Wise dominates for 1st career Attica 410 win; Schlenk takes late model victory; Miller earns 2nd 305 win in a row

Friday, April 23, 2021

Contact: Brian Liskai

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By Brian Liskai

ATTICA, Ohio – It’s hard to believe Zeb Wise and his family, along with veteran crew chief Wayne Priddy, put a new team together in just a few months and are already winning. The 18-year-old Angola, Indiana driver dominated Friday, April 23 on Craig Miller Trucking/Bucyrus Road Materials Presented by Integrity Auto & Truck Sales Night at Attica Raceway Park to earn his first 410 sprint car win at the track.

Wise becomes the fifth first time Attica winner in the division in the first six races of the year. Wise took the lead on lap three and never looked back, taking the checkers with a 5.1 second lead, nearly half a track ahead of Trey Jacobs, who charged from 16^th starting spot.

“I knew we would be pretty good here after are All Star performance…it kind of boosted by confidence coming here. I can’t thank my dad, Wayne, Sundollar Restoration, Quik Pits Auto…so many people on this car…Specialty Rigging, Bill’s Towing, Jason Dietsch Trailer Sales and everyone that helps out. It feels really good to be standing up here,” said Wise, the 2020 FloRacing All Star Circuit of Champions Rookie of the Year.

“That is one thing I’ve always enjoyed about this place. It’s really racy in the features and honestly I’ve always been pretty good here in whatever car I’ve been in early in the night and have just not been able to cap it off. I knew when I passed winner DJ Foos in lapped traffic we had to be pretty far out,” added Wise.

McClure, Ohio’s Rusty Schlenk survived a tangle with a lapped car and jumping the treacherous cushion in turns three and four late in the Dirt Nerds Podcast/Propane.com UMP Late Model feature and captured his 29^th career win at Attica. Schlenk now sits atop the division’s all-time win list.

“I got into that lapped car going down the front stretch and got squeezed into the wall and I think it bent the left front spindle because I had a hand full after that. I don’t know if it’s towed out or in but I couldn’t drive straight. We jumped the cushion at that end. I was trying to take it easy and save the right rear…we went soft on tire. I didn’t see a nose so was just on cruise control but I knew when I jumped that cushion I’d have Irey or Drown there to take advantage so I turned up the wick the last few laps,” said Schlenk.

“I just love this place…the track is always awesome. Track work is great. You can run all over. There’s always a cushion…you can run around the tires…there’s a middle. You can set your car up to whatever your driver style is and I’m an up on the wheel up on the cushion type of guy so it fits my driving style to be able to rip around the lip of this place,” added Schlenk beside his Buckeye Concrete, VP Fuel, Tom Finch Auto, Bilstein Shocks, Landrum Springs, Dominator Race Products backed machine.

Fremont, Ohio’s Jamie Miller led the first nine laps of the Fremont Fence 305 Sprint feature before surrendering to Dustin Stroup in lapped traffic. But Miller used the same traffic to regain the lead on lap 14 and survived three late race cautions to score his second straight Attica win, the 29^th of his career in the division where he sits second all-time. It is Miller’s third consecutive win as he won last Saturday at Waynesfield Raceway Park. Even more impressive, Miller has not finished out of the top three all season long.

“God I love this sh*#! That cushion is perfect. When I got into lapped traffic it got a little iffy…I had to slow down a little bit and I started seeing Stroup and he snuck by me and I just picked up the pace and worked my way back up there. This thing was bad fast in clean air…I didn’t have to lift and I could just run the top wide open and it rolled around there beautiful,” said Miller beside his Smitty’s Pizza, JLH General Contractor, Queen of Clean, Rohr Total Lawn Care, Sonic Hauling, Phil Rister, Sloopy’s Pizza, Reedtown Tavern, Crown Battery, Schreiner Farms, Roberts & Sons Contracting, Fostoria Mod Shop, Kenny Kalb Farms backed #26.

Stuart Brubaker and Caleb Griffith brought the field to green for the 30 lap Callie’s Performance Products 410 Sprint A-main with Brubaker gaining the advantage over third starter Wise, Griffith, Cole Macedo, Craig Mintz and Travis Philo. Waynesfield winner Gary Taylor tangled with Nate Dussel on lap two with Taylor flipping; both cars were done for the night in what would be the feature’s only stoppage. On the restart Wise drove into the lead with Brubaker, Griffith, Macedo, Mintz and Trey Jacobs.

Heavy lapped traffic by the 10^th circuit didn’t slow Wise who built his lead to four seconds. At the half-way point Wise maintained his commanding lead over Brubaker, Griffith and Jacobs. Jacobs moved into second on lap 19 but Griffith took the runner-up slot back a lap later. With eight laps remaining, Wise held his biggest lead of the race at 5.5 seconds over Griffith and Jacobs. Jacobs retook second with four laps to go but couldn’t catch Wise who cruised to the win. Griffith, Macedo and Brubaker rounded out the top five. Jacobs took the track point lead with his runner-up finish.

Last week’s winner Matt Irey and Chester Fitch paced the field for the 25 lap late model A-main but a caution on the start necessitated a second try which saw Schlenk take the lead over Irey, Doug Drown and Casey Noonan. A multi-car crash on lap two kept he field close but Schlenk used the cushion to power back into the lead over Irey and Drown.

As Schlenk entered lapped traffic on lap 10, Drown, who took second two laps prior, closed quickly while Irey ran comfortably in third and a tremendous battle ensued for fourth involving Devin Shiels, Noonan and two time feature winner Ryan Markham. With five laps to go Schlenk jumped the thin cushion in turns three and four but Drown did the same as they maintained their top spots. Schlenk drove to the win over Drown, Irey, Shiels and Markham.

At the start of the 25 lap 305 A-main outside front row starter Miller wasted little time jumping into the lead over Dustin Stoup, Luke Griffith, Mike Keegan and Paul Weaver. The leaders caught heavy lapped traffic by the ninth circuit and Stroup closed, driving to Miller’s inside and taking the lead as he and Miller split two lappers.  Miller drove to the cushion and regained the lead on lap 14 and began to pull away.

With 10 laps to go Miller held a nice lead over Stroup as Weaver, a three time winner this season, worked into third. By lap 20 Miller had put a pair of lapped cars between himself and Stroup with Weaver, Griffith, Keegan and Matt Foos giving chaser. Something went amiss for Weaver on the next lap as he went pit side, handing third back to Griffith.

The caution flew with three laps to go and a lap later another caution put Stroup right on Miller’s rear bumper. Two cars spun on the restart and when the green flew with two laps to go Miller executed a phenomenal restart and drove away to the win over Stroup, Griffith, Keegan and Foos.

Attica Raceway Park is back in action Friday, April 30 on The Adkins Group, Smith Paving Night. It’s the 2021 debut of the Kistler Racing Products/All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads 410 Attica Fremont Championship Series (AFCS) Presented by the Baumann Auto Group and the NAPA of Bryan 305 AFCS Presented by Jason Dietsch Trailer Sales with the late models also in action.

Fans and race teams should visit www.atticaracewaypark.com or follow the track on Twitter @atticaracewyprk or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/atticaracewaypark and Instagram at attica_raceway_park.

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