Sixteen-year-old Zach Zimmerly claims Tribute to GP victory to open Western Speedweek and concludes with runner up at 39th Dirt Cup to earn week-long title

By Gary Thomas

Alger, Washington – June 21, 2010…Heading into the inaugural running of Western Speedweek with high hopes Vancouver, Washington’s Zach Zimmerly proceeded to put together some of the finest moments in his young sprint car career by scoring his first ever 410 Golden State Challenge Series victory to open the week and eventually capped it all off with a strong runner up finish at the 39th Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup this past Saturday.

The impressive week of action was also good enough to make Zimmerly the very first “Western Speedweek-Road to Dirt Cup” champion, in what is his sophomore season of sprint car racing behind the wheel of the McMillen Motorsports, Christian Stover Foundation, Level One Concrete No. 94 mount.

The long and grueling week began on Friday night June 11 with the 27th annual Tribute to Gary Patterson at the Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, California. After qualifying fourth quick to begin the night in the stout 33-car field, Zimmerly lined up sixth in the 30-lap main event and ran around that spot the first few laps, before making an entertaining charge through the pack by moving into fifth on lap seven and then fourth on lap 12.

A couple circuits later he was able to get by Mason Moore for third and then set his sights on front runners Sean Becker and Brent Kaeding. With just under 10-laps remaining in the feature Zimmerly then charged by Becker for second and on lap 22 the 16-year-old would carve his way by Kaeding to take command as the crowd came to their feet. After that it was all about “Super Z” up front as he drove away from the field and crossed under the checkered to become the youngest winner in Golden State Challenge Series history at 16-years and one-month old.

“This is a pretty awesome feeling and to be able to pass a guy like Brent Kaeding to win my first GSC race is really cool,” he said after the race. “I need to thank my whole family and team, Duke & Scott McMillen, all our sponsors, Jonathan Allard and everyone that supports us. I also want to dedicate this win to the memory of Christian Stover.”

Western Speedweek then moved to the Southern Oregon Speedway in Medford, Oregon on Saturday June 12 and Cottage Grove Speedway on Monday June 14, where Zimmerly scored finishes of 10th and ninth respectively at the two tracks.

A rainout was then seen on Tuesday June 15 in Lebanon, Oregon as it then set the stage for the prestigious 39th running of the three-night Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup, which kicked off on Thursday June 17 at the Skagit Speedway in Alger, Washington. Zimmerly opened the big event on Thursday by running second in his heat race and then started from the third row in the 30-lap prelim main event. At the waving of the green flag he moved forward quickly and was able to tally a runner up finish to Shane Stewart at the conclusion of the feature.

Coming back for the second prelim night on Friday Zimmerly drew a late number for qualifying, going out 41st of 44 cars, but even despite a drying track was able to cut the third fastest lap of the session aboard the Miller&Zimmerly Holdings, Fire Down Graphics, Douglas Wheel Technologies No. 94 A.R.T. A third place finish in his heat race then transferred him into the main event where he lined up from the 14th starting position in the 15-car inverted field. A rough and tumble start to the feature was seen, but once the racing got into a flow Zimmerly followed Jonathan Allard through the pack as the pair blew to the front.

Picking off cars one after another just around the halfway point Allard and Zimmerly soon found themselves sitting one-two in the order and with the laps winding down the youngster tried to make something happen with his mentor, but had to settle for a runner up finish for the second night in a row as “JA” crossed the checkered flag in first. Following the race points were tabulated from the first two nights and going into Saturday’s finale Zimmerly sat atop the Dirt Cup standings by eight-digits over Shane Stewart and it was good enough to place him on the pole of the A-scramble. It also gave Zimmerly the honor of being the youngest driver to ever lead the Dirt Cup standings going into the final night.

With a packed house on hand at Skagit Speedway for the finale of the 39th Dirt Cup Zimmerly began the night by claiming third in the scramble, after losing a spot to Allard on the opening lap, which put him in the second row for the $25,000-to-win/40-lap main event. When the green lights flashed on the Vancouver, Washington driver settled into third and looked to make his move once traffic came into play as Allard set a very fast pace out front. With the leaders fighting through the thick pack of lappers Zimmerly made the move to slice by Stewart just prior to a caution period on lap 15. Once in second he came hard after Allard and took a peak for the lead at one point when lapped traffic appeared again.

