CARSON FERGUSON CAPTURES $10,000 “BILL HENDREN MEMORIAL” AT PITTSBURGH TO BECOME 11TH DIFFERENT WINNER IN 12 HOVIS RUSH LATE MODEL FLYNN’S TIRE/GUNTER’S HONEY TOUR RACES IN 2026; 58 CARS FROM 10 STATES & CANADA SHATTER PRIOR EVENT & TRACK RECORD

By Mike Leone

October 3, 2026               FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Imperial, PA)...After a rainout on Friday night, the Hovis Auto & Truck Supply RUSH Dirt Late Model Flynn’s Tire/Gunter’s Honey Touring Series returned to Pittsburgh PA Motor Speedway on a beautiful Saturday evening for the final time of the season.  Race #12 of the rain-plagued 2026 season, which was the “Bill Hendren Memorial”, was part of the “Pittsburgher” with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series and was contested in front of a packed grandstand and live on FloRacing.  An all-time Pittsburgh and event record 58 cars from 10 different states and Ontario, Canada were on hand; it was the largest contingent ever from the Mid-Atlantic!  The prior track record was 51 on two occasions in 2018 for the “Jook George Steel City Classic” and for the opening night of the 2025 “Bill Hendren Memorial” 

Special thanks to FK Rod Ends, City Chevrolet, Pro Fabrication, Hendren Racing Engines, West Mifflin Collision, CrateInsider.com, and Branden Lockwich for their sponsorship of the "Bill Hendren Memorial” as nearly $18,000 was added to the purse!  It marked the 11^th straight year the “Bill Hendren Memorial” has been held at Pittsburgh and the 14^th consecutive year in the Northeast under the RUSH banner.

Last year, Carson Ferguson made his RUSH debut a winning one capturing night one of the “Bill Hendren Memorial” for a $4,000 payday.  On Saturday night, Ferguson returned to Pittsburgh and went fourth to first on the opening lap of the feature and was never challenged throughout the 40-lap affair as only one caution slowed his run to the $10,000 payday.  Ferguson became the season’s 11^th different driver to celebrate in the Landrum Performance Springs Victory Lane in 12 races!

“My car was a dream to drive and drove itself- it’s a brand-new Longhorn,” expressed the 26-year-old Lincolnton, North Carolina invader.  “I have to thank Cameron Tribble for allowing me to drive it, all the sponsors on this thing, all the help, my fiancé for going up down the road with me, and the fans for coming out.  They left the top open for me on the start and luckily everything played out for me.  The lapped cars did their job of holding their lines.  A shoutout to the Hendren Family- this is our second time winning this race.  When we ran crates, we ran Hendren engines so this is a full circle moment and hopefully they can come back next year.”

National Dirt Late Model Hall of Famer, Darrell Lanigan, and track regular, Tom Klein, led the 26-car starting field to green.  Ferguson had a clear lane around the top of “Dirt’s Monster Half-Mile” as he shot from fourth into the lead barely nipping Lanigan at the start-finish line to lead the opening lap as Michael Norris and Mason Zeigler also dropped Klein back to fifth.

By lap four, Ferguson began to pull away, while Norris challenged Lanigan for second.  By the time Ferguson caught the back of the pack on lap eight, he had opened up a lead of 2.86 seconds.  Norris was finally able to get under and past Lanigan for second on lap 13.  Zeigler then followed in Norris’ tracks driving to the inside and by Lanigan for third on lap 14.  Seventh starting Dillon Brown entered contention when he raced by Lanigan for fourth 17.

The event’s only caution was for track regular, Clinton Hersh, who slowed on lap 22 and left a trail of fluids on the frontstretch.  Ferguson chose the outside for the double-file restart and got a great restart in the IllusionCoats Powder Coating “Firing Zone”, while Zeigler slid Norris for second and Brown followed in third later on lap 23.  Norris continued to fade as he lost fourth to ninth starting Max Blair on lap 25.

