Late Season Lessons

As the month of September marched on, races became more scattered for Lane Snook and team. The team took to the Path Valley Speedway on September 14th, for a night of racing at the Spring Run ¼ mile. Snook put the limited late model in victory lane earlier in the season at the tight bullring. Speed and confidence continued for the 23 team.

Lane would roll off from the 7th starting position in the feature. A lesson in patience and perseverance was shown to the young 16-year-old. “I was able to move my way up to second throughout the race and battle for the lead,” stated Snook, “but with harder tires and lots of cautions at the end of the race, we ended up second.” Coming up one spot short of his second triumph of the season at Path Valley, but still garnering a podium finish.

This would be the last time the 23 car would roll onto the track in September, but the driver would take a few weeks to gain valuable experience and knowledge from friend Drake Troutman. Lane was able to travel with the Lucas Oil Late Model tour racer to the Knoxville Late Model Nationals and Brownstown Speedway. Snook found the experience to be different but in a good way. “It’s definitely cool traveling all over the place and getting to watch some of the best, and to see how they do it.” Lessons learned over the course of the trip could help the young racer who is still learning the ins and outs of the Late Model scene.

“I’ve learned a lot about different ways of how to set the car up and understanding why they do it.” As many older racers and crew chiefs will say, every driver should learn how the car works and how to work on it. These are valuable skills for the Mifflintown native to learn. “I’m grateful to Drake for allowing me to come help him and for him teaching me stuff about cars and how the cars work.”

Another thing that most drivers or past drivers will tell you is that trying to just show up to the track and spectate a race can be challenging or even unappealing “It’s pretty weird going to the racetrack and not racing,” stated Lane. However, the lessons and information could help down the road as the 3 time winner, in 2024, looks for more success in the coming weeks to close out the season.

The upcoming schedule for Lane features a trip to BAPS Motor Speedway on October 12th. A little road trip follows the next weekend as Eldora is on the schedule for the Dirt Track World Championship. The final weekend of the season will take place at Path Valley with a doubleheader weekend of October 25th-26th. That, for now, will close out the sophomore season for the team.