Trying hard to find a way by for the top-spot things changed on lap 23 when a slower car blocked Zimmerly up high and allowed Stewart the inside line to steal the second position back. Just after that happened, Allard then tangled with a lapped car and spun to a stop in turn one to bring on the caution lights once again. Finding himself in second for the restart Zimmerly ran comfortably in position on the lightning fast Skagit clay, but when the slower cars came into play again it gave him another chance to close in and attempt to make something happen with the defending ASCS National champion. As the teenage powerhouse tried to move in on Stewart’s rear bumper another caution would then appear and slow the charge.

With Zimmerly being down a cylinder since around halfway Stewart had an apparent horsepower advantage, as he was able to charge away on the restarts and without traffic the rest of the way it forced the 16-year-old to settle for a runner up finish for the third consecutive night. “We had a really good car and were real quick, but being on seven cylinders hurt us with how fast the track was and I was certainly hoping more traffic,” said Zimmerly. “Shane was definitely fast in the clean air though and did a great job so I have to congratulate him. It was unfortunate what happened to Jonathan because he was really good too and would have been tough to beat.”

The extremely consistent weekend at the Dirt Cup also wrapped up the 2010 Western Speedweek championship for Zimmerly and the No. 94 team. “The whole week was a lot of fun and to be the Western Speedweek champ is pretty awesome,” he commented. “We definitely would have liked to win the Dirt Cup since we were in position to do so, but getting three second place finishes in a row isn’t bad at all so we can’t be too disappointed with how things went, because it was a great week for the whole team overall."

Main event winner Stewart was also very humble afterwards giving Zimmerly a big hug, shaking the hands of team members and also said following the race, "I can't thank Zach enough for racing us clean. He's the future of our sport and is a great competitor and a great young man with a good family and a strong team behind him. Hopefully he stays around in sprint cars for a while and doesn't make that jump to NASCAR or something like that.”

Zimmerly is also looking for additional sponsors to help support his racing endeavors and for anyone that would like to get on board please contact Zach at zachzimmerlyracing94@gmail.com

 

 

Zach Zimmerly scores 2nd career GSC podium Friday in Petaluma while blown tire puts a stop to another podium finish Sunday night at Calistoga

By Gary Thomas

Petaluma, CA – May 31, 2010…Heading for a big triple-header Memorial Day Weekend of racing Vancouver, Washington’s Zach Zimmerly kicked it off this past Friday evening at the Petaluma Speedway and charged to his second ever podium finish with the Golden State Challenge 410 Sprint Car Series in the main event.

For Zimmerly it was a bit of redemption at the sticky 3/8 mile clay oval after having a top-five run cut short at the track in April and also marked the second best GSC finish of his career, following a runner-up effort earlier in the month at Santa Maria.

“We always seem to be fast here at Petaluma and it feels real good to get a top-three finish tonight,” said Zimmerly, who won a California Sprint Car Civil War 360 Series event at the Petaluma Speedway last September. “We had a great race with Evan Suggs and Jonathan Allard there late in the main event and it was really fun to race in traffic like that. I want to thank Duke and Scott McMillen, my family, all of our sponsors and everyone that helps us out.”

Zimmerly opened the rare Friday event at the Petaluma Speedway by timing in fifth fastest overall, before scoring a fourth place finish in the opening heat race to move the Christian Stover Foundation, Level One Concrete, McMillen Motorsports No. 94 into the dash, where he would run sixth to earn a third row starting spot in the feature. When the green waved in the 30-lapper “Super-Z” moved forward early and immediately began to hound 13-time King of California Brent Kaeding for third.

A very fast and rough surface was prevalent during the night and the first 15-laps of the main event were clicked off caution free, before Bobby McMahan slowed to a stop at the halfway point. Following that four more circuits would be run until another caution period and it set up a restart where the 16-year-old driver proceeded to make his move, as he rocketed to the outside of Kaeding and charged to third off turn two.

