It's official: Vicki Emig, owner of Mercer Raceway Park, and Bill Altman of Butler completed the sale of the track to Altman last Saturday.

Terry Bowser is the promoter.

"I am thrilled to have two gentlemen of this caliber take over my track." Emig said. "I know that they will continue to make this one of the best speedways in the area, and that was very important to me."

In other racing news:

• Lernerville Speedway is holding online sales for the Don Martin Memorial World of Outlaws Sprint Show and the Firecracker Outlaws Late Model shows at www.lernerville. com.

• The number 23 is very special to Late Model driver Tony Burke. He and his son, Collin, who plays football at Freeport High, along with the crew, finally debuted their car last Friday. It didn't go as well as expected, but I am confident they will work out the bugs in the near future.

Burke's No. 1 fan, daughter Nikita, who is a sophomore at Slippery Rock University majoring in criminology, has been working on another project. She is a member of AmeriCorps who recently went to New Orleans to help rebuild homes.

Burke and his wife Dana will be married 23 years on May 23. They hope to have a No. 23 racer for Collin to run in the Stock division soon.

Burke remembered helping helped Tommy Phillips on his Semi-Late Model when he was his son's age, and that is how the family's love for motor sports began.

• I was saddened to hear about the death Thursday of Herb Scott, who was a legendary driver at Lernerville Speedway.

• Robin and Butch Lambert have a unique wagon to pull daughter, Madison, around the pits. It is encased by a fiberglass replica of Butch's No. 27 Crate Late Model and was lettered by John Flinner. That might be a lucrative business for someone to pursue. Butch is doing very well is the FASTRAK Crate Lates.

• Mike Pegher proved that he is the man to beat in the Crate Lates, winning three of the last four feature events in a car owned by Lynn Geisler. He finished second in the other feature simply because of an error in judgment. When the flagman waved the white flag, the lighting on the discolored white flag made Mike think that is was a caution. Mike hit the brakes and the second-place driver at Tyler County got by for the win.

• Lernerville track photographer Cory Stivenson is graduating from Penn State with a business degree. He has put his education to immediate use by buying a photography business, which he has renamed Photos by Cory Stivenson.

• Our condolences to the family of Gary Protzman, who died last week. He was an avid Lernerville fan and was a crew member on Lou Blaney's Modified.

• Tommy Beck placed second in his first start of the year on an asphalt track at Motordrome Speedway last Friday. On the same evening, his wife Jaymie competed at Lernerville in the DIRTcar Pro Late Models feature, finishing 19th.

Carol Gamble is the racing columnist for the Butler Eagle.