Vets help new drivers on road to success
BUFFALO TWP — Upon entering the sport, it takes thousands of dollars and plenty of years to win.
And in today's economy, most people involved are feeling a budget crunch.
Yet dirt track racing remains alive and well at Lernerville Speedway.
Each Friday night, 75 race teams or more converge on the Sarver oval with hopes of being one of the four cars — in either the Sprint, Late Model, Modified or Sportsman Stock divisions — to celebrate in victory lane before the night is through.
Or to go fast, at least.
“The need for speed, that's what it is,” Modified driver Rick Regalski of Slippery Rock said. “Every one who gets behind the wheel of a car here is obsessed with the idea of going fast.
“Whether it's driving a car, go-cart, motorcycle, boat ... whatever ... we're fascinated by speed and competition.”
Now in his second full season at Lernerville, Regalski said he feels the adrenaline rush every time he takes his car to the starting lineup area.
“It's the same rush I got the first time I raced,” he said. “That feeling never goes away. Any race car driver will tell you that.”
So it goes.
The many drivers who dutifully show up each week — including 36 from Butler County — invest loads of money and plenty of time into pursuing the hobby they love.
“It does get expensive,” Late Model driver Chuck Sarver of West Sunbury said. “The first race car I ever bought was a 1960 Plymouth. I bought it for 50 bucks in 1972 and raced it at the Butler Fairgrounds.
“Today, a barrel of gas cost $500, and I'm on my third one this season. Tires cost $170 each, and you can only use them a couple of times.”
Still, Sarver insisted “It's tough to quit.”“It gets in your blood and you get hooked on it,” he said. “The friendships you form with the other drivers become pretty tight.”Without the help of other drivers, most newcomers could never get started in the sport.Steve Feder, a Modified driver from Butler, said longtime Modified driver Dave Murdick helped him buy his first race car.“Dave's still helping me out now,” Feder said. “So much goes into racing ... It's hard to pick it up on your own. You need to get advice and guidance from someone who's been doing it, just to make sure you're on the right path.”For Sportsman Stock racer Terry Young of Butler that person was fellow Stock driver Mike Gilliland.“He brought me into it, helped me get a car and showed me a few things,” Young said. “First time I was on the track, I was scared to death.”“I had this vision that everybody was going 100 mph and I couldn't get my car to turn. It's extremely intimidating and very humbling when you first go out there,” Young said.Feder is in his eighth year of dirt track racing. While he's won a couple of races at other tracks, he has never won at Lernerville.The day he finds victory lane in Sarver is the day he's waiting for.“Each year you push the envelope a little bit more,” Feder said. “Putting together a crew, working on tires, getting people in place, putting up money, it's all part of it.”
It's a process, actually, one that Lernerville General Manager Gary Risch Jr. knows plenty about.Risch raced a Modified at Lernerville for years before getting into the business side of the game.“It took me four years just to get my car on the track, eight years before I became competitive,” he said. “I didn't win a race for eight years.“But once you pull into victory lane for the first time? There is no feeling like it. You're on such a high ... Your feet aren't even on the ground.”Risch remembered his first race at Lernerville.“I was so nervous,” he said. “It's intimidating. You think you're going fast and cars are flying by you,” he said.“I just wanted to stay out of everybody's way. But you go from being that guy to actually being the guy in victory lane. It's a long struggle, such a journey. But when you finally get there, it's just indescribable,” Risch said.Young said a good bit of racing success comes from between the ears.“As you go along, you learn about and get acclimated to tire setup, your equipment gets a little better, you tweak things here and there,” he said. “ Then it becomes a mental game.“It gets hard to believe the car can do it. Then you have to believe you can do it. I don't know how long that takes. I'm still trying to get there,” Young said.
One local Sprint car driver wishing to remain anonymous has been racing for 25 years and has never won. He described the process as “slow.”“Some people have a lot more in terms of budget and pit crew than others,” he said. “I'm on an extremely tight budget, so my (equipment) is always used stuff and sometimes I'm here by myself.“What keeps me coming back? The atmosphere. Everything about it. I'll just take my time and work my way up. I can't get any worse.”While some drivers enter the sport and stay with it for years, others cut their careers short.“We generally get three or four first-year drivers every year, mostly in the Stock class,” Risch said. “It takes time, patience and a decent budget to succeed.”“Some guys disappear quick because of a lack of those things. You stick a car out on this track for the first time, and you get humbled,” Risch said.Bob Warren of Slippery Rock, in his third year of racing, recalled getting his first race car.“I get it all fixed up, ready to go, invest all that time ... well, I'm 6-foot-5 and I couldn't get in the thing. The car wouldn't fit,” Warren said, laughing. “It took me a while to find a car that would fit.”Like Young, Warren described his first race as frightening.“You start in the back and just try to hold your line,” he said. “It's a reality check. No matter how many times you've been here to watch a race, from whatever angle, it's nothing like being on that track, coming off those turns.“It looks easy from the bleachers. Believe me, it's not. That wall comes up on you a lot quicker than you think,” Warren said.Warren said much of the improvement drivers make at Lernerville comes through educating themselves.
That happens through asking questions.“All of the cars in the pit area, all of these drivers, they were all rookies once,” he said. “You ask a question to any of these guys, you'll get an answer.”Learning how to race doesn't just take place on the track each Friday night.Much of the process occurs in the garage during the week.“Every hour you're not working, you're working on the car,” Regalski said with a smile. “That's the way it feels, anyway.“Buying tires, chasing parts, fixing this, tweaking that, it's like it never ends. It's probably 30 hours a week. It's like a second job. And if you wrecked the previous week, that changes the whole deal,” Regalski said.Feder emphasized drivers bond with their crews — family members and friends alike — whether you're under the hood or under the car turning wrenches together.“We're out in the garage every night after dinner,” he said. “Beer break at 9 p.m. And we love every second of it.“Get the car on the trailer, get to the track, get it back on the trailer and get it home in one piece — that's a good week,” Feder said.
✓ Lernerville Speedway, located in Buffalo Township, began its first full dirt track racing season in 1968. The facility seats 12,000.✓ The track's all-time leader in wins is former Callery resident Bob Wearing Sr. with 179. Lynn Geisler of Cranberry Township is tied for third on the all-time victory list with 109.✓ Still racing today, Carl Murdick, 77, of Butler is the only driver to compete in every season at Lernerville. He has 12 wins there, was Modified division points champion in 1970 and has not won a race in nearly 20 years.✓ There are 36 current Butler County residents driving race cars at Lernerville this season.✓ Six of those drivers — Sarver residents Carl Bowser, John Garvin Jr., Ken Schaltenbrand, Michael Norris, Jeff Miller and Colin Burke — live only a couple of miles from the track.✓ John Flinner of Zelienople is the only driver ever to win five consecutive points championships at Lernerville. He did so in the Late Model division from 2001-05.✓ Lernerville debuts an average of three new drivers each season.
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