All work and no play makes Kevin Haas both a happy and sad guy!

The 31-year-old Stock driver owns his own business, Haas Excavating and Demolition.

He said: “We have been crazy, busy working!” But, that doesn’t leave a lot of time to work on the stock car and race. His first visit to the track was in July and Crate Late Model driver Butch Lambert piloted his No. 48 car.

Kevin doesn’t like odd numbers, so he has an even one. Lambert is going to help Kevin with the set up on his car and might drive it a couple more times.

Second generation driver Kevin Haas grew up with racing. His father, Syd Haas, was a Late Model driver. At age 14, Kevin started in go-carts. He bought his first race car from Paul Schreckengost at age 17.

He has won several heat races and is looking for the big feature win some day. He admires John Flinner and Dave Satterlee’s style of driving. On the NASCAR circuit, he is a fan of Tony Stewart and retired driver Davey Allison. He met them and cherishes their autographs.

Extending sympathy

Our sympathy is sent to the family and friends of Loretta Wearing Reynolds. Loretta passed recently and was the mother of Robbin, Bob Jr., and Rege Wearing. Her long time companion was Dick Bailey.

On another sad note, Floyd Ganassi died this week. He is the father of Chip and Annette Ganassi.

Former Sprint driver Bob Felmlee was in a Youngstown Hospital ICU unit. He had a serious Motocross crash. He was released and is home recuperating.

Finding victory lane

Congratulations to a new Late Model star, Garret Krummert, on his 2013 Late Model victory at Attica. It was the fourth of his career. He hopes to repeat his win at their Labor Day Weekend special.

Climbing on up

Brandon Matus climbed the front fence after winning the Sprint feature at Pennsylvania Motor Speedway recently.

Like that box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get with the Matus family! The whole group has a hilarious sense of humor.

Danny’s a dynasty

Danny Holtgraver is undefeated in Sprint car racing at Mercer this season. He is five-for-five.

The UNOH All Star Circuit of Champion driver is third in points. Leading the list is another Western PA driver, Dale Blaney, followed by Tim Shaffer of Aliquippa.

Recently at Butler Speedway in Michigan, Holtgraver broke the track record. He has never done this anywhere. He credits Brian Kemenah for his safe and fast cars.

Murdick on a roll

“Double Duty” Dave Murdick has been on a winning streak lately. He has the most wins (6) of any Modified driver in 2013.

Champs to be crowned

Lernerville will crown its divisional champions this week. Alex Ferree has already wrapped up his fourth Late Model crown with a victory last week.

Matt Williamson becomes the first Canadian to win a Lernerville divisional crown, topping the Modified class. He had a phenomenal year finishing all 12 features, to date in the top four positions.

Friday, the Sprint and Stock division titles are going down to the wire. Brandon Spithaler tops the chart by six points over Brandon Matus in the Sprints. Corey McPherson has only a five-point lead over A J Flick in the DirtCar Stocks

Still learning

At the beginning of the season, Chuck Sarver was elated to buy a 2012 Rocket Late Model. He purchased the car from Andy Priest, who won the car at the Toys for Tots Raffle in North Carolina last fall.

However, this year turned out to be a learning season for Sarver. His old car was a 2002 Rocket Chassis. There is a world of difference between the two chassis. The set-ups and technical parts were poles apart, plus factor in the variables for track conditions.

Sarver only runs one night a week and Lernerville only ran 12 times. If you read the stats, he still is seventh in points and had his best finish, a sixth, last week.

“All in all, we keep swinging,” Sarver said. “Points are a measure of success and we try to maintain a car that can finish every night.”

‘King of Dirt’ battle

The National Dirt Racing League’s inaugural season will include the Late Models ‘Kings of Dirt’ battle for $20,000 at the Roaring Knob Motorsports Complex on Monday. The RUSH Dirt Late Model Series will also compete for $2,000.

Mercer Raceway Park is not racing this weekend.

Carol Gamble is a racing columnist for the Butler Eagle