Deep Field Of All Stars To Challenge Posse Friday In Williams Grove’s Tommy Memorial

Story By: SHAWN BROUSE / WILLIAMS GROVE SPEEDWAY – MECHANICSBURG, PA – Williams Grove Speedway will present the annual Tommy Hinnershitz Memorial coming up Friday, April 13 at 7:30 pm and for the first time in history, the special event will be sanctioned by a touring group.

The Arctic Cat All Stars Circuit of Champions Sprints will invade to compete for the $5,000 top prize and they will bring with them a deep contingent of competitors as the circuit recently announced a list of 20 touring drivers who will follow the series in 2018.

Adult general admission for the April 13 racing program is set at $20 with students ages 13-20 admitted for just $10.

Kids ages 12 and under are always admitted for FREE at Williams Grove Speedway.

The PASS/IMCA 305 sprints are also on the special All Stars Tommy racing card.

Tommy Hinnershitz, known as “The Flying Dutchman,” from Oley, Pennsylvania, holds the distinction of winning the first ever race held at historic Williams Grove Speedway back on May 21, 1939.

After a 30-year career, spanning 1930-1960, Hinnershitz retired from the sport but stayed in touch with his legacy and motorsports until the time of his death in 1999.

And Williams Grove will honor his legacy with Friday’s Tommy Hinnershitz Memorial, pitting the All Stars traverlers against the Pennsylvania Posse for the first time this season.

Over the years since the All Stars first appeared at Williams Grove back in 1970, no bonafide touring All Star has ever won an All Stars race at Williams Grove Speedway.

Coming into 2018, the Pennsylvania Posse holds a perfect 32 and 0 record against the All Stars.

And they want to keep that record alive in the Tommy Memorial but a talent-laden field will be pulling pitside to challenge the Posse.

Expected to enter the event are time-tested, well-traveled, highly successful veterans such as Jac Haudenschild, Joey Saldana, Dave Blaney, Chad Kemenah and Paul McMahan.

And with a supporting All Stars cast of young guns like Parker Price-Miller, Max McGhee, Carson Macedo, Cale Conley and Aaron Reutzel among others, 2018 may just prove to be the season of the Possee’s undoing at Williams Grove.

Lance Dewease is the defending winner of the Tommy race and a two-time winner of the event since it took the Tommy name in 2007. Prior to that time the race was known as the Early Bird Championship, begun in 1983.

 

Williams Grove To Honor Acclaimed Wheeler Hinnershitz With Memorial Friday

When Williams Grove Speedway opens its gates on Friday night, April 13 to a contingent of All Stars and Pennsylvania Posse sprint car stars, it will do so in honor of one of the most recognizable names in motorsports history dating back to the 1930s.

On tap at Williams Grove on Friday will be the annual Tommy Hinnershitz Memorial, honoring the late, great racer that holds the distinction of winning the first ever race held at the brand new Williams Grove Speedway back on Sunday, May 21, 1939.

Hinnershitz won the race in what was called a “hard and heady” event to best the famed Joie Chitwood.

Hinnershitz’s death in 1999 left behind an auto-racing legacy worthy of note by any standards.

During his 30-year career spanning 1930-1960, “The Fyling Dutchman,” as he was known, amassed seven AAA/USAC Eastern Big Car Championships, taking titles in 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1955, 1956 and in 1959.

He had garnered 103 total AAA/USAC feature wins with 19 taking place at Williams Grove.

Hinnershitz set 43 AAA track records during his tenure and would compete in three Indianapolis 500s.

At the time of his death, the 87-year old was ranked second behind Steve Kinser on the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame’s Top Sprint Car Drivers of All Time list.

Back in 1939, when Hinnershitz passed Chitwood for the lead in that maiden race at Williams Grove, the duel was billed as “one of the most thrilling bits of driving ever witnessed on a Pennsylvania speedway.”

It was said that when Hinnershitz passed Chitwood, “the Big Chief was met with acclaim from the crowd.”

And Williams Grove will bestow even more worthy acclaim in the Big Chief’s honor this Friday night.

Adult general admission for the April 13 racing program is set at $20 with students ages 13-20 admitted for just $10.

Kids ages 12 and under are always admitted for FREE at Williams Grove Speedway.