As summer intersects with fall, it signals the end of the 2021 auto racing season.

A few division championships have already been decided and some are on the line this Friday at Lernerville. Corey McPherson has locked in his seventh track Pro Stock championship over Joey Zambotti. Currently, he has a 55-digit lead and only 40 points can be acquired in one evening. This ties Joe Kelly's division mark of seven-crowns.

Garrett Krummert is the defending 410-Modified title-holder, but Jerimiah Shingledecker hopes to dethrone him. Shingledecker has a 12-digit lead over Krummert and 20 over Rex King Jr.

This would be his third Lernerville crown. He has already secured Tri-City Speedway's 358-Modified title. The interesting fact about his crew is that his wife Lexi is his crew chief. She cried 26 years ago when Jerimiah called her at college and told her that he bought a race car, but after the first year, Lexi agreed to help.

She didn't like just sweeping the garage and organizing tools and wanted to learn the mechanics and the science of racing. So, Jerimiah, his dad, and brother Travis slowly taught her everything they knew starting with nuts, bolts and ratchet wrenches.

As time passed, she pulled an engine by herself and is privy to information on tires, shocks and springs! After rolling out two cars in the spring, this has been an awesome year for their crew with six victories at Tri-City and two at Lernerville.

Jerimiah said, “Consistency is important. Finishing a race or as many laps as you can is essential. Good luck is the epitome!”

North Hill's Colton Flinner is excited that he has garnered his first Super Late Model Championship! Presently, he has a 48-point lead over defending 2020 two-time champion Kenny Schaltenbrand. John Johnson is the owner of #48. They were third at Port Royal Speedway.

The 2021 Sprint title is up for grabs! Brandon Matus has an 8-point lead over four-time champion AJ Flick, and is 28 digits in front of Sye Lynch in his quest for a first track championship. He has already secured the Tri-City Sprint title.

It is with a heavy heart that we send our deep condolences to Lernerville and PA Motor Speedway's pit steward “Smokey” Schempp and his family on the sudden death of 22-year-old Kyle Stramanski.Kyle grew up around both tracks, helping his grandfather at the pit board. His love for racing was evident. He was an organ donor, which is fitting, because if you knew Kyle, he was always there to lend a helping hand.

Gregg Wheeling is one of the most respected persons in automobile racing. He has held almost every position at area racetracks.Most notably he was a race director, flagman and line-up guy to name a few. At present, he is the Race Director of Penn Ohio Pro Stock Series.Their goal is to improve the division, sanction tracks, and get the drivers all on the same page rule-wise.He said, “Every local racetrack within a couple hundred miles of Lernerville now have the same rules so that Stock owners can travel to different venues and be legal!”Wheeling has now created the Inaugural Dow Carnahan Memorial Pro Stock race, scheduled to be part of Lernerville's Steel City Stampede, Oct. 16-18.He said, “For five years I have wanted to do something to remember my long-time friend and co-worker, announcer Dow Carnahan since his sudden passing.“I was concerned that I didn't have the time to do it properly. I still am, but this seemed like the best opportunity I was going to have before too much time had passed.”He added, “Dow was a low-key guy in a profession filled with a lot of big egos. I think that's what made him so successful. It didn't matter if he was at his real job in radio, or announcing college football, high school basketball or behind the microphone at Lernerville, PPMS or Motordrome. He never made the story about him.“That is my vision for this race; our low-key participation makes the story about him.”The race will pay $2,000 to win.“I am now actively seeking sponsors and others who would like to be a part of this event. All monies collected will go directly into the purse. If you would like to be part of this event please contact me via phone, text, social media or at a race track in the near future,” Wheeling said.

Lernerville public relations director Jason Shank has just reported that the 2022 Lernerville “Firecracker 100” will be sanctioned by Lucas Oil for the first time ever.The Super Late Model event will pay $50,000 to win! Big River Steel is adding $20,000 on top of the $30,000 winner's purse to boost the Saturday feature race to $50,000 to win! This will become the richest event ever held at the track.Race season endingAs the leaves start floating down to the ground, the 2021 racing season is coming to a close.We can reminisce about both its highs and lows. One of the highs that I have seen is the addition of Mike Lysakowski to the hard-working Tomson

Together they continue to make improvements helping Lernerville to remain one of the top tracks in the USA.Carol Gamble is a racing columnist for the Butler Eagle