Back up front, Ferguson had once again set sail and caught traffic on lap 30.  Ferguson got hung up in lapped traffic on a couple occasions in the ensuing laps allowing Zeigler to close in, but Ferguson then was able to open up more separation in the final laps.  And when the checkered flag waved, Ferguson’s margin of victory was 3.940 seconds in the Cameron Tribble-owned, Tribble Electric/Stewart Performance & Sales/Armour Metals-sponsored #1.

(Note: Following a thorough post-race inspection and teardown, Ferguson’s engine met the rules set forth in the Chevrolet Performance 604 Technical Manual.  The results will be official once the fuel and tire samples that were taken are verified to be in compliance.)    

Zeigler earned $5,000 for his runner-up finish.  “I started gaining on him (Ferguson) in lapped traffic but then he got in clean air and would get away,” explained the 34-year-old Ohiopyle, Pa. resident.  “We’re running around there wide open, not lifting, and never sideways, but he was still able to pull away from us so I’m not sure what to do to get any better.  Those guys are good at it and for us only racing the crate car twice a year- we’ll take it.  Thank you to the fans for sticking it out in this cold weather.  I can’t thank everyone enough and look forward to racing this again.”

Brown was third for $2,500 in his first RUSH start of 2026, and also received a $100 bonus from anonymous donor named Bill.  “What a facility,” acknowledged the 33-year-old Gaffney, South Carolina racer.  “I wish this place was a little closer.  This is a really, really nice facility and it races like no other.  You folks don’t realize what you have here.  I appreciate Pittsburgh Speedway, the Hendrens for having the memorial, and RUSH for having us.  Carson (Ferguson) was gone- he was really good.  Congratulations to him and Zeigler.  We probably had a second or third place car; we could have maybe swapped with Zeigler, but Max could have gotten me.  I’m just appreciative for the opportunity.”

Blair, who won last year’s $10,000 “Bill Hendren Memorial”, was making just his second RUSH start of the season after winning the $20,000 “Bill Emig Memorial” on June 27 at Lernerville Speedway and finished fourth for $2,000.  Norris, who won the $6,100 “Jook George Steel City Classic” on July 25 at Pittsburgh, crossed the finish in fifth for $1,500.

Dave Hess, Jr. went 11^th to 6^th for $1,200 in his first Pittsburgh start since July 27, 2024.  Demetrios Drellos raced from 15^th to 7^th for $1,000 as he’s finished in the top 10 in all 12 events this season.  Drellos also overtook five-time Flynn’s Tire/Gunter’s Honey Touring Series Champion, Jeremy Wonderling, by one-point! 

After starting on the pole, Lanigan dropped to eighth at the finish aboard Joe Zulisky’s #58TAZ.  Zulisky’s Seal-Tite Paving & Excavating has been the “Official Paver” of RUSH and an associate sponsor of the “Bill Emig Memorial” each of the past two years.  Ben Easler, who won the last Colussy Chevrolet Weekly Series event at Pittsburgh one-week ago, was ninth for his first top 10 on the Tour in three months.  Klein faded to 10^th, but was still good enough for his career best Tour finish in six years of trying! 

Wonderling raced from 22^nd to 12^th to earn the $100 Big Daddy’s Speed Center/Hoosier Tire Western PA Hard Charger gift card.  Garret Paugh was 13^th and received a spoiler kit from Ontime Body & Graphic.  Jason Knowles received a $100 bonus for finishing 19^th in the feature from Paul Duratz, a friend of Steve Hendren.  Joe Szymanski made his first ever Flynn’s Tire/Gunter’s Honey Tour start and was selected as the Close Racing Supply “Tough Break of the Night” after crashing in warmups, which ended his night.  Szymanski received a $100 CRS gift card. 

Brodie Oravetz, who is a rookie on the Flynn’s Tire/Gunter’s Honey Tour, passed Ryan Hare on the next-to-last lap to win the $400 Real Merchant Services DMV Non-Qualifier at his home track.  The 22-year-old from nearby Oakdale, Pa. became the amazing 94^th different winner in 119 Non-Qualifier events all-time aboard his Cronin Enterprises/Classic Ink/Imperial Tire/FK Rod Ends/D1 Dumpster Rental/Victory Seats/ML Inserts-sponsored #91B.  After leading the first eight laps, Hare was second for $300 and also received a $50 Holley Performance gift card for being the first feature non-qualifier.  Canadian Steve Baldwin went sixth to third in his first RUSH start of 2026.  Bill Holmes III was fourth over Kyle Zimmerman.

