Aaron Reutzel Concludes ’20 All Star Title Season With Jim & Joanne Ford Classic Triumph

Story By: TYLER ALTMEYER / ALL STAR CIRCUIT OF CHAMPIONS – FREMONT, OH – For the third time in as many tries, Clute, Texas-native Aaron Reutzel is an Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 champion, concluding his third consecutive title with a victory during Fremont Speedway’s annual Jim and Joanne Ford Classic finale on Saturday, October 10.

The $10,000 victory, accomplished aboard the familiar Baughman-Reutzel Motorsports/Folkens Brothers Trucking/Fischer Body Shop/Hollywood Blasting and Coating/No. 87 sprint car, bumped Reutzel’s season win total to 11, concluding his championship run with a final points cushion equaling 110 markers over Rudeen Racing’s Cory Eliason.

The 2020 All Star title earned Aaron Reutzel and Baughman-Reutzel Motorsports a $65,000 top prize, increasing the evening’s total value to $75,000.

In addition, Reutzel has now won the season finale in each of his championship attempts.

“I can’t say enough about the Baughmans for giving me such an incredible opportunity to drive their cars. I couldn’t be more proud of this entire team. It’s absolutely incredible what we’ve been able to do in such a short amount of time,” Aaron Reutzel said in Fremont Speedway victory lane. “What we’ve accomplished, I never would have dreamed. Everyone plays a massive part.”

Certainly padding the All Star Circuit of Champions history books, Reutzel’s path to Jim and Joanne Ford Classic victory lane was a dominant one, eventually leading all 40 circuits of the historic program while lapping a substantial amount of the running order. Although slower traffic was in full force during much of the contest, entering the picture as early as lap six, Reutzel never faltered, maintaining control during each wave of lappers, which were separated by a caution on lap 13. A blessing, perhaps, the event’s second and final pause kept Reutzel from having to navigate a moving wall of traffic comprised of cars two and three wide.

From that point forward, Reutzel was untouchable, ultimately escaping to a commanding lead while keeping upwards of five lapped cars between himself and second-place running, Cap Henry. In hot pursuit of a Jim and Joanne Ford Classic weekend sweep, Henry would eventually fade to third, losing a last lap battle to a hard-charging Cole Duncan who surged ahead from 18th.

“Tonight just went our way,” an elated Aaron Reutzel continued. “When you qualify well and get into the dash, you are able to try things. Last night, the rutts never went away. It got slick all around them, but the rutts never went away. I figured tonight was going to be a repeat of that, so I told (crew chief) let’s go for it. Let’s live or die by the rutts. It played out good and it was definitely a gamble. But I wanted to make $10,000 on top of that $65,000. Fremont Speedway was bad ass today.”

As previously stated, Visalia, California’s Cory Eliason ended his 2020 All Star campaign second in the final driver standings, earning three victories along the way including one during Huset’s Speedway’s $20,000 Grand Re-Opening. Zeb Wise, the 2020 All Star Rookie of the Year, concluded his season third in the All Star driver standings, followed by Paul McMahan, Skylar Gee, Greg Wilson, and Josh Baughman.

Online Coverage:
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Contingency Awards/Results: Fremont Speedway – October 10, 2020:
Event: Jim and Joanne Ford Classic Finale
Entries: 41
C&R Racing Warm-Ups: Aaron Reutzel – 13.213
Lincoln Electric Fast Qualifier: Paul McMahan – 12.981
Ford Performance Heat #1 Winner: Craig Mintz
All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads Heat #2 Winner:
Hunt Brothers Pizza Heat #3 Winner: Cap Henry
Mobil 1 Heat #4 Winner: Bill Balog
Kistler Racing Products Heat #5 Winner: Shane Stewart
Kear’s Speed Shop Dash #1 Winner: Aaron Reutzel
Elliott’s Custom Trailers and Carts Dash #2 Winner: Ian Madsen
Classic Ink USA Screenprinting & Embroidery B-Main Winner: Tim Shaffer
Rayce Rudeen Foundation First Non-Transfer: Conner Morrell
Ollie’s Bargain Outlet A-Main Winner: Aaron Reutzel
Hercules Tire A-Main Hard Charger: Cole Duncan (+15)

Qualifying

Group (A)
1. 13-Paul McMahan, 12.981; 2. 22B-Ryan Broughton, 13.015; 3. 19-Paige Polyak, 13.224; 4. O9-Craig Mintz, 13.235; 5. 28-Tim Shaffer, 13.328; 6. 5-Byron Reed, 13.445; 7. 15-Mitch Harble, 13.478; 8. 35-Stuart Brubaker, 13.515; 9. 14W-Chad Wilson, 13.658

Group (B)
1. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 13.050; 2. 3C-Cale Conley, 13.298; 3. 22C-Cole Duncan, 13.353; 4. 5T-Travis Philo, 13.400; 5. 23-Cole Macedo, 13.452; 6. 15k-Chad Kemenah, 13.535; 7. 8M-TJ Michael, 13.907; 8. 2L-Landon Lalonde, 14.489

Group (C)
1. 26-Cory Eliason, 13.214; 2. 3J-Trey Jacobs, 13.378; 3. 70-Cale Thomas, 13.470; 4. 4-Cap Henry, 13.733; 5. 28M-Conner Morrell, 13.770; 6. 47-Todd King, 13.951; 7. 5QB-Quentin Blonde, 14.095; 8. 21j-Jeffrey Neubert, 15.176

