This situation involving Colton Flinner didn’t look like it was going to end well. Somehow, though, the super late model landed on all fours and Flinner kept going in his heat race at Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Motor Speedway.
“I saved it, but I don’t know how,” Flinner, of Allison Park, Pennsylvania, said. “I was up so high I thought I was going over. My crewman said he could read the sticker on my driveshaft.”
What caused Flinner to nearly flip?
“It rained all morning, and the track provided some severe traction,” said Flinner. “My car just hooked up and began bicycling.”
Flinner’s résumé consists of Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series rookie of the year (2016) and track championships at Lernerville Speedway (2021) and Port Royal Speedway (2022). In 15 years of super late model racing, he never flipped car, although he almost did at Williams Grove Speedway.
“The first time I got airborne was not as severe as what happened Saturday night,” Flinner said. “I just held on tight in case I was going for a ride. I knew I would be okay because I have faith in my safety gear.”
Flinner sat in a ButlerBuilt full-containment seat paired with a Simpson five-point harness. He wore a NecksGen head-and-neck restraint and a Bell helmet.
“The incident wasn’t as bad as it appeared,” said Flinner. “The jolt got my attention, but I was fine and able to continue racing.”
Flinner’s Longhorn late model needed a new front bumper. He went on to start the feature in 10th and finished third. This season, Colton Flinner plans to regularly compete in super late models at a trio of Keystone State dirt ovals: Lernerville Speedway, Marion Center Raceway and Port Royal Speedway.
“It was quite an opening night,” Flinner said. “My daughters, Letty and Markella, were there watching. Finishing third was a great way to start the season.
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.