Klein started off the night fastest in Schneider Trucks Hot Laps with a lap of 18.926 and received $50.  Ferguson set fast time overall against the 58-car field in FK Rod Ends “Shock the Clock” Qualifying with a lap of 18.704 and received $100.  Winning the $25 FK Rod Ends heat races were Ferguson, Zeigler, Klein, Lanigan, Norris, and Paugh.  The trio of last chance B mains were won by Hersh, National Sprint Car Hall of Famer Tim Shaffer, and Daryl Charlier.

Ferguson won the Sunoco Dash and received a $100 Sunoco Fuel card.  Also receiving $100 Sunoco Fuel cards as part of the “Fill’er up with Sunoco Bucks” presented by Bazell Race Fuels were Tour racers Drellos and Oravetz, while the $50 Sunoco Fuel cards went to Trevor A. Collins, Marino Angelicchio, Rob Coffaro, and Joe Martin ($50).

Landrum Performance Springs, which will award a $5,000 Loyalty Bonus at the season ending event, distributed BOGO certificates, were won by Steve Powell, Jake Gunn, Cory Sines, Jesse Wisecarver & Trevor N. Collins.

The final event for the 2026 season for the Flynn’s Tire/Gunter's Honey Touring Series will be the “Steel City Stampede” at Lernerville Speedway October 15-17.  Practice will take place on Thursday with qualifying, heat races, and the dash on Friday night followed by the remainder of the program on Saturday night.  The rain date is Sunday.

Hovis Auto & Truck Supply RUSH Late Model Flynn’s Tire/Gunter's Honey Touring Series “Bill Hendren Memorial” Race #12 (40 laps, $10,000 to-win): 1. CARSON FERGUSON (Tribble 1)  2. Mason Zeigler (25z)  3. Dillon Brown (6)  4. Max Blair (Centerline 111)  5. Michael Norris (Dabecco 1)  6. Dave Hess, Jr. (Anderson 44)  7. Demetrios Drellos (111)  8. Darrell Lanigan (Zulisky 58TAZ)  9. Ben Easler (02)  10. Tom Klein (77)  11. Christian Schneider (56)  12. Jeremy Wonderling (3J)  13. Garret Paugh (02)  14. Daryl Charlier (Dobnak 42)  15. Michael Reft (9R)  16. Trevor A. Collins (72)  17. Cole Petrelle (84)  18. Trevor N. Collins (2)  19. Jason Knowles (4)  20. Jacob Billyk (4)  21. Brandon Burgoon (Chernik 5x)  22. Clinton Hersh (16)  23. Tim Shaffer (45)  24. Cody Dawson (36)  25. Joe Martin (Stockdale 31)  26. Colby Beighey (36).  (Note: Cody Dawson took a Tour provisional & Jacob Billyk a Track provisional).

Real Merchant Services DMV Jewelers Non-Qualifier (10 laps, $400 to-win): 1. Brodie Oravetz (91B)  2. Ryan Hare (29)  3. Steve Baldwin (5)  4. Bill Holmes III (8)  5. Kyle Zimmerman (Stockdale 101)  6. Anthony Monteparte (66)  7. Tommy Schirnhofer, Jr. (8s)  8. Jesse Wisecarver (55)  9. Cody Koteles (Beach 33x)  10. Steve Powell (51)  11. Chuck Medved (2M)  12. Rob Coffaro (24c)  13. Greg Goble (21G)  14. Davin Kaiser (Seals 00).  DNS: Marino Angelicchio (55), Ashton Briggs (11A), Cory Sines (25s), Cale Schwartzmiller (28s), Mat Vanderlinden (09), Dusty Waters (14w), Matt Benard (15), Zach Gunn (17G), Amanda Robinson (Dutchstar 4), Kurt Stebbins (26), Tony Musolino (Dobnak 42D), Kassidy Kamicker (72B), Jake Gunn (14G), Tony Magill (M5), Jackson Billyk (5), Matt Hill (84), Donnie Tingle (74), Joe Szymanski (T1D).

