2004 Updates
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February
East Bay Winternationals - February 11-12-13,2004

Once again the team headed out of the snow to sunny Tampa, Florida to compete in the 27th Annual East Bay Winternationals. The four-day event lost its big Saturday finale to rain, but the team competed in all three preliminary events, making every A-Main.

Making lots of changes after the practice session on Tuesday night, Ed drew the last pill for qualifying on Wednesday night and timed 12th in the field of 35 cars. He started 4th in the 4th heat and finished 2nd. Starting 12th in the 25-lap feature, he dropped out with a heating problem and was credited with 21st spot in a race that belonged to Joey Saldana.

Thursday night, 33 cars were on hand and Ed timed 10th and started 4th and finished 4th in the second heat. He started 10th and and finished 15th in the feature won by Terry McCarl.

Friday the 13th proved to be unlucky for Ed, as he couldn't get a hold on the track in time trials and ranked 29th of the 33 cars present. He started 7th and finished 6th in the first heat and that sent him to the B-Main. Passing Rod George on the final lap for the last qualifying spot, he moved to the A-Main. After starting 26th in the field, he jumped the cushion just five laps into the event and the back end of the car caught the outside wall between turns three and four and he flipped back onto the track. He was OK and most of the damage was to the front end of the car.

The car was already in the pits on Saturday afternoon when the rain started. When the race was cancelled, the crew headed North.


March
Ed Wins Rain-Shortened Lernerville Opener - 3/26/04

A normal Sprint feature at Lernerville is 20 laps, but when the rain drops turned into a very light shower during a second red flag shut-down for an accident on lap 14 with Ed leading, the cars were sent to the pits to "wait it out." However, officials soon got word from the weather service that the rain was here to stay for the next couple of hours and the race was declared complete with Ed the winner.

Lernerville Speedway threw the green flag starting its 37th Annual season Friday night and much to the surprise of competitors and fans, the Sprint car division had the highest car count of the four divisions, with 21 on hand. Ed's pill draw was a high one and he started 10th in the second heat which got off to a rough start when outside 2nd row starter, Bill Kiley slipped. Then mid-way through the heat, Rod George had trouble exiting turn four and was hit by Kyle Sauder.

Ed was using a groove in between turn one and turn two that had a bump that completely upset the chassis and he was lucky to finish third behind Arnie Kent and Kevin Schaeffer. The top three in the first heat were Chad Hill, Brent Matus and Gary Kriess, Jr.

The top 12 were a re-draw for the feature and Ed drew #2. Sauder was on pole while Dan Shetler and Schaeffer made up row two. Sauder made a nice line on the start and stayed with it to lead the first round, but Ed was equal to him going into turn one and ahead on the back stretch to take the lead.

Ed led through a lap three caution for Mark Denner and another caution on lap eight for Sauder and Shetler. At this point Ed led Kriess, Ralphie Spithaler, Hill and Schaeffer.

On the restart, Kriess stayed close, but just one lap later Ed had to hit the brakes coming out of turn four when he saw Jimmy Weller do an end-over-end involving Gary Rankin at the flag stand.

At this point the rain-drops were more visible, but only nine laps were completed. The cars lined up for a restart, but only five more laps were completed when George and Shetler tangled and George flipped.

There had been too many yellows and reds throughout the night with the rain moving in, so when the field was sent to the pits they never were able to finish the race and there was no victory lane celebration. Behind Ed in the run-down are Kriess, Spithaler, Hill and Arnie Kent.

Most everything that was clean and polished for this race at Lernerville is now covered with mud, so there will be lots of scrubbing.


#2L Ready for Lernerville Opener Friday 3/26/04

In between showers this past weekend, Ed was able to fire the engine on the #2L and time the car. Monday it went down to 12 degrees here. Garage work on Tuesday night was chassis alignment and set-up.....now if the weather cooperates! There are showers scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday, but Friday is supposed to be cloudy and 55 degrees. Hopefully we will race!!!


Garage Activity Level Increases Starting March 13, 2004

In preparation for the first race at Lernerville, just two weeks away, the #2L team worked both days on the weekend changing the engine, changing the set-up, mounting tires and going over the entire car. It was still way too cold to even have the door up or to do any work on the truck and trailer.


Ed is Honored Twice at Lernerville Banquet - March 6, 2004

On Saturday night, March 6, the Lynch Racing team was joined by 450 fans, crews and media members at the Day's Inn, Butler, Pennsylvania in celebrating Lernerville Speedway's 36th racing season. Ed, Jr. earned his second Sprint Car Track Championship and he and his wife Heather were seated at the head table while he sons 'Lil Ed and Sye sat at a table with Ed, Sr. and Jean, Steve Anderson and Misty, Kurt and Beckie Hepler.

Not only was Ed being honored as a Track Champion, but he also was presented the #1 Cochran Cavalcade Sprint Car Award for highest overall points in the tri-state area by the award founder Walt Wimer.

While a picture of his #2L sprint car was projected on a big screen, Ed accepted his red four-posted, three-foot Lernerville Championship trophy and thanked track owner Helen Martin for providing a fine facility where he grew up and is still raising his family today.

The 36th Annual Awards Banquet Program paid tribute to Ed with the following story...Sometimes sons tread in the footsteps of their father, especially in racing. After 20 years of competition, Ed Lynch, Jr. has become a 'Sprint Super Star' like his father Ed, Sr. Lynch Jr. has captured his second St. Barnabas Health System Sprint Championship; the first was in 1990. Lynch as the 1983 Rookie of the Year and currently tops the sprint chart with a career record of 64 wins (6th on Lernerville's All-Time Wins list with 65). He won the last Don Martin Memorial World of Outlaws Silver Cup Sprint race, collecting $35,000, the only local driver to accomplish this feat.

Lynch posted another dazzling season in 2003. He grabbed eight track wins and had a total of 22 locally. He had an incredible 16 top five finishes out of 16 starts, missing only one race to attend the Knoxville Nationals. He checkered five heat races at Lernerville and had a total of 18 locally.

Lynch gives special thanks to Kistler Engines, J&J Auto Racing, Commercial Truck and Trailer, Indy Recycling, Red Devil Brakes, VRP Shocks, Simpson, Hoosier, RV Coleman Trucking, Tim's Auto Body, Weld Wheels and AGIP. Lynch's remarkable crew consists of Ed, Sr., Steve Anderson, Kurt Hepler, Howard Lynch, his lovely wife Heather, and sons Ed III (14 yrs) and Sye (6yrs). During the season, his day job was Vice-President of Howard Concrete Pumping. In January 2004 he became Operations Manager for the Pittsburgh Division of The DiGeronimo Companies.

Commenting on racing, Lynch said, "There is the thrill of the win and there is the fear of the accident." With a smile he further added, "My dad always said you can't make a bent car go faster!" Lynch admires racers that can build a car from thetubing up, work to maintain it, as well as race it. He further stated, "People like Kenny Weld, Doug Wolfgang, Sammy Swindell, AJ Foyt and Dave Blaney all did this."

After two decades, Lynch dominates locally, is extremely competitive nationally, and is a living legend. This racing chain of tradition keeps adding links. If it's not in the blood, maybe it's in the dirt!


April
Lernerville rains out Friday - 4/30/04

Ed had changed engines during the week and was anxious to see how this one would perform under race conditions at Lernerville on Friday night, but persistent light rain showers resulted in a cancellation of the program after six preliminary heat races.

There were occasional rain drops shortly after sign-in, however, the 29 Sprints did get hot laps. Ed's pill draw would start him 9th of 10 cars in the second heat. But, with one more Pure Stock Heat to be run before the three Sprint heats (around 8:15PM), the program was put on hold until the showers passed.

After a 30-minute wait and a review of radar weather showing more showers on the way, the cancellation announcement came.

Ed's plans are to race at Sharon's Opener on Saturday and then Tri City's Opener on Sunday.


Miscellaneous Weekend News for 4/23 - 4/25/04

Friday night Ed took his family to see the World of Outlaw Late Model cars run a 50-lapper at Lernerville Speedway. He visited many drivers in the pits and with 66 cars on hand, he observed the latest in technology in Late Model set-ups, prior to the race.

During the last 10 laps, there were at least four drivers that could win depending on how the lapped traffic played out. It was Chub Frank in the 1* who led the final three laps to the checkered.

After the race, Ed and his family walked the track in turns three and four and then visited with Rick Eckert #24 who did an outstanding job, coming from 17th to finish 5th. 'Lil Ed and Sye each were given Eckert T-shirts. Saturday's weather was questionable so instead of towing seven hours to Eldora, Ed went to his boys' baseball games. First, his 14-year old, 'Lil Ed had a JV game at Latrobe at 11:00AM. As a catcher, 'Lil Ed had a single, then two long fly balls caught in center field, a triple with two on for two RBIs, he stole a base, scored a run and threw a guy out trying to steal 2nd base.

At 3:00PM Ed's six-year old, Sye, was the star of his T-ball game with four hits and four runs scored. Sye played lst base, then center field and finally pitcher. While playing pitcher, Sye fielded three hits and threw the ball to lst base in time to make all three outs.

Sunday, lots of garage work went into preparing a car for Tri City Speedway's opener. Despite loading the car in the rain here, calls to the track said they were racing. However, after driving one hour in the rain, which was about one-half way to the track, a call came that the races were cancelled. So, Ed turned the rig around and headed for home.


Lernerville's Spring Sprint Spectacular - 4/16/04

Each year Lernerville Speedway puts on the St. Barnabas Health Systems Spring Sprint Spectacular paying an extra $200 to win and for the past two year's Ed has finished second. This year he was able to win this special event after starting 12th in the 24-car field.

The real tricky part was being able to pass cars on a surface that had seen plenty of racing during the night. The features for the four regular classes here are rotated and tonight the Sprints were last. There had been 19 races in the books by the time the feature for Sprints was pushed off at 12:08AM.

There were 31 Sprints on hand and because of last week's feature win, Ed had to start 12th. The front row for the 20-lap A-Main showed Gary Rankin and Arnie Kent with Chad Hill and Kevin Schaeffer in row two. At the drop of the green flag, Ed stayed with the outside lane and passed three cars before the yellow came out for the "un-retired" Jerry Matus after one lap. Rankin led the single-file restart line as Ed now moved to the inside groove to get up to sixth when the next caution flew with four laps in the books. Although Rankin still led on the restart, he was soon passed by Hill, while Ed stayed with his inside line to move up to third as the final caution flag waved for Gary Kriess, Jr.

On the lap seven restart, Ed passed Rankin on the outside coming out of turn four as the field completed the next lap. Then, he set his sights on the leader Hill and set up the winning pass inside turn two to officially lead lap nine.

From that point, the race was all green and Ed drove a masterful race through traffic to win by a straight-away over Hill, Rod George, Scott Priester and Schaeffer.

Ed won the first heat from the pole, George took the second heat after starting third, while Arnie Kent won the last heat, also from the pole. Now that Ed has won three features in a row, track announcer Dow Carnahan reminded him that he will have to start last in the next Sprint feature. However, that won't happen for two weeks because there will only be Late Models on the card next Friday.


Baseball and Garage Work - 4/15/04

Ed's boys like baseball and racing. 'Lil Ed is going to be 15 on May 5th and is a freshman at Kiski Area High School. He tried out for the JV Baseball team along with 37 other hopeful players. He made the team as a catcher. They have two games in and both are in the win column. He caught both games, nearly picked a runner off at first base twice, has walked 5 times, stolen 6 bases, has 1 hit and 1 RBI, and struck out once.

Sye now age 6 is playing t-ball and getting ready for Opening Day on May 24. He is a good all-around player who can hit and field. He is very left handed and makes contact on every pitch. Sye played Soccer over the winter and his team was undefeated.

Meanwhile, the garage work involved repairs on the front-end of the car Ed ran at Mercer, Saturday night and the crew is ready for warm weather and Friday night races at Lernerville.


Mercer Raceway Park - 4/10/04

The #2L crew made its first appearance of the year at Mercer Raceway Park this frigid Saturday night. Ed ran Mercer three times last year and had three wins. After starting 11th tonight, he had his work cut out for him because the track was dusty and slick and all the heat winners had come from front row starting spots.

Steadily advancing despite three caution periods and one red flag which shut down activities for nearly one hour, Ed was on the move. But, going for 4th spot inside #07 Jeff Banyas on the front stretch on lap 16, Banyas turned left into Ed's right front wheel just before entering turn #1, breaking the steering and sending Ed spinning into the turn #1 outside fence, ending his night.

