1,000 in the books
BUFFALO TWP — Andy Phillips won the first-ever Sprint feature race at Lernerville Speedway in 1968.
He never won another.
But plenty of others have.
The Sarver oval has seen 146 different Sprint drivers visit victory lane over the past 53 years. Lernerville held its 1,000th all-time Sprint feature Friday night — calling it the Lernerville Grand — and added $1,000 to the winner's purse.
There were 28 Sprint cars in the pits vying for that prize.
“This is a significant race, to be sure,” Freeport graduate and Sarver resident Carl Bowser said. “But an extra $1,000 is a big deal, too.
“Increase the purse, you're going to increase the field.”
Not that the typical field of cars at Lernerville needs any help.
“There's only two races a driver worries about — the last one and the next one,” former Butler resident Jack Sodeman Jr. said. “It's an accomplisghment anytime you win a race at this place.
“Adding your name on the list of guys who have won Sprint races at Lernerville is a big deal. I've won a few of them and I'm proud of each one.”
Sodeman has won 24 Sprint features here. Bowser has won 27 features at Lernerville, putting him among the top 10 all-time. He is tied for ninth on the track's list with Evans City's Ralph Spithaler.
Spithaler was among Friday night's racing field.
“Winning that many races here means I'm getting old,” Bowser said. “But when you look at the list of names who have won here ... They're known nationally, some are known all over the world.
“We're just fortunate to have such a historic track like this so close to home.”
Ed Lynch Jr. of Apollo, Lernerville's all-time Sprint victory leader with 111, agreed.“We're able to hold down regular jobs, then come out here and race against top competition on Friday nights,” he said.Lynch has not raced for a few years and now assists his son, Sye, a 23-year-old Sprint driver, in the pits. Sye Lynch won the 999th Sprint feature at Lernerville before the last two race cards were rained out.His father was offered a car by the family to race in the Lernerville Grand, but Lynch declined.“I was surprised he turned that down,” Sye Lynch admitted. “I figured he'd go for it. But he knows he's welcome to race any time he wants to.”Ed Lynch said he declined “because I didn't want to take away from Sye. It's about him now. This is about his career.”Lynch more than doubled the win total of Johnny Beaber, who stands second on Lernerville's all-time list with 55. Lou Blaney is third with 49, followed by Ralph Quatrterson with 47 and Rod George 45.Rounding out the top 10 are Craig Rankin with 31, Jimmy Hawley and Bob Felmlee 30 each, Spithaler and Bowser.“I remember my first year here in 1982,” Spithaler said. “My entire racing program cost $8,600. Those days are over, man.“But I won here in my second season with that car.”The engine in Spithaler's car Friday night was 21 years old. He said that engine cost $26,000 in 2000.“An engine today costs $55,000 or so,” Spithaler said.Tom Prager, a member of Spithaler's pit crew for 39 years, said their car's engine “is giving up 150 horsepower to other cars out here.“But we do this for fun,” Prager added. “We didn't run at all last year because of the (COVID-19) situation and we're only running 10 or 12 times this season. We've scaled way back.”Since 1979, there have been 97 World of Outlaw Sprint races and 39 All-Star Circuit of Champion features at Lernerville. Dave Blaney has 18 career feature wins in such races at the Sarver oval, Steve Kinser and Sammy Swindell 17 each.Jason Shultz of Selinsgrove won the Sprint race Friday night, with A.J. Flick second and Bowser third.The most memorable of the 1,000 Sprint races occurred on July 23, 2002 — when Lynch won the Don Martin Memorial WoO Silver Cup.“I still remember that night,” Lynch said. “The track was smooth, the weather was perfect ... it was a perfect night.“Nowadays, every race is on computer or pay-per-view somewhere so people can watch it from anywhere. When Sye wins a race, his phone blows up all night because he gets calls from people in different time zones.“Times have changed, but this track, the atmosphere here, seems as strong as ever,” Lynch added.
