Modified driver Jon Kellner (21) made his return to competition on Saturday. However, it didn’t go as planned, with him wrecking during a heat race. The wild crash occurred at Grandview Speedway at Bechtelsville, Pennsylvania.
“It was a night to forget,” Kellner, of Lansdale, Pennsylvania, said. “I really don’t want to talk about it, but it could have been worse.”
To his credit, Kellner has five championships, 58 late models wins, and 16 modified wins. Even accomplished veteran drivers make mistakes. He glanced off an infield yuke tire, which catapulted his car into traffic, landing on the car driven by Kevin Graver Jr. (7A).
“It was my own fault,” said Kellner. “I should have known better.”
Fortunately, he emerged from the wreck without injury. He sat in a Kirkey full-containment seat with Simpson belts. He wore an Impact helmet.
Even better, Kellner said his brand-new Bicknell chassis suffered little damage. He’s looking forward to doing better next time, in his first season back behind the wheel of a race car after a 10-year break.
“I thought it was time,” Kellner said of him stepping away. “I had 35 years of racing at Grandview Speedway — I figured that was enough, and I decided to take a break. After racing in the late model division, we raced in the modifieds to earn one win here and there.”
Jon Kellner decided to return to racing after his sabbatical at the urging of friend Mike Casey, who owns Kellner’s car.
“Mike kept bugging me and bugging me to come back, and finally I agreed to drive his car,” said Kellner.
Kellner’s son, Michael, has earned his fair share of success, too, with 32 wins in the late models. Michael will maintain his father’s car.
“It’s all good,” Kellner said. “We put last week behind us and we’re moving on to Saturday this week.”
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.
