The “Million Dollar Man” added a few thousand to his bank account after winning the Sharon feature and the points fund put up by Grover Racing Engines. In a time when most race car drivers follow their own schedule Dean and the IRS team came up with a creative way to beef up the car counts and the competition.

“There wasn’t much going on(that week) and we wanted to give drivers a chance to earn a little more money and bring in some new drivers, the tracks as well as the drivers seemed real receptive to it and it turned out to be a success,” noted Chris Tilley, IRS public relations director and announcer.

Going into Skyline it was Tim Dohm in the lead followed by Moran and Blair. Skyline saw Kentucky’s Josh McGuire in victory lane collecting 5k and his first IRS win. McGuire drove from 10th to take the checkered at the Stewart, Oh track where he’s collected a win or two before.

The heats where full of talent. The Skyline crowd saw plenty of three wide racing between the heat races, B-mains, and feature. Mike Knight took the first heat followed by RJ Conley, McGuire, and Dave Hess Jr. The second heat went to the “Titusville Terror,” Robbie Blair he was followed by Tim Dohm, Paul Wilmouth Jr. and Donnie Moran. Heat 3 was taken by Duane Chamberland in tow were Steve Shaver, Jeff wood, and Devon Friese. Carrier Jr. beat Mike Balzano, Andy Bond, and Rick Auckland in Heat race 4. The 17h of Jared Hawkins and the 71 of Rod Conley transferred through B-main #1. The second B-main was won by Tyler Carpenter also transferring was Larry Bond. The feature was something to see especially the last 15 or so laps. Carrier exchanged the lead with Shaver for the first few laps but starting around lap 40 “The Salt Rock Express” got some serious competition through Josh McGuire. Every two laps the two switched positions in the end the hard charging Rob Blair snuck under Carrier and took 2nd, McGuire won, Carrier 3rd, Chamberland 4th and Hess Jr. rounded out the top five IRS lates.

The series took its first trip to Hartford, Ohio’s Sharon Speedway owned by the legendary Blaney family. This facility is wonderful and rivals any sports stadiums. The stands are perfect and mostly dirt free, a great place to wrap up Rapid Refund Week. Early showers indicated the possibility of not racing but Mother Nature held out and the racing was fantastic throughout the night. A WoO rain-out allowed for Chub Frank and Josh Richards to make their bid for the 5 grand on their way home. It almost worked out for Kid Rocket as he was fast all night and was running up front challenging for the lead. In one of those “hero or zero” moments it was all over for Josh and looking grim for Rob Blair who took the worst of it all considering he was points racing. Blair managed to stay on the track but had to fight just to get back to 13th, pretty crappy situation for the Won11 team. Running out front was Doug Horton who held on until just four laps to go when Donnie Moran came charging to the win.

The heats provided some big passes and entertaining moments despite the fact that all that entered would transfer. Taking the first was Rick Auckland chased by Rob Blair and Dave Hess Jr. Kid Rocket showed the way to Ron Delano and Doug Horton in heat 2. Heat 3 got scooped up by the “Hawk” Jared Hawkins, Brent Rhebergen and Russ King followed. “Hollywood,” Mike Knight checked out on George “the General” Lee and Ryan Markham. ChubZilla and Tony Lombardi transferred through the only B-main. In the dash it was Rob Blair with Doug Horton and George Lee following.

Donnie Moran took the win and took the title for the first ever Grover Racing Engines Rapid Refund Week. He beat Tim Dohm by a margin of 9 points showing how close the battle was as Dohm held the lead going into Sharon. The teams kept it interesting and kept fans entertained, good planning helped the 5 races move smoothly. I have to give it up to Dean and the IRS crew combined with Grover Racing Engines. Promoter’s have to thinks outside the box for many reasons; to keep the seats full, to keep the fans happy and to provide an entertaining show with cars of a high caliber. In a season where most teams haven’t committed to any sanctioning bodies Dean found a way to encourage teams to come out and run 5 races with an up and coming series for a little extra cash without making a huge commitment. The IRS is in their 2nd year of existence and if they continue to be creative and raise the point’s contingency fund yearly we may be looking at a series that may one day rival the Outlaws or Lucas Oil Lates.