Ever dream of a modifieds vs. late models match race? Well, it happened, on August 26, during the Camp Barnes Benefit Stock Car Race at Georgetown Speedway.
(For more on Camp Barnes, read “Camp Barnes: Racing Supports Charity for More Than 50 Years.”)
The roots of the event date back to 1994, when now-retired Delaware State Police detective Preston “Pep” Lewis came up with the idea. He served as race director of the Camp Barnes race for 20 years, from 1990 to 2010.
“We did it for five years,” Lewis said. “At first, I did not realize that some of the modified drivers were reluctant to race against late models because they sat lower, and the modified drivers could not see how close they could get in the turns. The last thing we wanted was for someone to crash and get injured.”
This year, the race committee at Georgetown Speedway voted to bring the race back after a 25-year hiatus and called it the Pep Lewis Shootout.
“The fans loved the match race back then, as did many of the drivers,” said Lewis. “It was a fan favorite at the time [and] it was a fan favorite again this year.”
Two match races actually occurred: modifieds vs. late models and sportsman modifieds vs. Rush late models. Both races lasted five laps. The two fields consisted of the top three finishing drivers of the respective divisions that accepted the invite.
Billy Pauch Jr. in a modified and Ross Robinson in a late model battled for the lead in their feature.
“In the match race, I figured if I could keep the air off the nose of Ross’s late model for five laps, I could beat him with my modified,” Pauch, of Frenchtown, New Jersey, said.
That strategy worked for three of the five laps.
“On the fourth lap I left just enough air for him to get me,” said Pauch. “Aero is important to late models.”
Robinson won the match in the end.
“The match race was good, clean racing,” Robinson, of Georgetown, Delaware, said. “Smart racers make a race like that a lot of fun to be in. Me and Billy are pretty good friends.”
In the other match race, Joey Warren in a Rush late model beat the Scott Hitchens in a sportsman. Both Warren and Robinson earned $727 for their wins.
Mike Adaskaveg has written hundreds of stories since the website’s inception. This year marks his 54th year of covering auto racing. Adaskaveg got his start working for track photographer Lloyd Burnham at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway in 1970. Since then, he’s been a columnist, writer, and photographer, in racing and in mainstream media, for several outlets, including the Journal Inquirer, Boston Herald, Stock Car Racing, and Speedway Illustrated. Among Adaskaveg’s many awards are the 1992 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Ace Lane Photographer of the Year and the 2019 National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) George Cunningham Writer of the Year.
