With five events remaining on the ''08 slate, the top five drivers are separated by just fifty three points. Randy Monroe Jr. of Hampton, Va. is the point leader with Frank Polimeda just twenty two points behind. Sitting nine points back in third is PJ Gargiulo, with the "Topton Tornado" Brett Arndt twelve markers behind in fourth. Rounding out the top five is "Slick" Nick Wean who is ten points behind Arndt. The ARDC point system awards 100 points for a feature win with a five point drop-off for each position in the top fifteen. It doesn''t take a math major to determine that anyone in the top five has a realistic shot to take the 2008 ARDC Championship if the breaks fall their way.

Randy Monroe has to feel good about his chances going into the Big Diamond round as he took a victory at the Minersville, Pa. oval on June 5th over Steve Buckwalter and Stephanie Stevens to score his second win of the season. Monroe did suffer a rare setback in ARDC''s last race at New Egypt as he registered a twenty first place finish, allowing the rest of the pack to gain ground on him

Polimeda has seen a return to consistency in recent weeks, including a seventh at New Egypt and a fifth in ARDC''s most recent round at Big Diamond on August 1. Surprisingly, Polimeda is still searching for his first win of the ''08 season.

PJ Gargiulo has shown dogged determination to stay in the hunt for the ''08 Championship. He hit the high point of his season on June 15 at Susquehanna Speedway Park scoring his first career ARDC win. Since then he has suffered some bumps and bruises along the way, including running out of gas at Big Diamond in the August 1 race that resulted in an 18th place finish. He shook that off to author an impressive 12th to 3rd place run at New Egypt on August 16th.

Brett Arndt has slowly worked his way back up in the standings after an early season flip at New Egypt took him out of the point lead. Arndt scored a tenth place finish in ARDC''s return engagement at New Egypt. In the race prior to the New Egypt round, Arndt scored a solid third at Big Diamond.

Nick Wean is one of the five "first time winners" in ARDC in ''08 -- scoring his initial victory prevailing in a thrilling battle over Scott Zipp at County Line Raceway in North Carolina. Wean has followed up that victory with a solid season, including a fifth in the last race at New Egypt.

As fast and competitive as the drivers of ARDC are, they also drive some of the sharpest looking equipment seen in open wheel racing today. With that in mind PPG Industries is once again the proud sponsor of the annual ARDC Best Appearing Car Award.

This year''s PPG Best Appearing Car Award will be decided by a vote of the fans at the next four ARDC events, starting with this Friday night''s race at Big Diamond Raceway, followed by the September 13 race at Susquehanna Speedway Park, back to Big Diamond on September 27th and closing out at Grandview Speedway on October 18. 500 ballots will be handed out at the main gate at each race. Prior to each night''s feature, two ballots will be drawn and two lucky fans will receive an ARDC T-Shirt or a T-Shirt from one of the ARDC teams. This year''s winner of the PPG Best Appearing Car Award will be announced at ARDC''s annual banquet in November.

Pittsburgh-based PPG is a global supplier of paints, coatings, chemicals, optical products and glass with more than 150 manufacturing facilities in over 60 countries. Please visit their website at www.ppgrefinish.com or contact a PPG Automotive Paint Distributor near you.

New Egypt, NJ - Andy Martin had a score to settle with New Egypt Speedway and he drove like it Saturday night. He simply dominated the field and holding off a charge on a late race charge by Billy Pauch Jr. to score his third main event win of the season. Martin drives NES like it was made for him -- in ARDC's first appearance at New Egypt in May, Martin was rocketing around the high side of the D-shaped oval and poised to take the lead when he hooked a rut and took a hard flip in turns 3 & 4. He authored a similar performance Saturday night to exact his revenge on the track.

Chris Zrinski and Carey Becker led the 26 car field to the green flag. Some good early dicing between Zrinski, Becker, Bruce Buckwalter and AJ Ernesto merely kept the crowd entertained while Martin was putting on his patented high side charge from his 7th starting slot en route to the top spot. Once out front the 2 time ARDC Champ began to wave good bye to the field, opening up a full straightaway lead.

Three drivers from mid pack starting spot provided the excitement throughout the 20-lap affair. PJ Gargiulo was moving from his 12th starting spot, while Billy Pauch Jr. charged from 17th spot. Steve Buckwalter, who won ARDC's previous NES feature had to run the consi due to a heat race flip and was relegated to a 19th starting spot. He and Pauch stage a thrilling race up through the pack and were battling for second as Martin continued to drive away.

A simple mechanical breakage ended Buckwalter's bid for the win. "The throttle linkage broke," Buckwalter said after the race. "It had nothing to do with damage from the heat race flip. We changed motors during the week, and I guess we just didn't get it tight," Buckwalter explained. Would he have had anything for Martin? "I don't know," Buckwalter said. "I wore the bottom groove out coming up through the field. Just before it broke, I tried moving around and went to the middle and felt the car bite."

With Buckwalter out, it was up to Pauch to try to do something with Martin. His chance came on a late-race yellow involving several cars, most notably point leader Randy Monroe Jr. who had to go pit side.

Pauch got one shot at Martin on a restart that went yellow before a lap was complete. On the final restart, Martin got as tight to the inside rail as he possibly could to prevent an inside move by Pauch. As the pair rounded turn two, Pauch was able to get along side Martin, and the fight to the finish was on. They continued side by side through the final two corners and Martin was able to hold just enough momentum on the outside to beat a hard charging Pauch in a thrilling drag race finish.

"I'm probably the most unpopular guy here," Martin joked in victory lane. "I know most of the people here wanted to see Pauch win. I know he really wanted his first win. but I have to give him credit. He really raced me clean, he could have very easily taken it from me, but he didn't," Martin emphasized.

Gargiulo completed a hard drive through the field going from 12th to finish third, while AJ Ernesto had one of his best runs of the year to take fourth and Nick Wean came out of 11th starting spot to take a top five finish.