With the laps closing down Zimmerly continued to run a higher line than most and it paid off as he closed in on the leaders with just under five tours remaining. Heavy lapped traffic had bottled up the front runners and the youngster was able to get to the inside of second place Evan Suggs at one point, but couldn’t complete the pass and crossed under the checkered flag in the third spot.

Following Petaluma Zimmerly then made the short trip to nearby Calistoga to make his debut at the famed half-mile dirt oval located on the beautiful Napa County Fairgrounds. The opener on Saturday saw fairly difficult track conditions with a very fast, rough and narrow surface, but the Washington driver showed no intimidation early on as he picked up a dominating heat race victory and then tallied a seventh place finish in the feature at the helm of the Douglas Wheel Technologies, Butler Built Performance, Fire-Down Graphics A.R.T. sprinter.

Coming back on Sunday with a night of racing under his belt at the track Zimmerly looked very strong right from the get-go as he qualified fourth quick, ran second in his heat race to Tim Kaeding and then started from the fourth row in the 25-lap main event. Fighting his way forward he positioned himself into fifth with 17-laps down and then moved to fourth when contact between Jonathan Allard & Kyle Larson resulted in Larson coming to a stop. On the restart Zimmerly looked to the bottom in turns one and two in an attempt to get by Allard, but the two-time King of California was able to hang on for the time being.

Continuing to apply pressure to Allard’s rear the 16-year-old flung his machine under the Chico driver multiple times trying to get by and on lap-22 he would make it happen to claim the third position. Just after taking the spot however, he would unfortunately suffer a blown left rear tire and come to a stop in turn four to bring out a caution and halt his impressive run. Zimmerly restarted at the tail of the field and would finish the final three-circuits in the ninth spot.

Zimmerly is also looking for additional sponsors to help support his racing endeavors and for anyone that would like to get on board please contact Zach at zachzimmerlyracing94@gmail.com

 

 

Fifteen-year-old Zach Zimmerly tallies career best runner-up finish with Golden State Challenge 410 Series at Santa Maria Speedway

By Gary Thomas

Santa Maria, CA – May 3, 2010…After having possible top-five runs thwarted the past couple weeks due to separate accidents 15-year-old Zach Zimmerly came back strong this past Saturday night and raced to a career best second place finish with the Golden State Challenge 410 Sprint Car Series at the Santa Maria Speedway.

The previous week in Watsonville had seen Zimmerly battle for the lead on the opening lap of the feature with 13-time King of California Brent Kaeding, until getting upside down after riding over a wheel while sitting in the fifth position.

This most recent Saturday he put that behind him and started from the front row in the main event for the first time in his GSC career, before trailing veteran Tommy Tarlton across the line and finishing just ahead of Peter Murphy to earn his first ever podium finish with the traveling 410 series. "This is pretty cool to come out here and run second tonight with GSC in my first weekend of racing at Santa Maria," Zimmerly said on the front stretch after the feature. "I want to thank my whole family, Duke and Scott McMillen, Jonathan Allard, the Christian Stover Foundation and all of our sponsors and everyone that supports this team."

The two-night Doug Fort Memorial at Santa Maria Speedway began on Friday with an Ocean Sprint Car Series presented by Taco Bravo event, where the Vancouver, Washington driver brought home a ninth place finish in the feature during what was his first 360 sprint car start of the year.

Coming back on Saturday the track surface started out extremely greasy, making it difficult for drivers to get all 850 hp down to the speedway. Coming out ninth in the qualifying order Zimmerly would cut the eighth fastest lap of the session aboard the Christian Stover Foundation, Butler Built Performance, McMillen Motorsports No. 94 A.R.T. He then started from the second row in his heat race and scored a fourth place result at the finish to move him into the dash for the fourth consecutive week.

