Jean Lynch is an unassuming lady that you can find each week at several local speedways each week watching her son compete in the sprint division. She is much more than a statistician for the race team; she is one of the most respected public relations figures in all of motorsports an as I like to call her”The First Lady of Auto Racing.”
I was always intrigued by how Jean became such a prominent figure in a field that is dominated by males; after all when she began her motorsports career women were not even allowed into the pit area. Jean’s interest in auto racing began when she accompanied her husband to local speedways. Ed Sr. was a mechanic at the time and Jean was a spectator. Area flagman, Jack Freeman, approached Jean and asked her if she would be interested in helping him operate the Latrobe Speedway. Freeman was going to do the track prep, his mother would be running the concession stand and Jean would be in charge of “everything else.” Jean accepted and one of the nation’s premier motorsports promoters had begun her career. In the early years her responsibilities included event marketing, hiring the staff needed for each event and even selling tickets and pit passes. Quite a remarkable accomplishment for a married lady raising several young children.
It was through her work at the Latrobe Speedway that Jean met Al Gerber, who was in charge of the Race of Champions. At that time the Race of Champions was held at the Langhorne Speedway and local tracks were honored to have a qualifier at their facility and send a local representative to compete with other top East Coast drivers. Gerber was impressed with Jean and offered her a position promoting the Race of Champions. Jean accepted and spent 30 years working for Mr. Gerber as the event grew in prominence and later moved from the Langhorne Speedway to the Trenton and Pocono Speedways and is now held at the Flemington Speedway.
Jean was also the publicity director that worked with Don Martin to bring the Lernerville Speedway to national prominence. This hard work paid off as Lernerville Speedway was the first Western PA facility to host the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series and Martin was named the RPM Promoter of the Year.
Mrs. Lynch’s involvement in the national racing scene continues to this day as she has sent the past 28 years promoting the East Bay Winternationals each January and she still assists the DIRT organization with their SuperDIRT Week each October in Syracuse, NY. In addition Jean is the Vice President of the All-Star Circuit of Champions and has also served on the Executive Board of the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in Knoxville, IA. I believe her involvement in both of these organizations indicate just how much respect the entire motorsports community has for Jean and the knowledge and professionalism she has brought to both the local and national racing scenes.
Although her husband and son have always gotten the majority of the media attention as they dominated and continue to dominate the winner’s circle at the local racetracks Jean has quietly climbed to the top of the motorsports world as well. We in Western PA are fortunate to have such a competent and nationally respected individual in our midst. Thank You Jean Lynch for all of your hard work and dedication you certainly are “The First Lady of Auto Racing.”
In other news from the Tri-City Speedway it appears as though the dominance of Rod George and Ed Lynch Jr. in the Sprint has ended as Jared Larson has picked up two feature victories while George and Lynch have one each. Larson has indicated he will be a regular at the speedway and the four time Sharon Speedway Champion currently leads the point standings as well. Jimmy Weller III, Todd Bauer and Andy McKisson have also shown significant improvement and any of these three drivers could also pick up a feature victory in 2004.
Brett Rhebergen has also seen his dominance of the E-mod Division challenged by a much improved Shawn Domhoff. Domhoff won the first two features of the young season and also has a victory at PPMS. His hard work during the off season has certainly been rewarded and I expect we will be hearing quite a bit about this driver in 2004. Mike Samuelson picked up his career first E-mod victory driving the Mopar powered #80 a few weeks ago as he passed Kari Gasser on the final lap for a hard fought victory. Gasser is another driver that should be in victory lane very soon. The petite lady racer has led the feature event on several occasions this year and could very well make Tri-City history as the first female feature winner at the facility.
Tri-City Speedway will host a regular “5 Star Racing” Program on June 13th with the Victim’s Resource Ladies Modified Tour headlining the program on June 20th and the Giant Eagle and Edward Jones Fireworks Extravaganza rounding out the month of June on the 27th.
Until next time be safe in your travels and remember that news, notes and constructive criticism are always welcome at sprintcarfan@zoominternet.net.
The Stateline Speedway in Busti, New York is one of the tracks where Late Model stars such as Chub Frank, Ron Davies and David Scott got their starts and since the MACS Series was stopping by the track for the Memorial Day weekend I also decided to stop in for a visit. The track is located just over the PA/NY line north of Sugar Grove, PA and is about a two hour and fifteen minute drive from the Butler area. I traveled via Routes 8, 227 and 27 and it was a scenic trip through Pennsylvania’s “Oil Country.”
The Late Model feature saw local hero Chub Frank bring home a very popular victory. A hard charging David Scott battled his way to a sixth place finish after starting 13th. South Park’s Keith Barbara, a MACS Rookie of the Year Contender, was involved in a nasty heat race accident and competed in the Matt Christopher 66 in the feature.
I also had the opportunity to see the four checkered flag finish of flagman, Spanky Hall. Rumor has it that this spectacular flag show may be seen at the Lernerville Speedway sometime this season. Spanky is certainly one of the most popular and friendliest officials in the area and his flamboyant style has earned him many admirers in southwestern PA now that he is making a stop at the Lernerville Speedways on Friday nights in 2004.
Stateline Speedway runs each Saturday evening through August and starts promptly at 7:00PM. If you are looking for an action packed evening of racing you might want to add this facility to your travels in 2004. Until next time be safe in your racing travels and remember that news, notes and constructive criticism are always welcome at sprintcarfan@zoominternet.net.
