Thirty years ago, Rick Laubach first raced at what’s now called BAPS Motor Speedway. This past Sunday, the wily veteran went with an old-school setup that earned him a win at the York Haven, Pennsylvania, dirt oval.
“The cars have changed so much over the years,” Laubach, of Quakertown, Pennsylvania, said. “Everyone today runs coil-overs with a left-side Panhard bar. I brought my Bicknell [chassis car] out with torsion bars in the back and a right-side Panhard bar.”
The once traditional setup for the Northeastern-style dirt modifieds fell out of favor for many top racers several years ago. However, Laubach noticed it offered him an advantage over the rest of the field.
“With the old setup [using torsion bars], the motor runs better,” said Laubach. “The driveline doesn’t break. Nothing binds up. It puts the driver’s ability to drive back into the car. The driver can get everything he can out of the motor.”
The torsion-bar setup not only worked at BAPS Motor Speedway. Laubach also used it to win at Bridgeport Motorsports Park in New Jersey earlier this summer. he missed the victory at Bridgeport by inches the night before BAPS.
Laubach might race more at BAPS Motor Speedway, but the track scheduled the modifieds for only four times in 2023. Nevertheless, the drive to the track floods Laubach with memories.
“I was thinking about how we used to drive this route every week,” Laubach said. “Some of the same buildings are there [along the route], only 30 years older. At the track, a lot of improvements have been made. There are all new walls, fencing, and the grandstand and pit area have changed. My rig is now too big to park where I used to park. It’s a nice track and a first-class operation.”
However, a tradition at BAPS Motor Speedway still remains for those who score a victory.
“One thing that hasn’t changed is that the winner gets a big hoagie from Rock-It Pizza,” said Laubach. “My wife, Tara, was so happy that she could slice it up and feed everyone after the races.”
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.
