Charlie Schultz celebrates on his car after winning the Must See Racing Sprint Car Championship at Jennerstown Speedway on Saturday. (MSR photo)
JENNERSTOWN, Pa. — Bobby Santos III might have had a flawless run through the Must See Racing Engine Pro Sprint Car Series at Jennerstown Speedway on Saturday night, but the bigger headline was the crowning glory of a new Tour champion.
Charlie Schultz rebounded from a six-point deficit while competing in the David D. Mateer Memorial Race on the Pennsylvania Oval for a half-mile and passed Joe Liguori on the final night of the season to earn his first Must See Racing -Trailing winged asphalt sprint car series to secure title in its sixth season.
It was one of the picture-perfect comebacks in series history, after three weeks earlier, Schultz lost the points lead to a crash at Lorain (Ohio) Raceway Park and thought he was out of the title hunt.
“It was less about getting the team together and more about us just not giving up,” said Schultz, who finished third in the 30-lap lap to claim the crown. “I’m probably pretty stupid because after (the crash at) Lorain I should have just quit. I’ve been pretty hard on myself but a lot of this comeback tonight was thanks to the crew I had around me.
“JJ Henes, Kasey Jedzrejek, Sawyer Stout and (team owner) John Reiser didn’t let me give up when I might want to – and I’m glad they kept pushing me because it got us to this moment tonight. He added. “Adding my name to the elite list of champions who have won a title with Must See Racing is something I will carry with me no matter what I do in my racing career. It is special.”
After partying on the grand piano and enduring a champagne shower from an avid traveler, Schultz made it a night to remember by surprising longtime girlfriend Debbie Walker with a marriage proposal.
“Debbie and I have been together for about four and a half years, and I’ve seriously considered proposing to her,” Schultz said with a mischievous smile. “I want to do that in front of everyone tonight.
“We have a lot of friends watching the livestream tonight, but let me tell you… we’re taking the party to Lorain, Ohio tomorrow and it’s going to be a big one!”
Bobby Santos won the Must See Racing sprint car season finale at Jennerstown Speedway in Pennsylvania on Saturday. (MSR photo)
Meanwhile, Santos moved up late to take his fourth Must See Racing sprint car win in four outings this season. He used a lap 20 restart as fuel to chase and pass race leader Ryan Litt.
With a sweeping inside move into Turn 1, Santos passed Litt with 10 laps to go and pulled away by 5.472 seconds to earn a $3,000 payday and his second career win at the David D. Mateer Memorial.
“Ryan was great; The dirty air behind him was really tough and I’m not sure if we would have anything for him if not for the restart,” explained Santos. “I have the right yellow and it worked for us.”
Despite the joy of victory, Santos noted the bigger picture – that his thoughts were on a Jennerstown Speedway track worker who was hit in pit lane while trying to clean up a trail of liquid that had previously been laid down in the main event.
The incident resulted in a 45-minute disruption during the Must See Racing feature. The line worker was awake and alert, according to line officials, before being airlifted to a local hospital for further observation.
“Of course, our biggest hope is that everyone is fine afterwards,” said Santos. “It’s been a scary ordeal, but it sounds like he’s going to be able to recover and that’s the most important thing of all.”
Before the stoppage, Litt led the feature’s first 19 laps unchallenged and appeared to be on course for his second win of the season. In the end he finished second behind Santos by a wide margin.
Fast qualifier Mike McVetta finished fourth behind Schultz. Liguori, who broke a U-joint in his heat race and had to start from the back of the feature field, finished fifth but couldn’t advance further, falling three points short of the 2022 title.
Liguori scored the most total points during that season’s nine races, but Schultz was the beneficiary of Must See Racing’s drop rule, which required drivers to throw their worst night of the year.
The end:
Feature (30 rounds): 1. Bobby Santos III [4]2. Ryan Little [2]3.Charlie Schultz [3]4.Mike McVetta [5]5.Joe Liguori [12]6.Jason Blonde [6]7.Rick Holley [1]8.Todd McQuillen [7]9. Adam Biltz [8]10. Tom Geren [9]11. Joshua Kuster [10]12. Anthony Linkenhoker [11]13. Tom Jewell [13]14. Jeff Bloom [14].
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