Pit Patter: Chris Rupp missed the NES show, still fixing damage from a flip sustained at Big Diamond Raceway. 2007 URC Sprint Rookie of the Year Andrew Hannula made his debut with ARDC an impressive one with a fourth place finish in his first ARDC heat race. Stephanie Stevens rode out a crunching flip in hot laps due to a broken torsion stop. Her crew did a phenomenal job getting the car repaired for race action. Club President Ron Lauer wanted to send out his thanks to all Club members for their cooperation in having their Membership Cards at the ready for a smooth night in ARDC's Aug. 1 appearance at Big Diamond Raceway.

31 ARDC Midgets signed in for competition. Heat Races were won by Drew Heistand, Andy Martin and Billy Pauch, Jr. The consi went to Steve Buckwalter.

20-Lap ARDC Feature: 1) 21-Andy Martin 2) 49-Billy Pauch Jr. 3) 51-PJ Gargiulo 4) 14-AJ Ernesto 5) 78-Nick Wean 6) 83-Bruce Buckwalter 7) 44-Frank Polimeda 8) 25-Chris Zrinski 9) 29-Zack Martini 10) 46-Brett Arndt 11) 00-Greg Robinson 12) 5-Paul Kline 13) 26-Stephanie Stevens 14) 9-Steve Lenig 15) 34-Shane Penny 16) 99-Scott Zipp 17) 12-Drew Heistand 18) 20-Carey Becker 19) 55-Steve Craig 20) 2-Tracy Readinger 21) 27-Randy Monroe Jr. 22) 89-Andrew Hannula 23) 84-Jimmy Commock 24) 42-Jack Spence 25) 0-Steve Buckwalter 26) 64-Brett Conkling

Accord, NY - Drew Heistand summed up his feelings on winning the first ARDC appearance at Accord Speedway since 1986 in four words. "I Love New York!" Heistand beamed from victory lane. A few weeks ago Heistand was a struggling race car driver trying to find results. His shoulders were slumped and he chose his words carefully as he tried to figure out what was keeping him from up-front finishes. That all changed with his victory Friday night. He was positively gushing in his post race interview. "This car was so hooked up, no one was going to catch me," he exclaimed.

Chris Zrinski and Bobby Goerner in Fred Schell's Hawk/Pontiac led the 25 car starting field to the green flag. The original start was aborted for a yellow flag, but when they got down to racing Heistand left no doubt that he wanted to stake his claim on this race. He shot out of his fifth starting spot to flash past a cluster of cars battling for the top spot to put the York Excavating no.12 into the lead. From there, Brett Arndt slotted into the second spot and all eyes were on PJ Gagiulo who was to storm out of his ninth place starting spot into third.

On lap 8 Gargiulo wrestled second from Arndt and the battle for the lead was on. Heistand has his car dialed to run against the cushion all the way around the speedway, while Gargiulo would mirror Heistand's groove in three and four then dive low in one and two. Lap after lap Gagiulo was able to pull even with Heistand in turn two, but Heistand's car was just too hooked for Gargiulo to complete the pass. "I saw him (Gargiulo) stick his nose in there and I saw Brett a couple of times too, but nobody was catching me tonight," Heistand said emphatically.

Gargiulo summed up his struggle in a post-race interview,"He was running where I needed to be in 3 and 4. On the original start in threw it in down low in 1 and 2 and it stuck, so I just kept trying it," Gargiulo explained. "I just kept the pressure on him, but didn't have quite enough. It was still a good points night for us, we just need to keep getting top fives every week to run down Randy (Monroe, current points leader)," Gargiulo said.

Other drivers having strong runs were Nick Wean, who came from 15th starting spot to register a fourth place finish and Steve Lenig who took fifth. A phenomenal run was turned in by semi-retired ARDC driver Donnie Trent. Trent, who dropped off the ARDC trail in early '07 made a rare appearance in Lou Zrinski's Earl Fellin Mid Atlantic no. 10. He made his night count as he came out of the 20th starting position all the way to a sixth place finish.

30 ARDC Midgets signed in for competition.

25 Lap ARDC Feature: 1) 12-Drew Heistand 2) 51-PJ Gargiulo 3) 46-Brett Arndt 4) 77-Nick Wean 5) 9-Steve Lenig 6) 10-Donnie Trent 7) 27-Randy Monroe 8) 26-Stephanie Stevens 9) 55-Steve Craig 10) 34-Shane Penny 11) 86-Tracy Readinger 12) 84-Jimmy Commock 13) 25-Chris Zrinski 14) 49-Tommy Tomasko 15) 75-Fred Schell 16) 37-Tony Montesi 17) 99-Scott Zipp 18) 5-Scott Viets 19) 54-Ryan Smith 20) 39-Justin Grosz 21) 1-Bethany Viets 22) 14-AJ Ernesto 23) 20-Carey Becker 24) 83-Bruce Buckwalter 25) 44-Frank Polimeda 26) 21-Andy Martin (DNS)

Newberrytown, Pa. - Susquehanna Speedway Park promoter Todd Fisher and the entire SSP staff were hustling through Thursday night's program as quickly as they could with rain in the area. They needed all the help they could get from the ARDC drivers and the ARDC pilots delivered with 20-lap feature that ran caution free. Caution free features are great for promoters and fans, but for front running drivers who are handicapped to the middle of the pack -- like eventual winner Steve Buckwalter -- they make the job that much more challenging. Buckwalter started 10th, picked his way through the field and dove under Randy Monroe, Jr. on the white flag lap to steal the win.

"To be honest, in the beginning I really didn't think I was going to be able to get up there," Buckwalter shared after the race. "I was getting frustrated because I kept getting boxed in, then I started over-driving the car. When PJ (Gargiulo) got by me, I had to slow down in one corner and the car actually went quicker. Then I remembered the old saying, 'slow down to go fast," Buckwalter explained.

Randy Monroe Jr. and Scott Zipp brought the 26 car field to the green flag. Monroe showed his power as he immediately began to open a gap. Frank Polimeda showed early strength jumping from fourth starting spot to second. Scott Zipp faltered losing several spots in the early laps, but then began to recover by going to the high groove and re-passing several cars to get back to second spot. Polimeda began to struggle and started to go in the opposite direction, dropping through the pack where he would eventually finish 11th.

