After building a notebook for years, Jack Lehner is starting to build momentum at Super DIRT Week.
A year after earning his first Billy Whittaker Cars 200 top 10 in 2023, the Saratoga Springs, NY driver earned his first top five last year, finishing fifth. Lehner, a Super DIRTcar Series full-time driver, said the finish was huge for him and his team.
“(Super) DIRT Week is its own animal, being a 200-lap race,” Lehner said. “And there’s a lot of factors that go into it. You can have speed and not have a good result. We see lots of guys end up that way every year.
“The first couple of years, we were just learning how to do a 200-lap race, and the prior year we finished 10th, which felt like notching off a milestone. Then last year, notched another one and ended up fifth. That feels good going into this year. We’re confident in our Oswego setup and where we’re going to start.”
Last year’s Billy Whittaker Cars 200 was different for Super DIRTcar Series drivers. For the first time, the event was run on a Saturday night under the lights, which gave Lehner and his competitors a new dynamic at “Racing’s Biggest Party.”
“I always thought it was cool running under the lights on Friday at Oswego,” Lehner said. “Just something about the atmosphere. And dirt racing is always just better at night. I don’t care where you’re at. The daytime racing really wasn’t bad at Oswego. It was probably the best day of racing you’re going to see. When the sun would go down, the track would change, so that was a factor.
“But I’m glad they made the decision to go to nighttime racing there. The track will change and slicken out like a normal racetrack that we see.”
Super DIRT Week is one of the few races for Modified drivers that exceeds 100 laps, allowing drivers more time to adjust throughout the race. One of those opportunities in the Billy Whittaker Cars 200 is during a competition yellow around the race’s halfway point.
Despite having the chance to make changes, Lehner said your car still needs to be good at the start of the race.
“If you’re relying on that five-minute break, you’re probably in trouble,” Lehner said. “You have to be close in practice. At least close enough where maybe it’s a spring change or a shock change away. And you really have to qualify good. All of these Super DIRTcar Series races, and especially DIRT Week, draw the best cars in Modified racing. So, if you’re starting 20th, there’s 19 good cars ahead of you.
“We were able to use that five-minute break last year to make a minor tweak on our car to move us from a 10th-place car to a fifth-place car. So that’s definitely something different, but we’ve seen some of that in the past. It was a little more challenging with the live pit stops, but it caters to smaller teams like us to have the break.”
Entering Super DIRT Week 53 on Oct. 6-11, Lehner isn’t changing his approach to the biggest race of the year for Big Block Modifieds. He’s staying even-keel with many of the highest-paying races of the season looming, including the $53,000-to-win Billy Whittaker Cars 200.
“I always try to stay confident no matter what it is,” Lehner said. “I really feel good going into it. The past couple of mornings, DIRT Week is in the air—a couple of crisp mornings.
“Our stuff’s running really good right now. Coming out of SummerFAST, I feel like we had speed, didn’t necessarily have the wins, but I think we’re just a couple of things away from being right there. I’m definitely looking forward to getting back to a place where we have a setup to go off of and hopefully be close.”
Lehner and the Super DIRTcar Series return to Oswego Speedway for Super DIRT Week 53, Oct. 6-11. “Racing’s Biggest Party” will culminate in the Billy Whittaker Cars 200 on Saturday, Oct. 11.
If you can’t make it to the track, you can watch all the action live on DIRTVision.
