Chicora resident Gregg Beach is using this racing season as a springboard for the next one!

It is a little late in the year, but Beach is back behind the wheel of a DIRTcar Sportsman. After a four-year hiatus, he found it good to be back.

“A lot of the drivers are the same ones that I raced with before,” said Beach.

Tom Stotich was his engine man and he kept prodding Beach to come back, so he built a car.

Beach said: “I came to the track to watch several times and my old cars that I sold were doing so well.”

Rob Shook, Terry Young and Mike Miller all have a former Beach-mobile. Finally, he thought he’d give it a try. His first two times out were DNF’s — after one lap, his car was in the pits with problems.

He was excited to complete a main event.

“It was good to see what the car will do.“ Beach said. “Now I can work on the set up and I will be ready to start 2012 fresh!”

Lynch recoveringYou can take the woman away from racing but you can’t take the racing out of the woman.Many people have asked for an update on Jean Lynch, who had a terrible automobile accident in Fort Wayne (Ind.) after returning from the Knoxville Sprint Nationals.Both of the bones in her lower leg were fractured and protruding through the skin. After an operation on her leg in Indiana, she was released to return home.The hard cast was removed this week in lieu of a soft one to permit the open wound to heal. She remains very positive and in good spirits.Jean watches the World of Outlaw races on the internet and TV.Her two grandsons are fine and their friend Zane has both a fractured femur and arm. I know that she would enjoy hearing from the fans. The address is 705 Zubal Road, Apollo, Pa., 15613.

Silent auctionLast Friday, KLernerville Speedway public relations man Eric Westendorf organized a silent auction to help Lynch defray some of the costs.More than 50 race teams donated racing paraphernalia for the event. Taylor Flinner and her friend, Brooke Kohan, collected over $1,500 from the fans.

Valiant effortPromoter Rick Jones made a valiant attempt to run the races at Roaring Knob Saturday, but his efforts were nullified. After the heat races, a torrential down pour occurred at 9 p.m.Three and a half hours later, Jones threw in the towel and called the races. Since the heats were run that night, the show was not rain checked for the fans.This weekend will be double features for everyone but the Late Models. They will run double features for them Sept. 10. Sunday, the World of Outlaws Late Models will make their first appearance at the Knob.

PostponementCiting financial problems, Dog Hollow promoter Jim Michny has postponed the BRP Modified Tour. The track hopes to debut the BRP Tour on the 2012 schedule.

Scott spells victoryIf your last name is Scott, you might be in victory lane. Columnist Walt Wimer reported that the fan favorite driver called David “Slow Ride,” Scott won the Late Model feature at Stateline Speedway recently.His son Kyle then won the Crate Late Model feature. Nephew Ryan checkered the Outlaw Cadet class feature and David’s other son won a Go-Cart race earlier in the day.

All-stars at LernervilleFriday evening, Lernerville Speedway will host the All Star Circuit of Champions Sprints, the 305 Sprint Warriors and DIRTcar Sportsman.PA Motor Speedway will feature the Jook George Classic 40-lap Crate Late Model Championship paying $2,500 to win.

Home at lastAfter 3 1/2 months, photographer Howie Balis went home yesterday. In a horrible accident, he was hit by a racer in the infield at Thunder Valley Speedway in May.He spent two weeks in Connemaugh Hospital in Johnstown, two and a half weeks in Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh, about eight weeks in Manor Care nursing home, and then returned for a few more weeks back at Mercy.

Carol Gamble is a racing columnist for the Butler Eagle