While all this shuffling was going on up front, fifth row starters Gargiulo and Buckwalter were making some noise of their own, with Gargiulo showing in the top five by lap 8 and Steve Buckwalter sweeping by on lap 9 to become the 5th place runner. From there Buckwalter began a quick but methodical climb to 4th on lap 11 and 3rd on lap 12. On lap 13, PJ Gargiulo slipped into fourth, and at the five lap to go sign Buckwalter moved into second.

Buckwalter now had a huge task ahead of him as Monroe had built a sizable lead and Buckwalter only had five laps to slice into it. The driver known as the "Royersford Rocket" did just that, as each lap the gap became noticeably smaller. Going into turns 3 and 4 with the white flag in the air Buckwalter dove to the extreme inside and got his car between the rail and Monroe's no. 27. When told that that move didn't exactly look like 'slow down to go fast,' Buckwalter responded matter of factly. "I knew I had to get by him in the corner, because his motor is so strong on the straightaway," Buckwalter remembered. "So I made sure I got alongside him, then used the brakes." Buckwalter completed the pass at the white flag and went on to take his 16th career ARDC win and third of the 2008 season.

Monroe was visibly disappointed at leading every lap and losing it on the last lap, but still showed toughness doing a victory lane interview. "Yeah it sucks leading every lap and losing it at the end," he said honestly. "I put that on myself slipping up a little bit on that corner. But I've still got to thank H&B Railroad, WO Grubb and Bryan Kobylarz for doing a great job for me. It was still a good night and a good points night," Monroe said. Monroe went into the night with a 3 point lead on Polimeda and stretched it with Polimeda finishing 11th.

33 ARDC Midgets signed in for competition. Heat races were won by Frank Polimeda, Drew Heistand and Randy Monroe Jr.

1) 0-Steve Buckwalter 2) 27-Randy Monroe Jr. 3) 99-Scott Zipp 4) 51-PJ Gargiulo 5) 77-Nick Wean 6) 9-Steve Lenig 7) 83-Bruce Buckwalter 8) 29-Zack Martini 9) 21-Andy Martin 10) 86-Tracy Readinger11) 44-Frank Polimeda 12) 14-AJ Ernesto 13) 11-Eric Heydenreich 14) 00-Greg Robinson 15) 12-Drew Heistand 16) 75-Ryan Watt 17) 54-Ryan Smith 18) 55-Steve Craig 19) 4-Michelle Miller 20) 84-Jimmy Commock 21) 3-Tracy Miller 22) 34-Shane Penny 23) 25-Chris Zrinski 24) 20-Carey Becker 25) 16-Dave Shirk 26) 46-Brett Arndt

Felton, DE - The battle for the 2008 ARDC Championship is beginning to heat up, just in time for the "Dog Days" of summer. Appropriately enough, going into this weekend's races -- Thursday, July 3 at Susquehanna Speedway Park and Saturday, July 5 at Winchester, Va. Speedway -- the point race is being led by "Two Dogs Racing" team driver, Randy Monroe, Jr. of Hampton, Va. Hotter than the July sun on his tail is versatile veteran, Frank Polimeda of Ft. Lee NJ. The driver of the Neptune Research Spike/Mopar sits just 3 points behind Monroe.

Based on average finishes at Susky, both Monroe and Polimeda should head into Thursday's race with confidence. Monroe won the ARDC opener at the Newberrytown oval, and followed that up with a 6th place finish in the Club's return visit there on May 3. He also scored a hard-earned ninth place finish at Susky on June 15th. Monroe had to work for that top-10 by coming from the back of the pack. That starting spot was the result of being in a heat race tangle and missing a transfer spot. Polimeda has also had two good finishes at Susky -- 4th and 3rd -- and one not so good at 17th in the June 15 round at Susky.

Both drivers will eye the July 5 race at Winchester with a little more trepidation. In the two 2007 ARDC appearances at the 3/8 clay oval, only Monroe had one top-5 finish to show. Polimeda encountered problems and finished outside the top ten in both Winchester races.

York, Pa's Drew Heistand is one of ARDC's "Sensational Sophomore" class. In his rookie year he grabbed two feature wins, one each at Susky and Big Diamond en route to a 13th place finish in the 2007 ARDC standings. This season has started out to be one of consistency for Heistand, which ironically has turned out to be both good and bad for the driver of the DonCin Transport no. 12. While every driver strives for consistency, the ARDC handicapping system can make it challenging for those with a good finishing average.

"The point average has been hurting us a little bit. We've been starting from either the back or the middle of the pack in most of the races," Heistand said in a telephone interview. "Going to North Carolina helped us. Not everybody went, so our starting spot in the next race should be a little better. I should be starting no worse than 10th for the first time this year."

It's been a season of contrasts so far for Heistand. "We've been both lucky and unlucky so far," Heistand explained. "We've been consistent. But sometimes I've gotten a good start in the races, then try too hard and spin out -- I don't know" Heistand lamented. "People tell me I need to slow down, but it's a race car. It's supposed to go fast," Heistand laughed.

And at times Heistand has been fast -- and unlucky. "In my first DNF at Susky I was up to second behind Stevie Buckwalter and the timing gears on the front of the motor broke," Heistand shared. "Then I had a good run going at Five Mile Point, started 16th and got up to fourth when a rock hit one of my spark plugs and broke it," Heistand remembered.

The night before that Five Mile Point frustration, Heistand had authored his best performance of the year at Penn Can. He fought tooth and nail with a determined Scott Zipp who didn't fold to a Heistand white flag slide job. Zipp held on to win and Heistand got a season-best second place finish.

Heistand looks forward to kicking off the weekend at Susky. "It's one of my favorite tracks, it's my home track as well as ARDC's," Heistand said.

