Trenton, NJ (Saturday, February 22) – It was a good weekend to have the last name Bealer as similar to how his son Zack won the prior night, Pat Bealer showcased his patience and stormed around Anthony Perrego with a daring three-wide move through lapped traffic to win a spectacular BELFOR Property Restoration East Coast Indoor Dirt Nationals feature Saturday night in front a record crowd at CURE Insurance Arena.

“This is by far the biggest win in my 32-year career,” the Lehighton, PA driver, who raked in $5,000 for his efforts, said post-race. “It feels like a dream that my son won last night and I won tonight. I knew we had 40 laps, and I know this track starts out slick and then gets a little bite on the bottom. I was just patient and made my move on Anthony when he slipped up off the bottom. Then I tried to hit my marks every lap and it all worked out.”

Zack Bealer started the 40-lap affair on the pole and led the opening eight circuits before Perrego, of Newburgh, NY, rocketed around the outside following a lap nine restart to take command.

Meanwhile, Pat Bealer, who started sixth, didn’t make a lot of noise until lap 18 when he cracked the top five for the first time after clearing a hornet’s nest of intense racing around him.

Once settling into fifth, Bealer found a new gear, rolling around the bottom of his competitors like they were standing still to eventually put himself right on the rear bumper of Perrego for the race lead.

While Perrego fended off the relentless pressure for a couple laps, it wound up being too much as he left just enough room for Bealer to squeeze his No. 24 inside off turn two to put Perrego in the middle of a three-wide situation with a lapped car on lap 28. As the duo roared into turn three, Bealer got the advantage and hightailed it off turn four to clear into the position.

However, the remainder of the race wasn’t easy as a mirage of late-race cautions, including one for Perrego after he spun off turn two, kept the field hot on his heels.

“I was glad to see the one yellow when we were in heavy lapped traffic,” Bealer said. “But on those restarts with two or three laps to go, I knew I had to make really good starts. I was nervous, but I just had to tell myself that I was good.

On the final restart with two laps to go, Bealer surged ahead and left Kenny Miller III in the dust to go untouched all the way to the checkered flag. Keith McIntyre, Briggs Danner and Billy Pauch Jr. completed the top five.

Billy Koch raced from the C-Main and through the B-Main to finish ninth in the A-Main.

Miller scored the win in the $500 Bob Hilbert Sportswear Dash for Cash besting the top 10 competitors of the weekend’s competition. Christian Bruno and Alex Ruppert won the B-Mains.

For more information on the BELFOR Property Restoration East Coast Indoor Dirt Nationals and the Indoor Auto Racing Championship visit www.indoorautoracing.com

East Coast Indoor Dirt Nationals (40 Laps) — 1. Pat Bealer 2. Kenny Miller III 3. Keith McIntyre 4. Briggs Danner 5. Billy Pauch Jr 6. Lukas Kostic 7. Luke Thomas 8. Alex Bright 9. Billy Koch 10. Zack Bealer 11. Aidan Borden 12. Eric Jennings 13. JT Bierman 14. Jasper Zeigafuse 15. Cole Gerber 16. Marty Brian 17. Tim Buckwalter 18. Christopher Allen 19. Dominic Schmidt 20. Anthony Tramontana 21. Anthony Perrego 22. Alex Ruppert 23. Matt Warner 24. Scott Kreutter 25. Christian Bruno