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By JACK O’CONNOR
At Sharon Speedway’s Lou Blaney Memorial this past Saturday, Dale Blaney was looking to recreate the magic his brother Dave had last year, and as the laps wound down, he was giving local fans that glimmer of hope.
The Hartford, OH driver started the 35-lap feature in fourth, but instantly fell back a spot to fifth and seemed to be stalled in that position for the opening 12 laps. However, armed with a fast car and the motivation to win for his dad, Blaney, who won the event in 2019, began to march to the front by floating through the middle of the 3/8-mile facility while others around him either hugged the infield or pounded the boards up top.
This approach eventually propelled Blaney into the third spot and he began to mix it up with the top two cars of Cale Thomas and Nate Dussel while attempting to slice his way through slower traffic. But behind him, Danny Dietrich was approaching rapidly up top and when the lead trio moved off the outside of the speedway, it left Dietrich a clear path to wind up a run and go by all three within two laps to drive off to the win.
Blaney then got around Thomas for the runner-up spot in turns three and four with nine laps to go and with the hometown crowd cheering him on, he looked to be closing in on Dietrich ever so slightly once he got some clean air on the nose of his No. 10. Unfortunately for Blaney, it wasn’t enough and he had to settle for second.
“I felt like my car was a little better than me,” Blaney said. “This was my fourth race all year, and being 61, that’s not a great recipe for winning a big race with as good of guys that are here. Once I got to third, I felt like I was better than those two (Thomas and Dussel) in certain spots, but Danny (Dietrich) got running good up top and he wasn’t going to win unless he did what he did. That’s why he’s Danny Dietrich and that’s why he’s one of the best in PA and beyond. Being older now, running the top in both ends like that gets harder to do.”
Even if there was a late race yellow at the end to put him on Dietrich’s rear for a restart, Blaney said it still would’ve been tough to make something happen.
“The only thing I would’ve done was blast it through the middle and try to come up to his left rear,” Blaney said. “That opportunity never presented itself, and even if it did, it’s not easy to go up there and pass a driver like Danny because of how good he is. You never know what could’ve happened if we ended up in that circumstance.”
Despite falling short of winning his dad’s race, Blaney believes he would’ve been proud of the event due to the intense battle for the win and the fact that a driver who wasn’t afraid to rip the lip grabbed the checkered flag.
“He probably would’ve been yelling at me to move up the racetrack, but I think it was a good track and a good race for dad’s event,” Blaney said. “He was known as a guy who won races by pounding the top, and the guy who won tonight pounded the top.”
Blaney’s six All-Star Circuit of Champions titles, 137 All-Star victories and 12 WoO Sprint wins, including a 2000 Kings Royal triumph, earned him a spot in the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 2016.
Nowadays though, Blaney only competes at Sharon in a car owned by Dave, who drove off into the sunset after winning last year’s Memorial race. Although long removed from his golden years as a driver, Blaney has shown he can still get the job done as he has won two of Sharon’s four 410 Sprint races so far this season.
Blaney credits his brother for giving him a competitive car every time he hits the speedway. That quickness is also why he still enjoys getting behind the wheel.
“Dave’s a really smart guy, and it’s been a lot of fun working with him,” Blaney said. “Plus, now that I’m older, this track suits my driving style. “It gets slow, it gets slick and you have to use the throttle and the brake; you can’t just run in there wide open.”
At Sharon Speedway’s Lou Blaney Memorial this past Saturday, Dale Blaney was looking to recreate the magic his brother Dave had last year, and as the laps wound down, he was giving local fans that glimmer of hope.
The Hartford, OH driver started the 35-lap feature in fourth, but instantly fell back a spot to fifth and seemed to be stalled in that position for the opening 12 laps. However, armed with a fast car and the motivation to win for his dad, Blaney, who won the event in 2019, began to march to the front by floating through the middle of the 3/8-mile facility while others around him either hugged the infield or pounded the boards up top.
This approach eventually propelled Blaney into the third spot and he began to mix it up with the top two cars of Cale Thomas and Nate Dussel while attempting to slice his way through slower traffic. But behind him, Danny Dietrich was approaching rapidly up top and when the lead trio moved off the outside of the speedway, it left Dietrich a clear path to wind up a run and go by all three within two laps to drive off to the win.
Blaney then got around Thomas for the runner-up spot in turns three and four with nine laps to go and with the hometown crowd cheering him on, he looked to be closing in on Dietrich ever so slightly once he got some clean air on the nose of his No. 10. Unfortunately for Blaney, it wasn’t enough and he had to settle for second.
“I felt like my car was a little better than me,” Blaney said. “This was my fourth race all year, and being 61, that’s not a great recipe for winning a big race with as good of guys that are here. Once I got to third, I felt like I was better than those two (Thomas and Dussel) in certain spots, but Danny (Dietrich) got running good up top and he wasn’t going to win unless he did what he did. That’s why he’s Danny Dietrich and that’s why he’s one of the best in PA and beyond. Being older now, running the top in both ends like that gets harder to do.”
Even if there was a late race yellow at the end to put him on Dietrich’s rear for a restart, Blaney said it still would’ve been tough to make something happen.
“The only thing I would’ve done was blast it through the middle and try to come up to his left rear,” Blaney said. “That opportunity never presented itself, and even if it did, it’s not easy to go up there and pass a driver like Danny because of how good he is. You never know what could’ve happened if we ended up in that circumstance.”
Despite falling short of winning his dad’s race, Blaney believes he would’ve been proud of the event due to the intense battle for the win and the fact that a driver who wasn’t afraid to rip the lip grabbed the checkered flag.
“He probably would’ve been yelling at me to move up the racetrack, but I think it was a good track and a good race for dad’s event,” Blaney said. “He was known as a guy who won races by pounding the top, and the guy who won tonight pounded the top.”
Blaney’s six All-Star Circuit of Champions titles, 137 All-Star victories and 12 WoO Sprint wins, including a 2000 Kings Royal triumph, earned him a spot in the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 2016.
Nowadays though, Blaney only competes at Sharon in a car owned by Dave, who drove off into the sunset after winning last year’s Memorial race. Although long removed from his golden years as a driver, Blaney has shown he can still get the job done as he has won two of Sharon’s four 410 Sprint races so far this season.
Blaney credits his brother for giving him a competitive car every time he hits the speedway. That quickness is also why he still enjoys getting behind the wheel.
“Dave’s a really smart guy, and it’s been a lot of fun working with him,” Blaney said. “Plus, now that I’m older, this track suits my driving style. “It gets slow, it gets slick and you have to use the throttle and the brake; you can’t just run in there wide open.”