Pit Patter: A tip of the hat goes out to 2007 ARDC Rookie of the Year Ryan Smith. Smith qualified on the front row with Tracy Hines for the USAC K&N Silver Crown 100 at Richmond International Raceway. Smith led the first six laps and went on to a sixth place finish in a race that featured such names as Hines, Shane Cottle, Levi Jones, Jerry Coons, Jr and Brian Tyler.

Newberrytown, Pa. - At the conclusion of his "Rookie of the Year" campaign in 2006, PJ Gargiulo missed winning the Susky season closer to Ray Bull by inches. Gargiulo was to say later that that experience left a "fire burning in his belly" to get the job done; to get an ARDC win. Sunday night Gargiulo successfully extinguished that flame by defeating ARDC's best in a classic clash of the titans at the Newberrytown oval.

Tracy Readinger and Scott Zipp led the 26 car field to the green flag. To no one's surprise Readinger went immediately to the inside rail to try to take an early lead. What was a surprise was that Scott Zipp went to the top side and was able to keep pace with Readinger throughout the early laps. A race that would later have thrilling conclusion, started out with a thrilling side by side battle that would see Readinger and Zipp see saw back and forth down the straights and run almost dead even in the turns.

Finally on lap 5, Zipp was able to complete the pass of Readinger coming out of turn two. That was the good news. The bad news for Zipp and Readinger is that by lap 6, sixth row starters Andy Martin and PJ Gargiulo had already cracked the top 5 with Martin third and Gargiulo fifth. Andy Martin saw the high groove that Zipp was running and made it work even better as he went a lane higher and eventually swept past Zipp and Readinger into the lead.

The stage was now set for a classic battle as Martin hung in the extreme high groove, Readinger went to his familiar spot on the inside rail and PJ Gargiulo now third was rolling through the middle of the corner. On lap 15 Gargiulo went for it all as he dove for the inside between turns 3 and 4 and passed both Readinger and Martin in one move to blast into the lead.

Gargiulo looked determined to put his stamp on this race as he immediately began to open a gap on Martin and Readinger, but first wins never seem to come easy. Gargiulo had to endure a restart after a lap 18 caution. His first restart was flawless as he rolled high in the corner, then shot low to prevent an inside pass. It worked to perfection and he was able to open a gap, but yet again the caution winked on -- this time for a stopped Frank Polimeda in turn 2. Gargiulo used exactly the same tactic on the next restart and he made it work just as successfully as he was able to open a gap. This time there would be no more interruptions as Gargiulo was able hold his lead all the way to the checker.

Gargiulo wasn't totally sure this race was his. "I saw Andy up high and I said, oh no," Gargiulo explained in victory lane. "My car was good enough to go up there, but we changed the gear and didn't have the gear to run high. I had to be on the bottom. When I got the lead, I kept expecting to see Andy come back by me on the high side, but he never did." Gargiulo then ran down a list of people to thank for the long awaited first win. "I've got to thank Crew Chief Bill Jackson. Of course, I've got to thank my dad Paul Sr, make sure you put dad in big capitol letters," Gargiulo joked. "Also Sperrs Fuel Oil, Church's Auto Parts, Team RTP, the Pistorios and Joe Farrell."

Third Place finishing Readinger runs the same Gamester Racing Products Chassis as Gargiulo; Readinger is also a distributor of the brand. "I've been helping PJ with some advice, where to put bars and stuff," Readinger said. "Now I don't think I'll be helping him any more," he laughed. "It's tough starting on the pole and not winning, but if I have to get beat, I'm glad it was PJ."

Night Notes: The Susky track crew put some water on the upper groove just before the ARDC feature. It worked to perfection, bringing alive a track surface that saw many laps completed in blazing sunshine by the ARDC, 358 Sprints and Legend Cars. There was much passing throughout the field as the winner and second place came from the sixth row and Randy Monroe advanced from 23rd to 9th. AJ Ernesto advanced from 15th to 6th. Shane Penny overcame heat race ignition issues with Jerry Steward's Bishop/Fontana to finish 11th after starting 25th. Steve Lenig posted a 4th place finish and pressured Readinger for third, after a series of frustrating runs for the Selinsgrove, Pa. driver this season. Stephanie Stevens struggled with race-ending brake problems. The York County Racing Club was on hand and presented winner PJ Gargiulo with a plaque in victory lane.

26 ARDC Midgets signed in for competition. Heat races were won by Steve Lenig, Andy Martin and Scott Zipp.

20 Lap ARDC Feature: 1) 51- PJ Gargiulo 2) 21-Andy Martin 3) 2-Tracy Readinger 4) 9-Steve Lenig 5) 46-Brett Arndt 6) 14-AJ Ernesto 7) 11-Eric Heydenreich 8) 12-Drew Heistand 9) 27-Randy Monroe Jr 10) 75-Ryan Watt 11) 34-Shane Penny 12) 29-Zack Martini 13) 83-Bruce Buckwalter 14) 77-Nick Wean 15) 84-Jimmy Commock 16) 20-Carey Becker 17) 44-Frank Polimeda 18) 99-Scott Zipp 19) 42-Jack Spence 20) 00-Greg Robinson 21) 25-Chris Zrinski 22) 16-Dave Shirk 23) 0-Steve Buckwalter 24) 95-Mark Lawshe 25) 38 Bobby Goerner 26) 26-Stephanie Stevens

Minersville, Pa. - Stephanie Stevens has been running stronger of late in ARDC competition. Thursday night she seemed ready to "close the deal" in front of a huge crowd that turned out for the ARDC/USAC doubleheader at Big Diamond Raceway. She started from the pole and lead every lap up until a lap 16 red flag. That proved to be her undoing as Randy Monroe Jr. of Hampton, Va. was able to slip by and take the win when they got back to racing.

Stevens and Steve Lenig brought the 26 car field to the green flag. "Yellow fever" was the order of the night as the ARDC troops struggled to get the 20 lap feature event under way. There would be a grand total of four yellows before they were able to settle down and get into some green flag racing. Stevens showed her power on most of the restarts and was able to open a gap. On one restart, Lenig was able to get the upper hand, but that effort was to go for naught when he spun between turns 3 and 4.

