Lincoln County Sheriff Tim Daugherty and his wife Belinda joined other guests at East Lincoln Speedway on Saturday to take in the racing action after a week off. Also on hand were Gary Nelson and his family. Nelson, known as a great innovator in NASCAR, was the crew chief for Bobby Allison’s 1983 championship team.

“The greatest racing is anywhere people really want to race,” said Nelson. “I had a good time as a crew chief. I remember when Ray Evernham’s T-Rex was unloaded at Charlotte. It dominated, and definitely got our attention.”

The evening’s feature racing began with the 95A of Alex Depietro grabbing the inside line and the lead in the Stock Fours 15-lapper. He was followed by the 1c of Wayne Curtis. The caution came out with four laps down as Cherie Stowe hit the wall along the front stretch. Depietro restarted first with Lee Oiler in second and Logan Sparks third, after Curtis took his car pitside. More cautions came out after laps 8 and 10 and after the 23 car of Calen Holden caught fire along the front stretch. With two laps to go Depietro restarted first with Oiler in second. David Lucas took over the third position followed closely by Jeff Crump and Hank Kiefer in fifth. Depietro, of Dallas, held on to get his first-ever win at East Lincoln Speedway.

“That was a long race. I want to thank Adam and Tom Vandiver for their help,” said Depietro in victory lane.

Seven cars took to the track for the evening’s Mini Sprint feature. Repeat winner Terri Peters went back to work running first followed by the 12a of Todd Hagar and the 7 of Robert Clements. A battle ensued for the second position with Clements taking over the spot on lap five. Peters started working lap traffic on lap six and maintained the lead to the checkered flag. Clements took second with Hagar in third, the 12 of Darren Hasty in fourth and the 11B of George Blaney in fifth.

“I want to thank Steve McElroy and all the fans. And we’re 100% legal,” said Peters whose car passed inspection after a failure to do so two weeks ago.

The Open Wheel Modifieds had 12 cars signed in for the night. Kyle Strickler of Mooresville started on the front row with Everette Dunlap. The 4 car took the lead after a short challenge from the 50. Dunlap and Greg Brown made slight contact and Dunlap moved into the second position by lap four. He was followed by Nick Stroupe and Tim Sigmon. After a caution on lap 6 a great side-by-side battle for third ensued between Stroup and Sigmon. By mid-way a couple of a front-stretch tangles on restarts took several cars to the pits. Strickler held the lead with Brown second. Stroupe followed in third and Manuel Johnson in fourth. Strickler took the checkered flag for a very special win for his team owner George Eisenhower.

“This is George’s 50^th win. It means a lot to me,” said Strickler. “Anything can happen on restarts but we’ve been running real good this year.  I’ve got an amazing group that helps us out here.”

The Super Stock Fours feature started and ended in a moment for Brad Williams, winner from two weeks ago. Williams, starting on the outside and Jason Sitterly, on the inside, made contact off the top of turn two. The 15 car of Williams went into the wall and Sitterly was sent to the back of the field. On the restart, Gary ‘Pechi’ Fioramanti and his ‘Party Wagon’ jumped to the lead. He was followed by the 1 h of Jennings Herman and 7 of Brian Nuhfer. By lap seven a hard-charging Nuhfer made the pass on Herman down the backstretch to take over the second position. A battle for third ensued between Herman and Sitterly. Sitterly, who had made his way to through field, took over third as Herman dropped back and the 007 of Randy Powell moved into fourth.  Pechi stayed in command and the crowd cheered as he took the 2p and ‘the girls’ to victory lane.

“It’s good to get my first win of the season. I want to thank Race City Steel in Denver,” said Fioramanti.

The 20-lap Limited Sportsman feature had two-time winner Brandon White of Stanley again on the front row with Dallas’ Lynn Mercer. Mercer made several attempts to get to the front but the 28 car stayed in command. The next three spots saw swaps occurring between the cars of Chris Smith, Ronnie White and Jeff Graves. The caution came out on lap 12 as the 52 car of Chris Stowe slowed down the backstretch.  On the restart, Mercer again made an attempt to get to the front taking the inside line but to no avail.  Several more cautions ended the race on a green-white together. Brandon White captured his third win in a row and again treated the crowd to a burn-out on the front stretch. Mercer was second with Ronnie White third, Chris Smith fourth and Jeff Graves fifth.

“That was a good race between me and Mercer,” said White as Lincoln County Sheriff Tim Daugherty presented him his trophy in victory lane.

The Renegades feature started with Alexis’ Jamie Major making the charge to the lead from the onset. Aaron Webb, two-time winner in 2010 settled into the second spot with Mark Woody following in third. Major led six laps when his 8 car suddenly had a problem and slowed down off turn four. He went pitside and on the restart Webb moved into the lead with Woody in second and Adam Vandiver in third. The caution came out when the 01 of Tyler Hyatt climbed the wall briefly along the front stretch. Woody, who was having a strong run, encountered problems after the restart as smoke and oil poured out of his car down the front stretch. Webb kept the lead for the final six laps and Steve Newsome moved up to the second spot. Webb took the checkered for his third win in a row. Newsome was second with Adam Vandiver in third, Brian Toler in fourth and Anthony (Cooter) Tucker in fifth.

“It was a long rough night last night. We got up early to repair the car,” said Webb, who had received extensive damage in a crash the night before at Carolina Speedway.  “I want to thank everyone at D & M automotive for working to get the car ready.”