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By STEVE BARRICK
Shannon Slaughter, a 22 year-old Sportsman racer at Grandview Speedway became the first female feature winner in race track history Saturday night when she led the 25-lap Sportsman feature from start to finish.
To do it, she had to hold off a determined effort on the part of Addison Meitzler, who had won two Sportsman features earlier this year at Grandview, and survive a late race single file restart to prevail.
She became Grandview’s seventh different 2025 Sportsman feature winner and fourth first-time career winner this season.
“I saw the nose of the 712 (Meitzler) after the last restart. I knew that for the rest of the race I had to run as hard as I possibly could and still hit my marks. The last restart being single file helped me a little bit,” she said, adding, “He bumped me a couple of times before the green came out.”
Slaughter had one third place finish at Grandview in 2024 when she was driving a Sportsman for the Gilmore family. She wasn’t able to start the Sportsman season on time this year owing to the eleventh hour necessity to put a team together on their own after the Gilmore arrangement fell through.
“We picked this car up from a team in upstate New York owned by Ed Hilton. Brought it back, went over the whole thing, got it ready for Grandview, and here we are,” Shannon said.
The car was purchased race ready. The first start with the car for Slaughter, who lives in Lititz, PA, was last month at BAPS Motor Speedway.
The win came in her first feature race start of 2025 at Grandview. The first three weeks of the season she had not qualified for the features due in part of being handicapped last for those races.
“Got the three weeks over with and was able to start up front for the first time tonight,” Shannon remarked.
The first inkling that this was to be a special night manifested itself in her heat race.
“I started second, and got the win. I knew from that I had something, but could never have imagined I would have been the winner of the feature, amazing, really,” she smiled.
Though Shannon’s laps seemed to be remarkably consistent and error free, she revealed that wasn’t the case.
“I had a few laps where I was yelling at myself inside my helmet. The last restart I knew I had to put it was all out there, and I hit my marks, made no mistakes, and here we are. What really was a big help was not having to have to deal with much lapped traffic,” the race winner shared.
“My season goal was to get a win at Grandview. Absolutely thrilled to have done it,” Shannon said.
“We may now do a little traveling but honestly I really like it here a lot, stout competition, running against full fields of cars, all of which are capable of winning. I’m comfortable with the Sportsman, not that I wouldn’t consider any opportunity to move up.”
Though still relatively inexperienced with Dirt Sportsman racing, her racing roots run deep.
“My father, mother, brother who currently races Micros, my aunts, uncles, cousins, all of them have raced something at one time or another. The best part of my win tonight is that we had family up from Virginia this weekend and they were here tonight to see me win,” she shared. “They had never seen me race before.”
Her prior racing efforts have included time spent in Go-Karts, and 270 and 600 Micros. She is a full time college student at Harrisburg Area Community College, studying to become a dental hygenist. She will graduate next May.
Shannon said she had been made aware of the fact that there had never been a female feature winner at Grandview before tonight.
“Very happy to have been the first. It’s a great accomplishment for girls and for racing in general,” she said.
For his part, runnerup Meitzler came very close to denying Slaughter her win.
“I did everything I could do and still race clean. I could probably have tried something aggressive and gotten the win, drive over the curb, but that’s not how I race. So a little disappointed about finishing second, even though we started pretty far back. Three-quarters of the guys I race against would probably have just driven her over the cushion,” said Meitzler.
“I was rolling the bottom. The top was dominant and that’s where she was. Was hard to hit the bottom right and carry the speed you needed to pass somebody running on the outside. With three to go, I did get almost side by side with her, was thinking how I might be able to pull off a slider, but didn’t.”
Meitzler had two Sportsman features at Grandview earlier this year. “The way the class is, it doesn’t pay much unless you win features,” he said.
Shannon Slaughter, a 22 year-old Sportsman racer at Grandview Speedway became the first female feature winner in race track history Saturday night when she led the 25-lap Sportsman feature from start to finish.
To do it, she had to hold off a determined effort on the part of Addison Meitzler, who had won two Sportsman features earlier this year at Grandview, and survive a late race single file restart to prevail.
She became Grandview’s seventh different 2025 Sportsman feature winner and fourth first-time career winner this season.
“I saw the nose of the 712 (Meitzler) after the last restart. I knew that for the rest of the race I had to run as hard as I possibly could and still hit my marks. The last restart being single file helped me a little bit,” she said, adding, “He bumped me a couple of times before the green came out.”
Slaughter had one third place finish at Grandview in 2024 when she was driving a Sportsman for the Gilmore family. She wasn’t able to start the Sportsman season on time this year owing to the eleventh hour necessity to put a team together on their own after the Gilmore arrangement fell through.
“We picked this car up from a team in upstate New York owned by Ed Hilton. Brought it back, went over the whole thing, got it ready for Grandview, and here we are,” Shannon said.
The car was purchased race ready. The first start with the car for Slaughter, who lives in Lititz, PA, was last month at BAPS Motor Speedway.
The win came in her first feature race start of 2025 at Grandview. The first three weeks of the season she had not qualified for the features due in part of being handicapped last for those races.
“Got the three weeks over with and was able to start up front for the first time tonight,” Shannon remarked.
The first inkling that this was to be a special night manifested itself in her heat race.
“I started second, and got the win. I knew from that I had something, but could never have imagined I would have been the winner of the feature, amazing, really,” she smiled.
Though Shannon’s laps seemed to be remarkably consistent and error free, she revealed that wasn’t the case.
“I had a few laps where I was yelling at myself inside my helmet. The last restart I knew I had to put it was all out there, and I hit my marks, made no mistakes, and here we are. What really was a big help was not having to have to deal with much lapped traffic,” the race winner shared.
“My season goal was to get a win at Grandview. Absolutely thrilled to have done it,” Shannon said.
“We may now do a little traveling but honestly I really like it here a lot, stout competition, running against full fields of cars, all of which are capable of winning. I’m comfortable with the Sportsman, not that I wouldn’t consider any opportunity to move up.”
Though still relatively inexperienced with Dirt Sportsman racing, her racing roots run deep.
“My father, mother, brother who currently races Micros, my aunts, uncles, cousins, all of them have raced something at one time or another. The best part of my win tonight is that we had family up from Virginia this weekend and they were here tonight to see me win,” she shared. “They had never seen me race before.”
Her prior racing efforts have included time spent in Go-Karts, and 270 and 600 Micros. She is a full time college student at Harrisburg Area Community College, studying to become a dental hygenist. She will graduate next May.
Shannon said she had been made aware of the fact that there had never been a female feature winner at Grandview before tonight.
“Very happy to have been the first. It’s a great accomplishment for girls and for racing in general,” she said.
For his part, runnerup Meitzler came very close to denying Slaughter her win.
“I did everything I could do and still race clean. I could probably have tried something aggressive and gotten the win, drive over the curb, but that’s not how I race. So a little disappointed about finishing second, even though we started pretty far back. Three-quarters of the guys I race against would probably have just driven her over the cushion,” said Meitzler.
“I was rolling the bottom. The top was dominant and that’s where she was. Was hard to hit the bottom right and carry the speed you needed to pass somebody running on the outside. With three to go, I did get almost side by side with her, was thinking how I might be able to pull off a slider, but didn’t.”
Meitzler had two Sportsman features at Grandview earlier this year. “The way the class is, it doesn’t pay much unless you win features,” he said.