When they finally got going, Stevens established herself at the front of the pack, opening a gap over 7th place starter Randy Monroe Jr. who avoided the early trouble to get up to the front. Andy Martin also worked his way into the front group, but had his hands full with 13th place starter Ryan Watt who hauled Fred Schell's vintage Pontiac powered Hawk to the front, mainly via the outside groove.

A lap 10 red flag was thrown for a multi-car flip that involved Johnny Heydenreich, who was making his first ARDC start in quite some time, nephew Eric Heydenreich and Nick Wean.

When the race was restarted, Stevens showed no signs of buckling under pressure as she held about five car lengths over Monroe. While she led the field, all kinds of action was going on behind her as Martin and Watt battled for third, with Watt finally moving into that spot. Other phenomenal runs were being turned in by Steve Buckwalter who went from 16th into the top 5 with five to go and visiting driver Darren Hagen who had the run of the night -- starting 25th, riding 7th at lap 15 -- and finally cracking the top five by the end of the race.

Lap 16 was the end of the party for Stevens as she slid just high enough for Monroe to sneak underneath coming out of turn four. "I was really focused tonight," Stevens would say later. "I stayed consistent and hit my marks on just about every lap. The track was slick at the end and I just slipped up a little bit. I'm just glad to get a podium finish after all those fourth place finishes last year. The crew really needed this one"

"Stephanie had the car to beat tonight," Monroe said. "She slipped up just enough where I could slide her and then I had to just hang on. I learned a little bit following her and her lines -- I got a chance to play with my shock adjustments," he explained.

Steve Buckwalter made one of his patented late-race charges and was up to second when the race was on the line. There was a restart with one lap to go and Monroe had to hold off the cagey ARDC vet. "I didn't know who was behind me until I looked up at the scoreboard and saw that big number "0" up there," Monroe said. "Then I got a little nervous. I knew with him back there I had to make the car as wide as possible, and when we got to 3 and 4 I had to get as low as I could."

Even with all that, somehow Buckwalter managed to squeeze between the inside rail and Monroe to make it a drag race to the finish, which Monroe was able to win. It was Monroe's second victory of the season. Stevens was able to hang on for third in front of some major shuffling which saw the amazing Hagen come home fourth. Drew Heistand rounded out the top five, up from 12th starting spot. Hagen's run netted him the $1000 "Mike Grassmeyer Memorial" Hard Charger award. The award was the result of a fund raising effort by a group of fans from the Williams Grove Speedway message board to honor Grassmeyer (aka "Dusty Brew") a long-time wingless racing fan who passed away from cancer last year.

Night Notes: Thursday night marked the first time in two years that all three member of the Miller Racing Family, Mike, Tracy and Michellt took to the track at the same time. Penn-Can winner Scott Zipp left the track with a broken front end in his heat race. The B-main was called to the track so quickly that there was no time to make repairs. Andy Martin's strange season continued as he ended the night with a rollover in turn 2 in a tangle that also involved PJ Gargiulo and Ray Bull. Tracy Hines ran the "Two Dogs Racing" no.49 usually driven by Billy Pauch Jr. 6-time ARDC Champ Ray Bull made his first start of the year in Donnie Hoffman's no.17.

33 ARDC Midgets signed in for competition. Heat races were won by Tracy Readinger, Drew Heistand and Brett Arndt.

20-lap ARDC Midget Feature. 1) 27-Randy Monroe Jr. 2) 0-Steve Buckwalter 3) 26-Stephanie Stevens 4) 5-Darren Hagen 5) 12-Drew Heistand 6) 75-Ryan Watt 7) 14-AJ Ernesto 8) 44-Frank Polimeda 9) 46-Brett Arndt 10) 4-Michelle Miller 11) 20-Carey Becker 12) 9-Steve Lenig 13) 29-Zack Martini 14) 49-Tracy Hines 15) 21-Andy Martin 16) 17-Ray Bull 17) 51-PJ Gargiulo 18) 96-PJ Pavlick 19) 54-Ryan Smith 20) 57-Johnny Heydenreich 21) 11-Eric Heydenreich 22) 77-Nick Wean 23) 3-Tracy Miller 24) 414-Taylor Malsom 25) 16-Dave Shirk 26) 2-Tracy Readinger

Bechtelsville, Pa. - The long anticipated ARDC/USAC Wingless double header finally arrived. The heat racing was great, expectations were high -- and then it rained. An impressive 36 ARDC midgets signed in for competition; a mixture of the usual suspects with a few surprises thrown in for good measure.

Surprise number one came in the form of car no. 1. This one carrying the name of Mike Miller. Miller -- who those familiar with recent ARDC history credit with planting the seeds of the current revival of the club -- was on hand with a Bullet chassis sporting a black paint job. "I was planning on running this car next year," Miller said. "It just came together."

Then Miller went on to explain where he's been since he's been among the missing with ARDC. "I've run a couple of Sportsman Micro races at Lanco. We're just looking to keep it fun." He also revealed some news that's sure to raise the curiosity of ARDC fans. "We might see Tracy and Michelle on Thursday," Miller said referring to his two race driving daughters. Michelle was the first female feature event winner in ARDC history. The Miller's look to repeat last year's schedule when the USAC eastern swing combo shows were the only races they ran. Mike Miller looked strong in his heat race, but in the B-main he spun and did a light roll onto his side in turn 4.

Other surprise entrants were Darren Hagan of Riverside Ca, Taylor Malsam of Washington State, Johnny Heydenreich and Randy Reid of Odenton Maryland.

Hagan is a Sprint Car driver who is billed as the "Fastest Sprint Car Driver in the World" by virtue of his 142 mph lap at the paved 7/8 mile Iowa Speedway.

Malsam is a young 410 sprint driver from Washington State who also runs the full ARCA stock car circuit for Bob Cunningham Motorsports with the number 4 Dodge. The Cunningham team also owns a midget no.44 (reportedly a former Donnie Trent car). "The only other midget race I've run was the Chili Bowl," Malsam explained. He will be running the ARCA event at Pocono.

