Living in the land Down Under, Carl Bowser of Sarver really enjoyed this winter.

"I wanted to improve my performance in 2009 and needed to get seat time," said the 22-year-old Sprint driver.

To do so he traveled to race in Tasmania, an island off the coast of Australia. Bowser competed nine times is as many weeks at three tracks and his best finish was sixth.

What is the difference between the tracks there and area tracks here?

"We could never do the four-wide salute at the beginning of a race," Bowser said. "The tracks weren't wide enough."

There is a sanctioning body that travels to Australian tracks and tells the promoters how many cars can run in the feature, depending the width and length of the track, for safety reasons.

Most feature events have 16 to 18 cars and the speedways run three divisions.

"Two of the tracks I raced at were flat, with little banking and rather rough," Bowser said.

In addition to the main class, which might be Sprints or Super Late Models, they will have Midgets, Stocks or Bombers. Area tracks use the pill pull to line up the cars for heat races and features, but the Aussies run two heat races.

The second heat race is started by reversing the finish of the first heat and passing points are used to determine the start of the feature.

"If you won your heat and didn't pass anyone, you might start at the rear of the field," Bowser said.

All features are 30 laps. Every driver is required to wear the Hans Device for neck protection.

At the pit concession stand, they served meat pie or egg pastries. The price of admission was $20, $23 for a pit pass.

A feature win was worth $1,200 on a regular night. Special events netted $5,000 or $10,000.

Newest Outlaw

Brian Ellenberger is touring with the World of Outlaws Sprints in 2009.

His best finish with this premier group is a 13th at Manzanita Speedway in Arizona. He and his team are utilizing a J&J Chassis and Garrett Racing Engines with hopes of capturing the Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year Award.

"It's something I have always wanted to do," the Butler native said. "I was fortunate enough to partner up with a new company up here in Pennsylvania and they are going to help with sponsorship.

"They wanted to run with the Outlaws and have a car out there."

Ellenberger spent the 2008 season competing with the All- Star Circuit of Champions, finishing fifth in points on the strength of 11 top-10 finishes. He sold this Sprint car to Gary Kriess Jr., who is back in racing.

PPMS joins DIRTcar

Pittsburgh's Pennsylvania Motor Speedway announced that it will be DIRTcar Racing Sanctioning for the 2009 season.

Beginning with the half-mile oval's season opener April 11, drivers in all six divisions Super Late Model, Pro Late Model (Crate), UMP Modified (E-Mod), Sportsman (Pure Stock), Factory Stock (Amateur Stock), and Sport Compact (Young Gun) will become eligible to earn points toward the prestigious national and regional DIRTcar Racing titles.

Running one track last season, Lernerville Speedway's Late Model champion Alex Ferree earned an extra $1,685: ($1,000 as state champion, $375 from regional points and $310 from national points, while Lynn Geisler earned an extra $725 ($500 state, $125 regional, $100 state).

Lernerville Speedway Street Stock Track title holder Bob Egley won an additional $500 for winning a state title, as did Mike Pegher Jr. for winning the Pro (Crate) Late Model State crown.

Two tracks can give the drivers a larger piece of the $200,000 points-fund pie.

News and Notes

n Rod George is on a quest to win four of five Mercer Raceway Sprint crowns and he started the season with another victory last week.

Cranberry Township's Mike Pegher, Jr. and car owner Lynn Geisler will run the FASTRAK Crate Late Model schedule in 2009. On Saturday night, Pegher captured the 20-lap 4 FASTRAK feature.

"The car worked excellent for what we did," explained the 23-year-old racer. "I have to thank all my crew. We weren't even going to race here tonight. If it wasn't for my crew the last couple of nights working until after midnight, we wouldn't have been here."

The points season will begin at Lernerville Friday for all divisions. Racing starts at 7:30 p.m.

Carol Gamble is the racing columnist for the Butler Eagle.