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With big plans and a full schedule of racing in the month of May, Lane Snook looked to continue the upward trajectory of results that ended April. In the first few months of the season, Lane and his team had experienced every type of result. Poor finishes, untimely mechanical issues, strong runs from back to front, and wins. May would start to right the ship, as consistency would build, and racing on some of the bigger stages of the season so far would yield strong results. 

Kicking off May at Port Royal in the super, Lane would show his speed. After having to run the B-Main, Snook would start 20th in the feature. Lane was able to climb as the feature race wore on and marched all the way up to 9th. A restart slid him back to 10th, but it was still a good result. He would earn the hard charger award that night for his effort. 

A rare trip with the limited to the Big Diamond Speedway found its way onto the team’s schedule after their original plans got rained out. Having a strong 9th-2nd run in the heat race and locking into the redraw where he would get a 12, Lane would have his work cut out for him. “I passed a few cars at the beginning, then got into another car and spun out. Then restarted last and drove to 3rd.” Although slightly different circumstances, Snook again proved he could carve through the field. 

The following week would feature some of Lane’s most impressive results. Starting out with a trip to the Selinsgrove Speedway to run with the World of Outlaws. Lane would time in 2nd, in his group, and start on the pole of a heat. He managed to pick up his first Outlaw heat win in convincing fashion. Pulling the 3 pill in the redraw, Lane would be starting up front in the feature against some of the toughest competition he’s faced. When the green flag dropped, Lane went to work and was able to maintain 4th or 5th for over 75% of the race and even challenged for a podium spot before a late race caution. On the ensuing restart, Snook would bleed a few spots back to 7th, but would net his first top 10 in his first race against the Outlaws. 

Following that performance, the team pulled out the limited car and went to the Bedford Speedway for a warmup to the Outlaw show coming up that Sunday. Lane would move forward in his heat and then start in the 3rd position in the feature. Biding his time and running in 2nd, Lane was able to capitalize when “the leader blew a tire and then was able to pick up the win.” This would be his fourth win in the limited division of the season, and a nice confidence booster heading into another test against the Outlaws. 

Making his first super late model start at Bedford, Snook made another good impression on fans and competitors. Timing in 8th and running 4th in his heat, Lane showed good speed again against the strong field. Getting some DIRTVision air time and a heat race interview again, Lane had qualified for another Outlaw feature. He would start further back in this one, in 15th, but would be able to march forward. He “made it to 10th when the track took rubber,” and would finish in that spot. Now with two career Outlaw starts and top 10’s to his name, Lane made a good impression on the national audience and opened the eyes of a lot of fans. 

The team would take the 23 car back to Bedford on the 29th to compete in the super division again. Lane “qualified 16th, as the driver got into the fence on the first lap.” But he would rebound and move forward in the heat and feature. “Started 10th in the feature and finished 6th and got beat by .004 for 5th.” This would be his fourth straight top 10 in the super late model, after only posting one other finish of the sort all season. 

In the final start of the month, the team went to Selinsgrove. Lane timed in well and started up front in his heat, and managed a 2nd place finish. In the feature, Snook would start 5th. The driver and crew “tried something for the feature, but it wasn’t any good, and ended up 11th.” Even though the experiment didn’t work out, the team was able to build the notebook, and those lessons could always come in handy as the 23 car races at different tracks. 

All in all, the month of May was a positive one. It boosted the confidence of the recent high school graduate. “It was definitely cool to run that good with them (Outlaws). Didn’t really have any expectations going into it. Just took it as another couple of races. It’s a confidence booster for sure. If you can run with those guys, you can run with anyone. It helped me learn a lot that weekend, and it was a good weekend all around.” The strong runs with the Outlaws also got Lane’s name out there to a whole new audience. Not only with fans, but also with car owners. 

A new opportunity surfaced for the 18-year-old. Lane will be piloting the Bruce Kane 15K car this upcoming week at Eldora Speedway for at least Wednesday’s FloRacing Night in America show, which is a part of the Dirt Late Model Dream event. While there hasn’t been a full schedule committed to this venture yet, Lane is excited for whatever races he is able to run in a proven, fast race car. 

“First, I want to thank Bruce for the opportunity. I also wanna thank everyone who’s had a part in getting me here. It’s gonna be a learning curve for me for sure. It’ll help me meet a lot more people, and help me learn a lot more.”  