Johnny Heydenreich is an accomplished driver in USAC competition; he is equally accomplished in ARDC as well showing 36 feature wins in the ARDC record book. He was on hand in a black no. 57

Randy Reid is a former microsprint competitor who had an unfortunate beginning to his ARDC career in 2007. He suffered brake problems with his car which led to a hard crash in turn 3 at Susquehanna Speedway Park at the season opener. That was to be his first and last race of the season. He showed up at Grandview with a white no. 53 and suffered new car teething problems.

Three heat races and a B-main were run for the 36 ARDC Midgets on hand before the rains came. The feature will be made up on a date to be determined later in the 2008 season.

Heat Race 1: 1) 86-Tracy Readinger 2) 26-Stephanie Stevens 3) 27-Randy Monroe Jr. 4) 54-Ryan Smith 5) 51-PJ Gargiulo 6) 83-Bruce Buckwalter

Heat Race 2: 1) 0-Steve Buckwalter 2) 21-Andy Martin 3) 11-Eric Heydenreich 4) 75-Ryan Watt 5) 12-Drew Heistand 6) 29-Zack Martini

Heat Race 3: 1) 5-Darren Hagan 2) 9-Steve Lenig 3) 46-Brett Arndt 4) 77-Nick Wean 5) 14-AJ Ernesto 6) 44-Frank Polimeda

B-main: 1) 414-Taylor Malsom 2) 20-Carey Becker 3) 99-Scott Zipp 4) 49-Billy Pauch Jr. 5) 25-Chris Zrinski 6) 00-Greg Robinson 7) 16-dave Shirk 8) 42-Jack Spence

New Egypt, NJ - Steve Buckwalter had his wheels firmly planted in the low groove at New Egypt Speedway Saturday night. So much so that he was able to rocket from 17th starting spot to take the lead from Randy Monroe Jr. late in the race and drive on to his second ARDC feature win of the season. Two other drivers weren't so lucky. Brett Arndt of Topton, Pa got involved in a tangle entering turn 3 that saw him go sailing out of the speedway in turn 3. Arndt was out of the car and announced to be ok shortly after the wreck. Later in the race, two-time ARDC champ Andy Martin was making an unbelievable assault on the lead -- via the outside groove -- when that groove reached out and bit him between turns 3&4. Martin banged the cushion and rode out a crunching series of flips, ending his night. Martin was shaken up and transported to a local hospital to have minor injuries checked out.

Chris Zrinski and Steve Lenig led the 25 car field to the green flag. The cars near the front of the pack got jammed up with the 27of Randy Monroe Jr. hopping over the wheel of Steve Lenig, shooting the nose of Monroe's car skyward. Miraculously, Monroe was able to regain control and after drifting back several spots he was able to charge back to the front and take the lead from Tracy Readinger via the outside groove on lap 5. Even more miraculous was that right on Monroe's tail was 16th place starter Andy Martin who emerged from a pack of cars that seemed to go four wide a couple of rows deep between turns one and two.

From this point, Readinger was out of the picture after stopping in turn four and the battle was between Martin and Monroe, with Nick Wean close behind. Martin was starting to get wound up in his patented New Egypt Speedway outside charge when the hard flip in turn 3&4 knocked him out of the race.

As Monroe settled back into the lead over Wean, it would become apparent that there wouldn't be much time to get comfortable as the Buckwalter Roofing no. 0 of Steve Buckwalter came charging into the top five via the low groove. In short order Buckwalter was around third place running Wean and set his sights on leader Monroe. After several attempts on Monroe, Buckwalter stuck the nose of the no. 0 down on the inside rail of turn four while the leader got sideways off the turn allowing Buckwalter to finally slip by. "I ran it in there a little hard," Monroe would recall later. "The car was starting to go away from me a little bit there at the end," he summed. "I was just glad to get back to the front after wheel-hopping there at the start and dropping back to 10th or whatever it was. It was a good race, a good night."

When asked how he was able to pull of his back to the front charge, Buckwalter explained, "I guess I got a little mad, because they kept telling us on the radio that they were cutting laps from the feature and putting us on a time limit because rain was on the way. I figured I didn't have much time so I just had to gas it up and go."

Following Buckwalter, Monroe and Wean across the line were Frank Polimeda and Billy Pauch Jr. who had another strong run in an ARDC midget coming from 15th starting spot rounding out the top five.

Pit Notes: Nick Wean was sporting a heavily bandaged hand at New Egypt. He suffered an end over end heat race flip at Five Mile Point a week ago Saturday. If you assumed the hand injury was from that wreck, you would be wrong. "I hurt it playing flag football," Wean said with a smile. Bruce Buckwalter had a successful fund raising effort for the Christian Charity World Vision during the 2007 season. This year Buckwalter's fund raising efforts will be directed toward Victory Junction Gang Camp, as he will seek donations for the charity during the ARDC/USAC combo shows at Grandview, Williams Grove and Big Diamond this coming week.

26 ARDC Midgets signed in for competition with heat race wins going to: Tracy Readinger, Randy Monroe Jr. and Billy Pauch Jr.

20-Lap ARDC Midget Feature: 1) 0-Steve Buckwalter 2) 27-Randy Monroe Jr 3) 77-Nick Wean 4) 44-Frank Polimeda 5) 49-Billy Pauch Jr. 6) 14 AJ Ernesto 7) 11-Eric Heydenreich 8) 20-Carey Becker 9) 12-Drew Heistand 10) 51-PJ Gargiulo 11) 99-Scott Zipp 12) 29-Zack Martini 13) 83-Bruce Buckwalter 14) 64-Brett Conkling 15) 33- Lew Blair 16) 7-Chris Rupp 17) 95-Mark Lawshe 18) 9-Steve Lenig 19) 25-Chris Zrinski 20) 2-Tracy Readinger 21) 21-Andy Martin 22) 46-Brett Arndt 23) 26-Stephanie Stevens 24) 42-Jack Spence 25) 84-Jimmy Commock (DNS)

Kirkwood, NY - After a nearly flawless 2007 ARDC campaign, Andy Martin has struggled early in the '08 season. With just four shows in the books before Saturday night's program at Five Mile Point Speedway, Martin had already suffered an engine failure and failed to finish Friday night's main at Penn Can after suffering damage in a late-race tangle. At FMP, Martin showed it was time to put things right as he took the lead early in the feature and showed the rest of the field his heels to take his first win of the season.

