VONDOHREN, KRESSLEY AND SCHUTZ EARN NASCAR TITLES AT GRANDVIEW SPEEDWAY (Bruce Thomas photo)

Bechtelsville, PA November 21, 2015 . . . Veteran stock car racers Craig VonDohren and Chuck Schutz along with Brett Kressley were honored as the 2015 NASCAR champions on Saturday night at the 53^rd Anniversary Grandview Speedway Awards Banquet which took place at the Gilbertsville, PA Fire Co. Social Hall. Jeff Strunk topped the American Racer Cup standings for the Modifieds while Kenny Gilmore, Fleetwood, earned the American Racer Cup with the Sportsman.  A large turnout of racers, team members, fans, family members, media and more were on hand.

                A new award came from NASCAR with the announcement that young Kyle Lilick, Collegeville, Pa, had earned the University of Northwestern Ohio (UNOH) Youth Achievement Award. This honor included a cash award and UNOH Scholarship.

                For VonDohren, who calls Oley, PA home, the 2015 NASCAR T.P.Trailers 358 Modified championship was his eighth time as the titleholder while Chuck Schutz (Pottstown) earned his 7^th BRC NASCAR Late Model title. For Brett Kressley (Orefield) the Sportsman championship was his first at the Rogers family owned auto racing facility.

                Wheeling the K.L.Harring Transportation sponsored entry VonDohren had what could be considered a dream season as in addition to the championship worth well over $10,000 in point fund money from Grandview and NASCAR, he was able to win $10,000 for his victory in the Forrest Rogers Memorial presented by Pioneer Pole Buildings and $25,000 for topping the field in the Freedom 76 Modified Classic. VonDohren had 5294 points while second place went to another Oley resident Duane Howard, a five time track champion, who had four feature wins and tallied 4952 points. Ten time track champion Jeff Strunk, Pottstown, settled for third with 4763 counters and two wins.

                 Chuck Schutz received cash and awards for his first place finish in the BRC NASCAR Late Model point standings for the seventh time. He was able to amass 4427 points and four feature wins with his Pioneer Pole Buildings #1 topping Wayne Pfeil, Mohnton, who had 4116 points and two feature wins in the Saturday night NASCAR racing action. Sean Merkel, Boyertown, finished just two points behind Pfeil with 4114 counters and one feature win.

                The Sportsman title battle had Brett Kressley, driving his own entry, finishing on top with 4023 points and four main event wins. Second spot was taken by Craig Whitmoyer, Hamburg, with 3698 points followed by Jordan Henn, Kutztown, who had 3596 tallies.

                NASCAR had beautiful awards for the top three finishers in each division.

                Official track photographer Chris Budihas continued a tradition started by the late Don Marks by presenting large color photographs to the top three finishers in each NASCAR division.

                Awards went to the top 20 drivers and top ten car owners in each division. Point fund money was paid by the Rogers family and NASCAR to the top ten drivers and top five car owners in each division of racing.

                T.P.Trailers of Limerick added to the festive evening by announcing that they would again be a major sponsor at Grandview paying cash awards to the feature winners each Saturday night. The NASCAR 358 Modifieds will carry the T.P. Trailers name. The Perkins family, operators of T.P. Trailers, were honored with a special supporter award.

                In addition supporter awards went to Pioneer Pole Buildings, Liberty Fire Co. and Bashore Trucking.

                In the T.P.Trailers Modified division Rookie of the Year honors went to Jared Umbenhauer while the Most Improved Driver was Tim Buckwalter who went from 17^th in the 2014 points to 10^th this year. Best Appearing Car owners were earned by Danny Erb. Kyle Borror took the Hard Luck Award.

                Young Kyle Lilick was named Rookie of the Year in the Sportsman division while Brad Arnold earned the Outstanding Newcomer honors. Brett Gilmore is the Most Improved Driver and went from 16^th in points in 2014 to 5^th this season and had a feature win. Kenny Gilmore was named the Hard Luck Driver as he missed out on a second place finish in the point standings when his engine let go just two races from the finish of the season. Jordan Henn earned the Best Appearing Car Award. 

                The BRC Late Model division has Shawn Horning as the Rookie of the Year while Dave Ogin took home the Most Improved Driver having finished 10^th in points and winning 2 feature races. Dan Green had the Best Appearing Car. Steve Gross took the Hard Luck Award having returned to racing after being away for several seasons.

                Track announcer Jeff Ahlum welcomed a number of media to the banquet and thanked them for their support.

                It was also announced that the 2016 racing season would kick off with the traditional free-to-the-public practice session on Saturday, March 26^th and that practice is open to all divisions of competition.

                Fans and racers are reminded that they can stay informed on 2016 plans for racing at Grandview by visiting www.grandviewspeedway.com or their Facebook and Twitter sites. The track phone number is 610.754.7688.