It Was A Dream Year In ’17 For Driver Of Car 53, Lebanon Valley Sportsman Champ Whitey Slavin

Column By: BOBBY CHALMERS / RPW – POSTENKILL, NY – Racing can be a number’s game. Finishing positions. Corner Weights. Handicapping. Races can even be won and lost by fractions of a second.

For the Slavin family, the number 53 means a great deal. The patriarch of the family, Win Slavin, carried the number to many feature wins and now his son, Whitey, is doing the same.

Well, in 2017, the Slavin’s 53rd year in racing, the young racer accomplished something he’d been dreaming about since he was barely as tall as a racing tire… adding his name to the list of champions at the Lebanon Valley Speedway…and he did it in car 53.

See? It’s all about numbers.

“I think my team and I are still in shock over this,” Slavin said. “This is something I thought about even as a little boy. I wanted to win a race and a championship for my father. For it to come in the 53rd year of our family racing is an amazing feeling.”

Every team sets out to win as much as they can and let the points fall where they may. That held true, to a degree for Whitey and his team. However, they were really thinking big picture from the start of the season.

“Last winter, we had a good feeling about the upcoming season (2017),” he said. “We purchased a brand-new PMC chassis during the off-season and when we were putting it together, yea, we wanted to win, but our goal was the championship.”

Heading into the final night of points at the Valley, Michael Sabia held the Sportsman division point lead and only had to finish sixth or better to lock up the title. For most of the event, it looked like that would be the case, until trouble set in.

On lap 12 of the 20-lap feature, Rob Maxon ran down Cody Ochs and took the lead. Ochs tried to get the lead back, pushing hard to Maxon’s inside as they headed into turn three. Contact was made and Maxon spun in front of the field. Everybody managed to avoid the crossed up #96 of Maxon. That was, all except Sabia, who was running fifth at the time. He ended the night in 14th, one lap down and out of championship contention.

Slavin took the opportunity to pounce. He worked his way up to try and grab maximum points for the night, and as the checkers flew, The Cedar Peaks machine was listed in the runner-up spot. That meant Slavin was your 2017 Sportsman division champion.

“We were coming off a win the week before and that got us in striking distance,” he said. “It was when the wreck happened and I saw Sabia in trouble that I knew we had to take advantage.”

He knew it was his time to make his dream become a reality.

“I was running third and said to myself that I had to keep the car together for the last handful of laps,” he said. “I knew he had made it back on the track, but didn’t know he was a lap down.”

That didn’t matter to Slavin. He knew what he had to do from that point on.

“I was focused and determined to race the race track and not make any moves that would cost us a chance at the title,” he said. “Needless-to-say, I was on pins and needles for the final laps.”

One key to the team’s success last season was the close working relationship between the Slavin team and their chassis builder, PMC Race Cars’ Pete Chuckta. The pairing was always looking for ways to make the 53 better, and it showed in their performance.

“I would go to Pete’s shop during the week to talk about the handling of the car and how to make it faster,” Slavin said. “I adapted to the new car really quickly which helped our season get off to a strong start.”

It was that ability to adapt and the relationship with Chuckta that kept Slavin in the hunt for the title to the very end.

“In the beginning of the year, we made some minor adjustments, but overall the car was a dream to drive,” he said. “Pete made some changes to his cars that off-season and they were definitely in the positive direction. It’s really nice to have a guy who’s in your backyard by your side. Pete’s a good friend and it’s awesome that we could win the title with one of his creations.”

So what’s on the agenda for 2018? Even with staying close to home, the Slavin Motorsports team will be expanding their horizons a bit this season.

“We are going to call Lebanon Valley home again for 2018 and try and defend our championship,” he said. “Our plans are to travel to Devil’s Bowl so we can prepare for the big race they’re having up there in September. I would also like to hit some big shows at the end of the season if everything works out.”

Any way you look at it, racing is about the numbers. There’s no way around it. For Whitey Slavin, car 53 in year 53 was number one in points for the first time. It was a year that he accomplished everything he’s ever wanted to do.

Does that mean he can’t set new goals? Not really. That just means car 53 in year 54 placing first for the second time is now a new dream to obtain.

I mean, hell, in the end, in racing, aren’t all drivers searching for a number…the number one?

Special Note From Whitey, In His Own Words…
I really can’t thank my sponsors enough. Throughout my 17 years of racing, I received more support than ever before in 2018 and the outcome really proved that.

I really want to thank David Rifenburg from Cedar Peaks, Donny Hughs, David Goodermote, Greg Fane, Ronnie Dawson, Karyl Bell, Dale and Andy Lindemen and Scott Poloaro for all their support. I couldn’t do it without them.

I have a solid group of guys that get this car to the track and I have to give a special thank you to Brad Kinnon and Jason Pierre for that.

Most importantly, I want to thank my two biggest fans, my parents, for their continued support throughout the years.