IHRA: Lancaster Speedway opens for season

In a column this past weekend in the Buffalo News, well-known motorsports writer Larry Ott interviewed IHRA Super Rod world champion Doug Lynden, from nearby Fredonia, New York, marking the same weekend that his local track, Lancaster National Speedway, opened for the season.

Fredonia, located on the southern bank of Lake Erie, is just now thawing out enough for area tracks to start their seasons, including the IHRA-affiliated Lancaster, which began its points season last Friday and is seen in the photo above.

In April, 406 feet of concrete was poured to give the drag teams a whole new surface for racing. All four weekly classes were in action, including Mallare Enterprises Top ET, McGard Mod ET, Hebler's Sales Sleds & Bikes and Tread City Tire Street.

Having an IHRA world champion like Lynden running at Lancaster when he has a chance adds to the prestige of the track, which was built in 1959.

In Ott's column, Lynden recounted his win at Memphis International Raceway last October. And he remembers his Summit World Finals final round victory well:

"I was racing Nick Akoury out of Cleveland in the final at Memphis and he is a good racer," said Lynden, who drives a 1927 Ford Roadster. "We both got down the track in a close race and when we crossed the finish line, I looked further down track at the scoreboard to see which lane win light came on and much to my surprise, neither lane's win light came on. It turned out to be an electronics problem, I guess. So as I slowed the car down and came to a stop, I had no idea of whether I won or not until an official came up to my car instead of Nick's and congratulated me."

He plans to travel more in 2016, Ott wrote. But when he can, he will be at Lancaster.