Western Pennsylvania's top Sprint Car driver is hitting the brakes.
After 30-plus seasons, Ed Lynch Jr. — “The Apollo Rocket” — is retiring.
“I'm retired from me paying for my racing,” said Lynch, 60. “I can't do it anymore against corporate America. You can't go out and spend $60,000 on an engine when you are racing for a thousand dollars because you will run just as hard. You can't get your head above water.”
Money has transformed racing. Anyone with enough money can buy a race-ready car and hit the track. When Lynch, the 1983 Western Pa. Rookie of the Year, started his career in the early '80s, racers did much of the metal work on their cars.
Lynch got a late start to his career compared to the barrage of young drivers on dirt and asphalt tracks from local racing to Formula 1, but he is not complaining.
“Back when I was rookie of the year, I was 24 or 26,” Lynch said. “When I look back on it, I would have done the same thing over again because I was taking care of all my father's cars. He was running modifieds, sprints and USAC Dirt Champ Car, and we were working.”
Ed Lynch Sr. amassed 47 victories and won three V-8 modified championships at Lernerville. Lynch Jr. won 111 features and four Lernerville sprint car titles. He also scored one in a Modified and sits third on Lernerville's all-time victory (112) list behind legends Bob Wearing Sr. (179) and Lou Blaney (118). Lynch also spent much of his career traveling to big-money shows instead of chasing local championships.
For his career, Lynch scored 235 sprint car victories and. He raced at more than 50 tracks across the country and won track championships at four tracks.
In 2002, Lynch scored the greatest victory of his career, winning the World of Outlaws Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup. That was the only time a Lernerville regular won the.
“The Outlaw win is definitely there,” Lynch said about his top victories. “But there was an All Star win at Eldora (Speedway), a $10,000-to-win show at the end of (Ohio) Speedweek, where I beat Kenny Jacobs. I finished second in points a lot of years to Kenny at Eldora, but nobody remembers who finished second.”
Lynch has seen plenty of changes in his career, and not all of them are good.
“In my opinion, what changed the driving style in sprint cars is people not spending their own money,” Lynch said. “A lot of drivers are not even 120 pounds in these seats, and when they wreck, they are not even black and blue. When I came up through, you were black and blue and a bit sore. Safety has helped in that.”
Lynch always has believed that safety should be the driver for innovation and change. He developed the steering rod tether, “because guys were getting killed when the steering rod would come up and go through their helmet,” similar to wheel tethers, and gave his design to Simpson Race Products.
Lynch said though he is done racing for himself, if there was a good opportunity to race for a well-funded and secure team, he would consider returning. But for now, the future might belong to his son, Sye.
“I have four complete cars in the garage,” Lynch said. “There are two cars I said he can start out with. The one car has two races on it. We still have good, fast equipment, but I don't have any engines, and I don't plan on buying any right now. If you want to buy an engine to run with the Outlaws you are talking $50,000 to $60,000. That's a lot.”
For now, Lynch is clear on how he wants to be remembered.
“I've raced hard and raced clean,” Lynch said. “My father always told me that you couldn't make a wrecked race car go faster. But when everything is right, when there is a hole, you be in it.”
Thomas Zuck is a freelance writer.