Twenty-seven Sprints were on hand and Ed started 4th in the second heat and finished third behind Jason Dolick and Scott Bonnell. Pole-sitters Banyas and Jack Sodeman, Jr. won their heats.

Ed was 10th after the first lap 2 caution for Gary Kriess, Jr. subbing for Troy Preston. The long red on lap 5, with Ed now up to 8th, was a result of a multi-car accident in turn 1, when it was deemed necessary by track officials to have Gary McCollum Life-Flighted to the #1 Trama Center in Youngstown, Ohio. Early reports say he was conscious during transport. Please keep Gary in your thoughts and prayers.

Another yellow flag came out on lap 7 for Jeremy Cook, then again just seven laps later, for the separate incidents of Jeff Hirt and Gary Edwards. At this time, polesitter Rod George continued to lead Cameron Dodson and Scott Bonnell. Ed was 5th behind Banyas and spent the next lap dicing through lapped traffic.

By lap 16, Ed came off turn four inside Banyas and the two were side-by-side down the front chute setting up the incident in turn one. George went on to win over Dodson, Bonnell, Banyas and Jimmy Weller. The first four finishers were in the first four starting positions.


#2L is hot on a cold night at Lernerville - 4/9/04

When Ed pulled the #2L into victory lane Friday night at Lernerville Speedway, some steam was visible coming off the car and he explained in his interview that the problem might be with the radiator.

It was a cold night (supposed to drop to 34 degrees) for the start of points in all divisions, but with all racing rained out last week-end, the #2L crew was anxious to be turning laps on the track.

There were 27 Sprints on hand and Ed started 8th in the third heat. He finished 3rd behind front-row starters Dan Shetler and Arnie Kent. The crew found a leaking brake line following the heat and made repairs. Jack Sodeman, Jr. and Ralphie Spithaler won the first two heats.

The re-draw for the 20-lap feature started Ed in 7th behind front row starters Spithaler and Kent. Chad Hill and Charlie Holben started in the second row followed by Gary Rankin and Davey Jones.

The track was slick and had glazed over and Glen Noland couldn't make the first lap without sliding off the track. Ed had made a nice move on the inside coming off turn four to pick up a couple of spots, but that was erased when the officials called for a complete restart.

Again running the inside, Ed was up to 5th when Scott Barris spun after one lap for the second caution. The restart showed Spithaler, Kent, Hill, Holben and Ed. Three laps later, Ed was working on Kent for second spot when Spithaler exited down the pit ramp with engine trouble. Coming off turn four, Kent slowed to cope with lapped traffic and Ed had to hit the brakes and take evasive action to keep from colliding with Kent, swerving to the inside Ed zipped by and led five.

Another caution came on lap seven for Butch Beasley with Ed now leading Kent, two lapped cars, Hill and Sodemen, Jr. Two different yellows occurred on lap 10 for Holben who lost power on the front stretch and for Brent Matus who hit the restart cone.

From that point on, the green flag waved and Ed chose the high line to combat lapped traffic. There was one close call when he came upon a group of lapped cars running together and he was forced to split them in turn two and just did get through cleanly.

Behind Ed, Kent, Hill, Rod George and Sodeman, Jr. made it into the top five.


May
No races - just repair work on Sunday 5/30/04

It was 2:15AM Sunday when the rig arrived home from Saturday night's races at Sharon Speedway. The clean-up and repairs started around 9:00AM. Examining the damaged rear-end from Saturday night, disassembling it and building a new rear-end and installing it was a big part of the work-load.

Taking the engine out to get a closer look for any possible problems as a result of the rear-end breaking at speed took up until 6:30.

Everyone called it a day and will finish up the garage work Monday. Ed is still undecided about whether to run Lernerville or Sharon's WoO show on Friday.


#2L Breaks Running Second at Sharon - 5/29/04

After starting eighth in a 23-car field at Sharon Speedway, Saturday night, Ed was hot on the trail of front-row starter Jarod Larson when the rearend broke on the #2L going down the back stretch on lap 15 and Ed coasted powerless to the high side of turns three and four and was pushed to the pits.

Although Sprints were the second feature, it was 10:40PM when the cars were pushed into line for their 25-lap feature with Mike Kekich and Larson in the front row followed by Keith Taylor, Kevin Andrusky, Leo O'Malley, Shawn Minor, Kevin Schaeffer and Ed.

Before a lap could be completed, Taylor spun in turn four and a complete restart resulted. Larson took off on the next try and set a fast pace - catching the backmarkers in four laps. By the time Ed was in second when the next yellow was displayed for Mikie Lutz and Andrusky in turn four, Larson had five lapped cars as a cushion.

When the green replaced the yellow, Ed spent the next trip around the 1/3 mile oval getting by the lapped cars and then looking to close in on Larson. In the process, the rearend broke on lap 15 ending Ed's bid for another win.

Ironically, after Ed exited to the pits, Larson was leading the field out of turn four to the flagstand for the restart, when he slowed and stopped with a broken front spindle and went to the pits on the hook of the wrecker. With first and second place cars in the pits, Kevin Schaeffer inherited the lead and went on to win ahead of Kekich, Lutz, Hill and Roger Campbell. The heats went to Lutz, Larson and Lynch.


Ed has wire-to-wire win at Lernerville - 5/28/04

It's not often that Ed gets to start on the pole of a sprint car feature, but Friday night at Lernerville Speedway, the luck of the pill draw put him in the front spot for the 20-lap feature. He was able to capitalize on that good fortune by leading every lap to chalk up his 4th win of the year here and his 68th career Sprint car win at Lernerville.

Finally, it was the Sprints turn to be first in the rotation of the four divisions that run here weekly. What a rough start the 28 Sprints had in their three heats! A total of seven cars were involved in red-flag incidents in the first two heats. Ed started fifth in the third heat and finished third which made him eligible for the re-draw for the feature.

Gary Rankin, Mike Dehner, Mikie Lutz in a new #98 ride and Scott Bonnell qualified in the first heat. Rod George, Jerry Matus, Bill Kiley and Bob Walters advanced from the second heat. Kevin Schaeffer won the third heat followed by Davey Jones, Ed Lynch and Charlie Holben.

Although Ed started the feature inside with Schaeffer outside, he wasted no time getting to the outside and was ahead of Schaeffer through turns one and two. Jones and George had been in row two with Bob Walters and Holben in the third row.

The first of five caution flags waved by flagman Spanky Hall, came on lap three for Mel Straley. Five laps later it was Jerry Matus that caused a yellow with Ed leading Schaeffer, George, Holben, Bonnell and Chad Hill (up from 15th).

Just one lap later, on lap nine, Walters brought out the yellow. The restart line-up was the same except George was now second and Schaeffer third. There were two cautions necessary on lap 12 for Glen Nolan and Jerry Yoder respectively.

The longest stretch of green flag laps followed to the checkered flag with Ed holding a comfortable lead over the yellow #9 of Schaeffer who used an inside move in turn one with two laps to go to pass George. Hill used the same inside lane to drop George to fourth with Holben holding on for fifth.

Ed told on-track announcer, Dowe Carnahan, "Tuesday night in the Outlaw show, I had to run the inside, because they were all using the outside. Tonight, I decided I'd go to the top first and let everyone else have the bottom."


Ed Finishes 6th in WoO A-Main at Lernerville - 5/25/04

Ed knew he had his work cut out for him when he missed qualifying through his heat and had to make the World of Outlaw feature by way of the B-Main.

After timing a respectable 16th overall in a field of 55 Sprint cars Tuesday night in Lernerville Speedway's 35-lap "Commonwealth Clash", Ed was scheduled to start third in the first of four heats.

He held third spot for about three laps by running the inside, but searching for more grip, he went high and lost ground with Dale Blaney getting past. One lap later, Danny Lasoski went by and on the last lap, fast-timer Donny Schatz passed Ed for the 5th and final qualifying spot. Ryan Coniam won that with Craig Dollansky coming home second. The other heats went to Jason Meyers, Jason Sides and Steve Kinser.

Following his heat, Ed changed just about everything on the car including - tires, gauges, shocks, wheels and gears.

Two five-lap dashes were run for the inside and outside rows of the feature. Steve Kinser, Chad Kemenah, Mark Kinser, Donny Schatz, Dale Blaney, Craig Dollansky, Jason Sides and Lance Dewease will be the inside row. While, Sammy Swindell, Danny Lasoski, Tim Shaffer, Joey Saldana, Jonathan Allard, Daryn Pitman, Brian Brown and Jason Meyers will make up the outside row.

The 12-lap B-Main had Paul McMahon and Kraig Kinser in the front row and Erin Crocker inside Ed in row two. Only the top four from this race would advance to the A-Main. Those drivers who advanced were McMahon, K.Kinser, Ed and Crocker. For Ed this put him 20th in the A-Main.

With Swindell leading the way early, a three-car pile-up involving Blaney, Mark Kinser and Dewease on the inside of turn four brought out the red flag. Ed was 16th. A caution flag was needed on lap five for Ryan Coniam and Ed was 15th. McMahon caused a lap 16 eyllow and Ed was 13th.

The final caution on lap 20 was for Schatz as Swindell led S.Kinser, Shaffer, Lasoski, Joey Saldana, Craig Dollansky, Daryn Pittman and Myers ahead of New York.

This entire time, Ed had been running the inside groove all the way around this 4/10th mile. Now with just 15 laps to go, he kept maintaning that inside groove. One by one, he was picking off the position cars and was up to 6th at the Checkered flag and knocking on the door for more. But, the 35-laps ended with Steve Kinser taking a win away from Swindell. In third it was Shaffer. Both Dollansky and Lasoski were top five finishers but were next on Ed's list of "to be passed." However, time ran out and Ed finished sixth ahead of Myers, Lance Dewease, Daryn Pittman and Mark Kinser.


Ed finishes 2nd at Sharon - 5/22/04

There were two yellow flags and one red in Saturday night's 25 lap Sprint feature at The New Sharon Speedway. Each time the yellow flag came out, Ed had just passed a car and the restart lineups put that car back in front of the #2L. As the race played out, that could have been the difference of winning or finishing second for Ed.

The Sprints were third on the program and luck of the draw put Roger Campbell and Wayne McPeak in the front row. Jack Sodeman, Jr. and Kevin Andrusky made up row two. Jason Jacoby and Paul Kekich started in the third row ahead of Brent Matus and Jerod Larson. Chad Hill and Jimmy Weller made up row five, then came 11th place Ed and Kevin Schaeffer. At the drop of the green, in the inside lane ahead of Ed, Hill went to the outside immediately.and Ed seemed to get bogged down behind Matus. After following Matus for one lap, Ed moved to the outside as the first lap was recorded and using that same outside groove, Ed passed Matus on the outside
in turn one.

As the two raced down the back stretch and through turns three and four the yellow flag for Kevin Andrusky greeted them and, thus, Ed was put back behind Matus, again running 10th.

The race got underway once more, but just two laps later, the yellow was needed again for Andrusky. This time Ed had gone by Kevin Schaeffer in turn one, only to have that move nullified and see Schaeffer be put back in front of him again.

Campbell led the restart line-up followed by McPeak, Sodeman, Jacoby, Larson, Kekich, Hill, Schaeffer and Ed. Next, on lap 7, there was a red flag for Hill who flipped three times when he came too close to the turn four outside guard-rail. Driver is OK. Ed is up to sixth behind Campbell, Larson, McPeak, Sodeman and Kekich.

Two or three laps later, Larson was in the lead and nearly a straightaway ahead as Ed started to pick off the cars ahead. Ed got up to second and was within two car-length of Larson at the checkered flag on lap 25. Heats for the 21 cars on hand were won by Lynch and Hill.

With too much garage work scheduled before the Tuesday night World of Outlaw Show at Lernerville Speedway, Ed has decided NOT to race tomorrow (Sunday) at Tri City Speedway.


Lernerville Rains Out - 5/21/04

Most of the competitors were in the pits. Ed hesitated to unload because of the angry-looking skies and reported high winds in the area. At 6:30 prior to hot laps, he started to put down the back door on the hauler. But, the wind picked up along with rain and the races were cancelled. The next time at Lernerville for Ed will be Tuesday's World of Outlaws show.

Ed is lucky to finish 5th at Tri City - 5/16/04

For the second time this weekend, Ed had to take evasive action in the feature to avoid colliding with the car immediately ahead of him.

