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Last season marked Steve Lenig’s fourth and best year of midget car racing with the American Racing Drivers Club, (ARDC) as he finished a solid third in points and was in contention for the championship right up until the last race.
Even though it was a hard fought for 46-year old Lenig who hails from Selinsgrove, he feels that this year may be an even harder act to follow up on.
“I think it’s going to be a really tough year. I’d say if I can finish in the top ten in points I would be pretty happy considering there will be so many tough cars and drivers,” said Lenig who begins the 2007 on Thursday night, April 5 at Susquehanna Speedway Park, in Newberrytown.
“Last year we had 30 cars at the most and that wasn’t until the end of the year. This season we have a lot more drivers that plan to run full time that it’s going to be very challenging.”
Lenig, who operates his own collision repair shop, has a varied background in racing before he came ARDC. He did drag cars for 17-years at Numidia Dragway and then switched over to micro sprints where he competed between Greenwood Valley Action Track and Selinsgrove Raceway Park.
Since 2003 he has settled in nicely with ARDC. That first year also was rewarding as he earned Rookie of the Year honors. By comparison when he was lauded as top rookie and last season, Lenig says both years were gratifying.
“I’d say that was about the same. The Rookie of the Year was a real neat thing because there was about six of us running for it that year and none of us knew who was going to get the award until the night of the banquet.
“This year was just as neat because Andy Martin, Donny Trent, Eric Heydenreich and I all had a chance to win the championship going into the last race. And it was Martin who won it on the last turn of the last lap of the season,” he continued.
“I was proud of the fact that with a lower budget like I have and to be able to finish up there with those guys, I was proud of that.”
As a budget minded racer Lenig has proven he can hold his own and run with the best. His role is not just the driver but owner as well and therefore he must take a more conservative approach when taking to the track.
“I try to run consistent. It’s about good maintenance and trying to finish races. In that regard I’m more conservative and try to save the car and finish the race. Some of that has to do with me being the owner and driver and running on a kind of low budget so I have to save what I can save,” he noted.
Like any good racer, most of the work takes place days before a feature at the shop and with Lenig it’s no different. He credits his engine builder, Mark Piazza, a noted whiz when it comes to midget engines and of course his crew.
Included in that group are his two sons, Scott, 16 and Austin 12. Both race too when not traveling with dad to the midget car events. Scott drives micros at Greenwood Valley and Selinsgrove and this year will see Austin do the same after running go-karts the past few years.
Lenig’s girlfriend, Judy Kauffman, plays a key support role on the team. Other members are his uncle Art Yerger, Nick Lannen, Bill Rathman, Dave Clark and Josh Frank.
For years ARDC never raced at one track throughout the year more than once but lately there is more emphasis on making repeat stops during season at the same facilities which Lenig says makes for better racing in the long run.
“You learn a lot more because you can experiment some. The way we did it before it was tough because you would only run one particular track each year. Now we’re getting more seat time at these same tracks and it makes for better racing. It makes us all faster every time we go back,” he said.
“It’s also better for the fans when we go back to the same track a few times. Over the past year it seemed as though we had more people talking about us and some are actually following us. We have a good fan-base right now.”
At 46-years old Lenig stands as one of the older statesmen with ARDC but as he explained he is very content in remaining with the club and likes the outlook of what they have to offer.
“I don’t regret any of the racing that I did in the past, but the midget, especially now that we run without the wings and the nostalgia of ARDC, I’m very happy to be with this group.
“The club really progressed over the last five years. When I started with them we were lucky sometimes to have 15 cars and only eight races. Everyone would say that the midgets where okay but not that exciting because there weren’t many cars.
“Now it’s just blown out of the water it’s that good. That’s the nice thing as how no one seemed to care and now our popularity I think is as good as anything around here,” stated Lenig.
“I don’t think there is anything on dirt as fast as these are for the money you don’t have to spend. You can run a midget cheaper or even less then a micro sprint if you really use your head at it. I think very few people who are running the midgets don’t really care to move onto say a 410 (sprinter) or anything. Most of them are happy doing what we’re doing because they’re so much fun.”
And you even though he feels this year may be a more competitive year you can rest assured he will be in the thick of it all although Lenig was a bit modest when he added.
“I don’t look at myself that way. And again the way it was this past year and for how many good guys we had with us, I felt I was just lucky to be able to finish all the races and that’s what helped me a lot.
“I would have liked to have won some but on the other side of that it was nice to say I had zero mechanical problems. Most of that came from good maintenance at the shop.
“I’d really like to win the championship but then again I don’t like to set a lot of big goals. I just want to have fun and get as many people to go and have fun with us as we can.”
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