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By Dino Oberto
(Butler Township, Pa. 8-23-26) In show business the old saying is, “The show must go on” and that it did on Sunday afternoon at Evergreen Raceway.
After overnight rain prompted Rich Tobias to cancel his “Thrills in the Hills” program early Sunday morning, Evergreen owner/promoter Jason Makarewicz decided conditions were suitable to proceed. The event went on as scheduled and ran without a hitch.
The Tobias promoted All Pro SpeedSTRs were headlined plus the Slingshots but also on the docket were Evergreen’s regular classes of 602 Crate Modifieds, Street Stocks and Four Cylinders plus the East Coast TQ Midgets. Minus the SpeedSTRs and Slingshots all other racing took place under clear skies throughout the day.
The 602 Crate Modifieds competed in Twin-20s and splitting the victories were Steve Shultz of Drums who won the first feature over Lake Areil’s Micah Adams. In the second main it was roles reversed as Adams beat Shultz.
In the first feature Shultz jumped into the early lead and by the second go-around Adams was running second.
The battle remained tight the rest of the way, with Adams repeatedly challenging Shultz side-by-side and probing both the inside and outside lanes. Shultz refused to yield, holding firm to the finish and securing the milestone 40th victory of his career.
A redraw among the top five placed Adams on the pole alongside Shultz. This time, Adams controlled the race, allowing Shultz to draw close only on restarts. Otherwise, Adams was clearly the car to beat. It was his class leading third win of 2026 and 15th at the track.
With his victory and runner-up Adams was able to pad his point lead over Brian Sones who was fourth and fifth respectively in both races, which did keep his streak going of finishing each race this season in the top five.
Mike Pollack of Freeland drove to a dominating win in the Harry’s U-Pull-It Street Stocks. Pollack led the opening lap and then proceeded to easily pull away from the field en route to a rousing victory for his 24th overall at Evergreen.
In what has turned out to be nothing short of a very strong and controlling season for the three-time division champion, this marked his third straight win and to date he has not finished lower than third all season which included four consecutive runners-up. Pollack made a sweep of the day when earlier he also won his heat race.
Scott Adams, who despite a shredding right rear tire on the final laps was able to take second while Peyton Arthofer came home third.
BJ Wambold from Nazareth brought his team of cars as usual and one extra as well for co-point leader Jared Frye in the event his No. 75 would have an issue, and he could continue to fight for the class championship.
As it turned out Frye was good, so Wambold then took the reigns of the spare mount and made it worth his while as he raced to victory in the Himmer Graphics Four Cylinders.
Wambold started seventh and was advancing in a hurry. On lap three he was third, then took second following a restart with five laps complete. On an ensuing restart the next circuit Wambold then unseated leader Frye.
Carney pressured Wambold closely for the remainder of the race, but the experienced veteran held firm. The victory was Wambold’s first since his 2024 championship season.
Carney continued to show marked improvement behind the wheel, earning a solid runner-up finish after winning the previous race. Frye’s third-place result moved him back into sole possession of the points lead.
Wambold wasn’t the only driver coming out of Nazareth who grabbed a win. The East Coast TQ Midgets were in action and scoring his first win here in a TQ Midget was Jasper Zeigafuse.
Zeigafuse had his work cut out for him as he chased Ohio’s Charlie Shultz who embraced the lead and did a superlative job of it. Zeigafuse though, continued to apply pressure and his efforts paid off with six laps to go when he was able to move inside of Shultz while exiting Turn 2 on lap 14 and take charge.
And from there on it was smooth sailing. For Zeigafuse it was his first Evergreen win since a Four Cylinder Novice victory in 2019 and sweep of the weekend too as he won the night prior at Mahoning Valley Speedway.
1st 602 Crate Modified finish (20 laps): 1. Steve Shultz, 2. Micah Adams, 3. Vinny Delaney, 4. Brian Sones, 5. Bobby Jones, 6. Don Betterly, 7. Marty Noll, 8. Avery Arthofer DNS: Peyton Arthofer
2nd 602 Crate Modified finish (20 laps): 1. Adams, 2. Shultz, 3. Sones, 4. A. Arthofer, 5. Delaney, 6. Jones, 7. Noll, 8. Betterly DNS: P. Arthofer
Street Stock finish (20 laps): 1. Mike Pollack, 2. Scott Adams, 3. Peyton Arthofer, 4. Dennis Buss, 5. Mallory Kutz, 6. Eric Kocher
Four Cylinder finish (25laps): 1. BJ Wambold, 2. David Carney, 3. Jared Frye, 4. Gavin Higgins, 5. Justin Merkel Jr., 6. Tyler Skordensky, 7. Maggie Wambold, 8. Colton Hull, 9. Robert McNulty, 10. Joacob Knittle, 11. Sam Ryan, 12. Lauren Skupski, 13. Sabrina Bogert, 14. Carlos Grenier, 15. Jeff Engler, 16. Caitlyn Makarewicz, 17. Riely Titus, 18. Harry O’Neill
ECTQM finish (20 laps): 1. Jasper Zeigafuse, 2. Charlie Shultz, 3. Kyle Herve, 4. Kevin Mingus, 5. Vinny Testanero, 6. Ozzy Carlino, 7. Mark Cinqmars
