410 sprint cars: new drivers take on central pA

Main: Pat Cannon, Etters, raced on the low side of Turn 3 at Port Royal Speedway as he makes his return to 410 sprint car racing with the John Stehman team on opening day 2021 at Port Royal Speedway.

Inset: Pat Cannon looks over the cockpit of his 410 sprint car prior to warm ups at Port Royal Speedway.

Williams Grove.

“George stressed to me that it was a good opportunity and listening to his comfort and excitement level, made the decision a lot easier,” Cannon added. “George and I clicked early on in my tenure with the Highlands team and the conversations we had picked up where they left off four years ago.”

The plans for the team right now are to race the 410 at Port Royal Speedway and to do some shows at Selinsgrove Speedway where Cannon is the all-time winningest limited sprint car driver with 49 checkered flags. Down the road, according to Cannon, there might be some 360 winged shows.

The team made its debut at Port Royal on March 13 and the first day together they qualified for the A-Main

The old saying “never say never’’ applies to Kerry Madsen.

Madsen admitted that in this game you never say never when asked if he thought that he would ever race for a season in Central Pennsylvania.

“You hear the stories about Central Pa., and I read about this place in Open Wheel Magazine as a kid, but you don’t realize how the racing is woven into the fabric,” Madsen noted. “Everyone here is awesome and it’s nice to come out to.”

Madsen, who came to the United States during the 1999-2000 season and lives in Knoxville, Iowa, will be piloting the Michael Barshinger-owned sprint car this year.

Madsen finished 15th in the World of Outlaws sprint car series point standings last year. He won the 410 track championship at Knoxville in 2005.

“I was calling around to see what rides were available and the deal with Michael came together quickly,” he said. “So far it has been pretty enjoyable and pretty awesome with the new team.”

Madsen, from New South Wales, Australia, is taking over the ride from Mechanicsburg’s Lucas Wolfe who drove the car from 2017 to 2020.

Because of the travel ban, Madsen was unable to get back to Australia where he pilots the famed Krikke Boys No. 2 sprint car during the racing season in Australia.

“It was almost nice to have a break and have a full winter here in the USA,” he said. “I shoveled a bit of snow this year and it was good to recharge the batteries for the upcoming season which I am looking forward to.”

At press time, the team has only been together for a few races while Madsen said there are no concrete plans as of now as to race regularly at tracks in Pennsylvania.

“It’s more important to get along first and to see if it is going to work,” he said. “I enjoy the challenge of racing at different tracks, to be honest. I can see positive signs already in the race or two we have had. We have a great engine program and a good crew and car, so I am excited to see where that takes us.”

Madsen finished second on opening day at Port Royal on March 13 after leading the race and 17th at the opener at Williams Grove on March 14 after spinning out early in the feature during difficult and windy conditions.

Tim Shaffer, a four-time All Star champion, will be piloting Mike Heffner’s 410 sprint car this year.

“Mike was looking to race about 70 times this year and my crew chief knows Mike’s crew chief Heath Moyle, so they said he was interested in speaking with me and the call went very well, and here we are,” Shaffer said.

For the past few years, Shaffer was splitting his time between two westernPennsylvania based teams.

“I try to do 70 to 80 races a year as I do it for a living and with those number of races that can pay the bill,” he said. “It’s hard to be competitive with trying to get two teams as competitive as I like and they said that if I can find something better, go for it,” Shaffer added.

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with Cannon finishing 22nd.

“It felt good, better than I expected,” Cannon said of his return to the cockpit. “You are always anxious to start the season. But then the mind just kicked into gear and it felt good.

We took a shot at the setup with a new chassis, new engine, and a new team and we have a better game plan going forward.”

Cannon noted that Stehman has built the deal for the longterm and realizes that there is a building process to getting the team to where they want to be.

“We are hoping to get to a point where we are competitive every night,” Cannon stated. “Whether it’s top-10s or top- fives, that’s the goal we are working towards. If we get a win or two, that would be a great year. Port is a tough track to race at, so we’ll take it one week at a time.” For Cannon, 42, he’s getting a second chance to prove that his collection of wins from the Super Sportsman to the 358s and 410s, still makes him a threat to win and he’s ready to prove that with his new team.

The 2021 season is the 38th year that Shaffer has been involved in sprint car racing. He has also raced gokarts, three-wheel ATVs, and motocross before getting in the sprint car scene.

Shaffer, 53, from Aliquippa, was the Sharon Speedway (Ohio) Rookie of the Year when he was 16 and racing against guys like Lou Blaney, Ed Lynch, etc.

“Central Pennsylvania sprint car racing is big, and the fans are really into and they are educated about the sport,” Shaffer.

In 1997 he raced the famed Apple-sponsored car for Ed and Lee Stauffer for a year before getting a World of Outlaws ride in 1998 and being named the WoO Rookie of the year in 1999.

“I was in the Apple car and Greg (Hodnett) was in the 11H car on the Outlaw tour and we switched rides,” Shaffer said.

Shaffer said that there’s no timetable on the deal, but that they want to get out and make it happen.

“In sprint car racing you have to prove yourself all the time, especially in Central Pennsylvania, those fans are demanding, they want results.”

Shaffer scored four wins last year on the All Star circuit.

“I spent a lot of time talking with Heath on the phone asking him questions back-and-forth and we were jelling off the bat,” Shaffer said. “The key with Heath is his knowledge and he watches the race car and not the race and that’s so hard to do as a crew chief. When I came in after a race, our communication has been spot on. It’s so hard to find a team that communicates and has fun together but getting those people who can do that, that’s what makes you successful.”

Shaffer put the car in victory lane on March 6 at Lincoln Speedway and following the March 14-15 weekend, Shaffer was the points leader at the track. He finished 23rd at Williams Grove on opening day.

— SHAWN WOOD, FOR INSIDE MOTORSPORTS

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