Lernerville Speedway opens its 39th dirt track racing season Friday night with new faces in different places.

Gary Risch Jr. and Gary Risch Sr. are the new co-general managers of the facility and are now full-time employees of DIRTMotorsports, which owns the track.

The father-son duo have been working closely with DIRTNortheast general manager Tonya Moschell and adviser Jean Lynch in preparing for this season.

"We're hoping fans see the usual Lernerville, with a few marked improvements,"Moschell said. "We want the familiarity to be there and it will be.

"There's always been quality racing there. The fans are used to that and it's not going to change."

Gary Risch Jr., a Sarver resident and driver of the No. 3GModified car, will not be racing at Lernerville this season. He will be racing at other area tracks.

"I'm all about making sure our fans see a quality racing show every night,"Risch said. "My No. 1 goal right now is a faster-moving show, so we can get people home at a decent hour.

"This is a family sport and the late hours we've been getting finished over the years have been a problem."

Racing will continue to get under way at 7:30 p.m., with gates opening at 5. The Sprint, Late Model and Modified features have been increased from 20 to 25 laps.

Pure Stock features will continue to be 15 laps.

"Fans want to see more racing, the drivers want to do more racing,"Risch said. "We've responded to that."

Risch is hopeful that RACEceivers, or one-way radios, used in all divisions this season will speed up restarts and avoid confusion as to what cars are supposed to line up where.

Sprint, Late Model and Modified cars will have transponders for scoring purposes.

"Those radios will make a noticeable difference,"Moschell said. "Lining up for a restart manually takes three or four laps. With this new equipment, it can be done in less than one lap and you can go green again.

"With a track like Lernerville's, with four major divisions and high car counts, managing the show swiftly is critical. Things like wrecks we can't control, so we have to be on top of everything else."

Moschell is hopeful Lernerville's Friday night race shows can be completed within three and a half hours.

Also, new clay has been added to the track surface, and Risch estimates an additional six-inch base of new clay is on the track.

"There's always a little clay added each year, but the amount is significant this year," he said. "It's very noticeable and should add to the quality of the track."

All in all, Risch said this season will generally be "the same old Lernerville."

"People already like coming here," he said. "We want them to like it even more."

The World of Outlaws Late Models will visit the track April 7 for the Spring Showdown in Sarver Town 50. The feature winner receives $10,000.

Pit gates open at 4 p.m., spectator gates at 5. Driver warm-ups begin at 7., time trials at 7:15., racing at 8.

This will be the fifth OutlawsLate Models show at Lernerville. Previous feature winners are Chub Frank (twice), Dale McDowell and Billy Moyer.

Lernerville's points race will begin April 14. Here are a few notes on the 2006 season:

• Ed Lynch Jr. (Sprints), John Flinner (Late Models), Dave Murdick (Modifieds) and Butch Lambert (Pure Stocks) are defending track champions.

• Lynch has won four Sprint titles at Lernerville and holds the track record for career feature wins in that division with 76.

• Flinner, of Zelienople, won his fifth consecutive Late Models crown, a track record, and is looking to join Bob Wearing Sr., Lou Blaney, Lou Gentile and Joe Kelley as the track's only six-time points champions.

• Murdick, of Slippery Rock, has won back-to-back Modified titles after going 24 years without winning a points championship at Lernerville.

• Kelley will not be racing a Pure Stock this season, having sold his equipment to Dave Baker of Elderton.

• Most Improved Driver awards for 2005 went to Cory Good (Sprints), Chris Schneider (Late Models), Chanda Reitz (Modifieds) and Seneca Valley graduate Mike Pegher Jr. (Pure Stocks).

• Recent Freeport graduate Carl Bowser (Sprints) is Lernerville's 2005 Rookie of the Year. He is still looking for his first Sprint feature win, however, having garnered a second-place finish and two heat race wins last year.

• Another young gun hits the Sprint division this year as Danny Holtzgraver, 16, comes up from Micro-Sprints.