Car Count: 58
Feature Margin of Victory: 3.940 seconds
Feature Lap Leaders: Carson Ferguson (1-40)

Close Racing Supply “Tough Brake of the Night: Joe Syzmanski

Hoosier Tire Western PA/Big Daddy’s Speed Center Hard Charger: Jeremy Wonderling (+10)

Holley Performance Group “Nosed Out”: Ryan Hare

Landrum Performance Springs BOGO Certificates: Steve Powell, Jake Gunn, Cory Sines, Jesse Wisecarver & Trevor N. Collins (#2)

Ontime Body & Graphic “Spoiler Alert” Spoiler Kit: Garret Paugh

Schneider Trucks “Hottest of the Hot” Fastest in Hot Laps: Tom Klein (18.926)

Sunoco Fuel Card Winners presented by Bazell Race Fuels: Demetrios Drellos ($100), Brodie Oravetz ($100), Trevor A. Collins ($50), Marino Angelicchio ($50), Rob Coffaro ($50), Joe Martin ($50)

3^rd Place in the Feature $100 from Anonymous Donor: Dillon Brown

19^th Place in the Feature $100 from Paul Duratz: Jason Knowles

FK Rod Ends “Shock the Clock” Qualifying Flight A ($100 for fast time) (Track record 18.332 by Michael Norris 9/29/23): 1. 1F-Carson Ferguson, 18.704[29]; 2. 25Z-Mason Zeigler, 18.723[11]; 3. 77-Tom Klein, 18.765[21]; 4. 6-Dillon Brown, 18.845[20]; 5. 111-Max Blair, 18.967[18]; 6. 44-Dave Hess Jr, 19.017[24]; 7. 56-Christian Schneider, 19.036[14]; 8. 111D-Demetrios Drellos, 19.110[5]; 9. 4-Jason Knowles, 19.124[13]; 10. 17G-Zach Gunn, 19.184[16]; 11. 8-Bill Holmes, 19.275[22]; 12. 15B-Matthew Benard, 19.278[19]; 13. 16-Clinton Hersh, 19.285[23]; 14. 26-Kurt Stebbins, 19.288[3]; 15. 36-Cody Dawson, 19.329[7]; 16. 11A-Ashton Briggs, 19.347[28]; 17. 09-Mat Vanderlinden, 19.459[8]; 18. 72-Trevor Collins, 19.527[4]; 19. 14G-Jake Gunn, 19.549[2]; 20. 66-Anthony Monteparte, 19.551[17]; 21. 42D-Tony Musolino, 19.597[26]; 22. 29-Ryan Hare, 19.664[27]; 23. 3J-Jeremy Wonderling, 19.670[25]; 24. 25S-Cory Sines, 19.848[12]; 25. 51P-Steven Powell, 20.395[1]; 26. 2M-Chuck Medved, 20.445[10]; 27. 8S-Tommy Schirnhofer Jr, 20.445[15]; 28. 5-Jackson Billyk, NT; 29. T1D-Joe Szymanski, NT.

