Colton Flinner is a winner, garnering his first Super Late Model victory at Lernerville Speedway at age 25.

Behind every young child who believes in himself is a parent who first believed in his talent. Mark Flinner is that parent who has supported Colton's passion from the beginning.

It has been just the two of them working on racecars throughout the years. The word “dream” has been placed on each car, each year throughout their racing career together.

“My dad means the world to me,” said Colton. “He's the backbone to my racing. He does everything to the cars from fixing them to making them go fast. It's a great father-son bonding time and I wouldn't trade that for anything. I love winning for him.”

Colton was 7 when his dad got him a go-cart and the next day took him to a track at Slippery Rock.

Colton said, “It was a total blast and I was hooked on racing from then on.”

Mark took him to the races every Friday night at Lernerville with his die-cast cars. Colton remembers watching his uncle, John Flinner, and Lynn Geisler pilot Late Models. At special Late Model events, Scott Bloomquist and Donnie Moran were his favorite drivers.

“I watched how they drove and knew one day I wanted to be like them,” Colton exclaimed.

He and his dad went to Naugel, Blanket Hill, Blairsville, and Slippery Rock Speedway, where they raced go-carts for six years. Colton won 100 races and five championships. At the age of 13, he began racing Crate Lates. He went to Donnie Moran's Driving School.

Colton remembers, “I learned a ton from him, mainly driving skills, but some set-ups, too.”

In 2011 and 2012, Colton won the Pennsylvania Motor Speedway Crate Late Model Championship. He has 16 Crate victories.

When he was 18, Colton and his dad decided to move into the Super Late Model class. Before last year, Mark paid most of the bills with the help of a few sponsors. Colton works for his dad at Complete Auto Service and Performance as a mechanic in Wexford.

In 2016, Colton was Rookie of the Year on the Lucas Late Model Tour.

But in 2018, he got a call from John Johnson, a successful maritime businessman who owns and operates John's Towing. Johnson asked him if he wanted to drive for him.

Colton said, “We were so excited and appreciative for this opportunity!”

They now have three “Rocket” Chassis cars, two Super Lates and one Crate Late. Johnson wants to race the Crate Late for the larger purses like the Jook George Steel City Classic at PA Motor Speedway Saturday, paying $10,000 to win.

They have names for the cars, “Drama”, “Bodawg”, and “Tater”. Johnson wants the team to race at Lernerville Friday evenings and choose other venues on Saturday. It was such a thrill for him to win in the Super Late Models at the track where he grew up watching this division.

They have also won at Port Royal, three at Pittsburgh and once this season at Lernerville for a grand total of eight.

“My dad is ecstatic about all that is happening. He is just as excited as I am,” Colton said.

“I always told my son to dream big,” Mark said. “Now we're living the dream.”

Mark is so proud of Colton's success, he had a customized baby stroller made as a replica of Colton's car for his daughter Dominique's one-year-old boy, also named Mark.

In four months, they will have to get another stroller built since Colton and his fiancé, Kasey Kohan, are expecting a baby girl in December.

Although Colton enjoys watching football and hockey, his main interest is racing. He is so happy to be driving for Johnson.

“He comes to the track every Friday,” he added.

Currently, Kenny Schaltenbrand leads the Lernerville Late Model standings with 253 points and Colton is in sixth, 65 digits behind.

Where does he see himself in two or three years?

“If John would like us to go into the Lucas Oil Late Model touring group, I would do that. Otherwise, I would just like to be a regional driver and win a ton of races,” Colton said.

Bob Wearing Sr. tops the all-time Super Late Model win chart with 117 and Lynn Geisler has 109.

Late Model driver Mike Pegher fractured his shoulder at work last week. After ironing out a series of mechanical problems that finally produced a 2019 victory, this misfortune occurred.

Tracks have taken precautions to make racing as safe as possible.Unfortunately, at Williams Grove last week, a push truck driver was killed. Authorities said two Sprint cars came crashing together, hitting the inside wall and one flipped out of control over the infield fence. It struck Richard Speck Jr., 67, who was sitting on the back of a pickup truck parked along the fence.Coroner Charles Hall pronounced Speck dead at the scene and the remaining races were canceled.Carol Gamble is a racing columnist for the Butler Eagle