Friday night at Lernerville, Rod George, who had started ahead of Ed, gave no hand signal that he was in trouble, but apparently lost power in turn two and came to an abrupt halt on lap four. Ed was full throttle and hit his Red Devil brakes so hard, the #2L nosed down and nearly stalled as Ed managed to avoid hitting George.

Sunday night in Tri City's feature, Ed had started 7th in the 20-lap feature for the 23 sprint cars on hand. Andy McKisson and Jason Jacoby were in the front row at the start followed by Jimmy Weller and Jarod Larson in row two. Rod George and Bobby Clark were in the third row.

It was McKisson who jumped to an early lead with Larson zipping by to lead lap two. Ed was pretty much just holding his spot in the early laps and when the only yellow flag was displayed on lap eight for Curt Stroup, Ed was sixth behind Larson, Clark, McKisson, Jacoby and George.

Following the single file restart with four lapped cars inserted, on lap nine, Ed went to the outside in turn one because of heavy lapped traffic on the inside, splitting the cars of George and Jacoby. However, McKisson spun a donut right in front of Ed and once again Ed jammed on the brakes. There was no engine noise and Ed fought the wheel trying to miss the spinning McKisson and at the same time, working the gas-feed to try to get the engine to fire again.

The engine finally fired and he raced down the back stretch, but not before four or five cars had passed him. McKisson kept going and no yellow came out, so Ed had his work cut out trying to re-pass those cars.

Meanwhile, he had no chance of catching the leader Larson whose chief competition was Bobby Clark. About a straight-away behind were George and Jacoby, then Ed in 5th. They crossed as the top five finishers followed by Scott Bonnell, Chad Hill, McKisson, Rob Eyler and Jimmy Weller.

The Sprints ran 2nd to the Modifieds all night and Bonnell won the lst Sprint heat while Ed won the second heat which was his 40th ever at Tri City.


Clean Up from Friday then rain on Saturday 5/15/04

After getting home from Lernerville at 3:15AM, the scrubbing and washing started early Saturday morning because everything was covered with mud. Ed heard that Mercer had cancelled in late morning and Sharon had cancelled by 1:00PM because of rain. He will be ready for Tri City on Sunday.


Ed comes from 12th to 2nd at Lernerville - 5/14/04

It was a long night of delays, crashes, flips, spin-outs and many, many yellow and red flag incidents.

Ed knew he would be starting 12th in the 20-lap Sprint feature because of his win here in the last race. Thirteen cars out of the 24-car starting field were involved to some degree in the seven yellows and two red flags that plagued the event. On that note, it was good to survive and be able to load the car in the trailer at the end of the night.

Rain started falling lightly during Ed's heat, causing the race to be red flagged at the half-way point around 8:30PM. The green flag waved two hours later at 10:33 to start lap five and finish the heat.

The Sprint Feature was third on the agenda and to start things off, a four-car mix-up came in turn two when outside pole-sitter Gary Kriess, Jr. spun in the grove. Mike Shearer backed his ride into the turn-two inside wall. Meanwhile, the cars of Dr. Altmeyer (driven by Mike Kuzuminski and Rob Walters were up-side down and with all drivers OK, there was a second attempt at a second restart.

At 11:36PM another restart resulted in a yellow when Scott Bonnell spun. The next restart showed Branden Martin and Glenn Noland spinning out. Finally, the officials went to a single file restart and the field completed a lap. However, Cory Good caused a yellow before the next lap. One lap later, Ed moved up to 4th
by moving to the outside lane.

Pole-sitter Chad Hill led, followed by Dan Shetler, Gary Rankin, Rod George, Kevin Schaeffer and Ed until, with four laps completed. George suddenly lost power in turn two. Ed had to jump on his Red Devil brakes and narrowly missed George.

Some great racing came in the next seven laps, with Ed closing fast on second place Shetler and Hill in heavy lapped traffic. Just then Mike Shearer flew off the track in turn four bringing out another red. Before the green could replace the red, Shetler experienced engine problems and headed for the pits.

With Ed now in second, six laps later Mike Dehner caused another caution. Hill was fast with a clear race-track in front of him, Ed tried the low line, but there was nothing to gain there. One lap later on lap 18 the field had to slow because of Davey Jones sitting at the top of the exit ramp.

In the remaining two laps, Ed tried, but could not catch Hill who had clear sailing in the top groove. The checkered flag fell at 2:10AM with Schaeffer and Brent Matus following. While it looked like Gary Rankin would nail down fifth place, a new driver, Branden Martin went full-throttle and knocked Rankin at the flag-stand, flipping him and then spinning him around like a top. With the whole field having to miss Gary's spinning car at the start-finish line, it was good to see they did. The heats went to Shearer, Kriess and Rod George with Ed placing 2nd in the second Heat.


Ed Wins Tri-City Opener Sunday Night - 5/9/04

Rain after hot laps caused a two-hour delay to the official start of Tri-City Speedway's 50th Anniversary season. But, once the track was ready things moved quickly - especially the #2L Sprint car driven by Ed Lynch, Jr. After starting fourth, Ed dominated the 20-lap feature taking the lead on lap two from outside pole-sitter Jason Jacoby and never looking back. The 22 cars on hand were set to be the first feature Brent Covell and Jacoby brought the field around for the initial green flag with Rod George and Ed in the second row. By turn two, Ed was leading, but a four-car incident including a flip by Jerry Moyer resulted in a red flag and a complete restart.

Chris Matthews lost power on the second try and finally, the third start was the keeper and made it onto the score sheets showing Jacoby leading lap one. But Ed was on the move and he passed the leader on the second lap through turns one and two.

Sixth place starter, Jarod Larson moved in to challenge Ed around the half-way mark, but could not catch him in lapped traffic. Behind Ed and Larson at the finish were Chad Hill, Jacoby and Rod George. Heat one showed Gary Rankin ahead of Larson, Lynch and Jacoby. For the second heat it was Hill over Brent Matus, George and Covell.

This was Ed's 22nd career win at Tri-City, which moved him into sole possession of fourth place on the all-time win list behind Lou Blaney, Rod George and Buddy Cochran.


Ed's Win at Sharon's Opener is a Milestone - 5/8/04

One of Ed's goals for 2004 was to become Sharon Speedway's all-time Sprint feature winner and Saturday night in the opener marking the track's 75th Anniversary season, he achieved that goal when he passed race-long leader Jack Sodeman, Jr. in the closing laps of the 25-lap A-Main event.

The feature was a real down-to-the-wire battle as fans witnessed lots of side-by-side duels for position and plenty of anxious moments in heavy lapped traffic for the top five.

A pill re-draw after the three heats for the 27 cars on hand put Andy McKisson and Sodeman in the front row with Ed starting seventh in the feature.

The first 10 laps were all green and Sodeman wasted no time in showing he could be fast on an open track as well as when he caught the back-markers. Kevin Schaeffer was equally fast, moving from fifth to second, while Ed used his inside starting lane for the first four laps, before trying the outside.

The #2L was chasing 3rd place runner Chad Hill and passed him on lap nine to secure third before the first yellow of the race came for Bob Lime, stalled outside turn four. The restart order had Sodeman, Schaeffer, Lynch, Hill, Jarod Larson and Kevin Andrusky.

Only one lap later the caution came out again for a two-car mix-up in turn one. When the green replaced the yellow, Ed set sail for Schaeffer and as they encountered lapped traffic, Ed was forced to split a group of three lapped cars. Keeping his momentum up, he finally caught and passed Schaeffer on the outside in turn four to complete lap 19. However, half the field did not cross, so the lap did not count and Schaeffer was put back to second.

Just as the field bunched to restart, Schaeffer had header problems send him pit-side and Ed moved back into second. That turned out to be the final caution and Ed now focused on the leader Sodeman, running him down with three laps to go. Ed was under Sodeman in turn one and the two came off turn two side-by-side. But, Ed pulled ahead going down the back stretch and led the remaining two laps, winning by a three-car length advantage.

In victory lane, Ed complimented the owners of Sharon on their many improvements - lighting, concessions, paving, etc. Heat winners were Jimmy Weller, Hill and Ed.


All Star show at Lernerville is Rained Out - 5/7/04

Ed was ready for his toughest competition of the season Friday night at Lernerville. In addition to the top runners at his home track, the All Star Circuit of Champions were coming to town for some unfinished business... the twice rained-out Earl and David Bauman Memorial Race from Labor Day weekend of last year.

However, heavy rains and repeated thunderstorms started around 10:00AM and continued on and off until 5:00PM, eliminating any chance of running the show. The make up date has not yet been announced. Ed will be at Sharon's opener on Saturday and at Tri City for their Mother's Day Opener on Sunday.


Ed's Racing Profile for 2003 is posted 5/4/04

A summary of Ed's 2003 season should be posted shortly. You may view it by clicking on Profile.

Look for an up-coming story on the new Heinz Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum & History Center being built in downtown Pittsburgh, featuring some of Ed's racing accomplishments.


Tri City cancels early 5/2/04

For the second week in a row, Tri City Speedway was forced to postpone their season opener on Sunday morning because of bad weather approaching. Although the #2L didn't see track time today, the car was started and timed and miscellaneous work was done on the truck and trailer.


Sharon's Opener Rains Out - 5/1/04

So far this weekend, Ed has more towing time than race time!

Saturday had been bright and sunny as the #2L was loaded and the team headed for the big opener marking Sharon Speedway's 75th Anniversary year. It is normally a two-hour trip. However, after one hour on the road, the phone call came telling Ed the shocking news that Sharon was cancelled due to rain. He turned the rig around and headed for home.

He plans to race at Tri City's Opener on Sunday - weather permitting.


June
Ed is 16th in Sharon's Speedweek Show - 6/30/04

It was an uphill night for Ed and the #2L crew Wednesday in Sharon's All Star Speedweek show. They came away with a 16th place in the 30-lap feature after starting 22nd.

There were 47 cars on hand and Ed went out 42nd for time trials and ended up 24th overall which just did make the inversion cut for the heat races. He started on pole of the 4th heat and won it over Tim Kaeding, Kelly Kinser, Lee Jacobs and Jan Howard. The other heat winners were Jack Sodeman, Jr., John Ivy and Randy Hannagan.

Rob Chaney won the Dash with Phil Gressman, Jeremy Campbell, Jesse Hockett and Ryan Coniam advancing from the B-Main. Jac Haudenschild won the C-Main. With Lee Jacobs and Chad Kemenah in the front row to start the main event, Bobby Clark and Jarod Larson were in row two with Mike Wagner and Dale Blaney starting in row three. Ed was all the way back in 22nd starting spot.

When the green flag waved, Ed had a good start and passed several cars, but it was nullified when Jon Agan lost power in turn four and a complete restart was necessary. On the next attempt to start, Kemenah jumped and that was called back, also. The third time was the charm and the race was underway.

Ed went to the top of the track and slowly picked off about six cars, before lap 20, but the leader Blaney was coming fast and put Ed down a lap at that point. The yellow came out on lap 22 for a flat on the number 75 of Jesse Hockett.

Eight more laps and the checkered flew over Blaney, Kemenah, Clark, Kelly Kinser and Lee Jacobs. Ed ranked 16th at the end.


Race Plans for June 30 through July 4, 2004

Ed will be competing Wednesday 6/30/04 in Sharon Speedway's All Star Ohio Sprint Speedweek show. Friday night he will be at Lernerville.

On Saturday 7/3/04, as part of Sharon Speedway's 75th Anniversary year, past Track Champions are being honored at a special afternoon banquet prior to racing activities for the night. Ed won two Track Championships in 1984 - one at Sharon and one at Jennerstown.

He also won two championships at Lernerville - 1990 and 2003 plus had the honors of being the Sprint Champion at Pittsburgh's Pennsylvania Motor Speedway on the final year they ran Sprints - 1993.

He will try to be at Tri City on Sunday, July 4, 2003.


Ed Wins Bauman Memorial All Star Race at Lernerville - 6/25/04

"Ed Lynch, Jr. made a thrilling last lap pass of Dale Blaney Friday night at Lernerville Speedway to win the Haulmark All Star sprint car 35-lap Earl and David Bauman Memorial feature. The event paid $6,000 to win, with the additional $1,000 coming from event sponsor Commercial Truck and Trailer. The All Star feature was a makeup from a rained out event in August, 2003 and it was Lynch's seventh career All Star win and his sixth win here this season," was the lead paragraph in Scott Hall's press release for the All Stars. He quoted Ed saying, "I've wanted to win this race for a lot of years....I grew up with Earl and Dave Bauman."

