May 25th @ 2:03 PM: Dave Stine Memorial Chutes Out Weekend Recap – The racing community has always been known as a group that sticks together. Whether it’s crew members, fans, racers, or employees of the track; the racing community is a family. This past weekend, Maple Grove and the northeast drag racing family came together to celebrate the life of one of their own with the first annual Dave Stine memorial race. This special celebration of life featured a large guaranteed purse with Super Comp paying out $10,000 dollars to the winner. Super Gas and Super Street also capped out at $5,000 dollars going to each winner. The weekend also featured the always exciting Top Sportsman and Top Dragster classes.
Racing kicked off Saturday morning under warm and sunny skies as the pits filled up with many of the best northeast sportsman racers. Saturday’s racing action kicked off with an emotional moment of silence honoring the life of Dave Stine. This was followed by Dave’s truck and motorcycle being driven down the track with wife, leading lady Kara Stine, on the back. The truck was driven by members of Dave’s family and his parents were given the honor of flipping the switch to send the pair off.
Due to rain and a large cleanup from an accident late Saturday, the finals for the main event were moved to Sunday morning. In Super Street, Dave Markle defeated multi-time national and divisional winner, Keith Mayers, in the final. Super Gas saw Paul Laino defeated sportsman legend Jason Kenny in the final. In the Top Sportsman and Top Dragster classes, it was a father and son duo standing in victory lane when father, Dave Miller and son, Brandon Miller took home the win over Mike Newman and Mark Kelley. Brandon has been red hot this season as he scored his first career national event win earlier this year in Top Sportsman at the Gator Nationals. Finishing off Saturday’s race was one of the most emotional final rounds in Maple Grove Raceway history. Legend Tom Stalba picked up the $10,000 dollar win in Super Comp over Dave Markle. A emotional Stalba spun his dragster around in the shutdown area to do his version of a polish victory lap up the track, bringing the dragster back to the starting line to celebrate his win with friends and family of Dave Stine. This emotional win will go down as an incredible moment in Maple Grove Raceway history.
Sunday’s race opened with beautiful sunny skies and still over 200 racers packing the pits. In Super Street, former Jr. Dragster alumni, Chris Depascale picked up the win over Thomas Miller. Super Gas it was all about legend Iggie Boicesco taking the win over double RR, Ron Ross. Super Comp saw the return of hometown hero, Lee Ream, in victory lane when he defeated Don Milano in the final. Top Sportsman saw Jeff Taylor from Arizona pick up a emotional win over Michael Newman, who made it to the final both days. This win for Taylor was the first since the passing of his beloved mother. Top Dragster saw Ron Andres defeat Val DiGenova in the final. Congrats to all the winners this past weekend!
The month of May ends with one of the more popular events on the schedule, the 50th anniversary of the Lucas Oil points race, featuring the famed Showdown at Sundown on Saturday night with action from all best sportsman racers in the country. Plus, wild exhibition passes by Dawn Perdue in the Wicked Sensation and Ernie Bouge in The Beast From The East Jet Dragsters as they light up the night sky. Fun family entertainment to kick off your summer. This is one event you don’t wanna miss BE THERE!!!!
All written recap credit goes to Billy Kleinspehn.
