RPW Exclusive: Lombardo and Harper Ready To Take On 2019

Column By: DYLAN FRIEBEL / RPW – WEST LEBANON, NY – 2018 was a tough year for both Frank Harper and LJ Lombardo at Lebanon Valley, while at time they showed they could be fast. It seemed luck just was not on their side. However two weeks into the season in 2019 and it has seemed to turn around.

When points were over for the two teammates, a back injury was nagging Harper so he took a back seat and let LJ pilot his #25 small block and he won on the second to last week. They then decided to run Eastern States weekend with LJ behind the wheel and he finished 2nd behind Brett Hearn who passed with under 10 to go on a late restart. It seemed the team had found speed and their crew chief Robbie Albreada was happy about that.

“It was great for LJ to have the success in Frankie’s car last year.” He said. “They talk all the time and teach other things that each other did not know, so we are happy with how both of their cars are going so far this year.”

With both LJ & Frankie having 3rd and 6th place finishes this year, they look to be in the points hunt early, however for Harper, he attributes what LJ managed with his PMC Race Car at the end of last season as an eye opener for him.

“We Struggled all last year.” He said. “Then i was out with my back and LJ got in my car and showed me that the car is good, we made some changes for him to go to Middletown and then when i got in for practice a few weeks it was still good. I can’t be mad about a 3rd tonight but it is not that often i get to start out front like that, i needed to take advantage of that but (Andy) Bachetti was really fast tonight.”

With a 6th place finish for LJ Lombardo it seems the monkey on his back from 2018 may have been lifted already.

“We were really good early on in the night” Lombardo said. “We just tried a few things in hot laps, and we needed more time to improve it. We were really good early and halfway through the car started to away a little bit but it’s an area to improve on. We went 13th to 6th tonight so we will take that. We are showing speed just like the top 5 in points last year. The best feeling is starting with a new car, new crew and just being fast, we needed to come out swinging and making full strides and we are doing it.”

In the off season, LJ, Frankie, Albreada and others sat down and wondered what to do when his Teo was damaged in a bad accident in the LCQ at Eastern States. Was it buy a new Teo or go where LJ just had success with PMC? Well the choice was PMC.

“Everybody questioned our decision” Robbie Albreada said. “Why would you switch from Teo to PMC, but with the runs he’s had with them it silenced some of the skeptics. Both cars are running well so i am happy for that.”

While success is tough to come by at times, some people just have the magic touch. I am sure if you asked the guys who win, they’d say you have to be lucky sometimes. However it seems the teammates of the Snap-On by Paul Wehneu camp of LJ and Harper have captured that in a bottle and hope to keep it going all year with their PMC Race Car chassis. Only time will tell if this will be the break out year for both drivers.