Lancaster Speedway To Award Treichler Troyer Trophy To RoC Modified Driver

Story By: DAVE BUCHANAN / LANCASTER SPEEDWAY – LANCASTER, NY – The recent announcement about Lancaster National Speedway hosting five Race of Champions Modified Series events in 2018 inspired track management to create an award honoring the best driver for those races.

The RoC Modified Series driver with the best average finish in the five events at Lancaster will receive the Treichler Troyer Trophy. The trophy pays tribute to three drivers who combined to win 13 Lancaster National Speedway Modified track championships from 1968 to1982 – Roger Treichler, Merv Treichler and Maynard Troyer.

“Lancaster National Speedway has a deep and rich history of Modified racing,” said Tim Packman, Track President. “The way Modified racing is done may have changed through the years, but the names Treichler and Troyer are very prominent throughout our history. Dave Buchanan (track announcer and Dir. of Media Relations) proposed an idea to recognize a driver for the five races. We tweaked it a bit and are now going to recognize a Modified driver from the Race of Champions.

“A call to Joe Skotnicki from the RoC was met with a quick response supporting this initiative giving those drivers an extra incentive to etch their names alongside the many Modified greats who have raced at Lancaster. This makes their five events with us even more interesting and our fans another aspect to follow.”

Roger Treichler won his first, of five, Lancaster championships in 1968 and followed it up with another in ’69. Eight years passed until his third title in 1977, and he added two more in 1981 and 1982 behind the wheel of his iconic “Genesee Beer Wagon”. After his brother won back-to-back championships to close out the 1960s, “The Flying Florist” Merv Treichler began the 1970s with three-straight track titles of his own doing so in 1970, ’71 and ’72. His fourth championship came in 1974, the same season he won a Modified title on the dirt at Ransomville Speedway. Maynard Troyer won his first two Lancaster Modified crowns in 1975 and 1976 before piloting his famous No. 6 to two more titles in 1978 and 1979.

The Race of Champions Modified Series kicks off its 2018 campaign at Lancaster on Saturday, May 12 with a 75-lap event. They return on Thursday, June 28 for the fourth annual Ol’ Boy Cup 60 Bill Colton Memorial. The recently added Midweek Modified Mania will take place Thursday, August 2 featuring a 50-lap race. The series wraps up with the two biggest Modified races of the season at Lancaster with the Tommy Druar/Tony Jankowiak Memorial 110 on Saturday, August 18 and the 30th annual U.S. Open 125 on Sunday, September 23.

Last season, three different drivers won the four Modified races at Lancaster. Andy Jankowiak picked up two wins, including the U.S. Open 125 last September. Tyler Rypkema and George Skora III each earned their first-career RoC Series wins as Rypkema won the Ol’ Boy Cup and Skora captured the Tommy/Tony 110.