Eash

Westminster's Dave Green won both ends of the double 12-lap features for thundercars Sept. 8 at Lincoln Speedway in Hanover, Pa.Green had two last-lap wins, first in the feature postponed from Aug. 18 and then in the regularly scheduled event. He now has three wins for the year.Rick Jones of Westminster won his third consecutive 12-lap semi-late feature. Westminster's Don Zechman finished third.In the 20-lap feature at Lincoln, Charlie Schaffer of Hampstead took runner-up honors.At the Mason-Dixon Dragway Sept.

Ray Whittington of New Windsor was one of the first to start racing his Ford Mustang at 75-80 Dragway. At first, the cars raced in the trophy class, but as more and more Mustang owners began racing, a separate class was started this year.Now, more than 40 Mustang owners are registered at the track.Whittington likes to compete. He likes to race and, most of all, he likes to make his car the fastest Mustang around.Although the Mustang owners have come together to form a close-knit group, they enjoy competing against each other.

Like most people involved in motor sports, Robert "Bones" Harvey has made auto racing a part of his life since he was a teen-ager.Starting as an errand boy on his brother Tim's car, Harvey has done everything there is to do in late-model racing. He has built cars, raced and owned them.The 44-year-old Finksburg native started in racing 30 years ago when modified Ford coupes ruled the local race scene.He raced several years for himself and for Mike Woolford of Westminster, picking up two feature wins in the mid-70s at Lincoln and Potomac speedways.

Twenty-seven-year-old Randy Enos of Manchester is one of many weekend warriors who compete at the Trail-Way Speedway near Hanover, Pa. every week.Enos races in the street stock division, an entry-level class where many drivers get their start.Enos has been around racing for several years. He began attending races at Trail-Way when he was 15 and has been going ever since.At first he thought about building a car to race, but never got around to it.Later when his brother, Charlie Enos, began to drive in the micro-sprints, Randy became interested in driving again.

The Etzler family of Mount Airy has been in drag racing for more than two decades. Alan was the first to race. He was joined by his son, Woody. Now his youngest son, Nathan, is carrying on the tradition."

The racing season is swiftly drawing to a close, but several Carrolldrivers are remaining hot as the weather cools.No where have they fared better than at 75-80 Dragway in Monrovia, Frederick County.Two county drivers used the final day of points racing to clinch championships at the nearby strip. Joe Mayne of Mount Airy took the top honors in Class I (for cars running the quarter-mile in 11.99 seconds or less) in his dragster, while Roger Jorss of Sykesville used the last two points races to vault into first in Class II.Jorss edged out Union Bridge resident Mike Stambuagh, who had been leading thedivision all summer, for the title.

Consistency has been the key to the season for Manchester resident Jesse Wentz. Though he hasn't reached the winner's circle, he's almost always among the top 15 and rarely fails to finish.Last weekend Wentz moved closer to the top spot, placing fifth in the 25-lap sprint feature Sunday at Susquehanna Speedway, despite threatening weather and rainouts at other area tracks. In other weekend motor-sports action:* Cris Eash of Hanover, a former Woodbine resident, was third in the 20-lap sprint feature at Williams Grove Speedway on Aug. 14. Eash also was 16th in the prestigious Knoxville Nationals feature race the following night in Iowa.

Chris Hruska of Mount Airy was the overall champion and won the heavy class and over-all competition at Mason-Dixon Dragway Monday.Hruska took the heavy championship in his 1965 Mustang to defeat Frank Giallonnardo of Smithsburg, Washington County. Hruska ran a 12.05-second elapsed time after estimating a 12.02.Hruska then topped David Corbin of Hagerstown for the overall title. Hruska had an almost identical set of numbers in the overall championship run, with an elapsed time of 12.05 after estimating a time of 12.04.

The 1995 season was a great year for several Carroll County drivers.Brad McClelland of Westminster had the best year of his career in the micro-sprint division, leading all drivers in the Northeast with 19 feature wins. In addition to winning the track championship at Trail-Way Speedway in Hanover, Pa., McClelland was fourth in points at Challenger Raceway in Indiana, Pa., where he won nine of his features.McClelland also won the #1 Cochran Automotive Cavalcade of Champions points title, a regional award for Eastern Ohio and Western Pennsylvania drivers.

The 1994 season was a great year in motor sports for several Carroll County drivers.In oval track racing, Westminster's Gary Stuhler had another good year in late-model racing. In July, Stuhler traveled to the Pennsylvania Motor Speedway in Pittsburgh and won the biggest race of his career against the top late-model drivers in the country. Stuhler took the lead on the 12th lap and led the rest of the way to win the Penn National 100.Stuhler finished the season with a win in the Winchester 200, a 100-lap championship event at the Winchester (Va.)