The old saying “catch a falling star and put it in your pocket” applies to 24-year-old Carl Bowser and his Sprint car career that is ascending to great heights.

Bowser is living his dream and has won two features in July at Lernerville Speedway and leads the point race as he makes his first bid for a Sprint championship.

His Sprint idol and mentor is Ed Lynch Jr.

“If I happen to win this, they will have to put an asterisk beside my name that says Ed Lynch did not run for this title,” Bowser said. “When Ed does come to the track, he comes to my car and gives me helpful hints, then takes me over to the track and shows various lines to drive for the feature.”

Bowser credits his mom, Ruth, and father, Terry, for all the hard work that they do to make his racing possible. His dad is extremely safety-conscious with the car and has a check list that he goes over each week. Bowser’s goal is to run full time as a Sprint car driver. He will look for possibilities of this in the near future.

Last Wednesday, Bowser made a surprise visit with his Sprint car and rig to the Union Baptist Church in Kittanning. Children ages 3 through 12 were attending a week-long vacation bible school with the theme “Rev It Up: Full Throttle for God.”

Bowser participated in a question-and-answer session as part of the bible school, where the kids were able to learn more about Bowser’s accomplishments and goals in racing. Then, the kids were invited to take pictures with the race car and explore the racing rig with the Sarver native.

They also received autographed photos to take home. Bowser told them, “Hold on to your dreams and make them come true.”

• H&H Motorsports announced last Thursday that Tri-City Speedway in Franklin will close its gates for the remainder of the 2011 racing season. The closure only affects the half-mile dirt oval. The go-kart track, which runs every other Saturday, and the Extreme Dirt Track Nationals ATV event scheduled for Aug. 5-6, will still run as scheduled.

Co-owners H&H Motorsports and Roy Hill Rich released the following statement: “Due to financial conditions, Roy and Rich have had to come to the difficult decision to close the track effective immediately.” They further added: “We wish to thank everyone for their hard work and efforts in the operation of trying to run the track this year.”

Their two World of Outlaws shows will be picked up by Tyler County and Roaring Knob Speedway in September.

• Danny Holtgraver had a dominating Sprint feature performance at Mercer Speedway last week and is now heading west for an All-Star Sprint show and his first ever Knoxville Nationals in Iowa.

He said, “I am looking forward to this. I feel with a little bit of luck we will be competitive.”

• Fans who were at the World of Outlaws’ Don Martin Memorial Sprint race can see the pre-race driver interviews hosted by Don Gamble and streamed to ustream.

As a matter of fact, anyone in the world can view the World of Outlaws’ thoughts about Lernerville and Don Martin that Viewpoint Production has uploaded.

All interviews can be see on www.Ustream.tv or on YouTube, just type in “Rappin on Racin.”

• Special events this week include bike races at Mercer Raceway Park and there is an Unlimited E-Mod Challenge, (“Run what ya brung”) at PA Motor Speedway.

Carol Gamble is a racing columnist for the Butler Eagle.