FK Rod Ends “Shock the Clock” Qualifying Flight B (Track record 18.332 by Michael Norris 9/29/23): 1. 5X-Brandon Burgoon, 18.913[8]; 2. N1-Michael Norris, 18.923[27]; 3. 5B-Steve Baldwin, 18.956[1]; 4. 58TAZ-Darrell Lanigan, 19.004[19]; 5. 84P-Cole Petrelle, 19.019[23]; 6. 03-Garret Paugh, 19.023[18]; 7. 84-Matt Hill, 19.029[24]; 8. 36B-Colby Beighey, 19.040[5]; 9. 55A-Marino Angelicchio, 19.063[6]; 10. 45-Tim Shaffer, 19.180[15]; 11. 2-Trevor Collins, 19.190[20]; 12. 31-Joe Martin, 19.206[26]; 13. 91B-Brodie Oravetz, 19.212[13]; 14. 42-Daryl Charlier, 19.230[12]; 15. 02-Ben Easler, 19.243[10]; 16. 101-Kyle Zimmerman, 19.310[25]; 17. 00-Davin Kaiser, 19.374[22]; 18. M5-Tony Magill, 19.401[3]; 19. 55-Jesse Wisecarver, 19.568[11]; 20. 4B-Jacob Billyk, 19.569[4]; 21. 72B-Kassidy Kamicker, 19.572[29]; 22. 9R-Mike Reft, 19.583[28]; 23. 28S-Cale Schwartzmiller, 19.709[9]; 24. 4A-Amanda Robinson, 19.748[14]; 25. 33X-Cody Koteles, 19.774[2]; 26. 74T-Donnie Tingle, 20.131[7]; 27. 21G-Greg Goble, 20.335[17]; 28. 24C-Rob Coffaro, 20.612[21]; 29. 14W-Dusty Waters, 20.701[16].

FK Rod Ends Heat 1 (8 laps, Top 3 transfer to A, $25 to-win): 1. 1F-Carson Ferguson[1]; 2. 6-Dillon Brown[2]; 3. 56-Christian Schneider[3]; 4. 16-Clinton Hersh[5]; 5. 29-Ryan Hare[8]; 6. 14G-Jake Gunn[7]; 7. 11A-Ashton Briggs[6]; 8. 17G-Zach Gunn[4]; 9. 51P-Steven Powell[9]. DNS: 5-Jackson Billyk.

FK Rod Ends Heat 2 (8 laps, Top 3 transfer to A, $25 to-win): 1. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[1]; 2. 111-Max Blair[2]; 3. 111D-Demetrios Drellos[3]; 4. 26-Kurt Stebbins[5]; 5. 3J-Jeremy Wonderling[8]; 6. 8-Bill Holmes[4]; 7. 66-Anthony Monteparte[7]; 8. 09-Mat Vanderlinden[6]; 9. 2M-Chuck Medved[9]. DNS: T1D-Joe Szymanski.

FK Rod Ends Heat 3 (8 laps, Top 3 transfer to A, $25 to-win): 1. 77-Tom Klein[1]; 2. 44-Dave Hess Jr[2]; 3. 72-Trevor Collins[6]; 4. 8S-Tommy Schirnhofer Jr[9]; 5. 4-Jason Knowles[3]; 6. 15B-Matthew Benard[4]; 7. 25S-Cory Sines[8]; 8. 42D-Tony Musolino[7]; 9. 36-Cody Dawson[5].

FK Rod Ends Heat 4 (8 laps, Top 3 transfer to A, $25 to-win): 1. 58TAZ-Darrell Lanigan[2]; 2. 9R-Mike Reft[8]; 3. 5X-Brandon Burgoon[1]; 4. 45-Tim Shaffer[4]; 5. 91B-Brodie Oravetz[5]; 6. 101-Kyle Zimmerman[6]; 7. 55-Jesse Wisecarver[7]; 8. 33X-Cody Koteles[9]; 9. 24C-Rob Coffaro[10]; 10. 84-Matt Hill[3].

FK Rod Ends Heat 5 (8 laps, Top 3 transfer to A, $25 to-win): 1. N1-Michael Norris[1]; 2. 84P-Cole Petrelle[2]; 3. 36B-Colby Beighey[3]; 4. 42-Daryl Charlier[5]; 5. 2-Trevor Collins[4]; 6. 14W-Dusty Waters[10]; 7. 00-Davin Kaiser[6]; 8. 28S-Cale Schwartzmiller[8]; 9. 74T-Donnie Tingle[9]; 10. 4B-Jacob Billyk[7].

