When last Friday rained out at Pennsylvania’s Port Royal Speedway, the crew of Dylan Swinehart thought about hauling to BAPS Motor Speedway in York Haven. Swinehart told the crew he had a better idea.
“I suggested we go to Grandview Speedway and that all three members of the crew could take a turn in the practice sessions at the track,” Swinehart, of Fleetwood, Pennsylvania, said. “At first there was silence — they thought I was joking. Then suddenly they all got excited. ‘Let’s do it!’ they said.”
All three crew members — Mike Eckhardt, Lydia Santiago, Scott Saylor (pictured) — took a turn behind the sportsman modified driven by Swinehart.
“No one on the crew drove any form of racing prior — except Scott, who drove a kart maybe 25 years ago,” said Swinehart. “The main reason was to give something back to the crew. They worked hard all year and we wouldn’t be able to race without them. I wanted to show my appreciation by letting them drive the car they worked on.”
How did the crew members fare on track?
“All three of them got on it fast enough,” Swinehart said. “They all went full throttle at the start of the straightaways, but they slowed up earlier than I do going into the turns.”
Eckhardt told Swinehart that driving the car was “the coolest thing he ever did.”
Dylan Swinehart also used the opportunity as an educational experience.
Saylor commented how much the car turns into the corner by itself and bounces around when on the throttle.
“I wanted to do this so we can all have an understanding of how the car is working,” Swinehart said. “Afterward, the four of us talked. I could tell they all had a better understanding of what I try to convey to them about the car.”
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.
