PORT ROYAL, Pa. – Anyone who’s followed the sprint car career of Lucas Wolfe understands his struggles the last two years.
After Wolfe won his fourth Pennsylvania Speedweek title in July of 2019, things took a dramatic nosedive. He injured his back twice during the second half of 2019, went winless in a 410 in 2020, lost his ride with Barshinger Racing that winter, then parted ways with Mark Coldren after trying a change of scenery.
Through all the tribulation, Wolfe is back where he started, racing for Jim and Laura Allebach in the popular No. 5W Pabst Blue Ribbon colors, and is regaining some of his luster in the process.
On Saturday at Port Royal Speedway, Wolfe finished second to Anthony Macri, the track’s winningest driver since the start of last year, and led laps at the Juniata Valley half mile for the second race in a row.
Wolfe now has four straight top eight finishes for the first time since the downturn began in a nasty accident at Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y., on July 14, 2019.
“We’ve made some progress,” Wolfe said. “There’s good spots, bad spots, ultimately we need to fine tune some of the weak areas. Part of it is me driving. Part of it is trying to get the car more comfortable for me driving it in different scenarios.”
On June 30 during PA Speedweek, Wolfe led 20 of the 30 laps before falling victim to late-race charges by Kyle Larson, Lance Dewease and Danny Dietrich. On Saturday, Wolfe overtook Steve Buckwalter on a restart with 16 laps to go to lead seven circuits before Macri raced to the win.
Of course, Wolfe would have liked to close the deal on those races, but he’s equally content he’s racing for victories again, and doing so against the likes of Larson, Macri, Dewease, and Dietrich.
“That makes it a better gauge, I think, for me to evaluate where we’re at, what we’re doing, where we’re wrong, or whatever,” Wolfe said. “In those situations, you still have to come up with a way to make it happen, I believe. Just didn’t quite have enough for [Saturday].”
Wolfe does have one win on the year: a triumph on April 23 at Williams Grove Speedway. A potential second win slipped through the cracks on Saturday when Wolfe couldn’t quite discern the most efficient way around the wide racing surface of Port Royal. While Wolfe searched, Macri ran him down and needed just one slide job to take control.
“When you’re out leading and not totally sure on where to be it’s a little bit of a tricky spot,” said Wolfe, trying to regain his comfortability in clean air.
His runner-up on Saturday gives him four podium finishes in 37 races this year, as well as his third top five over the past four races.
He is coming off a formidable PA Speedweek, too, where he finished sixth in the PA Speedweek points behind Dietrich, Brent Marks, Rico Abreu, Justin Peck and Paul McMahan.
With big races looming, such as the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Sprint Car Series returning to Williams Grove on July 23-24 and the $10,000-to-win Dream Race at Port Royal July 31, Wolfe hopes to continue his comeback trail.
“Continuing to run toward the front more consistently is a good thing for me long-term, of course,” Wolfe said. “Hopefully it’s something we’re able to continue, this kind of pace and results, moving forward.”