BUFFALO TWP— Double Duty Dave.

That's the moniker given to veteran Modified driver Dave Murdick of Slippery Rock by track announcers at Lernerville Speedway this year.

And he's earning it.

Murdick has found victory lane in his No. 61 Modified 21 times during his racing career while running on a limited budget. He won the track points title in 2004 and 2005.

"All we ever hope to do is stay consistent on the track, so I'm particularly proud of that," Murdick said of his points titles.

Murdick has been in racing for 29 years. Only now he's trying to stay consistent in two cars.

Murdick is driving the No. 1 Late Model owned by Jimmy Pitkavish and Bob Peterson this year, along with his Modified.

Most times, the Modified and Late Model races are run back-to-back.

"It can be pretty tough when it's a humid night,"Murdick admitted. "You get out of one car and jump right into the other one ... I was pretty worn out by the end of the night last week."

Murdick is not a total stranger when it comes to racing in more than one division. He raced in three divisions in one night at Mercer Raceway in 1996.

But few drivers have attempted to run two divisions at Lernerville for an entire season. David Scott ran a Sprint car and Late Model for a couple of seasons here a few years back, but eventually sold the Sprint car.

"It's a rare thing primarily because of the expense,"Murdick said. "It's hard enough keeping one car on the track."

Murdick wasn't looking to run a Late Model — the Pitkavish-Peterson team came looking for him.

"I actually ran a Late Model for Jimmy one time a couple of years ago,"Murdick said. "I blew the engine and that was the end of that."

Pitkavish planned on running this No. 1 Late Model — a new car with all new parts — himself, but his work schedule got changed to a 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. shift.

The hunt for a new driver didn't take long.

"We've seen Dave drive for a long time and love the way he keeps his Modified clean and out of trouble," Peterson said. He;s an experienced driver and we were confident he'd take care of our car.

"He's been an excellent choice. We haven't been disappointed at all."

Even when Pitkavish got his work schedule switched to midnight shift, making him able to get behind the wheel again, he declined to do so.

"We're working on getting another car for Jimmy to drive," Peterson said.

Murdick finished fourth in the Late Model two weeks ago. his best finish to date. He drove the car seven times toward the end of last year.

"That was the first time I got any real seat time in a Late Model,"Murdick said. "It's taken some getting used to. With my Modified, I sort of finesse my way around the turns.

"With a Late Model, you have to put the hammer to the gas a lot more. And there's a whole new crop of drivers to get used to, too."

To prepare for becoming a fulltime Late Model driver, Murdick attended a three-day Rocket chassis school in January.

Pitkavish and Anderson have their own separate pit crew for their car while Murdick's crew handles his Modified in the garage and in the pits.

But Murdick has developed more of a voice in terms of setting up the Late Model.

"I'm the driver and they need my input. They need to know what I'm feeling out on the track,"Murdick said. "I'm getting a better feel for it.

"That's a pretty good car. If everything goes right, I could get it to victory lane sometime this season."

Peterson agreed.

"The car has everything all of the top Late Model cars here have," he said. "Like any race, you need a good pill draw and things have to break your way.

"Davey can get it to the checkered. If we didn't believe that, we wouldn't have asked him to drive."

Victory lane in both cars on the same night?

"It's a dream,"Murdick said, smiling. "As long as I'm driving both, it's always a possibility."

Lernerville Points Standings(top 15)SprintsBob Felmlee 237, Kevin Schaeffer 218, Rod George 204, Brent Matus 187, Scott Priester 173, Scott Bonnell 155, Brian Ellenberger 153, Ed Lynch Jr. 153, Dan Shetler 143, Charlie Holben 142, Carl Bowser 139, Ralph Spithaler Jr. 116, Brent Ellenberger 102, Gary Rankin 89, Mike Lutz 82

Late ModelsAlex Ferree 243, Lynn Geisler 234, John Flinner 220, Alan Dellinger/Mike Blose 219, Gary Lyle 201, Jared Miley 198, Matt Lux 195, Greg Satterlee 187, Chuck Kennedy 164, Dave Murdick 160, John Mollick 157, Todd Bachman 147, Keith Barbara 141, Sam Stile 138, Clate Copeman 125

ModifiedsBrian Swartzlander 217, Tom Winkle 187, Kevin Bolland 187, Del Rougeux Jr. 170, Jeremiah Shingledecker 164, Dave Murdick 134, Mark Flick 133, J.R. McGinley 125, Carl Murdick 121, Phil Evans 104, Mike Turner 94, Garrett Krummert 92, Jim Weller Jr. 91, Dean Pearson 84, Erik Martin 83

Street StocksJoe Kelley 272, Bob Egley 249, Wayne Carbo 233, Jason Fosnaught 221, Pat Hanley 215, Greg Beach 202, Bob Lipinski 190, Jim Fosnaught 183, Bryan Shaffer 170, Stan Riggle 160, Terry Young 144, Shawn Thorn 137, Dave Baker 134, Paul Schreckengost 130, Ryan Moyer 112