backstretch of the tenth lap and then held off the charges of defending track champion Brian Montieth and young hot shoe Cody Darrah over the final laps to register his 400th career sprint car win. “After last week, I had to come back here and redeem myself,” said Rahmer upon exiting his Chad and Jenn Clemens-owned No.51 sprint car in victory lane. “I embarrassed myself last week and let everybody down. I’ve never failed to qualify here before, and I just didn’t get the job done” Outside front row starter Chad Trout grabbed the lead at the outset over polesitter Tim Glatfelter. Third-starting Geesey snatched the runner-up spot on the third lap when Glatfelter spun and collected Lance Dewease. Meanwhile, Rahmer charged up from his fifth-row starting spot to pass fourth-starting Brent Marks for third on the third lap. Geesey passed Trout for the lead in the third and fourth turns of the sixth lap, while Rahmer continued his relentless charge to the front by passing Trout for second on the eighth lap. Rahmer quickly closed the gap on the Geesey and made the pass for the lead heading up the backstretch on the tenth lap. A Chris Knopp spin on the lap 11 allowed Geesey to close on Rahmer’s bumper for the restart. But all eyes were looking behind them, as tenth-starting Montieth was closing fast in third. Montieth passed Geesey on the restart for second and began to chase Rahmer for the lead. But Geesey fought back to retake the runner-up spot on the 16th lap, with Jimmy Siegel and another hard charging driver --Cody Darrah-- coming on strong right behind. Darrah passed Montieth for third with five laps to go and then the final caution waved with two laps to go for a spinning Cory Haas in turn four. When Darrah passed Geesey on the restart, the packed grandstand stood in unison as the final laps wound down. But Rahmer had his redemption, holding off the popular young driver from Red Lion to take the checkered .75-seconds ahead for his milestone 400th career win in a sprint car. “It’s not hard to look humble when you didn’t even make the show last week,” said Rahmer on winning race number 400, “It’s pretty overwhelming to win 400 races out here with the group of guys I raced with…I’ve accomplished way more than I ever thought I would.” Geesey hung on for a well-deserved third place finish, with Montieth fourth and 14th-starting Doug Esh fifth. Completing the top ten were Siegel, Alan Krimes, Chad Layton, Brent Marks, and 21st-starting Cris Eash. “The track was challenging tonight,” said Rahmer. “It was slick in one and two and a little upsetting in three and four…I’m just awful proud of my boy and every body that works on the car.” “It goes like that sometimes, and you have just to ride it out. That’s why we run 100 times a year.” Heats for the 27 “410” sprinters were won by Glatfelter, Dewease, and Trout, with Niki Young winning the consolation.
