Danny Holtgraver in victory lane at Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway – Rick Rarer Photo
Holtgraver Ends Ten Days Of Racing With Win at PPMS – Ready For The 98!
By Tracy Fry
www.fullyinjected.com
Pittsburgh, PA – 7/1/12 } Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania native and All-Star Circuit of Champions ‘Ohio Region’ competitor, Danny Holtgraver, is finally home after nine nights of ‘410’ sprint car competition in a ten day time period across Ohio and Pennsylvania. The pilot of the Kargo Quality Cars and Trucks ‘D4’ ended his long stretch of competition with 2 wins; including a $6,000 victory at Attica Raceway Park in Attica, Ohio on June 22nd, and a $3,000 triumph in front of his hometown fans and friends at Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway on Sunday, July 1st. The ‘D4’ team spent nine days on the road with the All-Star Circuit of Champions for the 30th Annual ‘Ohio Sprint Speedweek,’ and capped-off the week and a half long stretch of racing with a stop at Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway for a Midwest All-Star event. Danny Holtgraver ended his “Ohio Sprint Speedweek” tour 8th in the final speedweek standings, while maintaining a top five position in the All-Star ‘Ohio Region’ points, and a top ten position in the All-Star Circuit of Champions ‘National’ standings.
“We had a fun week” said Holtgraver about his ten days on the road, “We got that win at Attica and we were super fast at Pittsburgh…feels good to get a couple wins…now we can move on and prepare for the second half of the season.”
The highlight of ‘Ohio Sprint Speedweek’ for the Alternative Power Sources ‘D4’ team came at Attica Raceway Park in Attica, Ohio; where Holtgraver earned his first career All-Star Circuit of Champions victory in front of a packed house for the speedweek opener. The $5,000-to-win main event ended up being a $6,000 pay day for Holtgraver, as Kistler Engines added a $1,000 bonus if the winner used a Kistler built power plant. The rest of the week had plenty of positive outcomes for Holtgraver and the FullyInjected.com team; as the former Lernerville Speedway track champion would earn two more top 10’s, including a 9th place finish, after starting 17th, at the $10,000-to-win ‘Ohio Sprint Speedweek’ finale at Fremont Speedway, and a 6th place finish during the Cannonball Speedway stop in St. Clairsville, Ohio. Holtgraver would earn a starting position in all but two ‘Ohio Sprint Speedweek’ main events. Stevie Smith would be crowned overall ‘Ohio Sprint Speedweek’ champion.
“We got that win at Attica Raceway Park and it really felt good to finally get that first All-Star win” explained Danny Holtgraver, “After Attica, things got kind of tough for us…we made a lot of changes to our car as the week went on and we seemed to struggle with qualifying…we are happy that the week is over and we can put it all behind us and move on.”
When ‘Ohio Sprint Speedweek’ finally came to rest Saturday night, June 30th, at Fremont Speedway in Fremont, Ohio, Holtgraver was finally able to make the trip towards home. The ‘D4’ operation would make a scheduled stop at Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway on Sunday, July 1st, for a $3,000-to-win Midwest All-Star event to end his 10 days on the road. Holtgraver nearly swept the evening at Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway by conquering the heat race, dash, and 21 lap, $3,000-to-win main event. The team’s only defeat of the evening was during qualifying time trials where Holtgraver timed 2nd quick. This was the first Midwest All-Star event of the season, and Holtgraver’s first win at Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway in 2012.
As far as an upcoming schedule is concerned, Danny Holtgraver will keep the familar ‘D4′ parked next Saturday night and take the wheel of the Golden Flavor Sesame Sticks/ Chiappelli Motorsports no. 98 for a Pennsylvania Sprint Speedweek event at Port Royal Speedway in Port Royal, Pennsylvania on Saturday, July 7th. Holtgraver will pilot the familiar ’98’ owned by Tom and Fran Chiappelli for one night of competition before moving on to a busier schedule. This will be Holtgraver’s first night driving for Tom and Fran Chiappelli, hoping to earn a win to kick-off a successful relationship between the new owner/driver combination.
“Im going to go out to Tom and Fran’s shop this week and finalize everything for the weekend like putting my seat in…hopefully we build some good chemistry and put the ’98’ in victory lane first try!”
Danny Holtgraver would like to thank all of his marketing partners including: Kargo Sales and Storage, Alternative Power Source, DKW Transport, PPI, Spinneweber Auto Sales, Bastin Truck Parts, West View Motors, Bagleys Auto Service, Frankland Rearends, Dan Taylor Racing, VRP Shocks, Kistler Engines, J&J Chassis, Butlerbuilt Seats, Zerowraps, www.fullyinjected.com.
Stay tuned during the entire season – right here at www.fullyinjected.com / or check out Danny Holtgraver’s online home at www.dannyholtgraver.com!