Dave Shirk and Brett Conkling were the front row starters in ARDC's first start at FMP in over two decades. Shirk led the early laps, but it wasn't long before the fifth place starting Martin found the high groove and swept into the lead on lap 3. Shirk eventually faded from the race as his car failed to fire on one of the race's early restarts relegating him to the infield.

Steve Craig of Levittown mirrored Martin's groove in the early laps of the race. Craig had a strong early run, his confidence boosted by a photo finish heat race win over Tracy Readinger. Craig hung on up front before bowing to the pressure of the advancing Billy Pauch Jr who vaulted forward from his seventh starting spot to challenge Martin for the lead, closely followed by 12th place starting Frank Polimeda.

Two more drivers tearing through the field were Drew Heistand and Bruce Buckwalter who started together in the ninth row. Heistand was the first to crack the top five, but his run was short lived as he pulled to the infield. Shortly after that, Buckwalter made it into the top five and would take part in some wild battling with Billy Pauch Jr and AJ Ernesto who was having his best run of the year.

All this battling was exciting for the fans, but it didn't deter Andy Martin one bit in his dominating run out front. "I decided to try the high side early," Martin said in victory lane. "I stayed up there and knew I was leaving the bottom wide open. It was rough at times and the car was bouncing, I'm glad I never saw Frank underneath me."

After some tough battling, Pauch Jr was able to secure third place over Bruce Buckwalter. AJ Ernesto completed his strong race by rounding out the top five. Eric Heydenreich advanced from eleventh to sixth. PJ Gargiulo quietly had one of the strongest runs of night. His car hit a rut and stalled early in the race bringing out the caution, putting him to the rear. At the end of the 25 lapper, Gargiulo had battled back all the way to seventh place.

25 ARDC Midgets signed in for competition. Heat race wins went to Steve Craig, Andy Martin and Frank Polimeda.

25 Lap ARDC Feature: 1) 21-Andy Martin 2) 44-Frank Polimeda 3) 49-Billy Pauch Jr. 4) 83-Bruce Buckwalter 5) 14 AJ-Ernesto 6) 11-Eric Heydenreich 7) 51-PJ Gargiulo 8) 29-Zack Martini 9) 55-Steve Craig 10) 77-Nick Wean 11) 46-Brett Arndt 12) 25-Chris Zrinski 13) 84-Jimmy Commock 14) 64-Brett Conkling 15) 99-Scott Zipp 16) 20-Carey Becker 17) 27-Randy Monroe Jr. 18) 12-Drew Heistand 19) 96-Jim Jackson 20) 9-Steve Lenig 21) 61-PJ Pavlick 22) 7-Chris Rupp 23) 16-Dave Shirk 24) 26-Stephanie Stevens 25) 86-Tracy Readinger

Susquehanna Pa. - There is a brewing problem among ARDC drivers. They keep staging feature races that are more and more thrilling each time they go to the post. At some point they are going to be unable to out do themselves. ARDC started their Memorial Day tour with a titanic battle between Billy Pauch Jr and Steve Buckwalter that ended in controversy and had internet message boards buzzing in the aftermath. It was a "barnburner" of the highest order -- surely the ARDC couldn't top that race -- could they? Don't tell that to Scott Zipp and Drew Heistand. Zipp started on the pole as the ARDC ran it's first feature event at Penn Can in four years. Zipp led every circuit of the 25-lapper and took home his first career win. You might think that tells the whole story of this race. You would be wrong.

Zipp and Carey Becker led the starting field to the green flag. Zipp's Spike/Fontana combination has led the opening laps of several ARDC features this year, and looked just as strong at Penn Can. Zipp opened up about five car lengths on Becker and was able to maintain that gap over the early laps of the race. Bruce Buckwalter slid into the third spot, Drew Heistand went from sixth starting spot to fourth and Ryan Smith was the early mover of the night as he advanced from eighteenth starting spot to fifth. Another spectacular charge came from the "Topton Tornado" Brett Arndt who drove his E Schneider and Sons F5/Gaerte from 20th starting spot to seventh.

The top 5 order in the race of Zipp, Becker , Buckwalter, Heistand and Smith settled into a rhythm over the first half of the race, with the hot battle consisting of Heistand, Smith and Tracy Readinger trying to break into the top 5. They battled hard with each other while Zipp and Becker remained comfortably out front.

The turning point of the race came on lap 16 when Drew Heistand got sideways and Frank Polimeda, Andy Martin and Stephanie Stevens got tangled up behind him bringing out the yellow. That yellow turned into a red when a steady rain began and sent the ARDC field pit side. After a rain delay, Penn Can officials decide to run the 30 lap Modified feature before finishing the final nine laps of the ARDC feature. This gave the nervous leader Scott Zipp plenty of time to think. "First we went from 20 to 25 laps tonight (ARDC predominantly runs 20 lap features), then I had to deal with the rain," Zipp said. "I would have liked, if they stopped at 16," he joked after the race.

When they got back to racing, Zipp showed that even though the track had changed because of the rain, he had lost none of the strength in his no. 99 as he opened up a gap on the field. The only change in the top 5 occured when a fuel leak knocked Ryan Smith from the race and moved Tracy Readinger into fifth. A tangle in turns 3 and involving Polimeda, Jack Spence, Andy Matin and Steve Craig brought out another yellow. Again Zipp powered away from the field. One more multi car tangle slowed the race a couple of laps later. After that the drivers of ARDC were ready to settle this one in fine fashion.

Drew Heistand began to charge the high groove and finally made it work getting around Buckwalter on lap 22, then Heistand got around Becker a lap later. Meanwhile Tracy Readinger moved into fourth and Arndt into fifth.

