No matter how you look at it, Steve Kemery has a reason to celebrate. He won his sportsman modified chassis in a raffle. And he won the Short Track Super Series 602 sportsman feature at Port Royal Speedway.
The 2025 Bicknell chassis came via a raffle put on by Elmo’s Speed & Supply in Burnt Hills, New York.
“The raffles began during covid — things were shut down, I needed to supplement my income and help my customers,” said Chris Reckner, of Elmo’s Speed & Supply. “We have raffled all kinds of racing components and cars just to keep things moving. The raffles have helped my low-budget teams. We’ve raffled 30 chassis total — new and used — everything from bare chassis to rollers to complete cars. We raffle body panel kits, engines and more.”
The new car for Kemery came with a new chassis setup — coil-overs rather than torsion bars.
“It took a huge effort to get this car ready,” Kemery, of Sicklerville, New Jersey, said. “There are so many opinions when it comes to setting up an all-coil car. The STSS has its limits — spring lengths and rates. Then there is shock valving and balancing the car.”
Kemery enlisted help from experienced racers: Brandon Planck of Dig Race Products, Sam Wescott of Lineman Racing and Tim Buckwalter.
“Tim took my car out in the first practice to feel the balance and make necessary changes,” said Kemery. “When he came in, we made spring adjustments for the car to be fine-tuned.”
Buckwalter seemingly made the right call. Steve Kemery started off the feature on the pole and never looked back, winning in his first race out with the brand-new chassis. While you’d expect the winner to give a celebratory beer to who helped them, instead Buckwalter handed Kemery a cold one.
“I told Tim if I win, I expect a beer in victory lane — of course a Yuengling — that’s Pennsylvania’s famous beer,” Kemery said. “We usually have a beer in tech, thus was the first time doing so in victory lane.”
The Outside Groove Executive Editor has covered motorsports since 2000. His many awards include the 2019 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Jim Hunter Writer of the Year and the 2013 Russ Catlin Award for Excellence in Motorsports Journalism.
