BUFFALO TWP - All is right again in the racing world of Brian Swartzlander - finally.

Swartzlander, 45, of Leechburg had grown accustomed to winning and winning often in his No. 83 Modified at Lernerville Speedway. Of his first 100 feature triumphs, 44 came at the Sarver track.

He once won 25 feature races in a season. He won 15 times in 26 feature starts during a race year.

"I never really paid attention to any of that stuff," Swartzlander said.

Maybe that's because the wins came so easily and in bunches.

Swartzlander had to pay attention to win No. 100 in his storied 25-year racing career, but not because he wanted to.

It was because it was so hard to get.

"After a while, I got tired of talking about it," Swartzlander said. "We were sitting on 99 for so long. It looked like we had (No. 100) in the bag so many times - then something would happen."

An accident. A broken part on the car. A last-lap move by another driver - anything to prevent victory.

"We went through a stretch that we're just not used to going through," Swartzlander admitted.

Swartzlander won the feature at Lernerville April 16 of last season. He didn't win here again until June 17 of this year - his 100th career win.

Since claiming feature wins on successive nights last fall to get to 99 career wins, Swartzlander had to settle in for a long and frustrating wait.

"We had a front axle problem on the car that was getting pretty wacky," crew chief Scott Durick said. "Once we finally got that straightened out, we began to improve."

But the checkered flags still weren't coming. Second- and third-place finishes were.

"They were a sign we were getting there," Durick said. "Second-place finishes aren't bad. Everybody (in the Modified division) is stepping up their program."

Swartzlander's race team has been together for years. Durick took over as crew chief once Keith Swartzlander began driving a Modified last year.

Jeff Swartzlander, Doug Emmert, B.J. Swartzlander, Dan Smith and Justin Swartzlander round out the crew.

"We've been a family affair for years," said Swartzlander, whose father and grandfather also raced. "I just feel blessed to be able to do something I love so much for this long."

Only now he's doing it with one car and one engine. For years, Swartzlander had two cars in the stable.

"The money's not there to do that anymore," he said.

"Having a second car does help," Durick admitted. "I mean, if we blow a motor, we're done. We don't have a spare motor."

But they do have 100 wins at long last, followed up by No. 101 last week at Lernerville - one week after Swartzlander broke the front end of his car on a restart while leading a feature.

Strange things can - and do - happen on a race track.

"I've been in this game a long time and I've never, ever, taken a checkered flag for granted until I saw it waving and I was across the finish line," Swartzlander said.

When Swartzlander did secure his 100th big block Modified win, he became only the fourth Western Pennsylvania driver to do so, joining Bob Wearing Sr., Lou Blaney and Blackie Watt.

Swartzlander won his first career feature in 1991 at Marion Center. His first feature win at Lernerville was in 1994.

What's followed are 11 total points championships covering four different tracks.

"You never know when a win's gonna come," Swartzlander said. "We barely even made the heat race that night (of his 100th win).

"Like I said, I don't deal with the numbers, but 100 wins is pretty significant. It certainly took long enough to get here."

Lernerville Speedway Points StandingsTop 15 through July 15SprintsEd Lynch Jr. 256, Rod George 224, Kevin Schaeffer 198, Arnie Kent 198, Charlie Holben 157, Scott Bonnell 153, Cory Good 151, Gary Rankin 147, Carl Bowser 144, Davey Jones 139, Brent Matus 136, Mike Shearer 135, Dan Shetler 133, Jody Keegan 109, Jack Sodeman Jr. 100

Late ModelsJohn Flinner 227, Lynn Geisler 222, Nick Jones 211, Bob Wearing Jr. 202, Mike Blose 196, Chuck Kennedy 187, Chris Schneider 159, Ken Schaltenbrand 155, Jared Miley 120, Jeff Jones 106, Gary Lyle 106, Carl McKinney 101, Keith Zimmerman 99, Tom Tuite 94, Dan Swartzlander 90

ModifiedsDave Murdick 214, Tom Winkle 193, Jim Weller 188, Brian Swartzlander 174, Mark Flick 169, Kevin Bolland 163, JR McGinley 162, Pete Simpson 133, Gary Risch Jr. 133, Chanda Reitz 128, Del Rougeux Jr. 120, Phil Evans 100, Mike Turner 86, Carl Murdick 80, Keith Swartzlander 80

Pure StocksGreg Beach 202, Bob Lipinski 194, Bob Egley 191, Paul Schreckengost 188, Mike Pegher Jr. 176, Butch Lambert 175, Jake Ayers 167, Dave Spangler 163, Mike Turner 148, Bobby Whitling 143, Wayne Carbo 124, Jason Fosnaught 116, Herman Bertolini 101, Gary Norman 87, Terry Young 81