Archive for category: LLM

As the temperature continued to rise and make for hot days and nights in July, Lane Snook also started to rise in performance. After scoring several strong runs in May and June, including a win, July proved to be no different. 

While not all results saw the 23 car in a podium spot, speed was evident. To start off the month, a make-up feature was on tap at BAPS. Podium one of the month found the young 16-year old driver, as Lane charged from 8th to 3rd position. Being an addition to the regular show, this meant the team would have to prepare for another feature that evening. Rolling off 9th in the regular feature, misfortune found the 23 car. “Had a car spin in front of us and I had to spin to avoid.” Not what you want to happen, but the aforementioned gains in speed showed. “We went to the rear and made our way back up to 10th.” Good speed shown, with two top 10’s to kick off the month. 

The next weekend found the team traveling to Selinsgrove, where speed seemed to be produced right out of the box for the Mifflintown native. Going to the top of the speed chart on his first lap of time trials, again proved the speed found. However, lap two ended the night, with a blown motor. The team was understandably bummed, but with the small track car loaded up, the team went to Path Valley the following week and didn’t appear to have missed a beat. 

“Started 3rd in the heat and finished 4th. That put us starting 7th in the feature and made our way to 2nd.” Even after a slight misstep on the cushion set him back to 3rd late, Lane was able to power back around and grab the 2nd spot on the final circuit. 

Closing out the month of July at BAPS brought the team back to the site of Snook’s first win. Winning speed was there and Lane advanced from 9th-2nd in the feature event. “The car kept getting better as the race went on,” stated the young late model pilot. “I think the more laps I’ve run, that we’ve found some stuff that I like with the setup on the car. I’ve definitely got more comfortable as the year has went on and we are putting some good runs together.” All of this while having to navigate different types of tracks and surfaces. 

The ¼ mile tracks like Path Valley are definitely fun and elbows up,” said Snook. “½ miles are aero dependent and that can make them hard to race on,” identifying a key challenge of the bigger speedways like Port Royal and Selinsgrove. “If they widen out, they can race good.” 

As evident with his performances there this year, Lane highlighted ⅜ mile tracks, like BAPS as “about the perfect size for a racetrack. The last couple times we’ve been there, it’s been good racing and fun to race on.” 

August will be no different in the variety of facilities the 23 team looks to head to. Port Royal will kick off the month on August 3rd, followed by Path Valley on the 10th. BAPS Motor Speedway success will hopefully continue as the limited late models are on the card August 17th. A double header weekend featuring Port Royal and Selinsgrove is on the calendar for the 23rd and 24th, before rounding out the month at Port Royal for the start of the Juniata County Fair. 

A month racing in the heat and on different size speedways, not only showed the teams ability to compete on a regular basis, but also proved the progress made by a young racer. Three podiums and a top-10, helped the confidence of the 16-year old driver, and will hopefully continue as August features a similar schedule to that of the successful July. 

The Snook family and Lane, would again like to thank all of their amazing partners and sponsors for keeping the team on track and performing at a consistently strong level.