FORESTVILLE - Ray Swinehart didn't have time to reflect upon the history he was making Friday night at Big Diamond Speedway.
Instead, while Swinehart was rising another notch on the Forestville's track feature victory list, he was preoccupied with trying to keep Rick Laubach behind him.
"Laubach's fast here. It's tough to keep him behind you, so we held on," Swinehart said after winning Friday's 32-lap 358 modified feature, his 22nd career win at Big Diamond.
The victory breaks Swinehart's eighth-place tie with Roy Weist and now ties the Perkiomenville driver with National Sprint Car Hall of Fame driver Fred Rahmer.
"If we would have stuck around in these modifieds, he would be way ahead of me, I'm sure," Swinehart said. "He's a hell of a driver, so it just feels really good to tie Fred Rahmer."
Swinehart was joined in victory lane by a pair of winners in 25-lap features.
Chris Holland claimed his fourth victory within the last month in the roadrunner division, while fellow Pine Grove driver Wayne Witmer notched his first career victory in the sportsman feature.
Like Witmer, Swinehart led every lap of his feature, which needed 20 minutes just to complete three laps. In that time, the race was slowed by two yellow flags and then stopped for a seven-car melee in the first turn, where the cars of Duane Howard and Dale Hartz were locked together.
In the meantime, the car of points leader Billy Pauch Jr. broke after two green-flag laps to end his night early.
More caution flags followed, but Swinehart led the way off each restart as Laubach, who started eighth, had moved to the second spot by the fourth lap and chased Swinehart over the remaining distance. That included the final eight non-stop laps, during which Swinehart's car once jumped over the cushion and still held the lead.
"The track had a few ruts in it. Nothing real bad, but our car wasn't liking it," Swinehart said. "I didn't think I could hold the 91 off real good here, but I guess we did."
Frank Cozze placed third ahead of Howard, who charged from the rear after the fourth-lap red flag. Kyle Follweiler. Jared Umbenhauer, Meme DeSantis, Kevin Smith, Scott Albert and Tim Buckwalter completed the top 10.
Laubach scored his track-leading seventh heat victory of the season and was joined with qualifying wins by Cozze and Smith,
Meanwhile, Witmer was nearly in tears in victory lane after earning his first sportsman win in his five-year career.
The 41-year-old driver endured a close race with both Doug Hendricks and Craig Whitmoyer through most of the 25-lap event. Witmer won a two-lap dash to the checkered flag and edged Hendricks by .627 seconds at the end.
"Man, those guys raced me clean, You beat those guys, you beat the best," Witmer said. "Man, I wish it was a shorter race, but we got there. I am so pumped."
J.R. Fulper passed Whitmoyer for third place on the final lap and Tim Fitzpatrick completed the top five.
Witmer, Clay Butler and Shawn Light each won heat races among the sportsmen.
Holland edged Jeremy Becker by inches at the checkered flag in the roadrunner feature after the two cars appeared to lean on each other coming off the fourth corner of the final lap.
"Rubbing's racing. I just tried to hold my line and he tried to hold his," Holland said. "He could have took me out if he probably wanted to, but he held onto it."
Joey Brennan led the first 18 laps, but when John Whyne's No. 86 overheated and brought out the caution flag, Holland took advantage of the restart when Brennan chose the inside lane.
"He was fast both times when I started with him," Holland said of the restarts. "The last restart we had, the car stuck and I was able to go right around him."
Brennan finished third ahead of Tom Hablett and Jared Seigfried.
T.J. Fitzpatrick and Becker won heat races.
In the 20-lap mechanics' races which capped the night, Holland's father, Kevin, put the No. 8C into victory lane for the second time Friday night in the roadrunner feature.
Roadrunner driver Glenn "Buckshot" Rowan drove Shawn Fitzpatrick's car to victory in the 358 modified race.
The event included a wild crash by Andrew Geist, whose No. 57 went straight up the first-turn hill, struck the right side of the pit lane wall at high speed and then stopped suddenly when it hit a tractor tire anchored into the first-turn bank. He was unhurt.
In his first time in a race car, Jacob Fox drove off to win the sportsman mechanics' race.
Big Diamond will host a program of 358 modifieds, sportsmen, roadrunners and American Racing Drivers Club midgets at 8:15 p.m. next Friday.
The program will include fireworks.
Big Diamond Speedway
Friday's results
358 modifieds (32 laps) - 1. Ray Swinehart ($3,200), 2. Rick Laubach, 3. Frank Cozze, 4. Duane Howard, 5. Kyle Follweiler, 6. Jared Umbenhauer, 7. Meme DeSantis, 8. Kevin Smith, 9. Scott Albert, 10. Tim Buckwalter, 11. Mike Mammana, 12. Dan Hineline, 13. Jimmy Bobbitt Jr., 14. Heath Metzger, 15. Colt Harris, 16. Dale Hartz, 17. Kevin Albert Jr., 18. Shawn Fitzpatrick, 19. John Willman, 20. Billy Pauch Jr., 21. Ron Haring Jr., 22. Joe Mooney, 23. Lou Cicconi. DNS - Glenn Rowan.
Sportsmen (25 laps) - 1. Wayne Witmer ($1,000), 2. Doug Hendricks, 3. J.R. Fulper, 4. Craig Whitmoyer, 5. Tim Fitzpatrick, 6. Kevin Beach Jr., 7. Mike Lisowski, 8. Billy Moyer Jr., 9. Mike Glass, 10. Jason James, 11. Charles Fayash III, 12. Charles Webber, 13. Josh Hertzog, 14. Shawn Light, 15. Todd Huffman, 16. Rob Riegel, 17. Chris Hertzog, 18. Clay Butler, 19. Marc Berzowski, 20. Mark Behm, 21. Harry Landis, 22. A.J. Gerhart.
Roadrunners (25 laps) - 1. Chris Holland, 2. Jeremy Becker, 3. Joey Brennan, 4. Tom Hablett, 5. Jared Seigfried, 6. Kris Ney, 7. T.J. Fitzpatrick, 8. Devin Trexler, 9. Jesse Krasnitsky, 10. Terry Kramer Jr., 11. John Whyne, 12. Jon Schlauch, 13. Randy Fayash, 14. Tim Fitzpatrick Jr., 15. Jim Kost, 16. Bruce Ditzler, 17. Shon Elk.
Mechanics' Races
Roadrunners - 1. Kevin Holland; 358 modifieds - 1. Glenn Rowan; Sportsmen - 1. Jacob Fox.