The luck of the draw for the dash then saw Zimmerly earn a front row starting spot, which he parlayed into a second place effort that also put him on the front row for the 30-lap Golden State Challenge Series main event. When the green lights came on in the feature the youngster would settled into second aboard the Level One Concrete, Douglas Wheel Technologies, Miller&Zimmerly Holdings No. 94 mount. With traffic coming into play quickly and the track staying very wet, it made things interesting getting through the thick pack of cars. Zimmerly ran comfortably in second for much of the race and then held off a strong late-race challenge from Murphy to cross the stripe with a runner-up finish at the conclusion.

"It was a lot of fun racing through traffic tonight in the main event and early on I felt like I was a bit quicker than Tarlton, but he got through the slower cars pretty good and it never really gave us a shot," Zimmerly said. "We had Christian Stover's old 410 motor in the car tonight so it's really awesome to get up here on the front stretch with it in the car. We've been really fast all year, but have had some bad luck at times so I'm definitely happy to get a great finish and now we'll go on to Chico and see if we can get a win there."

Next up for Zimmerly and the McMillen Motorsports No. 94 team will be a double-header weekend at the famed Silver Dollar Speedway quarter-mile bullring. On Friday night it will be a regular 410 weekly point show and then on Saturday the Golden State Challenge Sprint Car Series will be in action for the 20th annual Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial.

The Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial pays tribute to fallen race car driver Dave Bradway Jr., who lost his life in a sprint car crash at Skagit Speedway's Dirt Cup in 1987. The event has become the biggest night of racing for the Golden State Challenge Series and packs extra money and goodies up for grabs all evening long. For detailed info on the big event this coming week stay tuned to http://www.goldenstatechallengeseries.com and http://www.silverdollarspeedway.com

Zimmerly is also looking for additional sponsors to help support his racing endeavors and for anyone that would like to get on board please contact Zach at zachzimmerlyracing94@gmail.com

 

Zach Zimmerly scores career best Golden State Challenge Series finish at Chris & Brian Faria Memorial in Tulare

By Gary Thomas

Tulare, CA – April 14, 2010…Returning to the Groppetti Automotive Thunderbowl Raceway for the second time this year West Linn, Oregon's Zach Zimmerly was able to help use his experience from the previous visit and raced to a seventh place finish in the feature, during what was the third round of action for the traveling Golden State Challenge 410 Sprint Car Series.

Zimmerly in early March brought home a 14th place finish in the main event on the second night of the World of Outlaws double-header at the track and the seventh place effort this past Saturday marked his career best Golden State Challenge result. "It was a nice run for us tonight and I've felt really comfortable in the car the last couple weeks," Zimmerly said. "The track was certainly tricky with how slick it got, but it was a lot of fun to race right up next to the wall and I felt we could have even finished a little higher, but we'll take a seventh."

A beautiful sunny day greeted competitors to the Tulare County Fairgrounds oval for the Chris & Brian Faria Memorial, an event put on to honor a pair of brothers', who were cousins' to track promoter Steve Faria and lost their lives in separate accidents. With the top-eight qualifiers being eligible for the dash in the GSC format it puts heavy premise on qualifying and Zimmerly proceeded to cut the eighth quickest lap of the night aboard the Mcmillen Motorsports, Christian Stover Foundation, Level One Concrete No. 94, which just beat out former King of California's Jason Statler and Brent Kaeding.

The 15-year-old then scored a third place finish in his heat race to put him in the dash for the first time this season, where he would draw the number five pill and put him alongside fellow youngster Kyle Larson. With the track getting much drier by the time the dash took to the 1/3 mile clay oval Zimmerly finessed the car to a sixth place finish in the contest to give him a third row starting spot in the main event. Following a pair of features for other classes the surface had become extremely slick when the 410's hit the speedway, which made for some challenging conditions as the place to be was right up next to the wall.

With the hard-packed surface it made for some of the best racing seen so far this season and despite catching the wall a couple of times, Zimmerly was able to harness the car back down and cross under the checkered in seventh after 30-laps of racing behind the wheel of the Miller&Zimmerly Holdings, Douglas Wheel Technologies, Fire-Down Graphics No. 94 A.R.T. "The cushion got pretty rough up there in places as the race went on so it made it tough to run smoothly, but it was good experience to race on a track like this," commented Zimmerly. "Duke and Scott Mcmillen and my guys had the car fast again and I'm getting more confident racing with the different drivers like Jonathan Allard, Kyle Larson, Brent Kaeding and everyone that races GSC, because it really is some of the best competition you can find anywhere."

