Danny Holtgraver, 20, has a passion for Sprint car racing and currently leads the Lernerville Speedway points chase by one point over the veteran Ed Lynch Jr.

Holtgraver's dream is to become a professional driver with the World of Outlaws Sprints.

The Pittsburgh driver has won two features in 2010: at Mercer and at Pittsburgh's Pennsylvania Motor Speedway Sprint Invitational, where he was clocked at 133 mph.

His father, Dan, was a member of John Flinner's Late Model crew when young Danny was racing in the dirt underneath the grandstands at area tracks.

Danny's favorite driver was Jack Boggs in his B4, which is why he sports the D4 number on his car.

"I believe that confidence is a key factor in winning," Holtgraver said.

Young Holtgraver is a man with a mission who is soaring down the runway to great heights.

In other racing news:

• Garrett Krummert is driving a Late Model this year. He has been in a 358 Modified, Mod Lite and, most recently, a Sprint owned by Kelsey George.

• A.J. Flick, 17, is a third generation driver who took his first career feature win in the Sportsman division at Lernerville. Young Billy Stile was another who garnered his first at Roaring Knob in the DIRTcar Late Models

• Travis Rilat is a Sprint car driver who has been to the Lernerville Outlaws shows. He and his mechanic were seriously injured last week while attempting to "barrel ride" in the parking lot of a Sprint shop.

The men had placed about 4 gallons of methanol in a 55-gallon barrel, sat on top of it, then lit it on fire. It was supposed to slide across the parking lot like a rocker. Instead, it blew up.

The twosome were flown by helicopter to a Washington State hospital, where they were induced into a coma because they both sustained third-degree burns over 70 percent of their bodies.

• Jean Lynch, former promoter, public relations representative and the mother of Sprint car driver Ed Lynch Jr., crowned "The King," Steve Kinser, the winner of the $50,000-to-win Kings Royal Sprint car race at Tony Stewart's Eldora Speedway.

Steve's wife, Dana, is slowly recovering from heart valve surgery and was unable to attend.

• The best Sprint car drivers in Western Pennsylvania have their sights set on Lernerville Speedway Friday and then Mercer Raceway Park Saturday for the DIRTcar Challenge Sprint Series, which features a pair of $2,000-to-win shows.

Ed Lynch Jr., hot off his third Lernerville feature win of the season, has a two-point lead over fellow veteran driver Bob Felmlee in the DIRTcar Challenge Sprint Series Point Standings. Mercer Raceway Park also will feature the ARDC Midgets along with the Modifieds, Stocks, and Mini-Stocks.

• Residents of Butler and Armstrong counties will be admitted free with identification at Pittsburgh's Pennsylvania Motor Speedway's regular show Saturday.

• Scott Bonnell was released from an Erie hospital after fracturing two vertebrae in his back during a Sprint car accident at Little Valley Speedway in New York.

Carol Gamble is the racing columnist for the Butler Eagle.