This Friday night, August 20th at the Big Diamond Speedway will be the annual “Prelude to the Coalcracker” race for the Insigner Performance Modifieds. This race will be 50 laps in distance and pay a whopping $10,000 to the winner making it the highest paying Prelude to the Coalcracker race in the track’s history. Of course, all this leads up to the richest race of the season on Sunday, September 5th as the Modifieds will race for $17,000 in the annual Jack Rich Inc Coalcracker 72 race.
But before that, the modifieds will get to tune up their cars in preparation for that extra distance affair as they run for some big money once again this Friday night. 50 laps, 10K to win and with the way this year’s modified season has gone, it will be a dogfight as the most talented field of modified drivers on Friday nights will all be hungry to take home the big money.
Last year’s race was a barnburner with Jeff Strunk aboard the Butch Getz No. 15 getting the win holding off a fast Billy Pauch Jr for the win. For Strunk this season, it has been an up and down season. Strunk has shown good speed all season long and has two wins to his credit this year driving the Dave Zubikowsk No. 88Z but has also had his share of troubles along the way. The car Strunk drove last year is now being wheeled by the Diamond Cutter himself Duane Howard. Howard has been mister consistency all season long with one win and is the current points leader in the Insigner Performance Modified division. Howard’s once big points lead has shrunk to under ten points as Timmy Buckwalter has been the man on a mission in the past month with a win and several top five finishes. Defending champion Mike Gular has overcome a slow start this season with multiple wins and has to be a driver to watch this Friday as he shoots for the big money.
Craig Von Dohren who just won his 100th career feature at Big Diamond two weeks ago is a driver who has taken a lot of money home from Big Diamond over the years and can never be counted out when the big money is on the line. Brett Kressley has shown quite a bit of speed lately in his No. 1B and with a win to his credit this season will be a factor on Friday night. Don’t count out Ryan Krachun who has come oh so close to that first ever Big Diamond win this season, Krachun has multiple runners-up finishes in 2021, Friday night would be a good night for the young driver to finally get over the hump and get that first win. Other drivers who will have something to say this Friday night are Alex Yankowski, Dillon Steuer, Jared Umbenhauer, Nick Rochinski, Louden Reimert amongst others, all of these drivers have shown speed at times this season and would all like to have a big win added to their resume’s. Two-time winner Billy Pauch Jr will be back in the fold this Friday night after missing a couple of weeks due to motor issues. I think we can also expect a few invaders to make their way to the Schuylkill Valley dirt oval on Friday to get some practice in for the big Coalcracker 72 on Sept 5th. Defending Coalcracker 72 winner Ryan Watt has confirmed that he will be in the field on Friday night shooting the big $10,000 payday.
Friday night’s “Prelude to the Coalcracker” show for the Modifieds will be a DRAW race with show-up points being given to the teams.
Filling out the racing card this Friday night will be the U.S.S. Achey Open Sportsman who are back in action after a week off. Doug Hendricks has been on fire lately and will look to put his stamp on the race for the 2021 points title. Hendricks currently leads Brandon Edgar by 142 points with only two races remaining in his bid for the championship.
In the Savage 61 Crate 602 division, Steve Lyle has led the way since early in the season and has been a model of consistency the past few weeks trying to hold off challenger Danny Buccafusca for the 2021 championship. This division has had many different winners this season with that trend likely to continue as we march to the end of the season.
With his two wins on Friday night along with two other top five finishes, Andrew Fayash III has put a stranglehold on the 2021 points title in the Red White and Blue Autos Roadrunner. Fayash III currently has a 227-point lead over his closest challenger Alex Schoffstall and with only two races remaining it would take nothing short of a miracle for Schoffstall to catch him.
Pit Gates will open on Friday night at 5:00 PM with the grandstand gates opening at 5:30 PM.
Pit passes are $30 for Big Diamond Speedway members. Non-member pit passes are $40.
Warmups get underway at 7:15 PM with racing starting at 7:45 PM.
General admission on Friday night will be $30, Kids under 16 are free. Active military are admitted free with a valid ID.
If you cannot make it to the track, DirtTrackDigest.TV will provide all the action live via pay-per-view.