The traditional 4-wide salute to the fans parade lap at 9:40PM set the stage for the action-packed feature as fireworks lit up the sky and a separate sparkling Sprint Car was displayed under the infield scoreboard. Rod George and Blaney led the field to the start, followed by Ryan Coniam, Lynch, Chad Kemenah and Chad Hill.

Although Blaney and Ed were in the outside rows, they both switched to the inside quickly and Blaney led the first lap with Goerge second and Ed third. When a spin by Hill in between turns one and two brought out the yellow after two laps the top three were the same with Coniam and Kemenah running fourth and fifth.

When the green replaced the yellow, George tried an inside move on Blaney in turn two that didn't work and George drifted up starting down the back stretch. Ed was already coming on the high side and blew by George before he could recover and the #2L took over second.

The red flag waved on lap four for a flip by Gary Kriess, Jr. at the top of turn two and on the restart, Ed went inside Blaney in turn two and they ran side-by-side down the backstretch with Ed coming off the bottom of the track leading out of turn four and was ahead at the flag stand on lap five. Fourteen consecutive green flag laps followed and Ed played the lapped traffic to perfection with Dale about four car-lengths back and George an equal distance back in third.

Ed led lap 18 and collected $500 donated by the Jack Lewis family in memory of their son Spanky killed in a racing accident 19 years ago. Then on the backstretch, the stalled car of Scott Bonnell slowed the field.

When the green waved again, the cars of Arnie Kent and Dan Shetler went off turn one bringing out a caution. The runniing order behind Ed was now Blaney, George, Kemenah, Jamie Smith and Dean Jacobs.

With a clear track, Ed soon pulled out to a big lead over Blaney until the two encountered heavy lapped traffic. This allowed Blaney to close and on three different laps, the two were side by side coming out of turn two.

Finally, Blaney put a slide job on Ed to lead lap 32. Ed battled back, going low under Blaney on lap 33. The duo were side-by-side, with Blaney slightly ahead.

Ed told a host of reporters later in a post-race interview, that he had never seen the two-lap sign by flagman Spanky Hall and admitted he did a double take when he saw the white flag showing the next time around.

But the final lap was all Ed's as slid under Blaney to grab the lead going down the backstretch to win by three car lengths. Kemenah was third having passed George on lap 23 while Jacobs came from 12th to fourth at the end ahead of Deorge and Danny Smith, up from 21st starting spot.


Accident forces Ed to come from last to 4th at Sharon -6/19/04

With a computer picking the starting spots for the Sprint feature at Sharon Speedway for the 2nd week in a row, Ed started 12th in the 25-lap A-Main Saturday night.

Outside of a false start because of a jump on the original green flag, the race went for 15 laps caution-free. Ed methodically worked his way up to fifth at that point following Kevin Schaeffer, Jimmy Weller, Chad Hill and Andy McKisson.

As they approached turn one, McKisson lost a drive line and gave no warning as he slowed. Ed had to rely on his Red Devil Brakes, once again, to keep from running over McKisson. Meanwhile , Jarod Larson was fast approaching and spun Ed when he ran over Ed's right rear tire, flipping his own car in the process. Ed was able to restart at the rear, but Larson retired to the pits.

Just one lap later, the yellow came out when Jason Jacoby lost a wheel and the restart after his incident showed Schaeffer still ahead of Weller, Hill and Mike Kekich.

One of the new "green flag" racing cars running with the 410 Sprints caused the red flag to fly on lap 22 when he flipped. Heats for the 26 Sprints came down to Larson, Weller and Ed.

The evening had started with an Autograph session for Sprint cars on the pavement of the old track's turn 3 & 4. Ed signed plenty of Autograph cards and his wife Heather passed out lollipops.

The decision to do garage work on Sunday means no Tri City Speedway appearance.


Down-to-the-wire win at Lernerville - 6/18/04

Two late cautions in the 20-lap Sprint feature Friday night at Lernerville Speedway produced a down-to-the-wire finish between Ed and Rod George with Ed able to come away with his fifth win of the year here and his 69th career Lernerville checkered flag.

After the Zambelli Fireworks display, Ed started 12th. He was on the move using the outside lane to quickly pass up to third spot before the first caution came out for Mike Dehner. Scoring, however, put him back to seventh for the restart line-up behind Arnie Kent, George, Jimmy Weller, Gary Rankin, Doc Altmeyer and Mike Shearer.

Just three laps later, Altmeyer slowed bringing out the second yellow with Ed up to fifth and George now at the point. On the restart, Kevin Schaeffer's brake caliper caused him to stop coming out of turn two and he had to be towed.

Immediately as the green replaced the yellow, Ed moved outside again, but resorted to the inside in turns one and two by lap 10 to pass fourth place Weller. Trying to make a similar move on third place Shearer, Ed used the inside of number four turn to move past Shearer late in lap 14. At the end of the front chute, Ed stayed inside and came off turn two ahead of George for the lead.

The two late cautions were both caused by Butch Beasley on laps 17 and 18 with George second on both restarts. The two went into turn one with Ed high and George inside slipping ahead in front of Ed coming off turn two with two laps to go. By the time they reached turn three, George was high with Ed low and the two cars took the white flag side by side. They diced for the top spot and Ed took the checkered about 1/2 a car-length ahead. Behind George it was Shearer, Kent, Weller and Chad Hill. The three heats for the 30 cars signed in were won by Weller, Kent and Schaeffer.


Ed finishes 5th at Gamblers Raceway Park - 6/13/04

The announcer said, "It's the first time 410 sprints have had a show in the Clearfield area in the past 30 years." Fifteen sprints competed in the event.

The 1/4 mile banked track was smooth and slick for the 25-lap feature event and Ed was slated to start 7th, but actually started 5th when rookie pole sitter Dave Delisle elected to start at the back. The adjusted line up showed Chris Schaeffer on the pole with JImmy Seger outside. Row two now had Mike Lutz and Johnny Miller ahead of Ed and Dan Shetler in row three. Charlie Holben and Lance Dewease were next.

At the drop of the green, Schaeffer beat the competition to turn one and proceeded to drive a flawless race. Ed hugged the inside groove and dropped into a comfortable fourth spot but couldn't advance. It seemed that he was just using up his tires and searched for a "sweet spot", but was unable to find any grip on the track surface.

A caution came out on lap 11 for an inside spin by Seger and Holben jumping the outside banking. The restart line-up showed Schaeffer, Lutz, Johnny Miller, Ed Lynch, Lance Dewease and Mike Erdley.

Delisle spun to bring out a second caution period on lap 19. After holding Dewease behind him for a dozen laps, Ed now was 4th behind Schaeffer, Lutz and Dewease. Erdley lost the handle on lap 20 and Ed was still 4th. The final yellow came on lap 22 when Holben lost power.

Meanwhile, Seger was hounding Ed and finally got by him on the inside just before turn three. The laps ticked down and Ed had to settle for fifth behind Schaeffer, Dewease, Lutz and Seger.

A pill draw was used to line up the two heats and Ed started sixth in the second heat and finished 2nd to Holben. The other heat went to Erdley then Dewease.


Flat Tire at Sharon While Leading - 6/12/04

What was a very long night at Sharon Speedway became even longer when Ed suffered a flat tire on lap 15 while leading the 25-lap Sprint feature.

Quick work by his crew allowed him to rejoin the field at the back and he drove the "wheels off" his J&J Sprinter to cash in for a fourth place finish for the night!

Seven hours and 15 minutes after signing in to race, the feature got the green flag at 11:45PM with Scott Priester and Andy McKisson in the front row and newcomer Craig McGuire inside Ed in the second row of a line-up picked "at random" by a computer.

Priester led the 24-car field into the first turn as Ed ran inside McKisson and took second place coming off turn two. Priester continued to show the way with Ed pressuring as the two entered lapped traffic by the third round. Ed was inside the leader down the back stretch on lap four, but had to lift when Priester wisely boxed Ed in behind a lapped car.

On lap six, Ed used an inside move in turn four to lead Priester to the flagstand. The two set sail for some fast racing but Ed soon put the distance between himself and the rest of the field. With four lapped cars adding to the margin over now second place runner Dan Shetler, the top six showed McKisson in third leading Priester, Jarod Larson and Chad Hill. The first caution came on lap 11 for McGuire.

Going down the back stretch after the green replaced the yellow flag, Kevin Andrusky went over a wheel of Hill and flipped, bring out the red flag. Both drivers were OK but the cars were done for the night.

As the cars were pushed off to restart, it appeared that Ed was getting a flat right rear. Several drivers pulled along side to alert him of the problem, but, of course not knowing how bad it was, Ed tried to buzz his tires in order to build heat in that right rear.

On the restart, Ed held his own for a short while, but Shetler got by two laps later and the tire exploded with rubber strips flying off as he coasted to a stop in the middle of the back stretch on lap 15. He went to the work area off turn two and the crew replaced the tire and wheel and he pushed off to tag the field. The line-up now showed Shetler, McKisson, Larson, Kevin Schaeffer, Jason Jacoby and Priester.

The restart was a rough one with the two cars of Wayne McPeek and McGuire doing double flips between turn four and the flagstand resulting in a red.

The leader Shetler left on a wrecker during this shut-down, thus McKisson now led Larson, Schaeffer, Jacoby and Priester.

At the checked, it was McKisson, Larson, Priester, Lynch, Schaeffer and Jacoby.

Heats went to Andrusky, Priester and Lynch. The previous night, Friday, Ed did not race anywhere because Lernerville rained out at 3:15PM.


Ed Notches Career Win No. 23 at Tri City - 6/6/04

Making major changes to the chassis set up between his heat and the feature paid off for Ed as he started 5th in the 20-lap Sprint feature and came home with the win.

With 19 cars on hand, the Sprints ran two heats starting promptly at 6:00PM Sunday. Ed was set to start last in the 2nd heat and came up for finish just beind winner Rob Eyler. Jarod Larson won the opening heat over Scott Bonnell.

The inversion turned out to be four from the heats to lineup the feature, thus showing Andy McKisson and Scott Grove in the front row and Ed in fifth. However, just prior to the green flag being displayed, Grove coasted to a stop on the backstretch. The cross-over for the new start now put Jason Jacoby outside McKisson in the front row and Ed into fourth behind Jacoby.

The yellow No.0 of McKisson quickly set a fast pace and led the first three laps as Ed went inside Jacoby by lap two to claim second spot. A three car tangle in turn two caused the first yellow flag on lap three. The restart line-up showed McKisson, Lynch, Jacoby and Eyler with Larson up to sixth.

McKisson led the charge as the green replaced the yellow and he made perfect laps until lap six when he did a complete 360 just in front of Ed in turn two. Taking evasive action, Ed managed to squeek by on the inside, while Larson who was up to third, narrowly missed the spinning car by using an outside move.

With no stop in the action, Ed assumed the lead followed by Larson, Eyler and the recovering McKisson. Two cars spinning in turn two caused another caution on lap eight. On that restart, Larson stuck his nose inside Ed as the two blasted into turn one, but Ed managed to pull away coming out of turn two and down the back stretch while Larson then changed to his favorite high groove. In the meantime, Eyler saw an opening inside Larson and took over second spot with a move on the backstretch.

The final yellow was on lap 12 for a car hung up on the infield banking and Larson used that restart to gain back second spot by going outside Eyler in turn one. Ed continued to improve his lap times and despite a valiant effort waged by Larson who challenged until the checkered fell, Ed was able to master the lapped traffic and collect the win over Larson, Eyler, Rod George and McKisson.

In his on-track interview with Brian Spaid, Ed said, "I think this was Andy's race....he just tripped over that water in turn one and he spun." When asked if he had heard Larson's engine, Ed replied, "Yes, I heard him outside me, so I knew he found some grip up there and I better go higher and check that out."

For Ed, according to Walt Wimer's stats, it was his 23rd career win at Tri City.


Ed finishes 6th in WoO show at Sharon - 6/4/04

Thirty-two sprint cars were on hand for the World of Outlaw show Friday night at The New Sharon Speedway.

Ed was the 26th car in line for time trials and clocked in fifth overall with a time of 13.042 with Steve Kinser and his son Kraig Kinser being the only two cars in the 12.9 second bracket.

