Wolfe Uses Florida, Australia As Valuable Prep For Busy 2018 Racing Season
Column By: RUSTY RHOADES / RPW – TAMPA, FL – For a Sprint car driver, the central Pennsylvania region is a hot bed of opportunity from basically late winter all the way through the early weeks of the Fall season. The midsummer schedule can be grueling, with warm temperatures and added midweek specials capable of really taking a toll on driver and team if they aren’t prepared.
Lucas Wolfe knows all too well of what it takes to make things work. Although the Mechanicsburg native cut his racing teeth in the heart of PA Posse territory and once again spends the bulk of his season battling their tough competition, Wolfe still spends that off-season in the driver’s seat at various tracks in the U.S. and abroad.
I caught up with Lucas recently at Volusia Speedway, as he and the the 5w team have again made the trek South to Florida in February to start the 2018 season. He’s a firm believer in nothing replacing time spent behind the wheel. “ Volusia is somewhat similar to home in the fact that it’s just about a half-mile, but this one’s unique to itself. The real benefit is to get an early start in the season. If all works out right, I’ll already have eight U.S. races under my belt as well as five in Australia when we get up to PA for the Lincoln Icebreaker.” Wolfe and the Allebach team have been down here since last week racing with the All-Stars at both Bubba Raceway Park and Volusia, and will remain here at the Barberville facility as it switches to World of Outlaws sanctioning. “There’s nothing to replace time in the seat, race volume, being able to have a flow already going when the season starts up North. And of course to start here at Volusia, which is one of the toughest, fastest tracks of the year not to mention the toughest fields you’ll see all season, I’m very fortunate to be able to come down here and compete and hope to do it for years to come.”
Wolfe was able to help stay in racing mode by briefly heading outside the states again this year over the Christmas holiday with a handful of races in Australia, and spoke a bit about his time there. “The tracks definitely have their own brand of uniqueness there. I was at Archerfield this year, which has a small paperclip feel but without much banking. It was actually pretty racy there and I enjoyed a nice stretch of some good runs along with the benefit of staying fresh with the trip falling right in the middle of the cold offseason in the states.”
Wolfe again has an ambitious 2018 regular season schedule in the works, with a couple potent teams using the veteran’s services. “We’ll race the full complement of weekly Pennsylvania shows in the Mike Barshinger 24 car again. I don’t have an exact total race number yet, but we plan to be at virtually all of them. Williams Grove, both Lincoln and Port Royal, Susquehanna shows, of course PA Speedweek.” They’ll be picking and choosing between Lincoln and Port Royal as the season goes along. “There’s a fair amount of better-paying shows early on at Lincoln, and then that seems to switch towards Port later on in the year,” Wolfe added.
The Jim and Laura Allebach team will also play a role in filling in the schedule gaps. “We do a little bit of a mix with the 5w. If there’s a midweek Outlaw show that’s outside of our regular track schedule but still close, we’ll hit that. We’ll also be picking up some URC/360 races locally as well as ESS and maybe a Patriot Sprint race or two. Oftentimes weather rescheduling opens up more for us in that respect but we have to wait and see.”
If last season’s impressive total of 112 races is any indication, you can count on plenty of opportunities to see Lucas Wolfe battling it out on a dirt track somewhere near you this season.
