Tyler Roahrig made history once again on Saturday night, joining forces with his father JR Roahrig to become the first father-son duo to win the Glass City 200. In a script that couldn’t have been written any better in Hollywood, the younger Roahrig held off his father to win the 28th running of the prestigious Outlaw Super Late Model race at Toledo Speedway (OH).
“It’s huge to me to be able to finish one-two with my dad,” Roahrig told Speed51.com powered by JEGS. “I’ve never really been great at the bigger tracks like Toledo, and to be able to get the win with him behind me and add myself to a list of great drivers like my dad, Terry Senneker Jr, Jack Landis, Tim Felver. They are all legends in Outlaw racing and I am pretty proud to be on that list with them.”
Mother Nature was not kind to the drivers and fans throughout most of the day Saturday, but the track crews were persistent and were able to give the fans a great show. Due to the rain that forced a practice session to be combined with qualifying for the Glass City 200, Scott Hantz put himself at the top of the charts.
After a few back-to-back cautions during the early stages of the race, which brought leaders Terry Senneker Jr. and Johnny Belott to pit road, the duo of Roahrigs found themselves side by side ready to take control of the field. It took a few laps for Tyler Roahrig to shake off his dad JR, but once he did it was smooth sailing until the final 10 laps.
“I was pretty nervous those last 10 laps,” Tyler admitted. “I knew my dad was starting to catch me and he’s always good here. It got to a point where he wasn’t catching me anymore so with three and four to go I was just trying to be smooth, listening to my spotter who was keeping me updated the entire time. It definitely was a little tense for a minute.”
While dad JR Roahrig was very proud of son Tyler, things definitely would have heated up if he were able to catch up to the No. 24 during the closing laps.
“It’s cool that Tyler won, but I would have rather beat him and if I could have passed him I would have,” JR Roahrig said. “It’s just really cool to be able to add him to list of winners and have a father-son duo on the list. He is really on a roll this year, he’s won every big race except for the (Kalamazoo) Klash and he was right there on that one. He’s just really got it figured out.”
Harold Fair, fast qualifier Scott Hantz and Michigan’s Chad Finley completed the top five behind the Roarhig duo.
28th Running of the Glass City 200 Results
1 | 24 | Tyler Roahrig |
2 | 25 | JR Roahrig |
3 | 71 | Harold Fair |
4 | 72 | Scott Hantz |
5 | 42 | Chad Finley |
6 | 8C | Dakota Carlson |
7 | 01 | Dennis Strickland |
8 | 15S | Michael Simko |
9 | 33 | Jake Francis |
10 | 40G | Nick Grodi |
11 | 8 | Tom O’Leary |
12 | 97 | Tom Cronewett |
13 | 0JB | Johnny Belott |
14 | 12 | Brian Bergakker |
15 | 0 | Nick Bailey |
16 | 6 | Jimmie Ward Jr |
17 | 53 | Joe Hawes |
18 | 41 | Brent Jack |
19 | 45 | Frank Jiovani |
20 | 66 | Jimmy Thiel |
21 | 9 | Mike Root |
22 | 83 | RJ White |
23 | 51 | Chris Benson |
24 | 90 | Brandon Miller |
25 | 37 | Terry Senneker Jr |
26 | 41J | Hunter Jack |
27 | 54H | Steve Hawes |
28 | 44 | Paul Pelletier |
-By Mikayla Kugler, Speed51.com Midwest Correspondent –Twitter: @mikaylakugler
-Photo credit: Speed51.com