Ft. Wayne’s Austin Coe wins 47^th Raintree 100

Six new inductees into the Mt Lawn Speedway Hall of Fame

On a comfortable Sunday evening, the cars and stars of the Vore's Welding & Steel CRA Late Model Sportsman Series would return to Mt. Lawn Speedway after rain postponed the 47th Annual Raintree 100 back in June. The weather would cooperate on this night, which allowed for some exciting action.

Six new members were inducted in the Mt Lawn Speedway Hall of Fame. Driver/Owner Danny Acrey of New Castle, Owner/ Chief Mechanic Bill Rievley of Daleville, Chief Mechanic Lyle Johnson, Driver/Owner Don Skaggs of Modoc, Driver/Owner Harold Scott of New Castle and Rick Sweigart current owner of Mt Lawn were all inducted into the Hall in ceremonies just before the start of the 47^th running of the Raintree 100.

In the Raintree 100, Tanner Jack of Auburn and R.J. Norton Jr. of Indianapolis would lead the field the field to the green flag. As they went into Mt. Lawn's infamous turn 4, the field would stack up leading to a five car pileup with Kevin Claborn of Cambridge City, his brother Eddie Claborn of New Castle, Jeremy Wallen of Ft. Wayne, Cassten Everidge of Hudson, Indiana, and Mike Stacy of Ohio all piling into one another. Wallen and Everidge would continue on, but both Claborn and Stacy would see their races end before they began. The race would see a pattern develop as it progressed as momentum would seem to shift between multiple drivers through the evening as Jack, Norton Jr, Jason Atkinson of Mooreland, Austin Coe of Ft. Wayne and 2-time winner Jeff Marcum of Morristown would all challenge to make their way into the lead as Chris Shannon of Lawton, Michigan led the race into its late stages. On lap 76, Coe would take the lead from Shannon and began pulling away, lapping all the way to 5th place for his first career victory in the Raintree 100. Shannon finished second with J.P. Crabtree of Muncie, Jack, and Everidge rounding out the top five.

I'm the evening's other racing action, Colby Lane of Knightstown would win the Founders Day 75 for the Van Hoy Oil Thunder Cars in Tony Stewart's #20. Lane, who appropriately made the winning pass on lap 20, would hold off all comers for the victory. Kevin Claborn finished 2nd with David McConnell of Shirley, Kevin Rabenstein of Muncie, and Ronnie Rose of Anderson rounding out the top five. Claborn won the dash race held earlier. In the Owens Electric Stock Compacts, Chuck Cook of Kennard would secure the victory in the 1st Annual Gene Cook Memorial 56. Cook would battle with Ricky Johnson of Indianapolis fir most of the event, but would take advantage of a caution on lap 53 to pass Johnson and claim victory in his father's memorial event. Johnson would finish 2nd with Robert Bryan of Indianapolis, Cody Riley of Middletown, and Cody Griffith of Greenfield rounding out the top five. Post-Race inspection however would tell a different story, as Riley, Griffith, and Jonathan Claywell of New Castle would all fail. Their disqualifications would move Jacob Johnson of Kennard and Kevin Summers of Indianapolis into the top five. Claywell won the 4 lap dash held earlier in the evening. In the Claborn Motors Modifieds, 81-year old Don Skaggs of Modoc would secure his first feature victory of 2020, holding off a hard-charging field of Modifieds in the process. Jeff Lane of Knightstown would finish second in his number 26 with 2020 Raintree 100 winner Austin Coe of Fort Wayne, Harold Scott of New Castle, and Andy Cowan of Cambridge City rounding out the top five. Harold Scott won the Modified 4 lap Dash race earlier in the evening in an extremely close finish. John Lister would continue his strong performance in the Tony Stewart Drywall Crown Vics by winning both the dash and features for the division. Lister has finished first or second in every race held at Mt. Lawn this season. The American Vintage Sprint Car Association feature was cancelled after a series crew member suffered a medical emergency in the pit area.

The next event at Mt Lawn will be a Labor Day weekend affair starting Friday Sept 4 and winding up on Sunday Sept 6 with feature races. Complete details will be announced as soon as they are finalized

Any and all information on the 2020 season can be found at www.mtlawn.com or on the Mt. Lawn Speedway 2020 Facebook page.