Heading into the 2024 season, Jeff Strunk didn’t think he’d have a ride. At the season’s end, he celebrated winning the championship with car owner Norm Hansell at Grandview Speedway in Bechtelsville, Pennsylvania.
“I was down and out at the end of February,” Strunk, of Boyertown, Pennsylvania, said. “I was worried so much. Never had I thought I would not be in a racing seat when a season started. Norm came to my rescue — I am so very grateful.”
Strunk had last raced for Hansell in 2012, when they won a championship.
“Why we split in 2012 is a good question — one I can’t answer,” said Strunk. “A lot of people found it hard to believe. Norm is not a man of many words. We just moved on, and we never had any hard feelings. I always appreciate the owners of the cars I drive. There’s been about six or seven of them — and that is the approach I have always taken.”
What It Takes to Win a Championship
Jeff Strunk understands what it’s like to field a team.
“I owned my own cars for the first seven years I did this,” Strunk said. “I borrowed money, and was paying back loans 10 years after. I learned how to respect the cars and the hard work and money it took to own race cars. Looking back, owning my own cars was the best thing that ever happened to me.”
As Strunk drove for different car owners, three crewmembers have followed him since the 1990s — Wally Crane, Jake Reidenauer, and Dan Sherman.
“I would not have had the results I did without them,” said Strunk of his longtime crewmembers. “Along with Norm’s crew chief, Jay Thomas, I am fortunate to have such a knowledgeable and talented team. Jay is one of the most underrated people in dirt modified racing. He’s won a lot of races with a lot of different drivers. I appreciate the sacrifices they and their families make so that we can be successful.”
Strunk and his crew also have full-time jobs. He doesn’t only turn the steering wheel — he helps turn wrenches on the cars, too. The work in the shop resulted in the 11th championship for Jeff Strunk.
“The championship is a true testament to our team,” Strunk said. “We finished every lap of every feature this season at Grandview Speedway. “We were always passing cars to get to the front — we usually started 15th or 16th — we passed an average of 11 cars per night.”
What This Championship Meant for Jeff Strunk
Despite running every lap of every feature this season at Grandview Speedway, Strunk did not win a feature this year.
“While we never won any, we finished third in the season opener, and second in three of the last five features,” said Strunk. “I’m proud of our team and the record we have. It is harder than ever to win a feature at Grandview Speedway. We’re racing with former champs and a dozen drivers who have won features in the past year.”
For Jeff Strunk, this championship held special meaning.
“I dedicate our successful season to my brother Glenn; my best friend Dale Planck, whom I lost earlier this season; and to Grandview Speedway’s Bruce Rogers since this is my first championship since his passing,” Strunk said.
(For more on Strunk’s brother, read “Glenn Strunk: Remembering ‘The Professor.’”)
Despite 11 championships, Strunk does not take any of them for granted.
“There is nothing better than a Grandview Speedway championship,” said Strunk. “It’s more than the money — it’s the prestige and the fact they treat champions like kings. It is what keeps us coming back year after year.”
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.
Photographers
The Outside Groove contributor from Macungie, Pennsylvania, has covered the sport since 2012. Sabo serves as the official track photographer of Grandview Speedway in Bechtelsville, Pennsylvania. Photography is a family ordeal for Sabo. He shoots with his daughter, Abby, at Shellhammer Dirt Track in Shoemakersville, Pennsylvania. At Grandview and other venues Sabo travels to, he and his father, Stephen “Poppa Pepper” Sabo Sr., capture the night’s action with their cameras.