FK Rod Ends Heat 6 (8 laps, Top 3 transfer to A, $25 to-win): 1. 03-Garret Paugh[2]; 2. 02-Ben Easler[5]; 3. 31-Joe Martin[4]; 4. 4A-Amanda Robinson[8]; 5. 55A-Marino Angelicchio[3]; 6. 5B-Steve Baldwin[1]; 7. 72B-Kassidy Kamicker[7]; 8. 21G-Greg Goble[9]; 9. M5-Tony Magill[6].

Last Chance B Main 1 (10 laps, Top 2 transfer to A): 1. 16-Clinton Hersh[1]; 2. 3J-Jeremy Wonderling[4]; 3. 29-Ryan Hare[3]; 4. 11A-Ashton Briggs[7]; 5. 8-Bill Holmes[6]; 6. 66-Anthony Monteparte[8]; 7. 09-Mat Vanderlinden[10]; 8. 51P-Steven Powell[11]; 9. 2M-Chuck Medved[12]; 10. 17G-Zach Gunn[9]; 11. 26-Kurt Stebbins[2]. DNS: 14G-Jake Gunn, 5-Jackson Billyk & T1D-Joe Szymanski.

Last Chance B Main 2 (10 laps, Top 2 transfer to A): 1. 45-Tim Shaffer[2]; 2. 4-Jason Knowles[3]; 3. 91B-Brodie Oravetz[4]; 4. 25S-Cory Sines[7]; 5. 101-Kyle Zimmerman[6]; 6. 33X-Cody Koteles[10]; 7. 55-Jesse Wisecarver[8]; 8. 24C-Rob Coffaro[12]; 9. 15B-Matthew Benard[5]; 10. 8S-Tommy Schirnhofer Jr[1]; 11. 42D-Tony Musolino[9]; 12. 36-Cody Dawson[11]. DNS: 84-Matt Hill.

Last Chance B Main 3 (10 laps, Top 2 transfer to A): 1. 42-Daryl Charlier[1]; 2. 2-Trevor Collins[3]; 3. 55A-Marino Angelicchio[4]; 4. 00-Davin Kaiser[7]; 5. 5B-Steve Baldwin[6]; 6. 28S-Cale Schwartzmiller[9]; 7. 14W-Dusty Waters[5]; 8. 4B-Jacob Billyk[13]; 9. 21G-Greg Goble[10]; 10. 4A-Amanda Robinson[2]. DNS: 72B-Kassidy Kamicker, M5-Tony Magill & 74T-Donnie Tingle.

Sunoco Dash (6 laps, $100 Sunoco fuel card to win): 1. 58TAZ-Darrell Lanigan[2]; 2. 77-Tom Klein[1]; 3. N1-Michael Norris[4]; 4. 1F-Carson Ferguson[5]; 5. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[6]; 6. 03-Garret Paugh[3].

The RUSH Racing Series is brought to you by Hovis Auto & Truck Supply together with Born2Run Lubricants along with the support of Hoosier Tire, Sunoco Race Fuels, Bazell Race Fuels, Insinger Performance, Colussy Chevrolet Flynn's Tire, Gunter's Honey, Rustler Sales & Service, MSD Performance, Holley Performance Products, FK Rod Ends, Capital Contracting Service, Joseph J. Oliva Attorney at Law, Schoenfeld Headers, Jones Racing Products, Landrum Performance Springs, Russ King Racing, 3C Graphix, Velocita-USA, Wieland Metal Services, Real Merchant Services DMV, IllusionCoats Powder Coating, Hoosier Tire Western Pennsylvania/Big Daddy's Speed Center, Close Racing Supply, Keyser Manufacturing/Integra Racing Shocks, Seal-Tite Paving & Excavating, MotoRad, Schneider Trucks, Ontime Body & Graphic, Henry's Headers & Exhaust Systems, D&V Jewelers, AERO Race Wheels, Racing Electronics, Design Creations, and Competition Crate Parts.

E-mail can be sent to the RUSH Racing Series at [email protected] and snail mail to 4368 Route 422, Pulaski, PA 16143. Office phone is 724-964-9300.  The RUSH Late Model website is www.rushlatemodels.com. Like our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/rushlatemodels and follow us on X (formerly known as Twitter) @RUSHLM.