WEST SUNBURY — Victory lane didn’t come often for Chuck Sarver.

But factor in his love for dirt track racing with his family’s involvement and it’s one giant win.

Sarver, 60, of West Sunbury recently called an end to his 40-plus years of racing, saying it was “getting to be too much” for he and his wife, Bonnie.

“I was planning on getting out of it after this season,” the longtime Late Model driver said. “Then, the other night, I saw Bonnie out there with the car and she looked so tired, so spent.

“Nobody I know works harder than her. I didn’t want to put her through it anymore. I walked up to her and told her I was done.

“Racing is an expensive, time-consuming hobby. We loved it, but it’s time to do something else,” Sarver added.

Sarver won a feature in semi-lates years ago at Marion Center. His only Late Model feature win at Lernerville Speedway was in 2012.

“I’m pretty proud of that one,” Sarver admitted. “All of the best Late Model guys race at that track and some guys have $50,000 sunk into their engines these days.

“My race team was always myself, Bonnie and my son Chuck. And I had maybe $10,000 in my engine. That makes a difference.”

A 1975 Slippery Rock High School graduate who grew up in Prospect, Sarver’s racing career dates back to the old Butler Speedway and the fairgrounds. He raced in the former claimers division and was successful at that level.

At one point, he won five successive features in the claimers division.

“I remember (former Lernerville owner) Don Martin walking up to me on the track one day, telling me I’ve been claimed,” Sarver said. “That meant I had to sell my car, move up in division or get out of it totally.

“I moved up to the semi-late division with the same car and struggled for a while.”

When Bonnie met Sarver, he was already into racing — at age 14. That was a plus as far as she was concerned.

“Racing has always been a huge part of my life,” she said. “My dad, Dave Thompson, was the first Late Model points champion at Lernerville. I’ve been around this sport for 50 years.

“When Chuck told me he was shutting it down, I was surprised. I know he’s doing it for me. He’s concerned about me. Still, it’s a sad day.”

Sarver finished sixth and ninth in his Late Model features at Lernerville this season before deciding to sell his No. 88 car and accompanying equipment.

“I was happy with how I was running,” he said. “A top 10 finish there was like a victory for me.”

Sarver works as a landfill inspector in Clay Township. His wife cleans houses for a living.

“I’d get home from work around 3 p.m. and would go to work on the car until 8 or 9 at night,” he said.

Bonnie Sarver washed the trailer down every Thursday, helped in the pits on race nights and again on Sundays..

“I was getting tired ... and a little more irritable,” she admitted. “It was getting hard to keep up.”

Sarver said he may buy a street rod “just to tinker around and show at car cruises.” If a race-car owner approched him about driving, he said he would consider it,.

“That would be fun on the track without all of the work off it,” he said.

Sarver and his son Chuck work the chains at Slippery Rock University football games and will continue to do so.

But his racing career appears to be over.

“I’ll miss it for a while, but it’s a money game now,” Sarver said. “That factors into this decision, too. We had a couple of small sponsors, but we just couldn’t keep up.”