Pauch Jr Wins The Dick Tobias Classic At Action Track USA

Column By: JOHN ZACHARY / RPW – KUTZTOWN, PA – Billy Pauch Jr outlasted the competition for his first Dick Tobias Classic win. Over thirty SpeedSTRs were on hand for last years Rainout, and the season opener at The Action Track. Along with 60 600 Wingless sprints cars and a good field of Slingshots.

Sunday was my first visit to Action Track USA, and boy I wasn’t disappointed.

I have always heard that this place was the hot spot for great racing in PA. My friend Bill Bradshaw along with Race car veteran Dale Planck ran SpeedSTRs for a few years, with a couple wins for their efforts. They always said you have to get to a race some Wednesday night. Action Track runs Wednesday nights through out the summer, making it hard for me to make the trip south to check out PA’s little gem of a race track. Most weeks the pits are filled with drivers like Billy Pauch, and Billy Pauch Jr, Kenny Brightbill, Steve Buckwalter, Tom Mayberry, and the list goes on. I guess one reason for the stacked field of drivers is the $2000 to win through out the summer..

After our three hour trip we pulled into the parking lot to find it jammed packed with fans for the opening show of the 2017 season. Rich Tobias and Doug Rose have done a great job with the entire facility. The place looks like a top notch racetrack, and it is. From the fan zone in the infield to the great track surface that makes for unmatched wheel to wheel racing.

This race has had three different winners since the first race in 2013. The late Dick “Toby” Tobias is a legend in northeast dirt track racing circles. I am sure winning this race would be a proud moment for any of the drivers that run the annual 75 lap Classic.

Rich had the track in good condition considering the kind of spring we have had this year. With the sky’s looking dark to the north. The Track crew got the show going and didn’t stop until after the SpeedSTR feature. During the heat races we had a few cars go on their top sides, but everyone involved was ok, and raced later on in the program.

First up for the nights feature events was the exciting 25 Lap 600 Wingless sprints cars. 26 cars started the main event out of almost 60 that were in the pit area. With a slight sprinkle of rain falling onto the track the Hyper 600’s took the green flag for a action packed race. Eventual winner Alex Bright held off Tim Buckwalter for most of the 25 laps. Bright had the bottom lane locked down forcing Buckwalter to the high side on restarts trying to get the jump on the always fast Alex Bright. All through out the field cars were running close for position, making for a great show for the packed grandstands. Alex Bright took the checkered with Buckwalter, Lick, Morris, and Swavely rounding out the top Five.

Rich brought out the grader and water truck real quick to touch up the race surface before the SpeedSTRs made their way not to track. Each driver was introduced to the crowd one at a time. They would drive onto the front stretch as their name was called. I thought this was a great way to get the show started.

Miss Motorsports dropped the green flag for the start of the75 lapped. Drivers took a few laps to get into a Rhythm. $5000 makes drivers put their cars in positions that they might not try on a regular race night. Pauch Jr took off into the lead early, only to loose it after a few cautions flags dropping back to the eighth spot. Tim Buckwalter and James Morris took advantage of the yellow flags moving to the front early on. It seemed like anybody that made it to the front had some kind of bad luck taking them out of the race, or sending them to the back of the field. Steve Buckwalter looked like he had the car to beat early on, but after the mandatory fuel stop, Steve had a driveline issue while leading on the front stretch. By this time Pauch worked his way back up to the second spot when Buckwalter broke. Doug Manmiller looked like he was going to give Billy a run for his money, until he spun going into turn one late in the race.

Pauch fought off everyone for his first Dick Tobias Classic Victory. Steve Drevicki, and Matt Westfall joined Jr on the podium.

With so many entries on the night the Slingshots were not able to get their feature race in before the curfew. They will run that race on Wednesday night at the Action Track.

Everything that I had heard about this little jewel was true. Nice facility and great racing in all three classes. Well worth the 3 1/2 hours of sleep I got before work on Monday.