410 sprint cars
Inset: Pat Cannon looks over the cockpit of his 410 sprint car prior to warm ups at Port Royal Speedway.
Williams Grove. “George stressed to me that it was a good opportunity and listening to his comfort and excitement level, made the decision a lot easier,” Cannon added. “George and I clicked early on in my tenure with the Highlands team and the conversations we had picked up where they left off four years ago.” The plans for the team right now are to race the 410 at Port Royal Speedway and to do some shows at Selinsgrove Speedway where Cannon is the all-time winningest limited sprint car driver with 49 checkered flags. Down the road, according to Cannon, there might be some 360 winged shows. The team made its debut at Port Royal on March 13 and the first day together they qualified for the A-Main continued on page 46
recharge the batteries for the upcoming season which I am looking forward to.” At press time, the team has only been together for a few races while Madsen said there are no concrete plans as of now as to race regularly at tracks in Pennsylvania. “It’s more important to get along first and to see if it is going to work,” he said. “I enjoy the challenge of racing at different tracks, to be honest. I can see positive signs already in the race or two we have had. We have a great engine program and a good crew and car, so I am excited to see where that takes us.” Madsen finished second on opening day at Port Royal on March 13 after leading the race and 17th at the opener at Williams Grove on March 14 after spinning out early in the feature during difficult and windy conditions. Tim Shaffer, a four-time All Star champion, will be piloting Mike Heffner’s 410 sprint car this year. “Mike was looking to race about 70 times this year and my crew chief knows Mike’s crew chief Heath Moyle, so they said he was interested in speaking with me and the call went very well, and here we are,” Shaffer said. For the past few years, Shaffer was splitting his time between two westernPennsylvania based teams. “I try to do 70 to 80 races a year as I do it for a living and with those number of races that can pay the bill,” he said. “It’s hard to be competitive with trying to get two teams as competitive as I like and they said that if I can find something better, go for it,” Shaffer added. continued on page 46
45
Main: Pat Cannon, Etters, raced on the low side of Turn 3 at Port Royal Speedway as he makes his return to 410 sprint car racing with the John Stehman team on opening day 2021 at Port Royal Speedway.
The old saying “never say never’’ applies to Kerry Madsen. Madsen admitted that in this game you never say never when asked if he thought that he would ever race for a season in Central Pennsylvania. “You hear the stories about Central Pa., and I read about this place in Open Wheel Magazine as a kid, but you don’t realize how the racing is woven into the fabric,” Madsen noted. “Everyone here is awesome and it’s nice to come out to.” Madsen, who came to the United States during the 1999-2000 season and lives in Knoxville, Iowa, will be piloting the Michael Barshinger-owned sprint car this year. Madsen finished 15th in the World of Outlaws sprint car series point standings last year. He won the 410 track championship at Knoxville in 2005. “I was calling around to see what rides were available and the deal with Michael came together quickly,” he said. “So far it has been pretty enjoyable and pretty awesome with the new team.” Madsen, from New South Wales, Australia, is taking over the ride from Mechanicsburg’s Lucas Wolfe who drove the car from 2017 to 2020. Because of the travel ban, Madsen was unable to get back to Australia where he pilots the famed Krikke Boys No. 2 sprint car during the racing season in Australia. “It was almost nice to have a break and have a full winter here in the USA,” he said. “I shoveled a bit of snow this year and it was good to
Inside Motorsports | April 2021
New Drivers take on Central Pennsylvania