Zimmerly and the Mcmillen Motorsports team will now head for two night's of racing this weekend, beginning on Friday with the opening Feather Falls Casino/Riebes Auto Parts 410 point race at the Silver Dollar Speedway quarter-mile bullring.

Then on Saturday the West Linn, Oregon driver will be in action with the Golden State Challenge Series at the Petaluma Speedway 3/8 mile clay oval. He currently ranks seventh in the GSC standings and is just 10-digits out of the top-five going into the track he won his very first sprint car race at. "I'm looking forward to going back to Petaluma this weekend," said Zimmerly, who held off the charges of four-time Civil War champ Andy Forsberg through heavy traffic to claim the victory with the Civil War 360 Series last September. "We've been really fast the last couple Saturday's and are definitely excited to head back to a track we've won at before, so hopefully we can finish even higher up in the order this week."

 

 

Young Zach Zimmerly qualifies top-10 and makes World of Outlaws feature at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with Tulare Thunderbowl on deck this weekend

By Gary Thomas

Las Vegas, Nevada – March 2, 2010…Continuing to gain experience behind the wheel of a 410 winged sprint car 15-year-old Zach Zimmerly made the trip to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway this past Friday evening and made the most of the outing by qualifying solidly and making the main event in what was his first career start on a half-mile dirt track.

The World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series sanctioned event at the Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway was Zimmerly's first start of the year with the "Greatest Show on Dirt" during what is the beginning of his sophomore season in sprint car racing.

The show in "Sin City" marked the third event of the season for the World of Outlaws and featured a 28-car field on hand for the night's action, which was part of the Las Vegas Super Sprint Classic. The West Linn, Oregon driver showed early on that he was able to quickly adapt to the intimidating half-mile by turning the ninth fastest time in hot laps and then backing it up in qualifying by clocking the 10th quickest lap of the night aboard the Mcmillen Motorsports, Fire-Down Graphics, Douglas Wheel Technologies No. 94.

It then put Zimmerly on the pole of the night's opening heat race, but with the high-line seeming to be the place to be he would drop to third on the start behind Brad Sweet and Terry McCarl. The youngster would soon have to deal with a fast moving Fred Rahmer and the Pennsylvania legend would take a couple peaks at him, but Zimmerly remained calm and drove smooth over the remaining laps to hang onto third and transfer the Christian Stover Foundation, Butler Built Performance, A.R.T. Enterprise sprinter into the main event.

Lining-up in the 12th position for the 30-lap feature Zimmerly would look to learn as much as possible and eventually finished the contest in the 20th position, but the experience gained by running with the world's best sprint car drivers is certainly an invaluable asset for the 15-year-old racer. "Obviously I would have liked to finish a little better in the main event, but with this being my first time on a half-mile completing all the laps was a great experience and I really enjoyed running the track," he said. "These guys are so good out here that you really have to be perfect every time you hit the track and you can learn a lot by racing with them. We also made the switch to A.R.T. Chassis in the off-season and are definitely trying to get as many laps as possible so we're happy with how the night went overall."

Next up for Zimmerly will be this weekend's double-header event with the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series at the Groppetti Automotive Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare, California. The Oregon driver made a pair of starts at the 1/3 mile clay oval last season and will join a talented cast of teams this Friday and Saturday, which will be led into town by the Tony Stewart Racing duo of Steve Kinser and Donny Schatz, who are separated by just two-points at the top of the WOO standings. Gates open at 5pm each night and racing is set for 7. For more info on the event visit http://www.thunderbowlraceway.com

The early season plans for Zimmerly and Mcmillen Motorsports will find the the team racing in California for much of the spring competing with the Golden State Challenge King of California Sprint Car Series. "I really like running the 410 the most so that's what we're going to be focusing on this year," said Zimmerly. "I'm really excited after getting a year of experience under my belt and hopefully we can start off strong in the early months and keep it up throughout the season."

