PORT ROYAL, Pa. – Family and friends gathered around Mike Wagner’s black No. 55 sprint car on the frontstretch runway outside victory lane Saturday night at Port Royal Speedway, laughing and enjoying the moment.
The Wagners and their contingent are some of the most passionate and fun-loving people around.
For the first time since he won at the track on May 22, Wagner finished on the podium.
It came at the best of times, as Monday’s Labor Day Classic at the Juniata Valley half-mile clay oval is the lone race that stands between him and the spectacle Wagner has long wanted to win: the Tuscarora 50.
“We’re starting to get a little closer,” Wagner said. “It’s pretty good. We’re just making a few changes.”
For another year, Wagner is bound to finish second behind his son, Logan, in the track points race. Three points races remain, and it wraps up Friday on the Night Before the 50 sanctioned by the All Star Circuit of Champions.
Two weeks ago, Wagner turned 56 and joined Lance Dewease as one of the two most beloved 56-year-old’s on the Central Pennsylvania racing scene.
In his 36 years of racing, he’s collected just 12 wins at his home track, Port Royal, and his team’s have long been on stringent budgets.
During the last two years he’s had more resources than ever thanks to the help from Mac MaGee Motorsports.
MaGee Motorsports started racing in the Grand National Championship ATV Series more than two decades ago. Now, MaGee’s is a small business in the agricultural and enterprise management fields helping Wagner to some of his best years in his long driving career.
Last year, Wagner competed in the entire nine-race, nine-day PA Speedweek for the first time. This summer, he participated in his first Knoxville Nationals at Knoxville (Iowa) Raceway where he finished 18th in the C-Main.
“I think if we were to go there again, we’d be better,” Wagner said. “It takes a while to get a setup.”
Last weekend Wagner returned to Pennsylvania and assembled a new car for the most important stretch of the year.
Saturday marked the second race on the car. He steadily drove from ninth to finish second, one spot behind Dewease, a 119-time winner at the speedway.
Wagner drove by two of the fastest teams for much of the summer across sprint car racing, too: Brent Marks and Brian Brian, who finished third and fourth, respectively, on Saturday.
There’s obvious reasons for Wagner and his contingent to feel good this week.
His seven top-fives in 28 races are now the most since 2014 and he’s logged back-to-back years with a win for the first time since ‘13 and ‘14.
A potential second win this week would be his most in a season in more than a decade. And pulling off a heroic upset in the $54,000-to-win Tuscarora 50 on Saturday would be his greatest achievement.
“I want to do good on Labor Day, and the next three after that,” Wagner said. “It’s a big money week. We’re going to do our best.”