All this movement behind the top two was secondary as the battle for the win was on. As Zipp and Heistand barreled into turn 3, Heistand tried a charge around Zipp and actually cleared him, taking the lead momentarily. Zipp was not to be denied this night as the charged right back past Heistand coming out of four to the white flag. The last lap was furious as Heistand tried one one last outside charge on Zipp that ended with Heistand sliding high. Zipp was also under attack from Bruce Buckwalter who tried to charge low but couldn't pull it off. Zipp dodged all bullets annd screamed under the checker to take an extremely popular first win. Heistand, Buckwalter, Becker with a strong run and Tracy Readinger rounded out the top five.

Drew Heistand enjoyed the battle. "We gave each other plenty of room out there, it was a lot of fun tonight," Heistand said in victory lane. "I have to apologize to Polimeda, Martin and Stevens for getting sideways and jamming them up behind me."

25 ARDC Midgets signed in for competition. Heat Races went to Bruce Buckwalter, Ryan Smith and Carey Becker.

25 Lap ARDC Midget Feature: 1) 99- Scott Zipp 2) 12-Drew Heistand 3) 83-Bruce Buckwalter 4) 20 Carey Becker 5) 86-Tracy Readinger 6) 46 brett Arndt 7) 9-Steve Lenig 8) 49 Bryan Kobylarz 9) 29 Zack Martini 10) 51 PJ gargiulo 11) 44 Frank Polimeda 12) 11-Eric Heydenreich 12) 27-Randy Monroe Jr. 13) 26-Stephanie Stevens 14) 64-Brett Conkling 15) 84-Jimmy Commock 16) 25-Chris Zrinski 17) 42-Jack Spence 18) 55-Steve Craig 19) 21-Andy Martin 20) 54-Ryan Smith 21) 14-AJ Ernesto 22) 16-Dave Shirk 23) 77-Nick Wean

Bechtelsville Pa In a long ago Indy 500, Al Unser Jr and Emerson Fittipaldi headed for turn three side by side with laps running out in a race that was only to be won. Second place was not an option. Fittipaldi came out of turn three, Al Jr did not. Why didn't Jr back off? His replay was pure race driver, "There comes a time in racing when money doesn't matter, living doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is winning," Unser said stoically. What does this have to do with the "Thunder on the Hill" ARDC feature at Grandview Speedway Wednesday night? Everything. Steve Buckwalter of Royersford Pa. and Billy Pauch Jr. of Frenchtown NJ had just such a moment in this race. The results were no less messy.

Scott Zipp and Stephanie Stevens led the 26 car field to the green flag in the 20-lap feature. Zipp pulled out to an early lead and was to hold it for much of the opening laps of the race.ARDC Champion Andy Martin had a rare up front starting spot and sea sawed between third and fourth place, before finally vaulting into second spot before lap 5 was complete. A yellow for a spinning Carey Becker slowed the action.

On the restart the jousting behind Zipp began when Martin, Billy Pauch Jr who had quickly advance from 10th starting spot and Drew Heistand began mixing it up. The next interruption in the action came in a yellow for Steve Lenig in turn 2. He was able to push off and restart, but probably wished he hadn't as he ended up on his side in turn four in a scary incident before another lap could be completed. Lenig's car lay in a very vulnerable position with the roll cage facing traffic, but quick spotting by ARDC officials got the red out and stopped the field before any contact was made.

All this was merely preliminary action to what was about to take place. When the field got back to racing, Billy Pauch Jr took his Two Dogs Racing no. 49 around Andy Martin and a rim riding Steve Buckwalter arrived on the scene from 14th starting position. What was to follow was dirt track midget racing at it's absolute frantic best. Pauch Jr got a little gap, but Buckwalter quickly closed it in traffic with Martin lurking just behind. This trio of talented hot shoes diced and weaved through traffic in a battle that often defied the limits of physics. In a blazing grand finale over the last few laps, Pauch and Buckwalter traded slide jobs, chased each other down the straights and banged off the cushion. Just when it seemed like one had the other beat, the trailing driver would find a burst of speed and make a comeback.

Too much of a good thing only leads to trouble, and that's the way this one ended. Going into the final two corners, Pauch Jr. tried an outside sweep with Buckwalter hard on the inside. Buckwalter ran Pauch high into the marbles where Pauch's no. 49 finally lost grip and hit the wall and flipped. It was a hard lick that left Pauch groggy and extremely sore after the race. The red flag came out and the official call was made to checker the race at that point.

Steve Buckwalter was interviewed in victory lane as the winner. He said that his run on Pauch in the corner was "not intentional." ARDC Officials did not agree, stating that Buckwalter went too hard into the corner did not maintain control of his car. He was DQ'd and placed in the 26th position in the official order. Andy Martin was the first car across the line after Buckwalter and he was declared the winner, putting the cap on a wild night of racing.Nick Wean, Ryan Smith, Drew Heistand and Brett Arndt completed the top five.

32 ARDC Midgets signed in for competition. Heat race wins went to Scott Zipp, Brett Arndt and Steve Buckwalter.

20 Lap ARDC Feature: 1) 21-Andy Martin 2) 77-Nick Wean 3) 54-Ryan Smith 4)12-Drew Heistand 5) 46-Brett Arndt 6) 27-Randy Monroe Jr 7) 26-Stephanie Stevens 8) 29-Zack Martini 9) 14-AJ Ernesto 10) 51-PJ Gargiulo 11) 83-Bruce Buckwalter 12) 11-Eric Heydenreich 13) 55-Steve Craig 14) 20-Carey Becker 15) 25-Chris Zrinski 16) 38-Bobby Goerner 17) 84-Jimmy Commock 18) 17-Donnie Hoffman 19) 49 Billy Pauch Jr. 20) 99-Scott Zipp 21) 2-Tracy Readinger 22) 44-Frank Polimeda 23) 42-Jack Spence 24) 75-Ryan Watt 25) 9-Steve Lenig 26) 0-Steve Buckwalter