THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, June 21, 1996 TAG: 9606210650
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JAMI FRANKENBERRY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 62 lines
AREA RACING NOTES
Like most teenage boys, Albert Falk has spent some time rounding the bases on a diamond. But this summer Falk, 16, is busy circling Langley Speedway in the Late Model Stock division.
Falk, a rising senior at Norfolk Academy, made his debut in the track's top division three weeks ago, just nine months after getting his driver's license.
``I jumped right in it, but the younger you are, the better off you are,'' said Falk, who pitched for the Bulldogs baseball team this season. ``Not a lot of people get an opportunity to do this, so I'm enjoying it.''
Falk, who is from Chesapeake, was the crew chief for Mike Queen's Limited Stock car last season.
``My family's been in racing forever and I loved last year,'' Falk said.
Albert's father, Freddie, said his son had been itching to drive a race car so they bought a wrecked 1986 Monte Carlo to repair together.
``It was a nice father-son thing to do,'' Freddie said. ``(Driving) was something he wanted to do, and so far he's managed not to tear the car up.''
Albert finished 17th in his first race and 19th Saturday, after taking a week off.
``I'm happy with my performance,'' he said. ``I've learned a lot. We're making adjustments and seeing what works. Hopefully by the end of the season we'll be able to hang with those guys, and maybe get into the top 10.''
THE MORE THE MERRIER: Five drivers have won Late Model Stock races this season at Langley.
``This time last year we only had two,'' said track promoter Wayne Wyatt, ``and we only had five the whole year if I remember correctly.''
Most of this year's Late Model races also have finished with sprints to the checkered flag. Shawn Balluzzo got his first win last week by edging Bob Shreeves and Phil Warren.
``I can stand about 20 more of those,'' Wyatt said. ``It's just been unreal. And people say, `I've never seen racing like that. Keep it up.' ''
Wyatt added that the power-outage problem at Langley, which delayed last week's Late Model Stock race by 35 minutes, should be fixed.
``It was bad cable,'' said Wyatt. ``The system out here's about 25 years old and had aluminum cable where there should have been copper, so we put copper in there.''
LADIES FIRST: Mini Stock driver Troy Williams of Chesapeake had his 22-race win streak stopped last week at Dixieland Speedway by Gwen Pritchard.
``Sorry it had to be a woman that did it, Troy,'' Pritchard said in victory lane.
NEAR THE TOP: Capron's Speck Edwards took sole possession of second place on Southampton Speedway's all-time victory list with his Late Model Stock win last week. Edwards, who has collected 34 checkered flags, trails Late Model Stock driver Tony Edwards of Franklin by two and leads 4-cylinder Modified racer Wade Hollingsworth of Conway by one.
SAME OLD STORY: Langley Mini Stock driver Kevin Harrison, who sold the car with which he won five races this season, took Saturday's feature with another one that belonged Joe Lupton. Harrison said afterward it was his final race in the division and wants to move up, probably to Grand Stock. Jeff Falk finished third Saturday in Harrison's old car. ILLUSTRATION: Albert Falk hopes to be running in the Late Model
Stock division Top 10 by summer's end. by CNB