Group (D)
1. 17-Ian Madsen, 13.045; 2. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg, 13.125; 3. 3-Jac Haudenschild, 13.198; 4. O7-Bill Balog, 13.203; 5. 81-Lee Jacobs, 13.258; 6. 11-Zeb Wise, 13.584; 7. 5R-Ryan Ruhl, 13.803; 8. 1-Nate Dussel, 99.510

Group (E)
1. W20-Greg Wilson, 13.344; 2. 99-Skylar Gee, 13.373; 3. 16-DJ Foos, 13.469; 4. 71-Shane Stewart, 13.480; 5. 9Z-Duane Zablocki, 13.817; 6. 71H-Max Stambaugh, 13.819; 7. 4T-Josh Turner, 13.870; 8. 55m-McKenna Haase, 99.730

Heat #1 – Group (A) (8 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. O9-Craig Mintz [1]; 2. 19-Paige Polyak [2]; 3. 13-Paul McMahan [4]; 4. 22B-Ryan Broughton [3]; 5. 28-Tim Shaffer [5]; 6. 5-Byron Reed [6]; 7. 35-Stuart Brubaker [8]; 8. 15-Mitch Harble [7]; 9. 14W-Chad Wilson [9]

Heat #2 – Group (B) (8 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 5T-Travis Philo [1]; 2. 3C-Cale Conley [3]; 3. 22C-Cole Duncan [2]; 4. 87-Aaron Reutzel [4]; 5. 15K-Chad Kemenah [6]; 6. 8M-TJ Michael [7]; 7. 2L-Landon Lalonde [8]; 8. 23-Cole Macedo [5]

Heat #3 – Group (C) (8 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 4-Cap Henry [1]; 2. 70-Cale Thomas [2]; 3. 26-Cory Eliason [4]; 4. 3J-Trey Jacobs [3]; 5. 28M-Conner Morrell [5]; 6. 47-Todd King [6]; 7. 5QB-Quentin Blonde [7]; 8. 21J-Jeffrey Neubert [8]

Heat #4 – Group (D) (8 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. O7-Bill Balog [1]; 2. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [3]; 3. 3-Jac Haudenschild [2]; 4. 17-Ian Madsen [4]; 5. 11-Zeb Wise [6]; 6. 81-Lee Jacobs [5]; 7. 5R-Ryan Ruhl [7]

Heat #5 – Group (E) (8 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 71-Shane Stewart [1]; 2. 16-DJ Foos [2]; 3. W20-Greg Wilson [4]; 4. 99-Skylar Gee [3]; 5. 71H-Max Stambaugh [6]; 6. 4T-Josh Turner [7]; 7. 55M-McKenna Haase [8]; 8. 9Z-Duane Zablocki [5]

Dash #1 (4 Laps)
1. 87-Aaron Reutzel [1]; 2. 4-Cap Henry [4]; 3. 26-Cory Eliason [6]; 4. W20-Greg Wilson [5]; 5. 5T-Travis Philo [3]; 6. 22B-Ryan Broughton [2]

Dash #2 (4 Laps)
1. 17-Ian Madsen [1]; 2. 71-Shane Stewart [2]; 3. O7-Bill Balog [3]; 4. 13-Paul McMahan [4]; 5. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [6]; 6. O9-Craig Mintz [5]

B-Main (12 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 28-Tim Shaffer [2]; 2. 81-Lee Jacobs [1]; 3. 15K-Chad Kemenah [3]; 4. 11-Zeb Wise [4]; 5. 28M-Conner Morrell [5]; 6. 5-Byron Reed [7]; 7. 71H-Max Stambaugh [6]; 8. 35-Stuart Brubaker [11]; 9. 5R-Ryan Ruhl [12]; 10. 23-Cole Macedo [16]; 11. 4T-Josh Turner [8]; 12. 8M-TJ Michael [9]; 13. 55M-McKenna Haase [15]; 14. 15-Mitch Harble [17]; 15. 47-Todd King [10]; 16. 14W-Chad Wilson [20]; 17. 2L-Landon Lalonde [14]; 18. 9Z-Duane Zablocki [18]; 19. 5QB-Quentin Blonde [13]; 20. 21J-Jeffrey Neubert [19]

A-Main (40 Laps)
1. 87-Aaron Reutzel [1]; 2. 22C-Cole Duncan [17]; 3. 4-Cap Henry [3]; 4. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [10]; 5. W20-Greg Wilson [7]; 6. 71-Shane Stewart [4]; 7. O7-Bill Balog [6]; 8. 70-Cale Thomas [15]; 9. 28-Tim Shaffer [20]; 10. 13-Paul McMahan [8]; 11. 81-Lee Jacobs [21]; 12. 11-Zeb Wise [23]; 13. 5T-Travis Philo [9]; 14. 3C-Cale Conley [13]; 15. 99-Skylar Gee [18]; 16. 16-DJ Foos [14]; 17. 3J-Trey Jacobs [19]; 18. O9-Craig Mintz [11]; 19. 19-Paige Polyak [12]; 20. 15K-Chad Kemenah [22]; 21. 3-Jac Haudenschild [16]; 22. 17-Ian Madsen [2]; 23. 26-Cory Eliason [5]; 24. 22B-Ryan Broughton [24] Lap Leaders: Aaron Reutzel (1-40)