Some say Lawson Szerencits won his first sportsman race only because of luck. Well, he’d argue the old adage that luck is where preparation meets opportunity held true.
“In the garage, we have a maintenance program that is top notch,” Szerencits, of Catasauqua, Pennsylvania, said. “Every week we strip the car down to its bare chassis. All the shocks come off. We go over everything 100%. We don’t go to the track with doubts or questions.”
Last Saturday at Grandview Speedway, Szerencits started on the pole and ran in third place for most of the race. When the top two drivers tangled mid-race, they both went to the pits, with Szerencits inheriting the lead, which he held onto for the win.
“The keyboard warriors said it was all luck,” said Szerencits. “To win, I started up front and stayed up front. When the other two cars dropped the top two spots, someone had to take the lead and hold onto it.”
While only a year into sportsman modifieds, Szerencits is no stranger to racing. He came up through the ranks racing Stage One Modifieds. The class uses 60″-wheelbase modifieds powered by a 55-horsepower Briggs & Stratton Vanguard V-Twin.
(For more on Stage One Modifieds, read “Gavyn Krupp Wins in Second Sportsman Mod Race Ever.”)
“I had to get used to the power [of a sportsman modified], how the car reacted, and how to control it,” Szerencits said. “That adjustment to be 100% comfortable behind the wheel of a sportsman took a quarter of the season.”
Szerencits also had to acclimate to the setup of a full-size modified.
“In Stage One Modifieds, you can’t do anything with the shocks,” said Szerencits. “Success in that division comes down to the driver — there is little setup.”
Now with his first sportsman modified win under his belt, Lawson Szerencits looks to prove those who said he won by sheer luck wrong.
“We are going over everything, making sure nothing is out of place,” Szerencits said. “Now that we won, we’re onto something, and we have to keep going faster this 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.
