Victory Lane: No solution to debate that's nearly as old as dirt -- and asphalt

Sunday, May 12, 2002

By Chris Dolack, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

Dirt vs. asphalt. It seems to be an age-old discussion around the speedways of Western Pennsylvania. A discussion in the same way that Robby Gordon was expressing his displeasure with Dale Earnhardt Jr. by spinning him out on pit road at Bristol Motor Speedway earlier this season.

"Dirt's for farming," said Chuck Keslar, a veteran of Motordrome Speedway, a half-mile asphalt oval in Smithton.

"Asphalt's for getting to the track," countered Ed Lynch Jr., who won his third sprint car feature of the season Friday night on the half-mile clay-and-dirt surface at Lernerville Speedway in Sarver.

And so it goes. Up and down the pit roads, it's the one topic on which every local driver has an opinion.

Take John Flinner, for instance. First in points at Lernerville and third at Pittsburgh's Pennsylvania Motor Speedway, which is billed as Dirt's Monster Half Mile, Flinner won his third feature of the season and second in a row Friday night at the Sarver oval, and then offered this opinion:

"Of course, dirt is better ... as long as that asphalt's there to keep the truck clean getting here so you don't get all dusty pulling in. Those guys will get mad if I say something wrong, but I just think asphalt's boring. I thought we raced for peanuts ... those guys race for a lot less than we do. And when you wreck one them, dude, you better unload the backup car because you're not putting it back together for the feature. I'd like to drive an asphalt car one day just so I can say I drove it, but I think that would be the week I'd retire."

Believe it or not, these drivers do generally agree on two points: Dirt racing is more fun and racing on asphalt takes more finesse.

"From a driver's standpoint, dirt racing is better because if the car isn't perfect you can make up for it in your driving style," said Logan Dernoshek, a regular in the late model division at Motordrome who has won on asphalt and dirt. "On asphalt, you have to have a good car, and then you have to be a good driver and you might be able to win one. Driving-wise, dirt's more fun."

Neil Brown, who finished second to Gary Wiltrout in the feature at Motordrome Friday night, has never raced on dirt, "but I've always wanted to race a dirt car because there's just something about hanging it out there and throwing it sideways. I think you have to have a little more finesse to run on asphalt, it's a little less forgiving."

There's little debate where Oakmont's Ryan Hemphill stands on the issue.

"Asphalt, you've got to be hooked up. You can't slide it or you'll spin it," said Hemphill, who won a NASCAR RE/MAX Challenge Series race at Gateway International Raceway near St. Louis last weekend. "Asphalt's undoubtedly harder. Dirt is probably a little more fun, you go into a turn and you can whip that thing sideways. On the other hand, I love the feel of asphalt when you can feel the car driving down into the turn and sticking. That's what I live for."

Then there are the Geislers, a father-and-son team. Lynn has won 93 late model races at Lernerville and 63 at PPMS. Travis picked up his first victory at Motordrome late last season.

"If you're looking to just have fun for a weekly thing, dirt racing's more fun," Travis Geisler said. "If you just want to go out there and have a lot of horsepower and a light car and just throw it around, it's fun. If you want to think a lot harder, [asphalt] is where you got to go. I would consider it like rugby and chess. Every week I work on both cars, and I know when we measure stuff on [the dirt car], you don't even look at the eighths or sixteenths; this thing you're looking at getting smaller rulers out."

Lynn Geisler believes a team can be a little off on dirt and still end up in victory lane, whereas that generally won't happen on asphalt.

"I think the bar for asphalt racing is a little more dictated by equipment and what people do with it to get there," he said. "I think whenever you get on dirt, it's a little more back in the hands of the guy behind the wheel. I think a cool mind and patience will win you races on asphalt. I think desire and wanting to get it done is the thing that will happen in dirt racing.

"You win races on asphalt in the garage; you win dirt races at the race track. That's the difference."

Or, as Flinner said: "This is more forgiving. You screw up, you may get back to the front. On asphalt, you screw up and you're not getting back in line, dude."