By Brad Vores, July 20, 2006

Alan Krimes has opened some eyes this season in his first full season of 410 Sprint car racing.

After a part-time campaign last season in the division, Krimes made the move full-time into the 410 ranks this season and after last Saturday night’s first career win at Lincoln Speedway, Krimes proved that sprint car racing has some future stars.

Krimes won the annual Daryl Gohn/Glenn Gohn, Sr. Memorial in front of a huge Lincoln crowd and was able to race home first in convincing fashion.

"I set a goal at the beginning of the year to win three features, but I didn’t really know if it was realistic or not, said the 26-year-old driver. "There were a couple chances last year where we could have won at Susquehanna. So I actually thought our first win would come there. We’ve been running pretty good at Lincoln since we put this other car together but I thought our chances to win were pretty decent but you don’t expect to win with the competition around here."

After a few successful seasons in the 358 sprint division and five career wins, Krimes decided to make the move into the 410 ranks last season at Susquehanna to basically test the water for the future. Krimes was very successful, finishing in the top five on five different occasions and nine more times inside the top 10. He came close to winning a few features as well.

"We were planning to move up sometime because the 358’s don’t race every week except at Selinsgrove and we wanted to race every week, he stated. "We tried it last year and if everything went well, we’d move up full-time this year. We ran real good last year, actually a lot better than I expected. I actually caught on pretty good and when we ran at Lincoln and Williams Grove, we ran well at those tracks to so we decided to make the move this season."

Krimes and his team put together a new car for Pennsylvania Speedweek and has been fast ever since. Saturday night, he proved it.

Krimes reeled in Brian Leppo just past the halfway mark of the 25-lap feature and then walked off from the field to post the big win. Krimes was confident that he was on his way to that elusive career first victory.

"As good as we were working on the bottom I figured it was gonna be pretty tough for anyone to get around us," said Krimes, who is just 20 points out of fifth place in points at Lincoln . "If they were gonna pass us on the outside and as good as we were on the bottom they were gonna have to be really fast. I didn’t want to see a late race caution and give anyone a chance like that so luckily it ran straight through."

No late race cautions. No late race challenges for the driver of his family owned Maxim chassis sponsored by Conestoga Valley Garage, Krimes Racing Engines, Hostetter Body Shop, Cochran Drywall, Creative Signworks and VRP Shocks.

"It means everything to win because all I’ve ever wanted to do is race sprint cars, "Krimes added. "The competition is the toughest in the country. Being the Gohn Memorial, it’s neat to win your first race like that and the big crowd, it was great to hear them cheering. It meant a lot to beat (Fred) Rahmer. For him to come in second , him and Steve Kinser, , I consider the two best sprint car drivers in the country. So to beat him it felt real good."

Krimes said the move to 410 Sprints from 358’s was a good one.

"The biggest difference in cost is the motor," he said. "The 358 you can run 20-30 races before you have to rebuild. With the 410 we are rebuilding every ten races but then again with us building our own motors, we don’t have to spend as much as the other guys to rebuild ours. The four races I ran during Speedweek, I made more money then the whole last year I ran 358’s. The last full year I ran 358, I think I made like $5,400. In those four races, we made something like $5,700. The pay is so much better and that certainly helps out. With the tire rule , we aren’t spending a whole of money on tires now."

Alan Krimes is just one of a few good up and coming sprint car racers. As Lincoln announcer Wayne Harper stated Saturday in victory lane, it appears sprint car racing is in good hands with the fresh young drivers. Krimes said his season is already a success after his first win. Just imagine what he will think when he becomes a multi-time winner in the near future.

From Lincolnspeedway.com

Results
ALAN KRIMES CLAIMS FIRST CAREER 410 WIN IN LINCOLN GOHN MEMORIAL
By
Jul 15, 2006, 11:31

Glenndon Forsythe bests 358's in McKeehan mount; Knaub scores fifth of year in thundercars

ABBOTTSTOWN, PA, 7/15/06 - First time wins are always special. And when you follow your father’s footsteps and add you name to the same winners’ list, it makes it even better.

Denver’s Alan Krimes picked up his first career 410 sprint win in the 25 lap 410 sprint feature at Lincoln Speedway Saturday night.

Krimes, who started ninth, charged through the field to pass race-long leader Brian Leppo on the 16th lap and then raced away from nine-time track champion Fred Rahmer over the final laps to pick up the popular win in the Annual Daryl Gohn/Glenn Gohn Sr. Memorial. In the process, he joined his father Larry Krimes (who has three career sprint wins at the Pigeon Hills oval) to become only the fifth father-son driver combo to be winners in the storied history of the Abbottstown oval.

"I won a few races here in the 358's, but it feels nothing like beating the Central Pennsylvania guys in the 410's here," Krimes said with a big smile, "They’re the best local competition in the country, and to beat them feels real good."

"My dad used to race back here in the late 70's and early 80's. I don’t remember too much about it because I was just a little guy sleeping up there in the bleachers. He won three time here one year and I’ve really got to thank him because without him, I wouldn’t be able to do this. I’ve got to thank my crew and especially my dad’s brother Butch who is helping us put the engines together while we’re busy working on the car."

Polesitter Leppo grabbed the lead over outside frontrow starter Sam Schlosberg at the drop of the green with third-starting Jim Siegel quickly moving into second by the end of the first lap.

