When the modified division rolled out onto the track last Saturday at Lebanon Valley Speedway there was a new car on the race track — but a familiar face was steering it.
Mark Flach, the 2008 modified champion (co-champion with J.R. Heffner) at the Valley, was back racing after a seven-year absence.
Flach was behind the wheel of a car owned by successful owners Guy and Brian Madsen. Several months back they announced a team-up for the 2020 season but the team never surfaced at the West Lebanon oval.
“With everything that is going on this year (coronavirus pandemic) things got messed up for us,” said the 37-year-old Flach. “We had trouble getting parts, putting the car together, engine parts that were stuck out in California until they opened back up, it was a little bit of everything. But we wanted to get a couple of runs in before the end of the year to make sure everything works so we can start getting ready for next year at this point.”
Flach’s return to the racing seat was emotional. His departure from the sport seven years ago was because he broke his neck and back in a racing accident at Canandaigua Speedway.
“Basically, the doctor told me to find something else to do — I would never race again and I would never lift anything over 20 pounds again,” Flach said.
The news didn’t sit well. It was unacceptable to Flach who, at an early age, was instilled with a strong work ethic.
“Anybody that knows me knows that I have a hard time being told I can’t do something,” Flach said. “My motivation, my goal, was always to get back to being mobile and back to being strong and in a race car again.”
Prior to the accident, Flach worked at a welding supply company. It was something too difficult for someone healing so he started making race car parts. But he wasn’t hanging out at the tracks.
“I wouldn’t go for the longest time, I really had a hard time with it,” Flach said. “I started making parts for Keith (his cousin who also races) and basically he did all of my testing and would make sure everything was good before we started selling to the public.”
Next thing you know he was back hanging around the ovals — but he still wasn’t quite there yet — he would leave prior to the feature event. He had mentioned to Brian Madsen that he was available to help out with their fleet of automobiles and before long he was maintaining Brett Hearn’s Albany-Saratoga Speedway ride for the Madsens for the 2018 race season. The team picked up the title.
“I thought to myself that maybe if I worked on a car it might fulfill what I needed inside,” said Flach whose grandfather (John Sr., 1962) and uncle (John Jr., 1988 and 1989) have also claimed championship titles at the Valley. “When you are a racer, a driver, it’s hard not to be the driver. I was good for a while but when Brett was going to pull back on his racing (Hearn took the role race director at Orange County Fair Speedway), me and Brian talked about doing something at Lebanon together and here we are.”
The team has a sportsman car at Albany-Saratoga that Madsen’s son Dillon is running. He finished third on Friday night, his third time out, while Flach’s initial run Saturday was a 17th-place finish at the Valley.
“Honestly it was like riding a bike, you needed a few laps just to get your confidence in the race,” Flach said. “We had carburetor issues all night but it just felt so good to be back on the track, back behind the wheel — it was kind of a sense of normalcy.”
Cool idea
A bounty was raised at Fonda Speedway (headed up by announcer Mimi Lazzaro) to be awarded to anyone who can beat Stewart Friesen at the ‘Track of Champions.’
Friesen, who sits fourth on the speedway’s all-time modified win list (66), has won six of seven events in 2020.
The bounty began at last night’s ‘7 Come 11’ event at the oval and was nearing the $1,000 mark.
Should Friesen continue his win streak until the end of the season he will receive half of the bounty money. The other half of the money will be donated to the Crossroads Center for Children (autism awareness) in Schenectady.
Stewart and Jessica Friesen's son Parker attended the facility and they have run several donation efforts for the organization.
Another calendar cross-out
Glen Ridge Motorsports Park has canceled its Hall of Fame inductions for 2020.
Since race tracks in New York State are still not allowed to have fans in the grandstands due to restrictions placed by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, it makes no sense.
“With no fans, I feel as if those persons would not be able to receive the proper recognition they so truly deserve,” track promoter Butch Hazzard said in a press release.
They will add additional inductees next year to make up for this year’s unfortunate situation.
Throw a blanket over them
The modified points chase at Lebanon Valley Speedway continues to be a close battle for the crown.
Andy Bachetti’s three trips to victory lane place him in the lead with 276 points. Kenny Tremont (270), Eddie Marshall (261), Marc Johnson (248) and Brian Berger (246) round out the top five.
Robin Yasinsac-Gillespie's auto racing column appears every other Thursday during the racing season.
"auto" - Google News
August 06, 2020 at 06:01AM
https://ift.tt/33s3hRb
Auto racing: Flach enjoying his return to driver's seat - Times Union
"auto" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2Xb9Q5a
https://ift.tt/2SvsFPt
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Auto racing: Flach enjoying his return to driver's seat - Times Union"
Post a Comment