Carswell, Annas among HorsePower Park winners
Local driver Brian Carswell won the Crown Vic feature race in his return to HorsePower Park after five-plus years away on Aug. 8.
HorsePower Park returned to dirt-track racing action with six different divisions on Saturday, Aug. 8.
The main event was the 12-lap Crown Vic feature that paid $1,000 to win.
Brian “Meathead” Carswell of Valdese returned to the track he started at over 30 years ago to take home the checkered flag. Carswell hadn’t raced at the track in almost five years, but it looked like old times as he lapped the entire field.
“The car was a rocket ship,” Carswell said afterward. “Thanks to Justin Watts for letting me get behind the wheel and take home the money. I hoped to race against my son, Connor, but his Crown Vic had issues in his heat race, and the car wasn’t able to start the feature. But it was a great day having him out here working together.”
Homer Cook was second, Austin Hatton finished third, and Squeaky Cook and Austin Teague rounded out the top five.
In the rowdy Renegade feature, Chris Stowe beat Casey Towell to the finish line to take home $900 and a big trophy. Morganton driver Rodney Lail was third ahead of Johnny Fox and Rusty Douville.
Marion’s Freddy Frady added to his season-long points lead by winning the Thunder Bomber main event. Nathan Starnes finished ahead of Bundy Stowe to take second.
“Sometimes, it’s better to be a turtle,” Starnes said. “We were off tonight but somehow missed the wrecks and brought home a good points night.”
Valdese’s favorite son, Joey Barker, was fourth, and Mark Towell finished fifth.
Morganton driver Patrick Annas beat Drexel’s Clay Ross to win the Pro Four feature. JW Hicks, Mason Pugh, and Scott “Bones” Jones rounded out the top five.
The FWD feature went to Gavin Bright, and Nathan Fowler took home the Young Guns main event.
HorsePower Park will be back in action on Aug. 22 with another exciting night of dirt track racing.
Matt Gould emerges from his race car with the checkered flag after claiming a drama-filled 125-lap Late Model main event at Hickory Motor Speedway as part of Throwback Weekend on Aug. 8.
CARS Tour thrills at HMS
The CARS Tour returned to Hickory Motor Speedway for the annual Throwback Weekend on Aug. 8. The evening is a celebration of racing’s past and its future, with drivers and teams racing one-off paint schemes to celebrate the men and women who paved the way.
Eastern Burke native Landon S. Huffman raced a throwback to his father Shane’s HMS championship car. There were also tributes to Harry Gant, Greg Biffle, and Kevin Harvick, while the No. 06 driven by Matt Leicht paid tribute to Nebo’s own Harold Wilson.
A strong thunderstorm caused the race to be delayed until after 10 p.m. The Pro Late Model division eventually started the evening with a massive crash on the front stretch as the field took the green flag. Brody Monahan missed a shift coming up to speed, causing all the cars behind him to slam into each other.
The crash ended the night for several drivers after just a few feet of racing. Pole sitter TJ DeCaire was able to survive the crash-filled 100-lap feature to take the victory ahead of Conner Jones.
The front row in the Late Model 125-lap main event was a look at the future of NASCAR. Craftsman Truck Series winner Kaden Honeycutt won the pole and started alongside 23XI team driver and two-time Cup Series winner Corey Heim.
On the green flag, Honeycutt led the opening lap before Heim passed him for the top spot. The two drivers then put on a show — racing within inches of each other. Honeycutt retook the lead on the 61st lap.
A pile of debris from the crash-filled Pro Late Model race sits in the garage area at Hickory Motor Speedway on Aug. 8.
Seven laps later, Heim spun coming off turn four trying to pass Honeycutt on the outside. Veteran short track ace Lee Pulliam took over the second spot and began to battle with Honeycutt for the lead.
With less than 20 laps to go, the top two were door-to-door when third-place Treyten Lapcevich drove his No. 77 Chevy under both, making a three-wide battle for the top spot. Coming out of the fourth turn, Lapcevich hit Pulliam’s left rear quarter panel, knocking him into Honeycutt and causing the top two to spin, which ended the night for both drivers.
“I get to race four or five times a year. I was going for the win,” Pulliam said. “The 77 knocked me into Honeycutt. It was just a racing deal. We were all three going for the win.”
On the final restart of the night, Matt Gould was able to beat Lapcevich to turn one and led the final 13 laps to take the checkered flag. Lapcevich was second ahead of Landen Lewis, Ryan Millington, and Ronnie Bassett Jr.
When the checkered flag finally flew after 2 a.m. the next morning, the teams had been at the track for over 18 hours — a long day’s work.
The CARS Tour returns to the Catawba Valley with a stop at Tri-County Speedway on Sept. 12. HMS returns to weekly racing on Aug. 22.