Under the threat of rain, Race Director Barney Lyle announced that it would be a fast-moving show. The format was changed from four heats to three 8-lap heats with the top six from each to qualify for the "A" Main.

Ed lined up 5th in the second heat and finished fourth behind Jason Sides, Brandon Wimmer and Paul McMahon. The first heat went to Joey Saldana with the final heat going to pole-sitter Brian Brown.

The fastest 16 cars that qualified through their heats then ran two dashes to determine the starting line-up for the first 16 spots in the feature. Ed's crew had to hustle to get the gears changed before being pushed off to start outside Paul McMahon in the front row of the 1st Dash and he finished second to McMahon at the end of five laps, followed by Dale Blaney, Donny Schatz, Steve Kinser, Daryn Pittman, Brandon Wimmer and Brown. Joey Saldana beat Danny Lasoski in the 2nd Dash, then came Mike Lutz, Craig Dollansky, Chad Kemenah, Brian Paulus, Jonathan Allard and Kraig Kinser. Jarod Larson, Jason Sides, Jac Haudenschild and Ryan Coniam all advanced from the B-Main and the field was set for the 30-lap race. McMahon and Saldana were in the front row with Ed and Lasoski in row two ahead of Blaney and Lutz in row three.

Saldana took charge early with Lasoski in second, McMahan and Dollansky were next, then Ed was in fifth when Mike Lutz broke a wheel causing the first yellow on lap five. Blaney got by Ed before the next yellow on lap 12 for Larson who clipped an infield tire and collected Randy Hannagan.

The final yellow for a blown tire on Tim Shaffer's Beef-Packers mount came on lap 21 with Ed still 6th. Across the line at the checkered, the finish showed Lasoski, Saldana, McMahon, Blaney and Ed in sixth. Rounding out the top 10 it was Steve Kinser, Donny Schatz, Chad Kemenah and Daryl Pittman.


Pittsburgh Business Times Recognizes Ed Lynch, Jr. -5/28-6/3/04

The Pittsburgh Business Times, a weekly publication considered to be the "bible" of industries in the greater Pittsburgh area, recognized the promotion of Ed Lynch, Jr. under the heading of Construction People in the News.

In its current edition on news-stands (May 28 - June 3, 2004), the article states, "Independence Excavating, Inc. appointed Ed Lynch, Jr. to the position of Operations Manager for the company's Pittsburgh office. The company, which specializes in excavation and site development, is headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio."

The Pittsburgh Business Times has exposure to more than 60,000 corporate decision-makers.


July
Ed comes from last to second at Lernerville on Friday - 7/30/04

The original green flag for the start of the 20-lap feature Friday night at Lernerville Speedway saw Ed starting 12th because of his win in last week's feature. However, less than 1/4 lap into the race, he was unable to avoid a tangle by row two starters Matt Kriess and Rick Kozminski in between turns one and two and had to restart in 20th. A total of five cars were involved.

Ed checked out his front end as he was pushed off and joined the field at the back. Jimmy Weller grabbed the lead with Rod George in second followed by Kevin Schaeffer and Chad Hill. A lap four caution had Ed up to 11th. Then two laps later Ed was fifth when a red came out for an easy roll for the No. 42 of Walters.

A stretch of green-flag laps until lap 18 had Ed into second and chasing Weller through lapped traffic. Building momentum each lap, Ed was riding high on the track and had to spike his "Red Devil" brakes and take evasive action to miss Terry Bowser who spun into the high groove in turn four just ahead of Ed.

The restart showed Weller then two lapped cars and then Ed for the green, white, checkered finish, but one lap later, the red came out again when Bowser launched his car over Robert Kohan in turn three. Bowser was put on a back board and life-flighted to a hospital.

This time there were no lapped cars between Weller and Ed, but Weller was fast and stayed in the high groove to hold off Ed at the finish. Kevin Schaeffer finished third followed by George and Hill. Heats for the 29 cars signed in were won by Ed (up from 8th), Weller and Hill.


Ed overcomes a lot to finish 11th at Sharon's WoO Show - 7/28/04

There were 47 Sprinters on hand for the second World of Outlaw show of the year at Sharon Speedway, Wednesday night.

Ed went out 32nd and for both laps the engine was not running right - "It was just poppin' and and bangin' for both of my timed laps," he said. It was a struggle just to time in at 28th overall.

The crew changed electrical boxes made other changes and got the car ready to start 7th in the fourth heat race. However, in that heat with Danny Wood and Brian Paulus were up front, Tim Shaffer and Donny Schatz came next in row two followed by Chad Kemenah and David Blaney (running in his first Sprint race in six years) and then Ed.

The only pass in the heat on the fast surface came when Paulus went in front of Danny Wood. Ed started 7th and finished there, which sent him to the B-Main.

In the other three heats, the races were won from the outside pole position. Dale Blaney won the first heat while Jarod Larson, Rob Chaney and Paulus took the honors in the rest.

Doing an outstanding job in the 12-lap B-Main, Ed finished in the necessary 4th position after starting eighth behind David Blaney, Randy Hannagan, Greg Hodnett, Brian Carlson, Branden Wimmer, Daryn Pittman, Jack Sodeman, Jr. and Ed.

Transferring to the A-Main behind the 16 cars from the two dashes, the rest of the field got their times back and that locked him into 24th starting spot. Two Sharon Speedway provisionals were added with Mike Kekich and Brent Matus filling the last row.

The start of the 30-lap A-Main showed Paul McMahan and Joey Saldana, the Dash winners, in row one. Craig Dollansky and Kraig Kinser made up row two and World of Outlaw leaders, Steve Kinser and Danny Lasoski in row three. The outside row false started and brought out the yellow. Ed had a great start that time and was disappointed that it was called back. On lap 11 when Dollansky's power steering broke, Ed was up to 15th. By lap 28, Ed was up to 14th and looking for more spots.

Steve Kinser had taken the lead around the half-way mark and had passed Ed going down the back stretch when the yellow came out once again for a stalled Paul McMahan. Ed was sent around to the back of the pack, and now the race had to go under a green, white and checkered finish.

Steve Kinser led the restart with Donny Schatz now up to second. Smoke poured out of Dale Blaney's car and he may have spun in his own fluid in between turns one and two. This caused the final yellow and another attempt at a green-white-checkered finish. With Dale going to the back, Ed made a great run at Erin Crocker, Jason Sides and had Mark Kinser in his sights.

Behind Steve Kinser at the finish it was, SchatZ, Kraig Kinser, Kemenah and Joey Saldana in the first five. Next it was Shaffer, Meyers, Lasoski, and Greg Hodnett rounding out the top ten. Ed earned 11th when he passed Blaney, Sides and Erin Crocker on the white flag lap.


Ed has perfect night at Sharon - 7/24/04

Ed met the challenges of Sprint car racing Saturday night at The New Sharon Speedway, but couldn't get any speed out of his assigned go-kart to be a threat in that special intermission attraction.

Six hours after signing into the pits, the 25-lap Sprint feature was given the green flag at 12:05 AM as it was another late night at the Hartford, Ohio oval. The computer's random pick for starting positions showed Ed in eighth spot. Brent Matus and Chad Hill made up row one, followed by Andy McKisson and Jason Jacoby. Young Cameron Dodson and Jody Keegan were in row three, while Kevin Andrusky started inside Ed in row four.

With the race just underway, Keegan brought out a yellow flag after one lap. The single-file restart showed Matus, Hill, McKisson and Ed in fourth. Ed was on the move and six laps later he passed Matus for the lead and led lap seven. However, even though the score board had lap eight showing when the three cars of Jarod Larson, Dodson and McKisson all tangled, the officials put Matus back in front of Ed for the restart following the yellow. Hill, Jacoby Mike Kekich, Andrusky, Kevin Schaeffer all followed.

When the green replaced the yellow, Ed was in the lead again coming out of turn two and showed the way until the final caution on lap 18 for Baker's No. 5B. At the checkered, it was Ed followed by Hill, Jacoby, Matus, Kekich and Schaeffer.

The 29 Sprints ran three heats and Ed drew a pill for fifth starting slot in the second heat and took the lead on lap six and went on for the win. Dodson and Kekich won heats, also.

At intermission Sprint drivers Dale Blaney, Jimmy Weller, Kekich and Ed were chosen to do a 5-lap race in assigned go-karts. The parade lap on the regular track proved to be almost too much for Ed's kart and he was noticably down on power. When the race shifted to the front straight-away and around orange cones, the four-some engaged in spins, bumps and a little racing with Blaney claiming the win.

The track celebrated Christmas in July and gave away many gifts during a lengthy intermission.

Sharon Speedway is next on Ed's racing schedule for this Wednesday's World of Outlaw show.


Ed wins Lernerville on Friday -7/23/04

Lapped traffic was a factor for most of the 20-lap Sprint race at Lernerville on Friday night. Ed mastered it well and picked up his eighth win here after starting fifth and chasing outside pole-sitter Mike Shearer for the first 12 laps.

"My tires were a harder compound and it took them quite a few laps to come on," said Ed in his victory lane interview with Dow Carnahan. "However, they were just right at the end of the race," Ed continued, which explains his three-second margin of victory over Shearer.

Although there were 29 cars signed in, no consey was necessary because of the high rate of flips and rolls in the three heat races which were won by Jamie Smith, Ed and young Cameron Dodson.

Davey Jones and Shearer brought the field to the original green ahead of Jimmy Barill and Rod George. Ed lined up Fifth inside Charlie Holben. The field had just completed its first lap when Terry Bowser slipped off the edge of number three turn. The restart was single file showing Shearer, Jones, George and Ed.

Ed used an inside move in turn two on lap six to pass George and set sail for the leader Shearer. As the two diced through lapped traffic, Ed would pull equal to Shearer on the inside lane, only to have to lift as the lapped traffic had Ed's lane blocked.

Frequently, during the next several laps, the "twosome" encountered slower cars running in groups of three or four. Finally, early in the 12th lap, Ed was outside Shearer just past the flagstand and made his winning move by diving to the inside between lapped cars, and hugging the inside of turn one just ahead of Shearer.

Once ahead of Shearer, Ed was finally happy with his tire selection and started to give Shearer a lesson in handling lapped traffic. A late race caution flag for Jeremy Cook on lap 16 set the stage for a real tight finish when Ed led Shearer, George, Jody Keegan and Jamie Smith. But the restart line-up showed Ed then two lapped cars and Shearer.

What had started as a wild night for Sprints ended up that way when Dan Shetler tried to fit his car in a space that was already occupied by Smith. The result was a waving checkered flag and directly underneath, a flipping red 7K.

The win was Ed's eighth at Lernerville in 2004.


Ed runs Silver Cup Race at Lernerville - 7/20/04

It was not the way Ed planned to earn a starting spot in the 12th Annual Don Martin Silver Cup World of Outlaw race at Lernerville Speedway Tuesday night, but the course of events through the night forced him to resort to a Provisional Spot as the track's high point man.

With 46 cars signed in, Ed drew an early pill for time trials and went out 8th and turned a lap of 13.052 which was good enough for 5th overall. Ed and his wife, Heather, were presented watches for being the fastest local driver. Greg Hodnett, Mark Kinser, Steve Kinser and Sammy Swindell timed ahead of Ed.

That started him 5th in the fourth heat which was a tough one. Chad Hill and Mark Smith made up the front row, with Dale Blaney and Joey Saldana in row two and Ed and Swindell in row three. At the drop of the green, Sammy shot down across the track to take away Ed's inside line and that was the only pass in the race. Ed ended up 6th and had to run the B-Main. Every heat winner came from the front row as Lance Dewease, Jason Meyers, Rob Eyler and Hill were winners.

The 12-lap B-Main showed Ed and Kraig Kinser in front of Erin Crocker, Daryn Pittman, Jac Haudenschild plus nine other cars. Ed led every lap and had almost a straight-away lead when he lost power with two laps to go coming out of turn two and down the back stretch. He was pushed to the pits. It was suspected he had a head-gasket problem, so the decision was made to run the back-up car. Ed's crew, with the help of about 30 friends and nearby crews, transferred the top wing, wheels and tires, changed gears and bars and just made it in time to be pushed on the track. Time did not permit any set-up adjustments. A group picture was taken of the starting field and drivers returned to their cars and strapped in for the start of parade laps.