From there, the laps were hard to come by. Three cautions and a red flag plagued the first four laps of the event. First a Jeff Busby spin brought out the caution on the third lap. That was followed by a red in a wild eight-car melee which saw Phil Weinsteiger and Todd Zinn flip in turns three and four, collecting Brian Montieth, Bobby Weaver, Busby, Danny Murray, Kyle Pruitt and Johnny Mackison Jr. On the subsequent restart, Montieth came to a stop with a broken drive line after trying to come back from the earlier accident.

Leppo and Siegel led the field over the next two laps before the caution waved again, this time for a Josh Wells and Schlosberg tangle on the frontstretch while battling for fourth.

All the while, Krimes was methodically driving up through the field and restarted in fourth place behind Leppo, Siegel and Michael Carber. Krimes worked his way around Carber into third place on the seventh lap and then got by Siegel into second on the 10th lap as Leppo enjoyed a comfortable 2.55-second lead.

Krimes quickly erased Leppo’s advantage by the time they headed into lapped traffic on the 15th lap, and slipped under the Spring Grove racer exiting the fourth turn of the 16th lap for the lead.

A lap later, fourth-running Eric Stambaugh got into the first and second turn wall, collecting sixth-running Doug Esh in the process, sending Stambaugh into a roll to bring out the red flag once again.

On the restart, Kyle Pruitt brought out the final red flag as he flipped in the second turn.

When all was said and done, Krimes was the leader with Leppo, Siegel, Rahmer, Niki Young and Chad Layton following for the final nine-lap dash to the checkered.

While Krimes continued to run the low groove on the restart, all eyes looked back at 146-time Lincoln Speedway winner Rahmer, who passed Siegel for third on the 17th lap, and then drove around Leppo for second with three laps to go.

"We started ninth tonight, which I thought was back pretty far with all the fast guys right on my tail and there was a lot of good cars in front of me," said Krimes, "This car works so good on the bottom of the track here, and I was just coming off the turns so much better than anybody else and it just drove by them."

"It kind of makes it easy really. Running the bottom is a lot easier than running the top. Fred Rahmer told me that one time...and he’s pretty smart."

Krimes took the checkered 3.63 seconds ahead of Rahmer for his inaugural 410 sprint win.

"We just put this car together right before Speedweek and we’ve been a rocket ship. The other one we were running with was bent up a little bit, and we never noticed it...ever since, we’ve put this car together we’ve been fast."

"Unfortunately I was too young to know those guys," said Krimes on the race’s namesake - Daryl Gohn and Glenn Gohn Sr.. "But anytime somebody has a race named after them, they must have been a hell of a guy. And the crowd’s been unbelievable here for the last three or four weeks, and it makes it all that much more fun to hear them screaming and yelling stuff...that makes you feel good."

Leppo hung on for third and was followed by Niki Young and Chad Layton to round out the top five.

Completing the top ten were Siegel, Doug Esh, Judd Shepard, Cody Darrah and Steve Clabaugh.

"It looks like our sport is in real good hands," Krimes added. "On that one restart I was running forth and it was Brian Leppo, Siegel, Carber and me...and I thought man, they’re some young guns running up towards the front here, and a bunch of other guys that moved up through the 358 ranks."

Heats for the 25 "410" sprinters were won by Wells, Leppo and Stambaugh, with Todd Rittenhouse Jr. winning the consolation.

Former Lincoln 410 regular Glenndon Forsythe proved he still knows the fast way around Lincoln in claiming the 20-lap "358" sprint feature. Forsythe started fifth and wasted little time in moving to the front, driving under race-long leader Jessie Morrison for the top spot exiting turn two on an eighth-lap restart and leading the rest of the way.

Tenth-starting Brad McClelland worked his way through the field to move into second on lap nine and pressured Forsythe the rest of the way, but could never make the pass for the lead. He settled for second, with Nate Berwager crossing a career-best third, Dale Hammaker coming from 21st starting spot to finish fourth, and Danny Dietrich fifth. Completing the top ten were 20th-starting Nate Hammaker, Rory Janney, Morrison, Derek Locke, and Jimmy Layton.

Heats for the 37 "358" sprinters were won by Berwager, Danny Dietrich, Dan Carrozza and Bob Anderson, with Rory Janney and Layton winning the twin consolations.

Dover’s Gene Knaub picked up his fifth win of the year in the 20-lap thundercar feature.

Knaub, who started fifth, chased down polesitter and race-long leader Doug Devilbiss on the ninth lap to take the lead and led the rest of the way to take the checkered over David Prunkl, Nat Tuckey, points leader Neil Smith, and Devilbiss. Sixth through tenth were Sam Gallagher, Smoke Christine, Bob Bare, Duane Watson, and Al Crammer.

Heats for the 25 thundercars were won by Gallagher, Devilbiss and Christine, with Jim Martz Jr. winning the consolation. All thundercar qualifying events went non-stop.

Next Saturday night, July 22nd, Lincoln Speedway give the Cindy Rowe Auto Glass 410 Sprinters the night off to race elsewhere, giving the 358 Sprints top-billing for the night along with the ever-popular Thundercars. Rounding out the three-division show will be the Super Sportsman.

Gates for the evening’s racing action will open at 5:30 PM, with racing action getting underway at 7:30 PM.

To get all the latest news, results, schedule changes and rule changes, visit Lincoln Speedway’s website at http://www.lincolnspeedway.com to stay up-to-date on all the action or pending weather conditions at Central Pennsylvania’s "Premier" Saturday night race track - The Fabulous Lincoln Speedway.