With this news coming, the June schedule is slightly up in the air, but here is what the team has planned. Lane will be at Eldora to kick off the month, then return home for a double header weekend in the limited car. He will compete at Selinsgrove and Port Royal on the 12th and 13th, respectively. The only other race on the calendar for now in the family car will be the 19th at Selinsgrove in the super late model. 

Make sure to not only tune in to watch the races on FloRacing this week, but also stay locked in on the team’s website (LaneSnookRacing.com) and social media for any schedule announcements and changes.

As the season started to kick back into full swing in Pennsylvania, Lane Snook and team were hoping that the results and wins that highlighted last season would start to materialize. After starting out the month with a win at Bedford and a strong, to be continued, run at Port Royal in the limited late model, Snook would switch back over to the super late model to continue April.

Selinsgrove would be the place that he and team would travel to next. With a strong qualifying effort and heat race win, Lane was finally getting to show some speed that the car had. Snook would take the early lead in the feature and start to log laps up front. Challenged by Gregg Satterlee, Snook would relinquish the lead, but would hold off Max Blair for a strong 2nd place finish. This was the first show they managed to finish in the Super Late Model.

Issues would come back to light for the team the following night at Port Royal. The car experienced some trouble, pretty much every time it touched the track. Lane and team “had electrical and fuel issues all night.” The 23 car was able to make a strong qualifying and heat race effort despite the car sounding quite upset throughout the heat. Lane managed to get into the redraw and rolled off 6th in the feature.

“We missed the setup a little bit, and our issues got worse, so I pulled off to end up 20th.” Another disappointment on the year in the super division.

The next week of action would not only feature the same tracks but similar results. Selinsgrove started off great, on Friday, with Lane posting a good qualifying effort and winning his heat race. He would start outside the front row of the feature, and “got another early lead and got through some lap traffic pretty good, then Satterlee got around me again.” Lane was able to keep up with the leader and even had another shot at the lead. 

“I showed my nose in 3-4 to him, then he took my line away in 1-2, and I got air tight and got into the fence.” The electrical issues from the week before reared their head again and knocked the 23 car out of a podium run, with only a few laps to go in the feature. A 15th-place effort was all that was left to show after having a car capable of winning.

Luckily, the team’s luck started to go back the other direction, the following night at Port Royal. The team decided to just participate in the limited late model portion of the program, as they had already been slated for a front row spot in the make-up feature that was a part of a double feature program. Lane would return to form in the make-up feature and lead every lap of that feature and pick up win number two of the year. In the main program, Lane made the best of locked-down track conditions and ran from 5th up to 3rd. A refreshing set of finishes after a few tough results.

With the weather not looking the best the following weekend, the team decided to head to Selinsgrove Speedway again, this time with the limited, for some Friday night action. Snook was able to win his heat and start from the pole in the feature. In dominating fashion, Lane was able to lead every lap of the feature and grab win number three on the season. “We are just as good as we were last season,” Snook said, in talking about the limited late model program.

April definitely featured stats that were good and not so good. “I feel like we’ve shown we have had speed in both cars.” With a lot of trouble in the super late model, the team has had to dig through the car and try to find the small things that are making for troublesome nights. 

“I think if we get our electrical issues figured out, which I think we do, it’ll help us focus on the setup of the car some more.” Something the young racer has found to be lacking slightly in the super. 

“The new car that we ran at Selinsgrove, we’ve been really good in, just the driver needs to get a little bit better and some more experience.” A similar opinion on their program at Port Royal in the Super Division is something Lane wants to improve on. 

“I’m pretty excited to try this car somewhere the track really slows down and gets slick,” in talking about their Selinsgrove program, and Lane also mentioned that they “need to get a little bit better when it slicks off,” at Port Royal. With all the issues hopefully under control, Lane will look to rebound in May with more consistent finishes.

May will feature a lot of racing, as April did. Kicking off the month on May 2nd at Port Royal in the super. May 8th, they will tow over to the Selinsgrove Speedway in preparation for the World of Outlaws the following week on May 14th. The team then plans to double up on shows at Bedford, first on the 15th with the limited, and then again with the World of Outlaws on the 17th in the super. 

Memorial Day weekend will see the team again travel back out to the Bedford Speedway, in the super late model, on the 22nd, and Port Royal on the 23rd, as the limiteds join the Bob Weikert Memorial. The final weekend of the month will feature trips to Bedford and Selinsgrove, both in the super late model.

As always, try to tune in to the races if you can’t attend in person. Keep an eye out on the team’s website (LaneSnookRacing.com) and social media for raceday updates and results.