BUFFALO TWP — The 2010 Lernerville Speedway racing season is scheduled to begin next Friday.

Whether the Sprint cars will be part of the program is a subject of debate.

Numerous Sprint racing teams in the area have formed a coalition to protest a perceived lack of an increased purse in the division, despite track requirements that cars race with Goodyear tires.

"We were only required to have the right rear tire be Goodyear last year," 2009 Lernerville Sprint points champion Rod George said. "This year, all four tires have to be Goodyear.

"It's an added expense at a time when a lot of us are having trouble meeting the cost of racing."

Numerous tracks have issued this requirement after securing sponsorship deals with Goodyear. Lernerville, Mercer Raceway Park and Sharon Speedway are among them.

Sprint driver Danny Holtgraver said 23 race teams are involved in the coalition and insist they won't race at these tracks this season, except for special shows.

Lernerville's weekly Sprint car purse is $7,800, including $1,300 to the winner. The payouts at Mercer and Sharon are similar.

Williams Grove, located in eastern Pennsylvania, pays out $13,500 weekly. Attica Raceway Park and Fremont Speedway, both in Ohio, pay out $12,000 and $11,200, respectively.

"None of us want to do that kind of traveling, but we may have to," Holtgraver said. "We want to work with our local tracks, but nothing's being done.

"We got together with the racetracks in the fall to express our position. Maybe they didn't take us seriously," he added. "We didn't hear anything for more than two months. We're asking that the weekly purse be increased to $10,000."

Lernerville general manager Gary Risch Jr. said the purse will be pushed to $9,000 through a 10-race series of special Sprint shows at Lernerville, Tri-City, Sharon and Mercer. Three of those races will be at Lernerville.

Another $12,500 will be dumped into the Sprints points fund, Risch said.

"Increasing our weekly (Sprint) payout to $10,000 is impossible," Risch said. "This new 10-race series will have a purse of $9,500 each time. That and the additional points fund money is where some of those Goodyear dollars are going.

"We hold two All-Star races with $5,000 to win. We have an Outlaws race with $10,000 to win, another with $30,000 to win. We need support of the drivers for these things to keep happening."

Holtgraver described the slightly increased purse as "a positive step," but indicated the move might be too late.

"We hadn't heard anything for so long that some drivers have already made other plans for the season," he said.

Ed Lynch Jr., Lernerville's all-time leader with 101 career Sprint feature wins, isn't part of the coalition. George, with 40 career wins at the Sarver track, admits he's on the fence.

No matter the decision, George will miss the first two weeks of the season as he recovers from recent back surgery.

"I'm just hopeful things get worked out," George said.

Kevin Schaeffer is a three-time Lernerville points champion. He's part of the coalition and said he won't race for points this season.

"It's difficult because my mother (Chris Schaeffer) works at the track and I feel bad for her," Schaeffer said. "But she understands our position.

"There's always a chance something will work out. I just don't see anything happening right now."

Sarver resident Carl Bowser, who finished sixth in points and had a Lernerville feature win last year, said he's only planning to race at special events and higher-paying shows.

"We're being forced to look elsewhere," Bowser said. "Lernerville has one of the lowest purses of any track its size in the country.

"Enough's enough. They keep making it more expensive to race and there hasn't been a purse increase in 15 years," he added.

The Sprint teams pitched the idea of slicing the Sprint feature field from 24 cars to 20 in an effort to spread the purse money to fewer cars and help resolve the conflict.

Lernerville refused that proposal.

"We're not going to let our fans suffer over this," Risch said. "They expect to see a full field of cars and that's what we want to give them.

"There's a great possibility we won't have Sprints on our regular nights. We're looking at other options, other opportunities, to provide our fans with a full night of racing," he added.

Holtgraver anticipates only two or three Sprint cars showing up for Lernerville's opening night.

"It's a shame. I've got stacks of Hoosier tires. ... They're worthless to me right now," he said.

"We've been around for 42 years and it's business as usual for us," Risch said of Lernerville. "We're going racing, whether (the Sprint drivers) want to race here or not."