The show continues to grow at Franklin County. As July rolled by Independence Day, a new event hit the calendar as the “Petey Caldwell Memorial” Mini Stock race. The lead up was quite popular with entries growing up to race day.
The evening ticket also included a double shot of Stock-4 to open and close, Super Street, Virginia Vintage, Legends and Limited Sportsman. The evening was also split with kids racing their bikes and spectators taking to the track for competitive one lap drag racing.
The evening racing did throw a few curves with some disqualified racers. Wes Givens (#7) in the first Stock-4 race was knocked off the third place spot and the Legends race winner, Anthony Freedle, was also called a DQ pulling Chris Lilly into a late night “Winner’s Circle”. The details of the DQ of these spots is unknown at the time of this writing. Givens did make up for it with a hard fought win in the Stock-4 finale.
And it was hard fought. The double digit “Mini Stock” field had plenty of drama but it was mostly behind the pole sitter, Dennis Holdern. Some spot changes and spins from contact or rolling too hard on the throttle caused the yellow to come out and took the toll with some drivers leaving the track. The top five stayed mostly up front to the finish as Holdern took the checkers.
The Stock-4 finale was a hot run to end on. Hard pressing and three wide in the final laps showed the drive to win in the series. At the finish after a sideways drive down the front stretch it was Wes Givens there for the win.
The Vintage racers put on a quality show as those old race cars turned laps with a soulful look back at driving and style. The racing was distinctive and distinguished as those vintage lines took the laps.
A holiday weekend may have pulled from some of the classes but the laps were rolling hard for the whole of it. The Legends are always fast but a disqualification shook the post race lineup. The actual winner was declared later in the evening with Chris Lily getting pushed to the win.
The holiday did put a dent in the Sportsman count but even with six starting the show kept the drive. The drive was still impressive as Kyle Dudley, a repeat winner, was forced to start near the back. It took five laps for him to drive the #4 to the front and hold the line to the end.
Racing at Franklin County is pushing it for the fans. The eye is on the show and the experience and the work is showing.
Top Three from the evening racing is below – Full resorts online with Franklin County Raceway
| STOCK 4 – Race 1 Jaden Austin, Gary Smith, Wes Givens(DQ), Trey Cooper STOCK 4 – Race 2 Wes Givens, Gary Smith, Jaden Austin | VA VINTAGE MODIFIED Dwight Sauls, Preston Clark, Kason Howe VA VINTAGE SPORTSMAN Bobby Griffin, Susan Kimel, Shawn Otey |
| MINI STOCK Dennis Holdern, Doodle Lang, Scott Foley | SUPER STREET Taylor Ransom, Daniel Eakin, Ryan Collins |
| LEGENDS Anthony Freedle(DQ), Chris Lilly, Carter Weedon, Gary Smith | LIMITED SPORTSMAN Kyle Dudley, Drew Bond, Daryn Cockram |
Photo Gallery from July 5, 2025 – Franklin County Raceway
