Kennedy Township Teen Prepares to put Driving Skills to Test

(Article taken from the Montour Record, November 9, 2005)
Article written by Staff Writer Julie Jones

Next spring, Pittsburgh's Pennsylvania Motor Speedway will open its track to teenagers, some too young to have a Pennsylvania state driver's license.  The half-mile dirt track will be the site of several races for the speedway's newest class, the Young Gun Teen Division, for drivers ages 13 to 19.

Ben Miley, one of the speedway owners, said the lack of drivers licenses among the competitors won't be a problem.  "You can race a car at any age." said Miley.  The speedway's insurance plan now covers young drivers like Richie Mason, 13, of Kennedy Township who is ready to put the pedal to the metal in his 1989 Chevrolet Cavalier.

Tomei's Towing, located in McKees Rocks, gave Richie the car, which otherwise would have been used for scrap, according to Richie's father, Rich Mason.  Several modifications, such as replacing the driver's seat with a safety seat and installing a driver's net, had to be made to make the car meet the PPMS rules.  "Tomei's Towing helped us a lot.  They did like 99 percent of the work on the car," says Rich.  "Imperial Heights Garage installed the car's roll cage."

Richie is the first Young Gun participant to have a car ready for the Speedway's first teen season, and in early September he took the car to the track for a test drive.  "Ben Miley said as long as we had a car, we could take it onto the track," said Rich.

Richie, who will be 14 when the racing season begins, thinks it's "pretty cool" that he can drive his race car on the track without having a license.  However, this won't be his first time behind the wheel.  "I like going fast, and I like watching it on TV.  I'm a big NASCAR fan," said the eighth grade David E. Williams Middle School student, who has been racing go-karts since he was 8 years old.

Richie spent his go-kart career racing at Naugle Speedway in Bridgewater and the Blairsville Kart Track in Blairsville.  He won four features in the rookie class his first year and one feature this season.

On Fridays, Rich would drive to work with the go-kart trailer and at the end of the day, his wife Linda, would drive Richie to meet Rich who would then make the long drive to Blairsville for Richie to race.  "We usually got home from racing after midnight.  Towards the end, when he stopped racing karts, we were pretty much just running at Blairsville, because he enjoyed the track much more, even though it was a lot farther for dad to drive right after work on Friday," says Rich.  "There was a lot of tough competition in kart racing.  We weren't the best kart out there, but we did okay on occasion.  I expect there to be a lot of tough competition in the Young Gun's class too over time.  I am really focusing on this being a learning experience for Richard over the next couple of years until we feel he is ready to advance on to the other classes at PPMS."

This is just the kind of reaction Miley and the PPMS staff was hoping for when they decided to begin the Young Gun Teen Division.  "We want to work with these kids to show them what it takes to compete," said Miley.  He wants the new division to give young racers like Richie an opportunity to get more involved with the sport without the major costs.  To keep costs down for parents, who will most likely be footing the bill for this division, PPMS has released a list of rules and requirements. 

All cars must be four-cylinder, non turbo charged, two valves per cylinder, maximum 2.5 liter, American stock passenger cars 1993 or older.  Racers will be admitted to the track at half price and only trophies will be awarded to the winners, rather than monetary awards given in other divisions.

Richie's neighbor, Anthony Sinicrope, an Advance Auto Parts Limited Late Model racer, and mentor Robby Torrens, 2005 Track Champion in the Amateur Stocks, have helped Richie get involved in racing.

Miley said other Late Model drivers have volunteered to mentor the young drivers and make them feel comfortable in the competitive racing environment.  "This gives them a chance to have some fun in the right environment," said Miley.

   Click Here  for the Young Gun Teen Division  Rules, or call  Ben Miley at 412-279-7223 for additional information on the NEW 4-Cylinder Young Gun Teen Division