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CHIAPPELLI: On The Verge
With the national 410 sprint car season winding to a close for 2010, the World of Outlaws appears ready to crown a first-time champion.
Jim Chiappelli  |  Posted October 10, 2010  
Lucas Wolfe is nearing his first Outlaws feature win. (SPEED)
With the national 410 sprint car season winding to a close for 2010, the World of Outlaws appears ready to crown a first-time champion.

Jason Meyers leads second-place Steve Kinser by 98 points with Donny Schatz and Joey Saldana lurking behind Kinser in the closest four-way championship battle in Outlaws history with a mere three nights of racing left on the series’ demanding schedule.
It would also be the first national title for Meyers’ team, Elite Racing.

However, not too far behind in the standings is a promising pair of young drivers pursuing their first victories in World of Outlaws competition. Both are second-generation racers on the verge of greatness.

Pennsylvanian Lucas Wolfe, 23, and Texan Sam Hafertepe Jr., 24, are enjoying breakout seasons on the national tour. Although each has led his share of laps, neither has been able to clear the final hurdle to reach the checkered flag first.

What will it take to claim that initial triumph?

“Nothing special,” asserts Wolfe with confidence.

“We’ve been very competitive all year. I think we’ve been good enough to win quite a few races. We just weren’t able to put the whole program together, but I think right now we just have to remain consistent like we’ve done almost all year and wins will come from there,” he added.

Hafertepe admits the path to victory lane is paved with experience, but recently added one key ingredient to get him over the hump—a crew chief.

“I’ve been doing this deal on my own and making the calls and it’s nice to have (someone) to turn to for some help,” Hafertepe said.

Veteran crew chief Guy Forbrook is now part of the Plumbfast Racing Team #15h Maxim and is getting accustomed to working with the young driver from Sunnyvale, who says at times he became overwhelmed by serving as his own crew chief.

“You learn from your mistakes, but at the same time while you’re learning, guys sometimes are passing you up,” stated Hafertepe.

“But more times than not you’re a little behind because you’re getting swamped with too much work and you can’t totally focus on your job driving the car,” he continued.

Conversely, Wolfe has a familiar presence in his corner calling the shots on his Jim and Laura Allebach Racing #5W. His father, famed Pennsylvania Posse member Randy Wolfe, is the team’s crew chief and a positive influence.

“I’ve always raced with him the whole time throughout my career, even when I started in quarter midgets, so we’re pretty well used to each other,” said the younger Wolfe.

“I think he enjoys having the opportunity to come out here and race with the Outlaws. It’s something he always wanted to do as a driver and was never really able to make the whole year,” stated Lucas, who has battled to eighth in the Outlaws’ championship standings on the strength of 14 top-five finishes.

Saturday, the World of Outlaws visit Tri-State Speedway in Haubstadt, Indiana for a make-up race. Three weeks later, the curtain will close on the 2010 season at the World Dirt Finals at the Dirt Track @ Charlotte Motor Speedway, providing three opportunities for each of these talented drivers to earn that elusive maiden victory.

Last May, Hafertepe finished a career-best second on the intimidating big half-mile at Williams Grove Speedway, a place familiar to Wolfe, who hails from Mechanicsburg and won a non-Outlaws-sanctioned event at The Grove earlier this year.

Wolfe’s highest finish with the WoO was a stellar runner-up performance in The Ironman 55 at I-55 Raceway in Pevely, Missouri. That August night, the year’s longest race (in laps) produced the closest finish, as Meyers turned aside a bold slide-job by Wolfe in the final corner coming to the checkers with a cross-over move to edge Wolfe by about a foot.

Wolfe says the key is to stay among the top five.

“Whenever you’re in that position, especially with the double file restarts this year, you always have a shot to get a win when you’re anywhere near the front, so as long as we’re able to remain up there in that direction of the field and continue to run well, wins will come,” he stated.

Hafertepe has recorded seven top-five and 20 top-ten finishes en route to 11th place in the standings.

“We just try to do with what we’ve got,” admits Hafertepe.

“We know we don’t have the means of money like they (other teams) do, but with the equipment that we do have, we try to make the most of it and try to compete every night,” he added.

Wolfe, who survived a horrendous crash at the Gold Cup at Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, California last month, also knows the odds are against him.

“Obviously it takes a lot of experience and a lot of money to be successful at the Outlaws level,” Wolfe says bluntly.

“So the number of years it takes to be really good enough to beat those guys on a consistent basis is quite a few. There are plenty of struggles in there but you have to continue to work at it. It (The experience) has been a lot of fun and hopefully we’re able to remain out here racing with the best,” he concluded.

Hafertepe agrees that going to school with The Outlaws sometimes means getting bullied on the playground.

“It’s definitely been a hard and tough one (experience) for sure,” he nodded.

“We learn from guys like (Steve) Kinser everyday and it has just been really hard and a lot of work, but if we keep working we’ll be on the top here before long.”

When it comes to Lucas Wolfe and Sam Hafertepe Jr., the only issue that remains is determining which one will find victory lane first with the World of Outlaws.

Jim Chiappelli is SPEED’s News Director and Coordinating Producer of The SPEED Report and Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain. Jim has worked in broadcast journalism since 1986, producing or overseeing the production of thousands of newscasts and sportscasts in a career that began at network affiliates in Johnstown and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania before shifting to the NBC station in Pittsburgh, where he spent 11 years, leaving as Executive Producer in 2001, when he joined SPEED. A Duquesne University graduate, Jim briefly competed in the limited late model division in Western Pennsylvania for his family, which has been involved in racing for nearly 35 years and continues to campaign a 410 sprint car team.


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The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEED.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or SPEED
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