The end of the Money Trail at Maple Grove

They endured very hot and muggy summer days, along with several weekends that featured back-to-back races. It paid off in the end for five Maple Grove Raceway drivers who journeyed on the Sunoco Race Fuels Money Trail through all of that.

Here are the 2010 champions and the road they took to get to the top:

Super Eliminator winner Mark Price, right, with a crewmember in Victory Lane after winning the Aug. 7 race. The Collegeville, Pa., driver ended up with 501 points, 15 ahead of Mike Yarnall. He had perfect attendance, running in all 17 completed races. Only lost in the first round four times, three of which were subtracted from his total under this season’s rules. Had a good stretch run and secured the title with a quarterfinal finish in the season finale.

Pro winner Dan Smith, left, is congratulated by runner-up Tim Rambo after winning the Money Trail season opener on May 8. The Morgantown, Pa., racer earned 589 in his ’89 Beretta, holding off Mike Barber by a mere 7 points. He had three wins and one runner-up finish. Smith kept pace by racking up rounds and was especially hot in the Second Session (races 8 to 14), when he didn’t get eliminated earlier than the third round in any race. Held off late charge from Barber by taking a runner-up finish in the season ender.

Street champion Paul Werner, far left, and his fan club know who’s No. 1 afterthe Aug. 1 race. From Sinking Spring, Pa., Werner drove his 1980 Malibu wagon to 521 points, beating Steve Werley by 85 points. Werner had two wins and three RUs. He took a few races off, but it didn’t matter as Werner successfully defended his ’09 title. A strong start – one win, one runner-up and a quarterfinal finish – over his first three races put him along the top of the standings, which is where he stayed as other rivals either faded toward the end or didn’t start catching up until it was too late.

Joe Stuebner, right, and his family make another trip to Victory Lane. Stuebner got the Top Bike championship with 465 points, beating Cory Stuebner by 65 points. From Hamburg, Pa., he had three wins and three runners-up.

Another ’09 champ keeping the title, Stuebner found his groove toward the end with a win, a runner-up and two semifinal finishes over the final five races.

Joe Dedrick, left, and his buddy Jake Knarr smile after another day of several round wins. Dedrick, Bally, Pa., racked up 471 points to take the Junior Dragster trophy, narrowly beating Zach Rotherberger by 6 points. Dedrick was a model of efficiency throughout the season. He didn’t win a race, but was racking up points through five second-place finishes, two semifinal finishes and two quarterfinal finishes. In fact, Dedrick was knocked out in the first round only twice the entire year. Rothenberger almost caught him in the final race, but was eliminated in the semis. (Evan Jones photos) [9/13/2010]