Ring in the new year by enjoying a ‘Toast with a Ghost.’
Just by listening to Ryan Lilick you could tell he was dedicated to his goal of being one of the best in the T.P. Trailers 358 Modified stock cars at Grandview Speedway.
His recent NASCAR Pa. Rookie of the Year award presented to him at the huge NASCAR Home Track Awards banquet in Charlotte recently shows that he is headed in the right direction.
The excitement of winning that award could be felt as we chatted on the telephone just last week. “I was completely surprised that I got the award,” said the 22-year-old Collegeville resident. “It just was not something that I was expecting. It was a cool accolade.”
Lilick, a graduate of quarter midget racing, finished 14th in the final NASCAR Modified standings at popular one-third-mile, banked clay track located in Bechtelsville. He earned the most points of any first year racer in the Keystone State during the 2018 season.
“Grandview is one of the most competitive tracks and has some of the best talents in the sport racing on a regular basis,” said the young racer who will be starting a new job in money management during the month of January.
During his quarter midget career, he started when he was 9 years old, he had a lot of success racing at the Phoenixville track, Blackbird (in Delaware) and a number of others. Impressive is his list of wins which includes a big victory in the National Grand events in Illinois as a teenager.
He soon moved on to Sportsman racing and in an early outing managed to “fold up the race car.” However things got better and during a three year period he was able to win seven feature races.
His dad, Ken, and brother Kyle, have been huge helps to him and his racing career.
The family effort with the race cars has been meticulous.
During this, his first year racing the T.P. Trailers 358 Modifieds at NASCAR sanctioned Grandview Speedway, Lilick feels he might have been a little too cautious, a little too conservative, with the new ride he had that was owned by Dennis and Debbie Becker of Pottstown. The Beckers had talked to several drivers before offering the opportunity to rookie Kyle.
The car, the Dennis Becker-owned DB Motorsports No. 49, has a number of sponsors, so important to the success of a team. Included in the list of sponsors is J&H Automotive Blue Bell Heating & Air Conditioning, Becker Enterprises, Pow Mia, Gill Quarries, NAPAG, FlashFlood HVAC, Nick Gatto, Ratoskey and Trainor Inc., Kelly Racing Fuels, Insinger Performance, Shiley Fabrications and Graber Lettering.
Why is Ryan in the car? That is a question I asked. “Dennis watched Ryan run for a couple of years and he was a smart driver and easy on equipment,” was the response from Debbie Becker. “His brother Kyle asked if they would let Ryan run their car at a season ending event at Bridgeport Speedway. He ran the car and Dennis was impressed with Ryan and the crew. He decided to give him a chance in the car.”
The Becker’s were ecstatic with the year’s results and what Ryan and the team accomplished.
“Sometimes I would see an opportunity, an opening, but I would hesitate to take advantage. By then the opportunity was gone.” Said Lilick.
When asked about who he goes to for driving advice, Lilick was quick to point out that his brother Ryan was a huge help. However as he started to blend in with the other racers he would seek advice from some of them such as ten time Modified champion Jeff Strunk. “Kevin Hirthler was a big help to us in our first year,” Ryan was quick to say.
Though his best effort during the 2018 season was one top ten finish, he feels he is more comfortable now racing against such great talents as Strunk, new champion Mike Gular, Craig Von Dohren, Duane Howard and so many others. Strunk earned the NASCAR Penna State title.
The 2014 graduate of nearby Pope John Paul II pointed out that when he was growing up he got to watch many of the top talents race and will be working very hard to become more comfortable in the car, make some moves that he would not have made in his first year and gain the respect of the other racers.
Another highlight of the season was putting the Becker owned car in the starting field for the rich Freedom 76 $25,000 To Win Classic in September.
Ryan Lilick will be anxious to get the new season started when a free-to-thepublic practice session is offered at Grandview on March 30th followed on Saturday, April 6th when the first official race of their 57th season is presented. It is the Bruce Rogers Memorial offering $7,500 to win. Doing well in that race would be a great way to get the season started.
In the future Lilick would love to be able to travel to some other tracks and test his skills. He does plan to stay in the Modifieds.
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The first race of the New Year in the northeast is set for Allentown’s PPL Center. The Indoor Auto Racing Series Fueled By VP Race Fuels begins its three race 2019 ‘concrete track’ series with the running of the Ironton Telephone Indoor Race Presented By BELFOR. Two complete shows including qualifying and feature events will be headlined by the Three Quarter (TQ) Midgets on Friday and Saturday nights January 4th and 5th.
Heading the list of competitors is Erick Rudolph, the Ransomville, N.Y., ace who earned the win in the second annual East Coast Indoor Dirt Nationals in Trenton, N.J., on December 15.
Tim Buckwalter, from Douglasville, will be racing as a teammate to Rudolph for the 2019 Indoor Season.
On Friday, the TQs will be joined by Champ Karts, the lightweight, lightning fast, supremely agile vehicles that have always performed in crowd pleasing fashion in Allentown.
On Saturday, Slingshots will be the co-feature with the TQs. These same Slingshots race outdoors at the nearby Kutztown Fairgrounds and other speedways during the outdoor season.