Follow Zach Zimmerly Racing on twitter at http://twitter.com/ZZR94 and for more news, pictures and information on the young driver log onto http://www.zachzimmerly.com

 

 

Zach Zimmerly becomes youngest driver to make World Finals main event at the Dirt Track @ Lowe's Motor Speedway

By Gary Thomas

Concord, North Carolina – November 20, 2009…With the season winding down West Linn, Oregon racer Zach Zimmerly headed for one of the highest profile events of his young sprint car career in early-November and made it pay off by becoming the youngest driver to start the main event during the World of Outlaws sanctioned World Finals at the Dirt Track @ Lowe's Motor Speedway.

This season marked the third year that the World Finals have been held, which pits the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series and World of Outlaws Late Model Series on a twin-bill that is televised live on SPEED TV. For Zimmerly it was his first taste of racing on the blazing-fast Dirt Track @ Lowe's Motor Speedway and also the final 410 sprint car event he competed in for the 2009 season. The World Finals also features a unique format that utilizes two rounds of qualifying on Thursday's opening night, which sets the fields line-ups for Friday and Saturday's action.

An event record of 57-cars were on hand for the World Finals and Zimmerly opened-up the qualifying night by timing-in 40th fastest in the first session, as he and the team were still learning nuances of the tricky 4/10 mile clay oval. With the experience of the first session under his belt however, the 15-year-old driver came back for round two and cut an impressive lap to place the Fire-Down Graphics, Level One, Mcmillen Motorsports No. 94 sprinter 17th quickest overall, which missed the heat race inversion by just one spot.

Coming back on Friday night Zimmerly showed early on that he was a quick learner as the youngster was the fifth fastest driver in hot laps, but by qualifying 40th during the first session on Thursday it put him deep in his heat race and an 11th place finish in it forced him into the C-main. The 10-lap contest saw the Oregon racer apply heavy pressure to the rear of leader Don Droud Jr. for the duration of the race and would bring home a runner-up finish to transfer to the rear of the "last chance showdown." With the track surface being lightning fast Zimmerly would have his work cut out for him as only four drivers transferred to the feature, but he was able to do a respectable job and move from 18th to 11th in the 12-lapper.

With a night of racing under his belt Zimmerly returned for Saturday's World Finals finale and had a much more manageable starting position in his heat race due to the solid qualifying time in the second round on Thursday. Going from the third row in the opening heat he was surrounded by a number of the sport's top drivers and would score a sixth place finish to miss the transfer by only one position, finishing just behind All Star Series champion Tim Shaffer and ahead of '08 World of Outlaws Rookie of the Year Lucas Wolfe. The track surface was also drastically changing as the night went on with much drier and slicker conditions than the night before, which forced drivers to be extremely easy on throttle.

Starting near the front of the "last chance showdown" Zimmerly proceeded to have an entertaining battle with Jessica Zemken as the SPEED cameras focused in on the pair while fighting for the third position. Despite being known as a driver that never shies away from the "loud-peddle" Zimmerly showed that he can use finesse just as well and carved his way around Zemken to claim the third position with just a few laps remaining. The final circuits saw him cut smooth laps and cross under the checkered flag solidly in third to transfer the Douglas Wheel Technologies, Butler Built Performance, Oakley, Kaeding Performance Maxim into the main event.

With the track slicking off and becoming trickier and trickier Zimmerly lined-up from the 17th position in the 30-lap feature and charged up as high as 12th, before the surface began to take rubber in spots and forced him to fight a tight condition the rest of the way en route to a 17th place result at the checkered. "Just making the main event here is a tough thing to do so we're thrilled to have accomplished that," Zimmerly said. "It was a great experience to run the World Finals and it's definitely something I can take with me because this was a great field of cars and you can learn a lot by racing with these guys."

