A Grand View For Strunk
Owns record seven Dirt Modified track titlesBy Paul Schaefer, NASCARMay 7, 2009 - 3:15pm
One of NASCAR’s most challenging tracks is a star-maker. To be successful at Grandview Speedway in Bechtelsville, Pa., you have to be smart, strong willed and studious. A little luck can help, too. Boisterous fans will roar in appreciation.
A driver can’t afford to be bashful at Grandview. It’s a .333-mile banked clay oval where 30 dirt Modifieds compete in 30-lap feature events. Qualifying for the feature event can be tough, too. The top-four from each 12-lap heat race make it into the main event.
The odds of winning at Grandview can seem slim. Yet many drivers take the green flag every Saturday night with possibilities of making it to Victory Lane.
One of the most successful drivers at the track, situated in eastern Pennsylvania between Philadelphia and Allentown, is 20-year veteran Jeff Strunk.
A Bechtelsville native, the 40-year-old Strunk is the all-time leading Modified track championship winner with seven titles – all since 2000. He’s also won 46 career Grandview feature events.
As for his decade-long success, he finished as high as second in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series in the former regional format, and won the 2008 NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Pennsylvania state championship.
His overall career include more than 200 feature wins in several states and 20 track titles. He was Grandview’s Modified division Rookie of the Year Award winner in 1988, and the track’s Most Popular Driver Award winner in 1990.
Strunk’s “secret” to Grandview success are really no secret.
“It takes sacrifice and dedication,” Strunk said. “It takes a lot of hard work with good people behind me. We take it seriously. And for me, it’s what puts food on my table. Somehow it always seems to work out.”
At a speedway where the motto is “The Greatest Show on Dirt,” Strunk plays a big part says track announcer Ernie Saxton.
“Jeff is good because he puts the cars together, and he’s not afraid of getting underneath or inside a car to work on it. He’s an expert at set-up,” said Saxton, president of Ernie Saxton Communications. “He knows the track like the back of his hand.
“He reminds me a lot of one of the top Sprint Car drivers Fred Rohmer, who started out at Grandview,” Saxton continued. “Jeff fascinates me. He can set up to make a pass in a corner where there’s no opening. By the time he gets there, the opening is there. Somehow, he knows where the opening is going to be.”
Sometimes, even Strunk knows the track requires a driver to tread lightly, too.
“If you go there with a chip on your shoulder, you’re going to leave with a boulder on it,” Strunk said. “It’s absolutely the toughest place to race. The place challenges you mentally and physically. It’s like a mini-Bristol. The place is a bullring and you’ve got to be a good matador.”
According to Strunk, the way Grandview’s handicapping system works, the best he’s going to start feature events is typically 14th or 15th. He typically starts deep in his 12-lap heat.
“Those 12 laps are as hard as any 100-lap race I’ve ever run,” Strunk said.
There is another Grandview secret, too. Its clay surface is variable and changes throughout each race night.
“I might go over to the fence and read the track a dozen times a night,” Strunk said, “and I know what I’m looking at. It changes constantly. We make quite a few changes to the car through the night. That might be an advantage for us.”
When drivers pull into the pits, they know they’re going to have a hectic race night. Strunk said another key to success is to pull through the pit gate with your car prepared.
“Races are won at the shop,” the full-time racer said, crediting his crew that includes Dennis Nyman, Dan Sherman, Steve Wilson, and his dad Bob Strunk, a past regional NASCAR Gold Wrench Award winner.
The team is owned by Vince Gagliardo, with whom Strunk teamed this year. Sponsors on the No. 41 dirt Modified include Vince’s Towing and Recovery, Vince’s Used Cars and Parts, and Pepsi.
When Strunk takes a moment to step back from being competition-minded, he reveals a soft spot in his psyche. He’s also received championship treatment from NASCAR and Grandview Speedway over the years.
“NASCAR and Grandview Speedway have been very good to us and it’s very much appreciated,” Strunk said. “I get to do this full-time and that’s a dream come true.”
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