Atomic Speedway
June 14 Results FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Smith, Johnson Vault to Veterans Nigh Wins
Remy and Rob Smith Claim Street and Sport Mods


By Scott Wolfe

CHILLICOTHE, OHIO-Another decent crowd assembled for Veterans Appreciation Night at Atomic Speedway where
Danny Smith, Chillicothe, Ohio claimed the exciting 410 Sprint car main in a torrid battle with Kory Crabtree. Kenny Johnson, Mineral Wells, WV, claimed the equally exciting AMRA Modified main after a race-long battle with Jess Hartman; Rob Smith claimed the Street Stock main, and John Remy, McArthur took the Sport Mod main. All Veterans were admitted free in appreciation for their service to our country. All features were completed before 11 p.m.
A moment of silence was held for Justin Helton, Beaver, Ohio who lost his life this past week while serving in Afghanistan and another tribute moment for driver Fred Hardbarger, former driver at Atomic. Son in law Adam Jones carried the checkered flag for a lap in tribute to Hardbarger.
The track was fast from the onset as 14 Sprint cars cracked the 11 second barrier in qualifying and Kenny Johnson came within three-hundredths of a second of the modified track record with fast time in the Modifieds at 15:446. Kory Crabtree had fast time in the sprints with an 11:585.
Ryan Broughton, Chillicothe, Ohio has tried to shake the bad luck bug since the last race of the 2013 season. Broughton won his heat and led the first eight laps of the feature, looking to shake the gremlins that have sidelined Broughton throughout the season despite several weeks of good runs.
Broughton led the first eight laps, then after a caution flag for Jimmy Stinson, who had a flat and broken shock, Danny Smith took the lead on the restart. After a few laps of duals, Smith started to walk away from runner-up Broughton.
Meanwhile, Jimmy Nier started 19th and was on a charge from the tail, up to 14th after five laps, and up to 5th by lap sixteen. Nier claimed the Hummel Factory Kahne Shock "Hard Charger Award". Jesse McCreary was on a similar charge from 9th to 5th at one point, but later having Ryan Myers drop him back to sixth.
On a lap 16 restart Kory Crabtree blitzed by Danny Smith on the restart with a daredevil slide job that Smith returned skimming within inches of one another at 130 MPH on the super fast Atomic high-banks. Crabtree nearly led lap 17 after another swap of kamikaze dives, but Smith scurried back to the front off turn four. The next lap was just as exciting. Ryan Myers slowed the action with a spin in turn one and at about the same time Broughton slammed the turn three wall and went pit-side. Several reports indicated that Broughton's throttle may have stuck.
The Smith-Crabtree battle continued for the last seven laps, but Smith began to pull away by lap 22. Lapped traffic factored into the finish as Crabtree made a late race bid for the win. Crabtree pulled within a car length of Smith on the white flag lap, then made a bid for the win in turn one-and-two only to jump the cushion, scrubbing off enough speed to allow Smith a micro-second of breathing room at the conclusion.
Rounding out the top ten were Danny Smith, Kory Crabtree, Nathan Skaggs, Jimmy Nier, Ryan Myers, Jesse McCreary, Mark Imler, Todd Kane, Nate Reeser, and David Smith. David had his strongest Atomic run of the year, while Kevin Shelbo had notable success.
"It was elbows up and hit the gas all the way around tonight," said Smith. "I hope the fans had fun tonight, I sure did. Tonight you had to be up on the wheel every step of the way. The track was really, really fast. Sometimes things work out and it worked out for us tonight."

Jess Hartman, Zanesville, Ohio jumped into the early lead in the AMRA Octane modified main and spent most of the first 15 laps fending off the challenges of Kenny Johnson. Hartman and Johnson grappled tooth-and-nail for the duration. Hartman endured three early cautions and each time survived the potential slide jobs of Johnson.
Jason Cottrill and Mike Long each had good runs going, but were early casualties and went pit-side. Mark Bailey had charged from 15th to 6th and was well on his way to earning hard charger honors when he and another front-runner Philip Bapst made contact. Bailey's great run ended with contact and Bapst went to the rear after the misfortune.
Brian Whiteman and Dave Pinkerton battled with Aaron Pendleton most of the race with Bapst at one point bursting into third. After Bapst's demise, Pinkerton turned on the afterburners and zoomed to fourth to challenge Whiteman.
Up front Johnson tried to blitz past Hartman on a lap 13 restart, but couldn't make it stick. Johnson stayed with Hartman and pulled alongside the Zanesville ace several times, finally taking over the top spot with a run off the top of turn two. Johnson continued on to victory with an impressive high-flying win, his 5th at Atomic and his second of the June 13-14 weekend.
Tim Tribby blasted from 11th to sixth as the race hard-charger, and Donnie Miller recovered from an early bobble to a solid top ten. Brian Moore had his best run of the season while battling Justin Murray and Bob Crace, Jr. to the finish.
"That was a workout," gasped an exhausted winner Kenny Johnson. "I hope the fans had as much fan as I did. Boy was that track fast."
Rounding out the top ten were Kenny Johnson, Jess Hartman, Brian Whiteman, Dave Pinkerton, Aaron Pendleton, Tim Tribby, Donnie Miller, Brian Moore, Justin Murray, and Bob Crace, Jr.
"Jess gave us a good run tonight and made us work," added Johnson. "He had a fast car-very fast! I'd like to thank Coop, Danny, and Chad for getting this car in winning form. That was our eleventh win with seven seconds in 2014. It's been a great year." Summary on sprint forum