More information on West Linn, Oregon's Zach Zimmerly can be found at http://www.zachzimmerly.com

 

Tough luck hampers Zach Zimmerly's Cowtown Speedway debut at November Sprint Shootout

By Gary Thomas

Kennedale, Texas – November 14, 2009…Coming off the strong showing at the World Finals Zach Zimmerly looked to ride the wave of momentum as he headed to the Cowtown Speedway in Texas on Friday November 13 and was on way to locking himself into Saturday's finale, until contact from another car took that chance away during opening night of the City Vending November Sprint Shootout.

The previous week in Charlotte had seen Zimmerly adapt extremely well to the Dirt Track @ Lowe's Motor Speedway and the youngster would do the exact same thing the following weekend in his first outing at the high-banked Cowtown Speedway in Kennedale, Texas.

The third running of the $85,000 November Sprint Shootout presented by City Vending saw 46-cars in competition on Friday's opening night, which featured the ASCS style format of heat races with passing points to set feature line-ups. However, a minor twist to the program was that a pair of 25-lap prelim features were held on opening night, which locked the top-three from each of them into Saturday's main event.

Going from the second row in the fourth and final heat race Zimmerly wasted little time maneuvering his way to the front and would claim victory by a wide margin in the 11-car contest. It then put him on the front row of the second feature and in the opening pair of laps would fight it out with Wayne Johnson for the top-spot, before settling into second behind the Knoxville, Iowa racer.

The 15-year-old driver was sitting comfortably in second aboard the Fire-Down Graphics, Butler Built Performance, Level One, Kaeding Performance Maxim; when the yellow lights then flashed on to bring out a caution on lap three. During the restart however, disaster struck for Zimmerly as Sam Hafertepe Jr. made an aggressive move to the inside and sent the No. 94 sprinter into the wall hard, which put an unfortunate end to the evening and took away the shot at directly transferring into the main event the following night.

After making repairs to the car Zimmerly and the Mcmillen Motorsports team came back for Saturday's finale and hoped for better luck as the Oregon driver lined-up 13th in the second b-main. Early on the youngster would charge into a transfer spot, but the tough luck for the weekend continued when another driver came down and made contact with the right rear, which resulted in a flat tire and forcing Zimmerly to the pits to get it changed. Restarting at the tail of the field with nine laps remaining he proceeded to move forward and miss out on the transfer by just one spot at the checkered flag.

Despite the results not being what he and the team wanted during the weekend Zimmerly showed once again how fast he is able to adapt to new track surfaces as he continues to get more and more experience in the sprint car ranks. "It wasn't the kind of weekend we were hoping for, but without the contact on Friday I definitely think we would have locked ourselves into the main event for Saturday so then it would have been a totally different deal," Zimmerly said. "I want to thank the whole team for giving me a great car again and we've been pretty good during the last part of the season so I'm really looking forward to next year."

 

 

Zach Zimmerly scores runner-up finish at Sherm Toller Gold Fever Open in Marysville

By Gary Thomas

Marysville, CA – October 11, 2009…Competing on a rough-and-tumble racing surface Saturday night at the Marysville Raceway Park 15-year-old sprint car driver Zach Zimmerly hung tough and brought home a close runner-up finish in the main event, despite battling handling woes after blowing off a right-rear shock during the inaugural running of the Sherm Toller Gold Fever Open.

The event utilized an ASCS style format where qualifying was scrapped in favor of using a pair of heat races for each driver, which set the main event line-ups based on finishing and passing points and featured 12-cars in each 12-lap contest. The Gold Fever Open saw 36-entrants sign-in at the back gate and was held in memory of former Marysville Raceway Park infield announcer Sherm Toller, who passed away earlier this season.

The special event at the quarter-mile bullring marked Zimmerly's third career appearance at the track, with a seventh place finish on May 16 being the better of his prior two starts. With an excessive amount of water applied to the racing surface it made things challenging right from the start of the night when limited hot laps were held, which resulted in very tough passing conditions during the heat races. Lining-up seventh in the second heat race Zimmerly brought home a fifth place finish at the checkered and then scored a third place result in the fifth heat after starting from sixth.

