Krimes quite fast at Lincoln
Alan Krimes scored a victory and a runner-up finish to Fred Rahmer on Saturday.
By BILL MEYER
For the Daily Record/Sunday News

Aug 7, 2006 —

Fred Rahmer ended a Lincoln Speedway dry spell Saturday by claiming his 147th career victory there, but this night belonged to Alan Krimes.

Krimes finished second in one feature and won the other in the "Twin 20s" for 410 sprint cars at Lincoln.

The Denver, Pa., driver started beside Rahmer on the inside of the fifth row after Rahmer picked the 10 pill for inversion in the second feature.

Krimes assumed fifth for a second-lap restart after Rahmer came to a stop with front-end damage after striking the back of Niki Young's mount on the backstretch.

Rahmer, who won the first of the night's Twin 20s, was finished.

During the caution, third-place Doug Esh (who came from eighth to third on the first lap), stopped with ignition problems in turn 1, ending his night as well.

Polesitter Sam Schlosberg paced the field for the first 10 laps before Krimes raced around him in lapped traffic exiting turn4 of lap11.

One lap earlier, Krimes had done the same thing to second-place Brian Montieth to grab the runner-up spot.

After gaining the lead, Krimes raced away to an impressive 4.48-second win, his second in three weeks and the second of his career (both coming at Lincoln this year).

Seventh-starting Chad Layton came on late to pass Schlosberg on lap19 and cross the finish line second. Schlosberg hung on for third, with Brian Leppo and Young completing the top five.

"Ever since we put this car together, we've been getting around this place super fast," Krimes said. "The first race Rahmer got by me, and I knew whoever got to the front first was probably going to win it."

Winless in the Pigeon Hills since claiming his third win in four weeks back on May20, Rahmer wasted little time getting to the front in the first feature.

He slid under leader Leppo entering turn3 of lap4 and stayed on the low side to lead the rest of the way, despite heavy pressure from ninth-starting Krimes over the second half of the race.

Krimes settled for second, with Esh third, Layton fourth and Young fifth.

Dover's Gene Knaub found victory lane for a seventh time this year in the 20-lap thundercar feature.

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.