Saratoga Springs native prepares for 2023 DIRTcar season
Saratoga Springs native, Jack Lehner travels south to Florida for DIRTcar Nationals in February marking the beginning of the 2023 season. Super DIRTcar Series was able to speak with Lehner before his upcoming competition and see how he's prepared for the 2023 season.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- Saratoga Springs native, Jack Lehner travels south to Florida for DIRTcar Nationals in February marking the beginning of the 2023 season. Super DIRTcar Series was able to speak with Lehner before his upcoming competition and see how he's prepared for the 2023 season.
The touring series explains Lehner had a career-best run at DIRTcar Nationals in 2022, claiming his first top-five finish at Volusia Speedway Park with a third-place run on the second night. He backed that up with a seventh-place run on the fourth night but finished outside the top 10 the other three nights keeping him out of contention for the Big Gator title. Super DIRTcar Series reports Lehner enters 2023 coming off a career-best points finish in 2022, earning his first top-10 points run. With only four top-10 finishes during the championship season, he’s looking to increase that number this year.
Lehner comments, “I’m pretty much rebuilding everything,” “I’ve got one new chassis that I probably won’t be bringing down there. I’ll be bringing one of our cars from last year. That car got completely stripped down and gone through. We replaced all the moving parts that wear out and it’s got a fresh motor in it. I’m looking forward to this year because I feel like I’m going to be geared up the best that I’ve ever been as far as equipment.”
Not only a racer but a businessman, Lehner has made some decisions that he hopes will help him on and off the track. "I invested in having my own shock business over the winter,” Lehner said. “So, it’s just another avenue that I can help dial myself in and try to gain an advantage on the competition… You look at a lot of guys that run really well like [Matt] Sheppard and Stew [Friesen], they do all their own shocks. They understand them and how they work. I think that’s something that you have to be able to do if you want to compete with them.”
For any athlete or competitor, external and internal pressure remain a factor. Lehner seems to be leaning away from specific goals and aims to do the best he can while taking into account his challenges from last year. “I think putting all the pieces together, last year we had stints where we were really good, and then we had stints where we really struggled,” he said. “This year our focus is for us to be as prepared as we can be so that all summer long we are ready to face whatever challenges come up.”
The 52nd DIRTcar Nationals will take place from February 15 through the 18 at Volusia Speedway Park in Florida. Tickets and other information about the DIRTcar Nationals are available on the DIRTcar Nationals website.