BUFFALOTWP — Six years ago, Ralph Spithaler's racing career nearly ended.

After wrecking one of his Sprint cars at Knoxville, he returned home and promptly smashed up the other one.

Out of cars and out of racing money, the Evans City driver's racing future looked bleak.

"Yeah, I figured we were done,"Spithaler admitted. "We were definitely going to cash it in for that season and see how we felt about coming back the following year."

But Spithaler's career continued when fellow Sprint car driver Troy Preston broke his back and asked him to race his car for the balance of the season.

Upon doing so, Spithaler learned something about himself.

"I wasn't ready to give this up," he said.

He still isn't.

Now 47, Spithaler hasn't raced for points anywhere since 2001. He hasn't won a feature race at Lernerville Speedway in three years.

His father, his partner in racing for numerous years, died in March. Despite all of that, Spithaler stands sixth in the Sprint points race at Lernerville with 151.

And he's not even racing for points.

"This (last Friday) is only our sixth time out all year,"Spithaler said. "With all the rainouts, I guess I'm still up there. But we're gonna miss some weeks coming up.

"Not racing for points is one less thing to worry about. Come Friday, if the mood strikes, we're out here. If the weather is looking nasty or it's a cold night, which makes it hard on the motor, we'll pass. I like it that way."

Yet Spithaler hasn't dismissed the possibility of getting his No. 56 car back to victory lane.

"Sure it can still happen,"he said. "But everything has to be perfect. We have to start up front and the track has to be to our liking.

"If we didn't believe we could still win, I doubt we'd still be racing at all."

Ralph Baker, who has been a member of Spithaler's race team for 10 years, said they can still win.

"If everything goes right and the stars are aligned perfectly with the moon, it can happen,"Baker said. "We don't have money in our motor, we can't keep changing our tires, but if you believe it can happen, you keep working to make it happen."

Spithaler has been racing a Sprint car since 1982. He won a points title in the Modified division at Lernerville in 1989. He already has accumulated more points this year than all of last year, when he placed 17th at the Sarver track with 137 points.

"We made some corrections in our set-up at the end of last year and that carried over,"Baker said. "Running a limited schedule, we're not wearing out the tires as much. ... There's a lot of factors in why we're running more consistently.

"We don't have a big budget, but Ralph's experience behind the wheel makes up for a lot of that."

Spithaler has five top-10 finishes and three top-fives in his six races so far. He has finished as high as third in a feature.

Crew member Tom Prager has been with Spithaler off-and-on for the past 24 years.

"Two years ago, he was running two nights a weekend and that got hectic for all of us,"Prager said. "We decided as a race team that we just didn't want to do that anymore.

"We've never bought everything brand new for the car at the same time. We upgrade different parts from time to time. Our total program is probably three or four years behind Ed Lynch Jr.'s

"Ralph's a cautious driver because he has to be. He can't afford to go all-out aggressive around the speedway because he can't risk wrecking the car. At times being cautious has helped him, at times it's hurt him,"Prager added.

Losing his father hurt him most of all.

"His dad was a big loss,"Prager said. "Those two grew up together, not just in racing — in everything."

For the first time in his racing career, Spithaler keeps his car in his own garage at home. He never had a garage to store it on his own property before.

"We finally got a garage built to house the car and my father's not here to enjoy it,"Spithaler said. "He would've been out there all the time. He would have loved it."

Just like his son still loves racing.

"Ralphie always has,"Prager said. "It doesn't matter what kind. He's got tons of go-karts and still races them."

Lernerville Speedway Points StandingsTop 15 through July 1SprintsEd Lynch Jr. 197, Kevin Schaeffer 184, Rod George 176, Arnie Kent 168, Carl Bowser 158, Ralph Spithaler 151, Scott Bonnell 146, Brent Matus 138, Gary Rankin 116, Scott Priester 110, Cory Good 107, Terry Bowser 106, Mike Shearer 101, Charlie Holben 86, Dan Holtgraver 82

Late ModelsLynn Geisler 207, Ken Schaltenbrand 158, Mike Blose 152, Matt Lux 140, Gary Lyle 133, Alex Ferree 129, Sam Stile 128, Jared Miley 116, Bob Wearing Jr. 115, John Mollick 112, Chris Schneider 111, Chuck Kennedy 108, Tony Burke 99, John Flinner 95, Carl McKinney 87

ModifiedsKevin Bolland 220, Brian Swartzlander 199, Tom Winkle 194, Dave Murdick 183, Jim Weller Jr. 160, J.R.McGinley 145, Del Rougeux Jr. 141, Joe Crawford 130, Mark Flick 115, Carl Murdick 113, Jim Weller III106, Tom Mattocks 95, Skip Moore 86, Mike Turner 77, Chanda Reitz 77

Pure StocksButch Lambert 226, Greg Beach 183, Jason Fosnaught 175, Wayne Carbo 169, Bob Egley 156, Paul Schreckengost 152, Jake Ayers 147, Terry Young 138, Mike Pegher Jr. 134, Pat Hanley 132, Jim Fosnaught 108, Nick Reges 108, Dave Baker 103, Martin Viale 94, Shawn Thorn 79