BUTLER TWP — When Sally Murdick went for an afternoon drive with her husband years ago, she had no idea what she was in for.

“I thought we were just out for a drive on a sunny afternoon,” she recalled. “We were actually out because he was looking for a race car to buy.”

He eventually found one.

Carl Murdick put together a dirt track racing career that lasted 56 years before he retired after the 2015 season. His son, Dave Murdick, has been racing for 41 years.

Both have won Modified points championships at Lernerville Speedway — Carl in 1970, Dave in 2001, 2004 and 2009.

Now both are members of the Pittsburgh Circle Track Hall of Fame. Carl was inducted in 2007. His son was inducted this past winter.

“Yeah, it's pretty meaningful to us,” Dave said. “I can remember back in 1968, I was a little kid and my dad was working on his car in the garage.

“I was in there climbing all over the roll cage like it was monkey bars. It was just a cool time. No doubt, I got into racing because of him.”

Carl Murdick picked up 11 career feature wins at Lernerville Speedway. He was inducted into the Lernerville Hall of Fame in 2016 and competed at 48 different racetracks over the years.

Dave Murdick has 70 career feature wins, including 31 at Lernerville. He ranks eighth on the track's all-time list in Modified victories.

He's also won points titles at Sportsman Speedway and Sharon Speedway, along with the BRP Modified Tour championship.

“People always ask me if I'm going to race as long as my dad did,” Murdick, 57, said. “That's not going to happen. I'm looking at the end of next season (2021) as maybe being my last.

“The goal I have left is getting into the top 30 (all divisions) in feature wins at Lernerville. I need two more wins or so to do that.”

When Dave was inducted into the Circle Track HOF, he and Carl became the fourth father-son duo to gain induction. The others are Ed and Alex Ferree, Ed Lynch Sr. and Ed Lynch Jr., Pee Wee Flick and Mark Flick.

Carl and Sally Flick live in Florida during the winter months. They were secretly flown to Pittsburgh to surprise their son during the induction banquet.

“We weren't going to miss that,” Sally Murdick said. “That was a big night for our family. Racing has been a big part of all of our lives.”

Sheila Rankin — Dave's sister — and her husband, Gary, raced for years at Lernerville as well.

Carl was driver, owner and mechanic of his race cars throughout his career.

“I used to help him with the simple stuff in terms of maintaining the car so he could have more time to do the heavy work,” Dave said.

While he won't race as long as his father did, Dave understands why he and his dad have a combined 97 years in the sport.

“All of the great competition on that track and you're out there with all of that horsepower behind you ... It's quite a rush,” he said.

But the sport has gotten expensive.

“Dad used to race five nights a week,” Dave said. “That was a different time. You go into debt doing it now. It's crazy.”

But it's fun.

“I totaled my (race)car toward the end of last season, so we had to get a new car,” Dave said. “We're ready to go. Hopefully, we'll get a little bit of a season in.”