McKean County Raceway held it's Championship Night on August 23 and Raceway Magazine was there.  It was a great night of racing.  Here are some of the highlights as captured by the lens of Jay Pees.

15 year old Mark Schweikert captured the feature win in the Pure Stocks and also his first Championship at the 1/3 mile oval in East Smethport, PA.

Schweikert and Brad Curran race for the lead early in the event.

Back in the pack action was 3-4 wide for much of the event.

Mark Schweikart was the dominant force in Pure Stock action in 2008.

Second-generation driver Steve Dixon took the honors for the Super Stock Championship.  Steve led from the outside pole position until the final run to the checkers when he was edged for the win by Bruce Miller.

The Super Stock finish was this close.  Miller, who had started fifth, caught Dixon in the waning laps and made the pass coming out of the final turn in the run to the checkers.  Dixon was crowned the Champion with Dan Cobb ending the season second.

Dan Cobb had a great season, ending in the runner-up position in points.

Bruce Miller in Victory Lane.

Steve Dixon talks with Rod Biehler after winning the championship after an extremely close feature race finish.

This is one of the things that makes this sport special.  Here the top two drivers in the FASTRAK division have a chat prior to strapping into their cars to do battle for a Championship.  John Lacki is on the left and was the defending McKean County Raceway Champion.  Going into the final points feature of the season, Lacki trailed the young rising star to his left, third-generation star, 18 year old Max Blair by 19 points.  One can only imagine the topic of conversation.

Lacki fell back early from his front row start, but recovered to finish third, behind Mike Wonderling.

Kyle Zimmerman raced at McKean for the first time and was quite impressive, coming from last on the starting grid to finish fourth.

Kyle Drum started the race third due to his position in the points after a good season that saw the former open-wheel standout gain his first feature win at McKean.  Drum ran second to Blair for much of the race but spun on lap 19.  Drum did manage to recover to seventh at the checkers.

Blair was flawless in his quest for the win and the season title.

A happy Max Blair in Victory Lane with track announcer Rod Biehler.  Blair was very gracious in the interview praising the management of MCR for making him feel at home when he first showed up in the spring.  Although Blair had not initially planned on running the season at McKean, the friendliness of the officials and the general atmosphere of the speedway kept him coming back.  Blair stated he will again be a regular here in 2009.  Editor's note: Blair is absolutely correct in his assessment of the management.  They are among the best ever in this sport.

Max Blair in Victory Lane.

Vic Vena raced to a fourth place finish.

Mike Eschrich drove to a 9th place at the end of the evening.

Travis Asel had a win earlier in the season and was third on this night.

The veteran Al Brewer had an eighth place car at the finish.

Randy Hall is the winningest driver in MCR E-Mod history.  In Victory Lane Hall noted this was about his 150th E-Mod win.

Randy Hall and his son in Victory Lane again.

This was the story of the Street Stock finale for the first half of the event.  Three wide much of the time with Adam Sixt and Chris Austin  being challenged by Rich "Critter" Hemphill.  Austin would uncharacteristically fall back later in the event to sixth, but Hemphill stayed right with Sixt as the youngster went on to the win and the Championship.

Adam Sixt, newly crowned Street Stock Champion at McKean County Raceway.