BUFFALOTWP — Suffice to say, first-year Lernerville Speedway co-managers Gary Risch Sr. and Gary Risch Jr. are learning on the job.

Then again, the father-son duo from Sarver have done that before.

Risch Jr. runs his own landscaping business in Sarver. His father runs the family's grocery business across the street, along with a beer distributorship, miniature golf course, driving range and ice cream shop in the same complex.

Both were plenty busy before accepting an offer from DIRTMotorsports to run the operation at Lernerville.

"I don't have a clue why we did this,"Risch Jr. said. "It all happened so quickly. We wanted to keep it local, keep the Friday night thing going.

"We're enjoying it, running one of the top tracks in the country right here in our own backyard."

His father wanted to make certain the track continued to be run by local residents.

"I've worked here ever since this track opened," he said. "The Martins are like family to me."

Risch Sr.'s businesses are only a mile down the road from Lernerville.

"I go back and forth a lot, five or six times a day," he said. "I'm opening the store at 7 a.m. and closing it at 9 p.m. every day anyway, so the workload doesn't bother me.

"On Friday nights, my brother-in-law closes the store so I can be here. My mother is 86, lives on top of the store and is there every day."

One thing Risch Jr. and Sr. had to get used to was answering to bosses. They've been sole proprietors most of their working lives.

"DIRTMotorsports is a large corporation,"Risch Jr. said. "We're just a small piece of the puzzle, but they keep giving us a little more leash each week."

The younger Risch said the racetrack stuff is the same. Handling the corporate side of things has been different.

Risch Sr. is in charge of concessions and the ticket boxes. His son handles the office details.

"We're learning as we go,"Risch Sr. said. "A couple of race nights, I was short on security people. I've learned to open more ticket boxes on Fridays to handle the long lines.

"It's all about trying to get a feel for things so we can make them better."

One thing they can't control is the weather. Rain cost Lernerville five shows early this season, and, in most cases, that's money the facility can't get back.

"Whether there's 10 people here or 10,000, we're committed to doing everything we can to get our race shows in,"Risch Jr. said. "But when you have a monsoon, you just can't do it."

One thing the new managers want to do is return Friday night racing to the Fab Four divisions every week. There were five special shows scheduled for Lernerville on Friday nights this year.

"When we started into it this year, we didn't know anything about (the schedule)," Risch Sr. said. "Our corporate people put too many big shows on Friday nights.

"On a few occasions, fans pulled in to the lot on a Friday night, saw it wasn't a local show, turned around and went home. A different crowd comes to the big races than our Friday night people.

"We have to be loyal to our Friday night following. Next year, we're aiming to have all of our big shows on Tuesdays,"Risch Sr. added.

When the June 23 MACS Late Models and All-Star Sprint Show was rained out, the Risch tandem opted to lose the All-Star Sprints rather than reschedule them on a Friday night.

The MACSLate Models was rescheduled for Sept. 1, a week after the end of the Fab Four points season.

"After losing five regular racing shows to rain, we weren't willing to knock out another one,"Risch Jr. said.

So what can the public expect from Lernerville Speedway next year?

Truck pulls, a possible flea market and more versatile racing programs are among the possibilities.

"I'm excited about the future,"Risch Jr. said. "Between our local shows and what DIRTcan bring in here, our goal is to make this track bigger and better than ever."

Lernerville Speedway Points StandingsTop 15 through July 14SprintsEd Lynch Jr. 267, Kevin Schaeffer 250, Rod George 215, Ralph Spithaler 210, Carl Bowser 205, Arnie Kent 199, Scott Bonnell 181, Brent Matus 180, Scott Priester 159, Mike Shearer 159, Gary Rankin 153, Terry Bowser 130, Cory Good 128, Charlie Holben 118, Dan Holtgraver 116

Late ModelsLynn Geisler 259, Ken Schaltenbrand 204, Matt Lux 200, Sam Stile 196, Gary Lyle 190, Alex Ferree 176, Bob Wearing Jr. 160, Mike Blose 156, John Flinner 148, Tony Burke 142, Chuck Kennedy 140, Chris Schneider 136, Jared Miley 134, John Mollick 121, Greg Satterlee 112

ModifiedsKevin Bolland 254, Brian Swartzlander 227, Tom Winkle 218, Dave Murdick 210, Jim Weller Jr. 194, JRMcGinley 180, Del Rougeux Jr. 165, Joe Crawford 156, Mark Flick 140, Carl Murdick 132, Tom Mattocks 117, Jim Weller III106, Chanda Reitz 106, Skip Moore 97, Mike Turner 95

Pure StocksButch Lambert 294, Greg Beach 260, Jason Fosnaught 224, Wayne Carbo 222, Bob Egley 209, Paul Schreckengost 190, Nick Reges 176, Terry Young 174, Jake Ayers 173, Jim Fosnaught 153, Pat Hanley 144, Bob Lipinski 137, Mike Pegher Jr. 134, Dave Baker 134, Martin Viale 109