When points were tabulated following the heat races Zimmerly had earned enough to give the Mcmillen Motorsports, Kaeding Performance, Level One, Fire-Down Graphics No. 94 an outside row four starting spot in the 30-lap feature. By having so much water on the track it made the surface get extremely soft and created numerous ruts in various spots, which forced the Marysville Raceway Park track officials to spend nearly 30-plus minute's blading the surface to try and improve things. The hard-work paid off somewhat and although the track remained very rough for the main event, it would make things interesting as the race was a back-and-forth affair with drivers trying to wrestle their machines around the tight bullring.

Much of the early going saw Zimmerly locked in a furious battle with Marysville regular Brent Dothage, two-time Civil War Series champ Sean Becker and multi-time Marysville Raceway track champion Colby Wiesz. As the race went on the West Linn, Oregon racer was able to remain composed and stay out of trouble as he diced it up with the many veterans scattered throughout the front of the field and with less than 10-laps remaining he found himself sitting within the top-five. With 23 circuits down second running Andy Forsberg then looped his car while going for the lead, which bumped the Douglas Wheel Technologies, Oakley, Miller&Zimmerly Real Estate Investment Group Maxim to the third spot in the running order.

Things would get interesting near the front of the field as leader Kyle Hirst had a right rear tire going flat and both second place Jeremy Burt and third running Zimmerly had shock issues that created handling woes on the very choppy surface. A couple more cautions during the closing laps would slow things down and create a green-white-checkered restart that saw Burt and Zimmerly both get under Hirst to fight it out for the lead on the final lap. Charging into turn one Zimmerly attempted to set-up Burt going down the backstretch as he looked to the inside off the second corner, but the opening wasn't big enough and he settled for a second place finish behind the 2007 Marysville Raceway track champion at the waving of the checkered flag.

"It feels great to come out of here with a runner-up tonight because there were some really good cars in this field," said Zimmerly. "With one more lap I think we might have a shot at the win because I was all over Burt during that final lap and just ran out of time. The track was pretty tough all night long too and you really had to be up on your toes to keep the car from getting away from you and with the shock problem it made it even harder, so we're happy with a second."

 

 

Zach Zimmerly leads every lap of Petaluma Civil War feature:

September 19, 2009 Zach Zimmerly just became the newest and second-youngest teenage driver to ever win a Civil War Series feature. The rookie sprint car driver from West Linn, Oregon, who’s been gaining experience competing on the West Coast this season, caught everyone’s eye Saturday night at Petaluma Speedway notching his first win with an impressive, and dominating, flag-to-flag victory in the 30-lap feature.

Starting outside front row next to Mike Benson, and with current point’s leader and reigning series champion Sean Becker, and four-time champ Andy Forsberg in row two, Zimmerly powered his Scott and Duke McMillen owned entry around the high side into the lead on the first lap and never looked back. The tenacious teenager was tailgating lapped traffic after just four laps and had a two-car cushion between himself and runner-up Benson after five circuits.
Benson and Becker tangled in an ugly double roll-over, which sent Becker’s car end-over-end off the track, on Lap 7, for the first of just two delays during the event. When the race restarted Zimmerly, followed by Forsberg, Brad Bumgarner, and Petaluma’s Speedway’s all-time 360 sprint car winner David Lindt Jr., never looked back as he powered his way to a hearty lead aboard a car powered by an ASCS Motor which is slightly underpowered compared to those in the field.

Later in the event, Zimmerly used lapped traffic to his advantage to protect his position. Forsberg stayed in the hunt but never seriously threatened Zimmerly whose fasted lap of 12.302 (109.738 mph) easily exceeded Myles Bishop’s fast time in qualifying of 12.527.
“This feels great,” said Zimmerly afterwards. “I heard the cars behind me but I was just trying to get past the lapped traffic.” “He was way better than me,” declared Forsberg in a post-race interview. “ I’m 33-years-old, I’m an old fogy, these kids have experience, it’s pretty amazing.”
Rounding out the top 10 behind Zimmerly, Forsberg, Lindt, and Bumgarner were Mason Moore, Petaluma Speedway champion Alissa Geving, fast qualifier Bishop, Henry, Kyle Hirst and Magaruh. Thirty-two sprint cars qualified necessitating a B-main.