Hodnett and Mark Kinser, the Dash winners, were in the front row for the 35-lapper with Ed starting 25th. Myers slipped off the track in turn one before the green was officially out and came back on to start last. The red came out next on the start when young Brandon Wimmer lost the handle in turn four and collected Brian Paulus and Craig Dollansky.

Finally underway, the race went 15 laps before a yellow for Pittman and Ed was 20th. Nine laps later, Jason Sides brought out another yellow on lap 24 with Ed in 19th. Dale Blaney caused the final caution when he had to take evasive action on the back stretch and slipped off the track. The win went to Swindell, who had started fourth, followed by Steve Kinser, then Mark Kinser, Hodnett and Joey Saldana in the top five. Ed was credited with 19th.


Sharon Rains Out - Saturday 7/17/04

The rig had stopped for fuel and was on its way when word finally came that Sharon had rained out. Lots of phone calls had been made because of rainy conditions most of the day. At least Ed didn't have to go all the way to the track.


Lernerville  7-16-04

29 Sprint cars signed in at Lernerville tonight. Ed was scheduled to start 5th in the 3rd of 3 heat races. After numerous cautions, Ed was able to work his way to 2nd place but couldn't get by the #15 of Arnie Kent. Other heat race winners were #7K Dan Shetler and #11X Scott Priester.

The Sprints were the 3rd feature tonight. Because Ed won last week's feature, he had to start in the 12th position. At 11:30pm racing began only to haulted by a caution on the start of the race by #59 of Terry Bowser. When racing resumed, Ed began making his way through the field. Chad Hill (started 5th) led the first 9 laps then Kevin Schaeffer (started 4th) took the lead on lap 10. By the time the next two cautions came out on laps 12 and 13, Ed was up to 4th. The next lap, the red came out for the #7z of Eric Smith and Ed was now 3rd behind Hill and Schaeffer. With only 6 laps to go, Ed was able to get by Hill but couldn't catch Schaeffer. Kevin Schaeffer made his trip to victory lane while Ed came home 2nd and Hill 3rd.


Ed starts 12th and wins at Sharon 7-10-04

24 cars signed in at the New Sharon Speedway tonight. Ed was scheduled to start 3rd in the 3rd heat. He had a strong run and was able to get under the #23 of Jimmy Weller, who started outside pole, but was unable to hold onto the lead. After several lead changes between the two, Weller took the win and Ed settled for 2nd.

The Sprints were the 2nd feature to take the track and by 10:15pm they were ready to take the green flag. Ed had to start 12th due to Sharon's new computer system that randomly selects starting positions for all the top 12 qualifying cars.

Ed cautiously worked his way up to 7th place by lap 6 when the red flag was brought out for the #23u of Arlie Utsinger. When racing resumed, Ed wasted no time getting to the front. He took the lead on lap 11 and drove away from the rest of the field. Despite another caution on lap 13(# 27 Ault) and one more red flag on lap 19 (#23 Weller) Ed went on to win with Jarod Larson finishing 2nd and Jody Keegan 3rd.


Ed Leads All Laps at Lernerville - 7/9/04

In victory lane at Lernerville Speedway Friday night, on-track announcer Dow Carnahan asked Ed Lynch, Jr. if the car he just climbed out of was the same new car that he raced here last week. Ed's reply was, "Yes, but it had an attitude adjustment since then." Knowing that Ed usually names his cars, that was the next question from Carnahan. "This J&J chassis was stamped 107....so we have named it '007' and that fits it well," was Ed's answer.

After winning his heat, Ed got a lucky pill draw for the 20-lap feature which started him in second spot outside pole-sitter Arnie Kent. Charlie Holben and Jimmy Barill were in the second row followed by Kevin Schaeffer and Gary Kriess, Jr.

On the original start, Ed led Kent into turn one, but Holben lost the handle and spun relegating him to the back of the field for the next try. This moved the inside row ahead one and Schaeffer advanced to third.

As the green flag waved over the 26 starters, Ed used the top groove to distance himself from the pack and was into lapped traffic in four circuits. He made good time passing the backmarkers, however, Schaeffer had moved past Kent into second and was making equally good moves through the lapped cars. At one point, around the half-way mark, Schaeffer pulled inside and the two were side by side in turn two.

Ed had to make a quick decision with two lapped cars running beside each other going down the back stretch and Schaeffer pressuring on the inside. He split the lapped cars and then dove to the inside under another lapped car in turn three, taking Schaeffer's inside line away.

On lap 12 Dan Shetler brought out a yellow which gave Ed a clear track and the field behind him looked like this when the green replaced the yellow.

Schaeffer held second followed by Kent, Kriess, Jimmy Weller and Mike Shearer. Ed immediately pulled away to a 10-car length advantage and maintained that until the red came out on lap 15 for a collision between Chad Hill and Jason Dukes coming out of turn four. Hill had severe front end damage and Duke flipped and had extensive damage. Both drivers were OK, but their cars were done for the night.

Ed led Schaeffer, Kent, Kriess, Weller and Shearer on the restart with five laps to go. Once again, with a clean track in front of him, Ed hooked up and motored away in the top groove winning by a comfortable margain over Schaeffer while Kriess advanced to finish third ahead of Shearer, Kent, Weller, Rod George, Gary Rankin, Mike Lutz (up from 20th) and Jody Keegan in the top ten.

The other two heats for the 29 sprints on hand were won by Hill and Shearer. Mike Dehner suffered lung contusions in a freak accident in the Sprint B-Main, when he went over a wheel and then was airborne off number three turn and slammed into an outer fence, which stopped him from going into the pits. Life-flight transported him to a hospital.

For Ed, it was his 7th checkered flag at Lernerville this season and his 71st career win here. He now has ten total wins in 2004.


Sharon's Holiday Race has a non-stop feature 7/3/04

Ed finished where he started. It seldom happens, but Saturday night Ed started third and finished third in the 25-lap non-stop sprint feature at The New Sharon Speedway following their big fireworks display.

The Holiday Races started with an afternoon buffet dinner attended by Ed and his family for invited past champions and retired drivers. The release of hundreds of balloons following the National Anthem was a signal for two beautiful big, black rigs to circle the track carrying those past champions seated on haybales, and waving to the crowd as they were introduced.

Jody Keegan and Jarod Larson brought the 24-car field to the starting line with Ed and 17-year old Caleb Griffith in row two.

As the foursome went into turn one, Ed wanted to hug the inside, but the tires wouldn't stick there and Ed slid up on the track and young Griffith dove inside and got a good bite and was long-gone before the rest of the field knew what happened.

Keegan was no match for Griffith, but ran a strong second through-out the race.

Meanwhile, Ed had a battle on his hands. The first was with Larson as the two ran side-by-side for several laps before Ed could claim third place money. The next challenge was with Chad Hill, who passed Ed midway through the race., but Ed rebounded with a pass of his own.

As the laps wound down, Ed closed in on Keegan, but the two were still 1/2 lap off Griffith's pace. Hill, Mike Kekich and Larson crossed next. The 29 cars ran three heats. Ed started fourth in the 3rd heat and finished 2nd behind pole-sitter Jimmy Weller. Jack Sodeman, Jr. and Mike Lutz won the other heats.


Another Lynch in Victory Lane at Lernerville 7/2/04

Sye Lynch, six-year old son of Ed Lynch, Jr., won a career high 5th bike race in his age group at Lernerville Speedway Friday night. He was interviewed after the race by on-track announcer Ed Shaffer.Sye also has won two bike races at Tri City Speedway and has acquired several baseball trophies. He displays these on a special trophy shelf in his room.


Ed has a busy night with new car at Lernerville 7/2/04

Ed and the #2L crew had been building a new J&J car for several weeks and took it to Lernerville Friday night for its initial run.

Hot laps went OK, and there were three heats for the 26 sprints on hand. Ed started last in the third heat and was up to fourth when the drive line went out and he coasted to a stop on the front stretch.

The program was moving fast and the Sprints were to be the first feature, but a consey was needed. The crew thrashed and hustled to pull the rear end back and replace the drive shaft in time for the consey. They made it in time to be pushed off for the consey, but since only six cars reported to the track for the start and six cars were to advance to the feature, the race was checkered and all cars were sent back to the pits.

The 20-lap feature had Arnie Kent and Jack Sodeman, Jr. in the front row and Ed was to start 23rd. The race was plagued with yellow flags for a total of seven. Kent led through the first three cautions as Ed made it way up to l3th by a lap two and then up to 11th on a lap four caution.

With so many yellows, it was hard to get a string of enough racing laps to do much passing. But, by the fourth yellow on lap eight, sixth-starting Rod George took over the lead and Ed was 9th. There were two cautions on lap 13 with Ed riding in seventh. Just before the final caution on lap 16, in turn two, Ed had passed Ralphie Spithaler for fourth and had third-running Kent next on his list. However, the yellow nullified that pass and the restart showed George leading Sodeman, Kent, Spithaler and Ed.

At the checkered, George and Sodeman held their spots while Spithaler passed Kent and Ed crossed fifth.


August
Labor Day Weekend Plans after Sharon Rains Out - 8/28/04

Sharon's final point race was rained out early Saturday so Ed will end up third overall in the Sprint Division. After leading for most of the year, he lost the point lead while he was competing at Knoxville. His first week back, last Saturday night, the steering broke while he was leading and then with the rainout tonight, he was unable to gain any more ground and will slot in the standings behind Kevin Schaeffer and Mike Kekich.

Plans are to compete at Lernerville on Friday and then do the Sharon Nationals on Saturday and Sunday of Labor Day weekend.


Ed gets Sprint title and a win at Lernerville - 8/27/04

Ed's win from 12th starting spot Friday night at Lernerville Speedway turned out to be a single season record setting mark for Sprint features. Prior to this win he was tied with Johnny Beaber and Ralph Quarterson with nine one-season victories.

In addition to setting that high mark, the season points ended and he was declared the Sprint car Champion for the second consecutive year, making it his third career title here.

Twenty-four sprints had signed in for competition and the two heats were lined up by pill draw with Ed winning the second heat from the pole while Chad Hill won the first heat after starting seventh.

With rain reported just 15 miles to the North, the 20-lap Sprint feature scheduled to be first was hustled onto the track at 8:50PM. Davey Jones and Hill were in the front row followed by Dan Shetler and Bill Kiley in the next row.

There was only one caution on lap two, when Charlie Holben spun but recovered, the track ruled it to be premature and Holben was awarded the spot where he recovered. At this point, the front runner Hill was about to catch the back-markers and the caution cleared the track. Ed was up to 7th behind Hill, Jones, Shetler, Jimmy Weller, Kevin Schaeffer and Rod George. When the green replaced the yellow, Ed went to the inside (pulling a serious wheelie) down the front stretch and passed George on the inside in turn one then Schaeffer inside down the back stretch.

By lap six, Shetler had passed Hill and Ed was up to third. Hill re-took the lead on lap seven and Ed moved by Shetler when he went wide in turn two and thus into second. Lap 10 showed Ed as the leader. For the balance of the race, he did a masterful job working through traffic, sometimes splitting two cars and sometimes passing one inside and the next two outside. The #2L had a comfortable lead over Jimmy Weller, who recovered from an off-track excursion off the back stretch, to finish second ahead of Shetler, Hill and Schaeffer.

Ed has one more race here next Friday, September 3rd. It will be the All Star sanctioned Earl and Dave Bauman Memorial Race.


Critical part breaks while Ed is leading at Sharon - 8/21/04

At the beginning of the evening, Ed had sent word to Dave Blaney and the Owners of Sharon Speedway and to the track announcer, Jim Pollack, that he wanted to donate 1/2 of his earnings for the night to the Victory Junction Gang Camp Benefit. Nextel drivers Kyle Petty, Tony Stewart, Kenny Schrader and Dave Blaney were all present and signing autographs as part of the fund raiser.

Things were going as planned for the first seven laps of the 25-lap Sprint feature at Sharon Speedway, Saturday night as Ed had started outside Brent Matus and led the first seven rounds. Lapping 12 cars before a yellow for the two cars of Jody Keegan and Chad Hill, sitting in the middle of turns three and four, each with severe front-end damage, the #2L looked strong.

Jarod Larson was hot on Ed's trail while Matus held third, but on the restart line-up, Ed pulled away. It was just two laps later while leading Larson out of turn one and into turn two, when Ed had his arms and steering wheel cut to the left....but the car just went straight - hit the outside retaining wall - and did an easy roll.

