Fantastic July 4th Celebration at Roaring Knob Dirt Track PA

What a night!  It was a perfect night for the dirt track auto races at Roaring Knob in Markleysburg, PA on July 2, 2010. 

Not only were the races exciting, but the Vets and active duty soldiers who have defended and who are defending our country from all of the wars fought were honored before the feature races.  Each Vet gave their name, rank and branch of military that they served in.  It was heartwarming to be able to thank so many who provided the freedom that we have today.


The Classic Cars were great and this was their first time at Roaring Knob.  It was fun to watch these funny looking dirt track cars in this 20 lap race. 

The fireworks were the best I ever remember seeing.  They were comparable to any of the major city fireworks in the PA area.  A big "THANK YOU" goes out to Roaring Knob for a greatly entertaining night.

Now, back to Jeremy and his race of the night.  Jeremy raced in the late model FASTRAK feature.  The FASTRAK cars all have the same engine requirements, so car set up and driver skill play a key role in winning this type of race.

Things can go wrong too.  Mistakes can be made resulting in set backs.  The moral of the story is, most dirt track auto racing tracks will not bend the rules.  If you aren't in your car, ready to go when they call for the line up, you lose big time.  Jeremy had placed 4th for the starting line up in the feature race after winning second in his heat.  Due to an unavoidable problem, Jeremy was 3 seconds late for lining up.  As a result, he went from 4th in line to the end of the line of 22 dirt track cars.  After a futile attempt of arguing with the ref, he went to the back of the line.  Now he was mad as a hornet so to speak which put even more fire in his desire to pass his way up to the front.

In the first two laps of the feature, the first four cars wrecked and spun out.  One returned.  Had Jeremy been in the top four, it's very possible he wouldn't have been able to complete the race. As his mom said, "everything happens for a reason".  The end result was that Jeremy raced his heart out and used his talent and skills to move from last place,  then to 15th place after the wreck, to his finish in 8th place.  He drove aggressively and passed 7 other cars in the 20 lap feature.  Great job Jeremy.

Here's the story from Roaring Knob:

"Shawn Jett of Harrisville, WV earned his career first win in the 20-lap Brooks Automotive Group FASTRAK Late Model feature. Jett battled all race long with good friend Derek Doll before taking the win. Doll was able to get under Jett but could not complete the pass and settle for second. John Over, Troy Shields and Mike Lewis filled out the top five. Sixth through tenth were Billy Stile III, Tim Snare, Jr. (from 13th), Jeremy Zufall (from 15th), Jim Bryce and Ron Smithley. Shields and Stile were the heat winners."

If you missed the dirt track auto race, you missed some great fun and good times.  Perhaps you will make the races soon!  See you on the dirt track.