Dan Stone’s path in the first half of Appalachian Mountain Speedweek hasn’t been easy. He’s been forced to rally through consolation races in three of the four miniseries events to earn some kind of reward come feature time. 

Cashing a paycheck in Tuesday’s fourth-round miniseries event at Path Valley Speedway Park, on the other hand, finally wasn’t burdensome for the 46-year-old. Thanks to Mother Nature and a generous decision by miniseries director Jim Bernheisel, the veteran racer from Thompson, Pa., cheerfully took home $800 he otherwise wouldn’t have expected.

Because preliminary events were complete prior to the 35-lap, $4,000-to-win feature raining out at the quarter-mile, and because no makeup date could be found for the Speedweek event that drew 43 Super Late Models, Tuesday’s program was deemed official by Bernheisel and track officials. Therefore, Bernheisel had to think of a sensible way to distribute the event’s $19,775 purse. The resolution? Pay all feature starters an even $823.96, equally dividing the purse among the scheduled 24 starters.

“This is great for us,” said Stone, who was going to start 21st in Tuesday’s feature, a position that pays $400 upon the feature finish. “We were only going to get like $400 and we come away with $800. For us, I feel like it’s the best possible outcome. Tomorrow the weather looks bad, so it’d be hard for them to make the show up. I don’t think they want to drag this deal longer than what the footprint it originally had anyway.”

Stone isn’t only thinking for himself either. In many cases, race programs that end in a washout and without the feature even taking the green are grounds for racetracks and/or series to keep the purse money for themselves, sending competitors home with reimbursements of pit passes, for instance. Stone’s appreciative that every feature qualifier, not just himself, walked away with the equivalent of a sixth-place purse finish.

“You know what, I think they could tell us they’re going to give us our money back for the armbands and cancel it (without paying the drivers),” Stone said. “We didn’t run any of the feature and we’re getting paid, so that’s pretty good, I think.

“They tried to get the show in. They obviously weren’t going to get with the last rain that killed them, and there’s a lot more that’s coming now. For us, this is the best possibly situation, for sure; for at least probably the back half of the field. The front guys lose out a little bit, but I know Jim kind of pulled everybody and they kind of voted to split it up. That was nice of them, too, you know?"

Tuesday’s program-nixing rain showers weren’t in the forecast for much of the day, really until hot laps around 6 p.m. It threw Bernheisel for a loop, as for everyone else that had anything to do with Tuesday’s show at the quarter-mile. When it became unlikely the feature would start and reach its conclusion, Bernheisel polled the pit area and came to a consensus.

“I went around and talked to everybody before, knowing that the weather didn’t look good as that front kept hitting us, and everybody was really cool with it,” Bernheisel said. “They were understanding it was a bad situation and we had to make the best of it. The track was cool. They worked hard and they wanted to have it. They really wanted to have the race. They were excited with the turnout … with the car count.

“It just didn’t work out. The good Lord had other ideas. I was joking with people today, God really blessed us. It rained up until race time Friday night (at Clinton County Speedway in Mill Hall, Pa.). And then we got to race Friday, Saturday (at Pennsylvania’s Port Royal Speedway) and Sunday (at Maryland’s Hagerstown Speedway). It rained all day yesterday and it was nice today.

“I guess God decided he was really in control here,” Bernheisel added through a laugh. “It’s all right.”

As for the miniseries standings, 50 points were granted to the 24 feature qualifiers. Stone, while a distant 155 points behind leader Tyler Emory in the miniseries title race, is still racing for something in the Speedweek standings. Only the top 10 in miniseries standings receive a cut of the point fund and Stone wants to ensure he’s one of those drivers.

What Stone respected most about Tuesday’s decision was that Bernheisel, largely because he’s a racer himself and knows the stressors of almost every side of the business, looked out for the interest of racers.

“He’s kind of wore every hat. The car owner, car builder, promoter, series director … I think they’re doing a really good job just for coming into it fresh,” Stone said of Bernheisel reviving and operating Appalachian Mountain Speedweek, dormant since 2017. “It’’s not like they were able to get a bunch of the staff for anything from the old series. They’re kind of figuring it out as they go. I think there’s a lot of stuff you don’t even think about going it. Like, incidental stuff you don’t even think about. I think it’s going well. I’m sure it was a ton of work for them to set this all up. We really appreciate it.”

While the series had a lot of work to do, Stone’s found himself working to gain positions every night. He’s advanced more positions — plus-22 total in features — than any other miniseries driver. Friday at Clinton County, he started 20th and finished 13th. Saturday at Port Royal, he didn’t need to fall back on a B-main and finished sixth from the ninth-starting spot. On Sunday at Hagerstown, he scrapped his way to a ninth-place finish from 21st.

“I think two of the nights this week we were tied for hard charger and then the other night we missed it by one spot?” Stone said. “We’ve been getting a slow start, but our car has really been good. The lap times are good in the feature. Like, even at Port Royal we’ve been competitive lap time wise with the leader at the end.

Stone has a maneuverable race machine when features get going. His 43 total points in qualifying this Speedweek ranks him 14th among the 22 drivers who have entered in all four events.The 240 points he’s accrued in features alone, however, is tied for sixth-most with Dylan Yoder.

“Really, we haven’t shown a lot of speed, even the last couple of years,” said Stone, whose career highlights include a pair of World of Outlaws Case Late Model Series victories. “Every once in a while we’ll hit on something, then the next night, you think, all right here we go. Then the next night you stink. To have three nights back-to-back at three different racetracks and have speed is really good, especially against really good competition like this.”

Stone believes his “car is fast enough to win, for sure” and that Path Valley “was going to be our worst track.” With Bedford (Pa.) Speedway’s hefty 5/8-mile oval up next Thursday and Friday, perhaps Stone can make his way back to the front at tracks more of his liking.

The veteran would like to carry some speed into June 22-24's Firecracker 100 at Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pa., an event that Stone loves competing in every year and where he won a WoO prelim in 2012.

“Our car seems to be better at bigger tracks,” Stone said. “I’m looking forward to the next races for sure and I think our car is good enough we can win a race or two and, if not, if we can see building and keep getting good notes and being consistently competitive, we’ll be good.”