Ed was OK and able to tell everyone that his steering arm had broken and he was done for the night, being credited for 21st.

Three heats were run for the 32 cars present with Kevin Andrusky and Larson taking the first two and Ed coming from sixth to take the final checkered.

Jarod Larson, Jason Jacoby, Jimmy Weller, Kevin Schaeffer and Mike Kekich ranked in the top five.


Lernerville Rains Out - 8/20/04

There had been several heavy rains at the garage, but each time Ed called Lernerville, they said the sun was shining, so the #2L was loaded and ready to go. Finally, the rain got to the race track just before the crew headed out and the car was unloaded and everyone watched the replay of the Knoxville Nationals which SPEED Channel put on when NASCAR Bud Qualifying was rained out in Michigan.

There are only two more races for Sprints at Lernerville, however, only this Friday the 27th will be a point race. The way Ed has it figured, he thinks he will have enough points to win the Championship, but we will wait until next Friday to find out if it is official.

The following Friday, September 3 will be the 17th Annual Earl and Dave Bauman Memorial All Star sanctioned race.


Lots of Garage Work Following Knoxville - 8/19/04

Finally, Thursday night, all the replacement parts have arrived and have been installed in the #2L. The vibration Ed experienced at Knoxville was the result of a design failure in the new torque tube which in turn ruined the new drive shaft.

In order to be at his best at Knoxville, Ed had gone with everything new from the engine through the entire drive-line and including the rear-end. It was disappointing to have one of those new parts fail at his biggest race of the year.

New T-Shirts were on sale at Knoxville and will be posted on the website shortly. Sizes go up to 4XL.


Problems in Knoxville's B-Main Saturday - 8/14/04

With the Speed Channel cameras rolling, the E, D and C-Mains were in the books when Ed's 22-car B-Main took to the track around 10:45PM Saturday night for the 44th Annual Knoxville Nationals.

Ed started 11th and was on the move at the drop of the green flag in the 22-lap event where only the top four cars would transfer to the A-Main. He quickly passed Billy Alley and three other cars and was seventh coming out of turn four to the flagstand to complete the first lap. However, Alley flipped down the backstretch and there was a complete restart. This time, the car developed a slight vibration and as the race wore on, the vibration became worse and during the final laps of the race he lost positions and was 16th at the checkered flag in the race won by Brian Paulus.

The most successful driver in Knoxville Raceway's 410 sprint-car history and the seven-time Knoxville track champion World of Outlaw driver, Danny Lasoski picked up his fourth Nationals' win in the A-Main event.

During the week, Ed participated in two autograph sessions. One, on Thursday, was at the Marilyn Dewease t-shirt trailer where she featured Ed's shirts along with 11 other drivers from the WoO, All Stars and PA Posse.

On Friday, Ed, Jr. and Ed, Sr. and Jean signed autographs in a "meet and greet" session at the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame Booth in the Trade Show building.

Each year the 15-hour tow proves worthwhile because Ed gets a chance to visit with his fans from across the country. Some of his most dedicated fans have to be the group from Colorado that attracted the Speed Channel cameras with their colorful #2L designed clothing and hats. As soon as Ed gets a picture from them, it will be posted for all to enjoy.

Story in Des Moines Register Friday and live TV race on SPEED Channel Saturday - 8/14/04

The Des Moines Register carried a Knoxville Nationals' human interest story on Ed in Friday's newspaper on the eve of the longest live Sprint car race ever carried on TV.

Only 106 of the 130 cars that entered the 44th Annual Knoxville Nationals will be eligible for Saturday's program. Ed will be trying to make it into the A-Main by advancing from the B-Main. He starts 11th and has to finish in the top four to transfer.

The line-up for the B-Main has Pennsylvania driver, Brian Paulus and Australian Kerry Madsen in the front row. Jeff Mitrisin from Iowa and PA driver Tim Shaffer are in row two. It's Iowan Calvin Landis in the next row with Skip Jackson, another Australian. Erin Crocker from Massachusetts in row four will be inside Illinois driver Blake Feese.

Local runner Billy Alley from Lincoln, Nebraska will be in row five with Aaron Berryhill from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. Ed starts 11th inside Ohio driver Dale Blaney followed by Missouri's Brian Brown and PA Posse driver Lance Dewease in row seven. Dean Jacobs from Ohio and Shane Stewart out of Oklahoma are next. Roger Crocket, all the way from Eugene, Oregon, and another west-coast driver, Jason Solwold from the state of Washington are in row nine.

Two Iowa drivers are in row ten and they are Tim St. Arnold and Dennis Moore, Jr. Competitors from ten different states plus Australia will be competing in Ed's feature.


Combined Points are published at Knoxville - 8/12/04

After the second night of qualifying for the 44th Annual Knoxville Nationals the Combined Points have been published and Ed ranks 31st in the 126 cars entered. He missed the B-Scramble for Friday by one spot and will start 11th in Saturday night's B-Main. There will be at least an F-Main and possibly a G-Main. The race will be broadcast live on Speed Channel on Saturday night.


Ed has good qualifying run for Knoxville Nationals Wednesday - 8/11/04

Ed's evening started off great, but he struggled in his heat and made the best of things the rest of the night. Time trials at Knoxville carry as many points as the A-Main, so needless to say, every time the car rolls onto the racetrack it has to be going forward.

Ed pulled a pretty good pill and went out 17th in the field of 63 cars and ended up 6th overall with a time of l5.454 for a speed of 116.475mph behind Craig Dollansky, Jason Sides, Freddy Rahmer, Brent Antil and Joey Saldana.

With the top 50 in times completely inverted for the five heats, this slotted Ed in the last row of the lst heat along with fast timer Dollansky. Ed tried the low groove and the high groove, but couldn't make headway. The pole sitter Kevin Frey won the race and Ed finished 8th which put him in the B-Main. The other heat winners were Calvin Landis, Danny Smith, Tim Shaffer and Chad Meyer.

Cars got their times back for the B-Main lineup and fast-timer Dollansky started on the pole. Second quick timer Jason Sides started outside him with fourth quick timer Antill inside the second row and Ed was outside.

Ed mostly ran the high groove and moved up to third twice in a battle with local driver Antill, but by the 1/2 way mark he was fifth when another local, Billy Alley got by. Steve Kinser charged into fourth at the end, dropping Ed to sixth at the finish and only four cars advanced to the A-Main. Sides won the 12 lap event followed by Dollansky, Antill, Kinser, Alley and Lynch.

Tim Kaeding won the 20-lap A-Main ahead of Donny Schatz, Chad Meyer, Greg Hodnett, Tim Shaffer, Chad Kemanah, Fred Rahmer, Brooke Tatnell, Shane Stewart and Randy Hannagan in the top ten.

Points after the first of two qualifying nights have Ed ranked in the top 15 as follows: 1-Freddy Rahmer, 2-Chad Kemenah, 3-Craig Dollansky, 4-Donny Schatz, 5-Jason Sides, 6-Greg Hodnett, 7-Brent Antill, 8-Tim Kaeding, 9-Chad Meyer, 10-Randy Hannagan, 11-Calvin Landis, 12-Aaron Berryhill, 13-Tim Shaffer, 14-Billy Alley, 15-Ed Lynch, Jr.


Ed Time Trials and Races Wednesday 8/11/04

The 130 pre-entered cars have been divided into two nights of qualifying. Ed qualifies and races Wednesday along with drivers Sammy Swindell, Randy Hannagan, Joey Saldana, Danny Smith Shane Stewart, Tim Shaffer, Craig Dollansky, Jason Sides, Gary Wright, Steve Kinser, Greg Hodnett, Donny Schatz, Chad Kemenah, Dale Blaney, Fred Rahmer, Lance Dewease and Western PA drivers Chad Hill, Ralphie Spithaler, Brent Matus and Mike Lutz.


Traveling to the Knoxville Nationals 8/9/04

The crew and rig are in Knoxville staying with friends Charlie and Nancy VanHouwelingen. The normal activity with campers and vendors setting up is already ahead of schedule. Ed and the #2L qualify Wednesday. Saturday night's program will be televised for 4 hours live on SPEED.


Ed comes from 12th to 3rd at Sharon - 8/7/04

These "random" computer feature line-ups at Sharon Speedway have been hard to overcome. Once again, Ed had to start 12th and at the end of the 25-lap A-Main, he managed to finish third.

With Jody Keegan and Jimmy Weller in the front row, the feature had three false starts. First, Keegan's car didn't take off. Next the second row starters, Chad Hill and Jack Sodeman got together with both cars done for the night with Bill Ault involved, also.

The third start was called back because of a jump by, now fifth starting, Jarod Larson. On each of these attempts to start the race, Ed got a great start, but on the fourth one (the one that counted) he gained the least amount of positions.

"It was dusty on the front-stretch and I couldn't see that well early in the race," Ed said. He had worked his way up to fourth behind race-long leader Weller, Larson and Mike Lutz when the yellow came out on lap 11 for Russ Sansosti. While trying to line up under yellow, Larson's right rear went flat. He stopped at the ramp to change it, but his car was pulled out of the way and the green flew almost immediately. Now, Ed was third.

Three laps later, on lap 14, Kevin Schaeffer caused a yellow.and Weller, Lutz and Ed restarted in that order. An amazing this happened on the lap 18 caution which was for debris on the track....which turned out to be Weller's front nose wing. Some how, Weller was able to hold on for his first win at Sharon. Lutz kept second and Ed was third. Kevin Andrusky, up from 14th, finished 4th ahead of Roger Campbell.

Starting 4th in the first heat for the 24 Sprints, Ed won that handily, with Sodeman and Brent Matus taking the other two.


Ed wins number nine at Lernerville - 8/6/04

Despite a miss in the engine that developed right at the start of the 20-lap Sprint feature, Ed was able to compensate and pulled into victory lane for the ninth time this year at Lernerville Speedway on Friday night. "I couldn't believe that miss in the engine, so I had to move into the loose stuff to keep the engine turned up. If your engine was hitting on all eight cylinders, that wouldn't have worked," Ed told on-track announcer Dow Carnahan when asked about noise he had heard.

With 28 cars signed in for this special Joe Pitkavish Memorial night, Ed had started eighth in the second heat and won it, with Kevin Schaeffer and Chad Hill winning the other two heats.

Ed had a lucky draw for the feature and started Outside Gary Rankin in the front row. Jody Keegan and young Caleb Griffith made up row two while Jimmy Barill and Sheila Rankin were in row three. On the start, Gary Rankin stayed with his inside lane into turn one and Ed took the high lane to lead coming off turn two.

With just two laps in the books, eighth starting Kevin Schaeffer got a little out of shape in turn four and collected Jack Sodeman, Jr. The restart line-up showed Ed leading Rankin, Keegan and Griffith. On lap four, Charlie Holben was in trouble in the front stretch and the yellow then meant Ed would be followed by Rankin, Keegan and last week's winner, Jimmy Weller.

There was only one more caution for a minor spin on lap seven and the field settled down to go all green the rest of the way. From that point on, Ed just kept it "cranked" and dealt with heavy lapped traffic.

Ed won by a straight-away over Gary Rankin, who enjoyed his best career finish here while holding off Keegan the entire distance. Weller came from 12th to finish fourth ahead of Ralphie Spithaler who got to the "A" by way of the B-Main. Griffith, Rod George, Dan Shetler, Sodeman and Hill ranked in the top ten.

At the beginning of the evening, Ed hot-lapped the car he planned to run tonight. Then, he was allowed to take a couple of laps in the car he plans to take to the Knoxville Nationals.

The win tonight was Ed's 73rd career Lernerville victory in Sprints.


September
40-lap Season Finale for Sprints at Sharon - 9/25/04

Despite leading the most laps, Ed finished second Saturday night in the 40-lap season finale for Sprint cars. He had started fourth and took the lead from outside pole-sitter John Ivy on lap 10.

The two ran several laps side by side with Ed on the inside and John running the middle groove. It was hard for Ed to get a rhythm going because of yellow flags - two after lap one and again on lap five.

Following that came a longer green flag run and Ed was able to reel in Ivy on lap ten.

From that point, Ed mastered the lapped traffic and was passing them inside and outside while pulling away from Ivy and later Jarod Larson who had started seventh.

Building on a straightaway lead, Ed saw three more cautions erase those leads and following the final restart with Larson on his tail on lap 30, the #2L did not have the speed it had at mid-race and Larson dove low in turn one and pulled off a slide job and set sail for the win.

