Jeremiah Shingledecker of Polk, Pa., took advantage of a restart miscue by Joe Crawford on the 15th circuit and raced home the winner of the 20-lap DIRTcar Big Block Modified feature. Driving his Lou Heath & Son Excavating/Hards Welding Bicknell No. 37MD, Shingledecker collected his ninth career feature win at Tri-City.

“This is an incredible track,” said Shingledecker. “If not for Joe making that mistake, I don’t know if I could have caught him. We’ll take this win. We blew the engine in our Late Model car on Friday night at Lernerville, so this will help the budget.”

J.R. McGinley took the early lead from the pole position, but Crawford took advantage of his outside front row start to move into lead on the second circuit. Shingledecker followed him through and continued to pressure Crawford for the next 13 circuits. After the fourth caution of the race, Crawford drove too hard into the first turn on the restart, drifted high, and Shingledecker dove under him into the lead. Crawford recovered, but lost second to Andy Priest with four laps to go. In the end, Shingledecker scored the win over Priest, Crawford, Kevin Bolland and Jim Rasey.

The western PA racing season finally got underway on Saturday, April 5 at Mercer Raceway Park with the running of their Chiller Thriller.

This was also the day that Jeremiah made his much anticipated debut in a full-fendered car, driving the new 37md late model. A lot of last minute work and the total lack of seat time in the car left the team anxious about how the night would go.

The heat race didn’t do much to alleviate those concerns, but when the green flag flew for the feature, the cream truly rose to the top, and Jeremiah’s driving ability shone brightly.

After starting at the rear of the field, Jeremiah steadily worked his way forward, and by the time the checkers flew, he had brought home a most impressive 4th place finish.