New owners seek new heights

Todd and Melissa Melfi have learned a lot in their first year as owners of Motordrome Speedway in Smithton, Westmoreland County.

“I think we’ve learned that it might take a little more time than we originally thought,” Todd Melfi said. “Like any business that you are trying to turn around and get back to where its potential really lies.”

There are many reasons a race track can take longer than other businesses to take hold in the community.

Building consistency was one reason. “For years, people didn’t even know if [Motordrome] was even going to open from year to year, and by the time they found out, it was too late,” Todd Melfi said.

He added that it helps that people now know Motordrome is there to stay.

“We’re here to build for the future,” he said. “… It just takes time, you have to crawl before you can walk.”

The Melfis are up on their feet in 2015 making several improvements to the facility along with a few changes to the schedule.

Practice for all divisions is scheduled for 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday.

Opening day is scheduled for May 1 with a new start time for this year. By pushing the start time back on to 8 p.m. Fridays, the Melfis hope to make it easier for fans and racers to get to the track on time.

Special events include the ARCA Truck Series event June 19, the NASCAR K&N East Series August 14-15 as well as extended lap races for all five weekly divisions.

Motordrome has partnered with the Richard Petty Driving Experience to bring authentic NASCAR racecar ride-and-drive experiences to the Pittsburgh market this year.

“Having the Richard Petty Driving Experience at Motordrome Speedway is an incredible privilege for us,” Todd Melfi said.

“Outside of the tracks that host NASCAR Sprint Cup races, Motordrome is the only short track to be part of a pilot program for the RPDE program to spread out.”

Successful return

Ed Lynch Jr. of Apollo is no stranger to sprint car racing or to Lernerville Speedway; he has just been waiting for the right time to return.

“We decided to run harder [and race] local to see if we could make our engine fail,” Lynch said. “We have four cars and two engines. We won two races last year and had trouble with both engines.”

Lynch decided to take part in the season opener and did so successfully this past Friday by picking up his 110th career feature win.

The proud owner of 110 career wins at the Sarver track, 109 wins in a Sprint Car and one in a Modified, Lynch surpassed Lynn Geisler for third on the all-time wins list.

“We’re third now in all-time wins; that’s history and I really like it,” Lynch said after passing AJ Flick, also of Apollo, on lap 23 of the 25-lap feature.

“It’s something to build up history so the younger guys can beat you.”