At the checkered, it was Ed in second followed by Ivy, Jimmy Weller and Jack Sodeman, Jr. Heats for the 23 cars on hand were won by Weller, Larson and Jon Finsel with Ed second in that last heat after starting fifth.


Record Rainfall from Ivan Damages Ed's Home - 9/17/04

On Friday rain from Hurricane Ivan was heavy at Ed's house and five surrounding counties. The power went off around 5:30PM and Ed lost phone service. Many roads were closed because of high water, but Ed made it home from work and Sye made it home from school. Some buses had to return kids to schools for the night because roads to their homes were under water. Ed III was at the Kiski High School with the football team as they ate dinner and waited to hear if their game was still on or postponed. Finally, word came that the game would be played 24 hours later, but with no phone service, communications were a problem.

As the creeks overflowed their banks and rivers surpassed flood stages in the Pittsburgh area, the rainfall at Ed's house measured over 6" and was still coming down. His finished game room, trophy room and family room never had a problem with water coming in before.

The power came back on after three hours, but still no phone service as the heavy rains continued. Sye was going downstairs to play his playstation games and discovered the flooded area. The water level was at two feet and rising. It seems that runoff from the hillside behind Ed's house had the water level above the windows and the water was pouring into the gameroom.

Ed quickly got a piece of equipment to try to make a trench and divert the water from behind his house, while Heather got Ed III at another football player's house and they helped. Ed, Sr. and Jean came to help, but the water continued to rise.

The Washington Township Volunteer Fire Department came with fifteen men and their equipment and started pumping the water out. More equipment and four more workers came from the township along with police and the fire chief. For hours everyone worked to get ahead of the water while it continued to rain.

Replacement volunteers came around 11:30PM to relieve some of the ones that had been going non-stop all day pumping out basements and helping 70 families move to shelters and higher grounds. Finally, around 3:00AM the rain stopped and they had the water level at Ed's house down to two inches and smaller pumps were left on through the rest of the night.

Ed and his family continued to work the rest of the weekend to take out the carpeting, padding, furniture and a stack of other belongings that are ruined. Thankfully, everyone is OK, but they will be working to restore the area to normal for at least the next three months.


Ed Drops Out Leading Mercer - 9/11/04

Saturday morning focused on family sports, with seven-year old Sye being the star of his 9:00AM ball game and Lil Ed playing a good football game at 10:00AM. Everyone was back home getting ready to go racing by 1:30PM and the car was ready to be loaded by 2:30PM.

Mercer Raceway Park posted $2,000 to win the "On Tour" Sprint car race Saturday night and Ed was well on his way to capture the win, but electrical problems prevented that from happening.

After luck-of-the-draw, had him starting on pole of the 25-lap feature paying $2,000 to win, he led the first sixteen laps. But, with no warning, going down the back stretch, the car shut off and electrical problems are suspected. He coasted straight into the pits while leading by a comfortable margin over Chad Blonde.

Seventeen cars were on hand for the event and Ed started fifth in the first heat and finished second to pole-starter Blonde. The other heat went to Jamie Smith.

Ed and Blonde brought the field to the green, but it was the #2L that was the class of the field and already had a 10-car-length lead when Mark Murphy spun backwards in turn four and brought out the only caution of the race.

Ed pulled away from Blonde on the restart and caught the back-markers four laps later. He wasted no time passing the lapped cars inside or outside. Just after clearing three lapped cars that were running together, Ed came out of turn four and mid-way down the back stretch the engine shut off and he coasted to the pits.

Blonde won over Rob Eyler, Jeremy Cook and Arnie Kent.


9-6-04 Marion Center Speedway

Marion Center advertised a Labor Day weekend special featuring the 410 Sprints. Ed, along with 17 other drivers, showed up to try their luck at the racy 1/4 mile track. Ed was scheduled to start 4th in the 2nd of 3 heats. He led all 8 laps with the # 0 of Andy McKisson finishing second. Other heat race winners were Kevin Schaeffer and Jamie Smith.

The 30 lap feature showed the # 9 of Kevin Schaeffer and Ed starting in row one. Row two had # 5 Jamie Smith and # 7K Dan Shetler and row three with # 0 Andy McKisson and # 4 Rod George. Ed ran mostly on the high side during the feature, only going to the bottom to maneuver through lapped traffic. Despite a hand full of cautions, Ed was consistent in holding off the # 5 of Jamie Smith and went on to win the event. Second place went to Smith while Rod George came in 3rd.


9-5-04 Sharon Nationals....Night 2

44 cars signed in on day 2 of the Sharon Nationals. Ed pulled a pill that sent him out to qualify in the 12th spot. His best time was 13.419 placing him 13th quick overall. Ed was scheduled to start third in the first of 4 heats. With not much passing going on, Ed finished third behind the front row starters #4B Tom Bush and #X Mark Keegan. Other heat race winners were #47 Jarod Larson and #20 John Ivy and #25 Kevin Nouse.

The 40 lap feature showed the #8 of Jeff Shepard and the #6R of Bill Rose on the front row. Row 2 was the #15K of Chad Kemenah and the #63W of Greg Wilson. Ed was scheduled to start 12th. Only three laps were completed when the #72 of Dale Blaney spun in turn 2 bringing out the first caution. In those three laps, Ed made his way up to 8th place by running the high side. With Shepard leading every lap. racing continued until the #72 of Blaney flipped hard on the front stretch bringing out the red flag on lap 13. One more caution came on lap 35 for the #10C of Jeremy Campbell. Towards the end of the race, Ed switched from running the top of the track to the bottom. He was able to get to 7th place and that's where he finished.

Racing plans for Labor Day include heading to Marion Center Speedway.


9-4-04 24th Annual Sharon Nationals

The two-day event got underway Saturday night with 50 cars signed in for the All Star Show. Ed pulled a pill that sent him out for time trials in 32nd spot. His time slotted him 19th overall and that put him in the third heat outside Rob Chaney. Ed led by 6 car lengths until a caution on lap 5. That put Chad Kemenah on Ed's back bumper for the re-start. Ed had been running the top but switched to the bottom and Kemenah went by for the win on the top. The other heat winners were Kenny Jacobs, Jarod Larson and Jeremy Campbell.

The 30 lap feature showed Chad Kemenah and Jeff Shepard in row one followed by Greg Wilson and Dean Jacobs in row two. Ed was scheduled to start 17th. The first thirteen laps were all green with Kemenah leading until a yellow came out for Jim Nier's flat tire. Ed was 17th. On the restart, Shepard grabbed the lead and held the point through two quick cautions for Mike Lutz and Jarod Larson. Rob Chaney brought the caution out once again with Dean Jacobs leading lap 16 with Ed in 14th. The rest of the race stayed green and Bobby Clark pulled off his first career win in All Star competition followed by Dean Jacobs and Jeff Shepard. Ed finished 15th


Ed finishes 8th with All Stars at Lernerville - 9/3/04

It was a frustrating 35 laps for Ed as the set-up he had chosen never got a hold of the race track and he pretty much sat on top of the track the entire race.

The possibility of a non-stop race was in the makings for the first 25 laps after a Cameron Dodson flat tire caused a complete restart on the original green. Outside polesitter Jeff Shepard was the class of the field leading every lap and building a straightaway margin by that first caution on lap 25 for a spin by Byron Reed off turn three. Ed was seventh at that point.

Dale Blaney and Shepard had brought the 26-car field down for the start ahead of Kenny and Dean Jacobs in row two. Ed and Chad Kemenah were in row three after the first six in time were inverted for the feature.

Ed ran the very top of the track for most of the race although on two occasions he tried the inside, but couldn't hook up there either. After the final yellow on lap 29, Danny Smith got by Ed on the inside to drop him to eighth at the checkered.

Shepard maintained his big lead over Dean Jacobs, Dale Blaney and Kenny Jacobs at the end while Greg Wilson, Kemenah and Smith finished ahead of Ed. Jim Nier and Kelly Kinser rounded out the top ten.

Ed pulled the number one pill for time trials for the 52 car signed in and was in the first hot lap session. The track was still pretty wet and so the first group got a repeat "hot lap" session before time trials because the times were almost two seconds off. Ed's two laps were within one-thousandth of each other with the fastest being 13.012. Kemenah ended up with quick time at 12.988.

There were four heats and all but one heat was won from the front row. Ed started 6th in the second heat and finished second behind Bill Rose. Jon Agan, Dean Jacobs and Byron Reed also won heats. Andy McKisson won the C-Main and Kelly Kinser won the B-Main. Wilson captured the Dash. Next up will be the Sharon Nationals on Saturday and Sunday.


October
Ed makes Earl's final All Star Race at Eldora - 10/2/04

The largest car count of the season for a single day show was on hand Saturday night as 53 cars showed up for the "Earl Baltes Farewell to the All Stars."

Ed made the long tow for the first time this year and was joined by many others in their tribute to Earl's 50 years as promoter of Eldora. Kasey Kahne flew in from his cup race at Talladega to get behind the wheel of a sprint car. Other familiar names included Jac Haudenschild, Todd Kane, and All Star regulars Chad Kemenah, Danny Smith, Greg Wilson and others.

To Ed's surprise, the engine had a miss in hot laps. The crew changed the MSD box and went out for time trials, however, the miss was still there. The result was 35th overall in the 53-car field. This lined him up 9th in the third heat. Only the top four from each heat advance to the A-Main.

Convinced that it was electrical or spark, the crew took the tach out and lined up for the heat. The #2L ran much better and Ed made it up to 4th behind Tim Engler, Phil Gressman and Jeremy Campbell. Other heats went to Brock Mayes, Randy Hannagan and Rob Chaney.

Because he was the slowest time-trialer to make the race, he started last only to have bad luck as he had the front nose wing knocked off on the first lap. He drove the rest of the 30 laps minus a nose win and handled it the best he could. Spinning once on the back stretch on lap 27, he finished 17th overall behind first-time winner Campbell, Kemenah, Gressman, Hannagan and Greg Wilson who finished in the top five.



November
Hagerstown/Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum - 11/15/04

The last race of the year for Lynch Racing, the 17th Annual Hagerstown Octoberfest 350 on October 30-31st, ended with a disappointing 24th place finish.

After loading up and leaving the garage at 5:30AM, the crew pulled into the track at 8:30AM and was the 168th rig to arrive. Three hours later we were parked in the pits along with 243 other teams.

After hot laps, 22 heat races and 10 conseys, the weary and hungry crew left the track with a second place finish in the third sprint car heat which meant that the #2L would be starting 7th in the 50-lapper on Sunday. Between their hot lap session and their heat race, Ed and the crew had made many changes and came up with a good combination.

Sunday, the Sprint feature got underway about 2:00PM and there were two yellow flags before a red flag on lap 8. Some how Ed missed the three cars involved. The incident happened following a return to green and the cars raced past the flag stand and into number one turn. Just ahead of Ed he saw Freddy Rahmer and Lance Dewease in big trouble along with one other car. He aimed for the inside as the three-car tangle seemed to be headed toward the outside rail. All of a sudden, one car dug in to the track,
sending the group to the inside. Ed spiked the brakes and the #2L was headed nose first toward the outside rail.

Somehow, he missed the accident and the outside rail and continued through turn two and down the back stretch, halting on the red flag signal. The restart had Ed now lined up in fourth spot but at the drop of the green, Ed had trouble negotiatin the turns with the car not wanting to turn left. He ran two laps with that problem and had to pull in on lap 10. Rahmer won his 34th feature and Ed was ranked 24th.

The trip home included a 3-hour pit stop on a ramp to I-70 to work on the hauler. What and ending to the season!

The new Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum at the History Center in Pittsburgh opened November 13th. Ed plans to visit it soon and will post his impressions here for those who are out of the area and would like to have a description of his display and other sports figures that make up the history of Western Pennsylvania.


December
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year - 12/17/04

Ed has his home decorated with two Christmas trees inside, lots of red ribbons outside, and three lighted dolphins pulling Santa and his sleigh on the edge of the pond. He just finished the trophy and game room which was severely damaged in Hurricane Ivan and now the family will enjoy the holidays.

Seven-year old Sye is asking for some Steeler jerseys and play-station games while 'Lil Ed who is 15 now is asking for new catchers' gear. Heather would like new luggage and Ed came home from the PRI show with a list of things he would like for his #2L Sprint car.

Except for colds, everyone is healthy here and ready for the holiday season. Hope all the fans have a Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year.
 

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