Neiman finally breaks 10K hex

Words by Evan Jones
Photos courtesy Maple Grove Raceway

For Terry Neiman, getting to Victory Lane Saturday came after years of frustration.

Having his 1968 Nova as the last car standing at the Pro Eliminator Footbrake Nationals 10K at Maple Grove Raceway on Oct. 4 was especially satisfying for the veteran Pottstown racer, who had to get past some of the track's best drivers to get there.

And the $10,000 first prize didn't hurt, either.

"I've been in other 10-grand finals, and lost all of them," said Neiman, who has been racing regularly at Atco, N.J., in 2009. "This is the icing on the cake. I've had this car for 35 years, since high school, and nothing else. It was tough. We had people from everywhere racing today. We were on."

In Sunday’s 5K eliminations, Jeff Jewell (Bangor, Pa.) a regular at Old Bridge Raceway Park in New Jersey was the winner in his ‘67 Chevy, beating Maple Grove racer Paul Thimm Jr. (Mohnton, Pa.) in the final.

Jeff Jewell got the $5,000 prize money.

Neiman beat regular Maple Grove contender Brock Moshier in the final. He made the pass in 10.58 seconds at 125.96 mph, beating Moshier (Lititz, Pa.). Moshier finished 9.292 at 132.15, but was automatically eliminated because his elapsed time was faster than his dial-in of 9.30.

With nearly 200 cars in the field, Neiman certainly had a long day of work. He had a tough competitor in Andy Anderson (York, Pa.) — who was coming off the Summit Northeast Division Pro championship the previous week — in Round 3 but used a .003 reaction time to help him get past that round. He had a double-breakout run against Matt Smith (West Chester, Pa.) in Round 4, but cut it closer to his dial-in by only .02. He then took care Thimm in the quarterfinals with another good reaction time of .019.

Another track regular, Dan Walleigh (Reading, Pa.) was waiting for him in the semifinals, but had a very good run of 10.593 at 125.99 to advance.

Moshier didn't come away empty-handed, as he took home a $3,000 prize for being the runner-up. He advanced to the final by taking out another Maple Grove regular, Martin Flegal (Ephrata, Pa.), in the semifinals with a double-breakout run in which Moshier was closer to his dial-in.