After six years away from the sport, Addison Meitzler returned to racing this year. Saturday, he got sprayed in victory lane by his father, Terry, after winning the Firecracker 40 sportsman feature at Grandview Speedway in Bechtelsville, Pennsylvania.
He had recently worked with friends Rick Fenstermaker and Mike Myers on the team of Brett Kressley.
“Being at the track, working on Brett Kressley’s crew, and being surrounded by these guys got me back into wanting to drive,” Meitzler, of Kempton, Pennsylvania, said. “Rick loaned his trailer to Brett to tow his spare car. Rick had been putting cars together for 30 years with Meyers. So, we got to talking about racing this season.”
Fenstermaker welcomed being back in the game.
“I never drove, I had always been the car owner of the 712,” said Fenstermaker. “Brett Kressley gave me a frame and some parts. Pretty soon we had a car, but no motor. Mike happened to have a spare crate engine, and he wanted in, too.”
The 712 pays tribute to Fenstermaker’s father-in-law, the late Eugene Schafer, who drove a fire truck with the same number in Emmaus, Pennsylvania.
Last weekend, Addison Meitzler drove the 712 like it had a fire to respond to after starting 14th. The victory brought in $2,000 in purse money and an additional $1,250 from businesses and fans making donations. However, the beginning of the season didn’t go as smoothly.
“We ran four races when we started out and we had our struggles — we thought we may quit,” Meitzler said. “But, we didn’t. We kept plugging away and we began finishing in the top 10. Now, we’re fifth in points with seven shows left. It’s not the time to quit.”
During the tough times in racing, it certainly helps to work with people you enjoy spending time with.
“Addison, his father, mother, wife, and sister were all there to make racing fun,” said Fenstermaker. “We did so well because we have a good time racing. It’s fun.”
The Firecracker 40 win came with an added bonus — a guaranteed starting spot in the Freedom 38 Sportsman Championship feature.
“Now we don’t have to worry about competing with 60 cars to finish in the top three of one of 12 heat races,” Meitzler said. “We can show up and have a picnic.”
Mike Adaskaveg has written hundreds of stories since the website’s inception. This year marks his 54th year of covering auto racing. Adaskaveg got his start working for track photographer Lloyd Burnham at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway in 1970. Since then, he’s been a columnist, writer, and photographer, in racing and in mainstream media, for several outlets, including the Journal Inquirer, Boston Herald, Stock Car Racing, and Speedway Illustrated. Among Adaskaveg’s many awards are the 1992 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Ace Lane Photographer of the Year and the 2019 National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) George Cunningham Writer of the Year.
