Briggs Danner To Make First Indoor Dirt Nationals Start February 21st & 22nd

Story By: ERNIE SAXTON / SAMMONS PRODUCTIONS – TRENTON, NJ – Allentown, PA teenage racer Briggs Danner will be charging into Trenton, NJ’s Cure Insurance Arena for the Indoor Auto Racing fueled by VP Series on Friday and Saturday February 21-22 with a unique set of attributes, but one potential deficit.

Danner, 18, who has been a regular competitor for the past three years on the BELFOR Property Restorations ‘Concrete Series’, has entered the third running of the non-point East Coast Dirt Nationals for the first time.

While new to the dirt event, young Danner is far from a novice as far as dirt track credentials are concerned. His last three summers have been spent racing Dirt 358 Modifieds at Grandview Speedway and Big Diamond Raceway as well as SpeedSTRs at Action Track USA in Kutztown, PA.

His disadvantage is that he has never raced indoors on dirt.

Danner will suit up behind the wheel of a 600 Sprint owned by Tim Henry of Orefield, PA, whose son Tyler usually races the car outdoors.

Danner actually raced the car once before, last year in a Wednesday night 600 Sprint race at Shellhammer’s Speedway in Shoemakersville, PA, finishing fifth in his inaugural feature.

Danner and Henry have history.

“Tyler and I ran Quarter Midgets together with the Keystone Quarter Midget Club,” Danner said. “Tyler is too young to race in New Jersey and that’s why I have the ride.”

Danner expects 600 Sprint racing indoors to be a different sort of experience.

“The SpeedSTR experience might help some but I know the Micro will be a more precise handling car. I think the key will to put yourself in a good spot whenever you can. The car I will be driving is an RTS chassis with an LHS engine which is a good combination,” Danner shared.

E. Schneider & Sons in Allentown, PA and Ironton Telephone in Ironton, PA as well as the family’s paving business are among those backing Danner’s East Coast Dirt Nationals run.

Danner will face nearly 100 of the top 600 Sprint dirt track drivers and their teams from throughout the northeast who will converge on the Cure Insurance Arena for the third running of the East Coast Dirt Nationals on Friday and Saturday, February 21-22, 2020.

Among the entries are the two past winners of the prestigious event, Whitey Kidd, III of Staten Island, NY who won the inaugural running of the East Coast Dirt Nationals on December 2, 2017 and Erick Rudolph, of Ransomville, NY, who blitzed the field on December 15, 2018.

Both wins were special occasions for the past winners. In Kidd’s case, his triumph came after a spectacular late race charge. Exhausted after the event was over, Kidd revealed he was a cancer patient under treatment with an unknown prognosis.

Two years later, he is still racing, winning the game of life and seeking to win the East Coast Dirt Nationals a second time. He will drive a 600 Sprint by Anthony Fillbrunn.

Rudolph won the follow-up race in Trenton on the dirt on Saturday, December 15, 2018. The win was his fifth at Cure Insurance Arena, having won four prior races when the floor surface was concrete. Rudolph has, over the last two years, become one of the biggest outdoor race winners in Dirt Modified competition.

‘The fire starter’ also swooped to victory in the Indoor Auto Racing Concrete Series opener on Jan. 3, 2020 inside the PPL Center in Allentown, PA, demonstrating his versatility.

Among the drivers other than Danner out to deny Kidd and Rudolph repeat wins are the USAC Midget racing brothers, Alex and Brendan Bright, both of Collegeville, PA., Dirt Modified standout Dominick Buffaloing of Sayreville, NJ, and the three Locus on brothers, Andrew and Carl from Piles grove, NJ and Chris from Pennsville, NJ.

Third generation Dirt driver Sammy Martz, Jr., of Hampton NJ, has filed an entry as have the Scott brothers, Levar and Wayne from Pens Grove, NJ., and Sprint car ace Eddie Strata, Jr., from Lake Ariel, PA.

Before the Trenton dirt event, Danner and Rudolph will compete in the third round of the Indoor Auto Racing ‘Concrete Series’ inside Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall on Friday and Saturday, January 31 and February 1st.

After the Trenton race, they’ll conclude the “Concrete Series” event on Friday and Saturday March 13th and 14th in a second year return to the brand new Expo Center located on the grounds of the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse. N.Y. Rudolph is also the defending race winner of the Syracuse A-Main event.