Jack Pencil Racing
Nearly five months ago Jack Pencil saw his best-laid plans for the 2009 racing season seemingly evaporate as his three-year-old race shop went up in flames before his eyes.
But the determined veteran from Bedford, Pa., has bounced back from the brink – so impressively, in fact, that he holds both the points lead and top-winner status at Bedford Speedway entering his hometrack’s big World of Outlaws Late Model Series event on Fri., Aug. 14.
A 50-lap A-Main paying $10,000 to win headlines the national tour’s third visit to the five-eighths-mile fairgrounds oval in as many years.
“The night of the fire, I didn’t even know if we’d get to race this year at all,” admitted Pencil, a 46-year-old whose accolades include four points crowns at Bedford (2000, 2002, 2004, 2007) and the 2002 Mid-Atlantic Championship Series (MACS) title. “But thanks to the help of a lot of people, we picked ourselves up and we’ve actually had a pretty good season.”
Indeed, Pencil has been the star of ‘09 at Bedford, winning four features (no other driver has won more than once) and racking up seven top-five finishes to put him in position for another track championship. His fifth title would tie him with Tom Peck for the most dirt Late Model championships in speedway history.
“I feel as confident as I ever have in my career to run against the Outlaws,” said Pencil, whose personal-best finish in a limited number of WoO LMS starts is 10th, in the 2007 event at Bedford. “Robby Allen (a noted mechanic who traveled the WoO LMS from 2004-2006 as Rick Eckert’s crew chief) has helped us out this year and he advised us to run one car, so we’ve concentrated on getting one car running right and now I feel like I know exactly what it’s gonna do. I’m comfortable in it, and the (Cresap) motor in it is as good as any motor I’ve ever had.
“I know the World of Outlaws is a great series with a lot of great drivers, and everything has to go right to win a race. But I feel like if we can qualify well and get ourselves (running) in the top five, then anything can happen.”
A personable racer who makes his living as an eighth-grade algebra teacher at Bedford Middle School, Pencil will go to the post in Bedford’s WoO LMS event behind the wheel of the workhouse 2006 Rocket car he calls ‘The Survivor.’ It’s an appropriate nickname since the machine was pulled from the flames of Pencil’s burning shop on March 20.
Pencil’s father, Jack Sr., and team crew chief Benny Foor were transferring fuel from a race car cell to jugs when a light bulb crashed onto the shop floor, igniting spilled fuel. Fire quickly engulfed the shop, destroying the building beyond repair and ruining Pencil’s toterhome and various parts and tools worth thousands of dollars. In addition, Pencil’s father was flown to a Pittsburgh hospital for treatment of first- and second-degree burns on his hands and one ear as well as smoke inhalation.
Quick-thinking neighbors helped pulled Pencil’s trailer to safety, and his primary car was removed from the inferno and immediately taken to Bedford co-promoter J.R. Keifer’s nearby shop. The next morning Pencil examined his race car and found that it had escaped the ordeal with only relatively minor damage to its body and wiring.
Less than one month later, Pencil had the car parked in Bedford’s Victory Lane after winning the season opener.
“It still had that whiff of a burnt-fire smell (in the cockpit) when I got in it,” said Pencil, who estimated that the fire caused $300,000-$500,000 in damages. “In May and June I was still getting a whiff of that smell.”
Pencil said his father was released from the hospital three days after the fire and has made a “very good recovery” from his injuries, and Pencil is just a couple weeks away from moving his racing equipment back into his own shop. “The new building is up and the floor has been poured,” said Pencil, who has been working out of Keifer’s garage since the fire.
Celebrating his 20th anniversary as a race car driver in 2009, Pencil had hoped this season “would be pretty special.” But the campaign has ended up being memorable for more than just his performance on the track.
“It’s been a very humbling experience,” Pencil said of the fire’s aftermath. “The graciousness of what people in the racing community have done for us is just amazing. I can’t thank everyone enough.”
With no dirt Late Model racing on this Friday night’s agenda at Bedford, Pencil’s next competitive appearance will be the WoO LMS program on Aug. 14. After spending part of the off-week recharging his mental batteries by vacationing in Williamsburg, Va., with his wife and three-year-old son, he plans to put his full focus on the Outlaws’ invasion.
Pencil will certainly have to turn back plenty of talented racers – from WoO LMS points leaders Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va., Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky., and Steve Francis of Ashland, Ky. (the winner of last year’s tour event at Bedford), to Outlaw stars with proven Bedford track records like four-time track champ Rick Eckert of York, Pa., and Chub Frank of Bear Lake, Pa. (Bedford’s ‘07 WoO LMS victor), to emerging regional standouts like All-Star Late Model Series points leader Rick ‘Boom’ Briggs of Bearl Lake, Pa., D.J. Myers of Greencastle, Pa. (a recent feature winner at Bedford), Jason Covert of York Haven, Pa., and Jeremy Miller of Gettysburg, Pa.
“It’s gonna be a tough field, but if I didn’t feel we could win on the 14th we wouldn’t be going,” said Pencil, who ranks third on Bedford’s alltime dirt Late Model win list with 23 career victories. “I figure the date of the race is my car number (14), so hopefully that’s a good omen.”
