BUFFALO TWP — The pill draws were so bad that Terry Young listed them on the rear of his No. 28Y Sportsman Stock.

"It's something to giggle at," the Butler driver said.

How bad were they? Try 48, 49, 45, 42, 48, 50, 25, 27, 10, 30 and 16.

"We didn't have much of a chance," Young said. He wound up with 265 points last season, good for only 13th place in the division at Lernerville Speedway.

Poor pill draws weren't the only problem.

"We had wrecks, motor problems — it's racing," Young's crew chief, who simply goes by "Gate," said. "Racing can make you humble in a hurry."

But it was hard to be humble on opening night this season. Young, 43, in his sixth year of racing in the Stock division, found his way to victory lane for the first time in his career.

"That feeling was fantastic," Young said. "Seeing the crowd so happy for us. ... The win was as much for my crew as it was for me.

"Just seeing everybody smiling everywhere I looked. ... It was more than I ever dreamed it could ever be."

Young got into racing only because fellow Stock driver Mike Gilliland, his boss, decided to return to the sport. He used to race in the 1980s.

Gilliland bought a car, looked for a driver, and Young, an electrician by trade, was elected.

"I work for the guy. I wasn't gonna say no," Young said, laughing.

Since then, the race team has mushroomed. Gilliland missed driving and is now behind the wheel of the No. 24 Sportsman Stock. Scott Byers of Butler, a former crew member of Young's, wanted to become a driver and runs the No. 29B car.

Young is in his third year of driving his No. 28Y, a car formerly owned by Chicora's Greg Beach, who won a number of features in it.

"It's a pretty good car for us on heavy tracks, which is how it was here opening night," Young said. "We're still working on our slick-track setup."

The same crew works on all three race cars.

"None of us has a whole lot of money," said crew member Dickie Ross of West Sunbury. "So we all work together.

Young won nearly 10 heat races in his career before finally grabbing the checkered flag in a main event.

"He earned the win that night," Ross said. "Terry had to do a lot of maneuvering. Confidence is a big part of this game, and he gained a bunch that night. We all did."

"We had a good time when he won, that's for sure, but we always have a good time back here," Gate said. "When it stops being fun, we'll stop doing it."

Gary Henry of Meridian builds the motors for the trio of cars. Young's entire family helps out on Friday nights. Even his 17-year-old daughter, Rachel, scrapes mud off the car in the pits.

She missed last Friday's race because she was at the prom.

"She's pretty loyal when it comes to being here, but a few things still take precedence," Young said. "I rewarded her last year by letting her drive the car at the end of the season.

But not on a racetrack.

"We went out to a hay field. She had a ball," Young said.

While he's intrigued about stepping up in division, don't expect Young to trade in his Stock anytime soon.

"If I win the lottery, I'll buy a half-dozen Late Models — and probably wreck every one," he said, laughing.