The 4th Turn

~ By Tom Boggie

It’s all a matter of perspective.

There’s a driver who will remain anonymous (until about three paragraphs from now), who has one top-10 finish at his home track and is 13^th in points.

He’s also run all six Super DIRT Series races, and hasn’t finished better than 16^th. His total earnings in those six races is $1,550.

So why is this driver smiling?

Because it’s Jack Lehner, and he’s only 20 years old, and he’s having fun.

Lehner, who was named the Hoosier Racing Tire Weekly Championship Big Block Rookie of the Year last season after finishing in the top 10 in points at Albany-Saratoga Speedway, made a big career move last winter when he decided to run the entire Super DIRT series. He went to Florida in February to run the DIRTcar Nationals at Volusia County Speedway and qualified for all four races, finishing 11^th on the final night.

Since then, he and crew chief Randy Stites, who usually travel alone when they hit the road, have made all six Super DIRT Series stops, with 16^th-place finishes in the series opener at Can-Am and recently at Airborne Park Speedway.

“We’re having fun,” said Lehner with a smile Friday night as he was prepping tires at Albany-Saratoga Speedway. “But we have to take a butt-kicking until we get it figured out.”

Not only is he getting acclimated to new tracks for the first time, he’s also trying to get the handle on a new chassis. He ran a Bicknell last year, but during the winter, he decided to change to a TEO chassis.

“I’m good friends with Max McLaughlin (who runs a TEO) and Matt Hearn, and I got a real good deal on the TEO,” he said. “But so far, we just can’t seem to get it right.”

The season started out promising at Albany-Saratoga Speedway, when he had three top-10 finishes in the new chassis in the first three weeks. But in week 4, he bent up the car pretty good in a wreck with John Bellinger, and he and Stites have been playing catch-up ever since.

He’s also had to adapt to changing track conditions at Malta, which hasn’t helped him get a handle on the chassis. “The car is good when there’s bite in the track,” he said.

Because he’s only one of 12 drivers to start in all six Super DIRT Series races, Lehner is 12^th in points. The series will resume on July 18 at Orange County Speedway.

“It’s been fun,” said Lehner of following the series. “It will be more fun when we start finishing better.”

WHO SAYS THIS IS A YOUNG MAN’S GAME?

In case you missed it, the combined age of the top two finishers in last week’s modified feature at Albany-Saratoga Speedway was 118.

It was good to see Elmo Reckner battling with Brett Hearn. Reckner, who is running a Dave Hunt LS7 spec engine in his car, had to settle for second, but he was still happy with his performance.

“We’ve been working on this car since last year, and we’ve been terrible for a long time,” said the 58-year-old Reckner after the race. “But I think I figured something out over the winter, and I’m glad I came back this year.”

Reckner’s overall numbers aren’t impressive. Until Friday night, he hadn’t even finished in the top 10. But there’s a good reason for that.

“I’m taking the Bob Savoie attitude,” said Reckner, referring to the former Albany-Saratoga track champion. “If the car’s not right, I’m not going to beat up on it. We come here each week with a game plan, and if it doesn’t work, I’m pulling in. That allows us to keep the car straight and gets us ready for the next week.”

A little history lesson: Reckner won seven hobby stock features at Albany-Saratoga in 1980.

Hearn recorded his 135th career modified win at Albany-Saratoga on Friday, but admits he’s having a hard time adapting to the changing racing surface.

“I keep flip-flopping from real bad back to OK,” he said. “I really can’t understand it. I’m having trouble keeping up with the race track. The track has been changing weekly.”

AROUND THE TRACKS

Andy Bachetti won Tuesday night’s Short Track Super Series race at Accord, taking home the top prize of $5,000. Stewart Friesen retired with an oil leak on lap 35 of the 50-lapper. He had been running with a flat left front tire since lap 25. Mike Gular finished second to Bachetti in a car he borrowed from the Ricci team after he blew a motor in his own car during his heat race. That came after he blew the motor in his hauler on his way to the speedway. Matt Sheppard finished fourth and now has a three-point lead over Friesen.

Tim Hartman Jr. qualified for his second STSS modified feature of the season, and finished 13^th in the Jimmy Becker No. 9. Hartman Jr. also won the STSS Sportsman Series feature in the Parillo Services car, which was his second win of the series and padded his point lead over Tommy Collins to 107 points. Hartman Jr. started on the pole, but Blaine Klinger got the jump on the restart, and Hartman Jr. didn’t get the lead until he and Klinger were in lapped traffic with five laps to go.

So it was a good week for Hartman Jr., who also won Friday night’s sportsman feature at Albany-Saratoga. When asked if he knew the significance of the win, which was the 20^th of his career at Malta, Hartman Jr. said, “Yeah. It means I’m six away from my dad.”

I’m sad to report that Barb Frye died earlier this week. The wife of longtime Albany-Saratoga pit steward and flagger Jim Frye, Barb, who was 71, was a fixture at the Malta track and Devil’s Bowl, handling the sign-in window before going up to the tower to do the scoring. In those days, scoring was done by hand, and anyone who’s ever scored a race knows the concentration it takes. Barb Frye was one of the best at it, and was a real asset to C.J. Richards. She was inducted into the New York State Stock Car Association Hall of Fame with her husband in 2006. She also ran a tight ship as the office manager at Rhett Croteau’s Service Center on Route 9.

With the help of Andrew Sandstrom, Albany-Saratoga Speedway put on a nice tribute to longtime racing fan Don Horning last Friday. Marc Johnson even had a tribute to Horning, who died last July, on his rear quarterpanel. To say that Horning worked in the clothing industry is like saying Ray Kroc cooked hamburgers. Horning was the President/CEO of August Silk Inc. until his retirement in 2015. August Silk was founded in 1991 to address the needs of career women who wanted to look chic but corporate casual at the same time. Heck, I even found a quote from Horning in an issue of “Women’s Wear Daily.” Name one other person who’s been to Albany-Saratoga Speedway and has also been quoted in “Women’s Wear Daily!” Horning spent the work week in New York City, but always caught the train to Rensselaer and got back to the Capital Region in time to catch the races at Albany-Saratoga. He also loved to hit the road for big races at Lebanon Valley, Orange County, Syracuse and Oswego.

After getting his first win of the season two weeks ago at Albany-Saratoga, Matt DeLorenzo never really got a chance to make it two in a row. During his heat race last Friday, DeLorenzo, who set fast time in the early warmup session, made hard contact with Bobby Hackel IV and bent up the front end of his race car. He made the necessary repairs and started at the rear of the modified field, but only worked his way up to 10^th. Marc Johnson, who finished sixth, regained the point lead.

Connor Cleveland recorded his fifth sportsman win of the season Saturday night at Airborne in Plattsburgh. He finished fourth at Malta last Friday, and now trails Hartman Jr. by six points in their battle for the Albany-Saratoga title.

Friday night’s card at Albany-Saratoga will include the 5^th annual Mark Hughes Remembrance Race.

There’s big money on the line for modifieds Saturday night at Lebanon Valley, as promoter Howie Commander will be paying $7,500 to win the annual King of the Dirt feature.

Lebanon Valley will also be racing Sunday when Tony Stewart’s Circuit of Champions Sprint Car Series runs the high banks. Stewart’s traveling group will be at Utica-Rome Friday, and Stewart will be behind the wheel of one of the 410 sprint cars.