For detailed race information, please click HERE
  

 

FASTRAK Grand Nationals On-Tap for Lambert Racing as 2010 Season Winds Down

Mars, PA (9-30-10) As the end of the 2010 racing season looms for Butch and the #27 Lambert Racing FASTRAK team, the FASTRAK Grand Nationals are just getting set to start! The team has had a run of bad luck over the past couple of weeks after having a strong run at Hesston Speedway back on August 7th. A bad pill draw had Butch starting last in his heat event at the Northeast Tour event at Raceway 7 on August 13th, but he managed to race his way into the feature event to secure the 18th place starting spot in the feature. His patience was key in the feature as he worked his way up to a solid 9th place finish. The following weekend we made the five hour trek to Woodhull Speedway in Woodhull, New York for the first time ever. Butch ran well enough in his heat to make the re-draw on the tricky 1/3rd mile track, but of course drew the #12 starting spot for the feature event. Contact at the front of the field at the start of the event caused a large crash involving 5 or 6 cars. Butch looked to have missed the crash by driving off of the racing surface on the back straightaway, but another car spun right into his path resulting in a hard crash and major damage to the #27 machine. He was credited with a 19th place finish, and his very first DNF (did not finish) of the season. Sharon Speedway held a $1000 to win FASTRAK special event on Saturday, August 28th where Butch finished 2nd in the heat, redrew the 8th starting spot for the feature and ended up finishing there on a very slick track with little to no passing.


The Friday of Labor Day weekend would mark our fourth trip to Tyler County Speedway in Middlebourne, WV this season, for a FASTRAK Northeast Tour event. Once again we had bad luck with the pill draw and drew next to last for the heat event. Butch started 8th in his heat and charged his way through the field to take a 2nd place finish and secure a spot in the feature re-draw. In front of a standing room only crowd, he started the feature in 5th place and quickly jumped into 3rd place, where he stayed for most of the race. A bad restart on lap 21 dropped him back to 6th place, but he was setting up to pass the 4th and 5th place cars when disaster struck with two laps to go. The bolts that hold the flywheel onto the motor broke off and the car lost all power. His second DNF of the season netted him a 20th place finish and a very long drive home. We arrived back at the shop at 5:30am and the crew went to work, pulling the motor out and getting the broken bolts out proved to be quite a challenge, but they never gave up! By 3pm the car was loaded and ready for the first night of the Labor Day Classic at Tri-City Speedway, which, unfortunately ended up being rained out. All the hard work paid off on Sunday, though, as Butch brought home a solid 5th place finish in the FASTRAK Northeast Tour event in the second night of the Labor Day Classic.


We had a double header weekend at Sharon Speedway for the Applefest Nationals on September 17th and 18th, with the Saturday night race being race #18 on the FASTRAK Northeast Tour schedule. In the Friday night event, Butch pulled off a strong 4th place finish in what was one of the best races of the year with 5 cars battling for the lead for the last few laps. The entire grandstands were on their feet by the time the checkered flew! On Saturday night, he started 15th in the FASTRAK Tour race and worked his magic to work his way through the field to a 6th place finish.


After winning the FASTRAK Northeast Tour portion of the Fall Classic at McKean County Speedway in 2008, the team had high hopes for this season’s event on September 24th & 25th. Unfortunately, Lady Luck had other ideas and our bad pill draws put us behind the 8-ball before the drop of the green flag. With 44 cars on hand, it was not a good night to draw the last pill in the can for the heat event on a rough and muddy track. Butch started 9th and could only muster an 8th place finish. He lined up in 10th place for the b-main with only 10 laps to make it into the top 2 finishing positions to secure a spot in the feature event. He took to the outside on the start and was on a mission, with two laps to go, he moved into 3rd place, but got held up by the 2nd place car coming to the checkered and missed making the feature event by a fender. As a result of not making the feature, he lost his 3rd place standing in the FASTRAK Northeast Tour points, dropping to 4th by 1 point. Saturday night was a special $1200 to win event and once again, we drew the last pill. This time, the track was in much better condition for the heats and Butch advanced from his 11th starting position to finish 5th. He lined up for the feature in 17th spot and steadily worked his way through the field and was running in 6th place. A caution with 1 lap to go shuffled the field on a bad restart and he ended up finishing 9th.


This Saturday at Mercer Raceway Park marks the beginning of the 2010 $30,000 FASTRAK Grand Nationals. The Grand Nationals are a 3-race series where all FASTRAK regions (Northeast, Southeast, Great Lakes, etc) race for 2 nights in their respective regions, then come together at Wythe Raceway in Wytheville, Virginia for Night #3. For the Northeast, Night #1 is at Mercer and Night #2 is at Roaring Knob Motorsports Complex on Saturday, October 9th. Points for each night will accumulate and the driver with the most points at the end of the three nights will be named the 2010 FASTRAK Grand National Champion. We will also have the 20th and final FASTRAK Northeast Tour event at Roaring Knob on Friday, October 8th. We are tentatively scheduled to compete in the $10,000 to win FASTRAK National event at West Virginia Motor Speedway on October 15th & 16th as part of the Dirt Track World Championship weekend. Once we get through Nights 1 & 2 of the Grand Nationals, we will decide if we will go to WVMS and if we will go to Night #3 at Wythe Raceway or stay close to home and compete at Lernerville Speedway in the Steel City Stampede.

Don’t forget to “Become a Fan” on Facebook (Butch Lambert Racing), where we have up to the minute race results, schedule changes, news and contests, and as always, our website, www.lambertracing.com is updated weekly with results and stats. You can also follow us on Twitter @LambertRacing27!

 Butch Lambert and the Lambert Racing team would like to thank all of their sponsors and supporters for 2010: Bagel Bites, Austin's A1 Bleach, Fannie's Friends Pet Cremation Services, Fleming Tire & Auto, Lambert Plumbing, RAM Transit Lines, Inc., Kozminski Auto Body, BP Construction, Harmony's Angel Candle Co., Smardt Equipment, Woodward, Inc., Flinner Signs & Decals, Mars Beer Distributor, Marburger Farms Dairy, Hotsy, B&E Mini Mart, Herr's Potato Chips, Epic Action Video Cameras, Ultrashield Race Products and Fleming Design Services.

SUMMER HEATING UP FOR LAMBERT RACING

 Mars, PA (7-8-10) The summer is heating up and Butch and the Lambert Racing team have been on a roll for the last month racking up top 5 finishes and steadily climbing in the FASTRAK Points. On June 4th we returned to Butch’s favorite track, Lernerville Speedway, where after struggling in the heat event to get a 7th place finish, Butch put on a clinic in the feature event, charging from his 14th starting spot to finish 3rd when the checkers fell. Unfortunately the rest of the weekend’s scheduled events at Mercer Raceway Park and Tri-City Speedway succumbed to rain. The following Saturday night, June 12th, Butch made his first appearance of the season at Mercer Raceway Park where the team hosted friends and sponsors for Lambert Racing/Bagel Bites Night. The event was a success and Butch capped a great evening by putting up another strong 3rd place finish in the feature after starting 6th.

The first of three FASTRAK National/Northeast Tour events took place at McKean County Speedway on Saturday, June 18th. Forty-two cars signed in for the $5,000 to win event and Butch started the night out right putting up the 8th fastest time in qualifying. His strong qualifying effort put him on the outside pole for his heat event where he went on to finish second and secure a spot in the coveted feature redraw. He drew the lucky #9 starting spot for the event and was racing hard for 7th place early in the event when he was forced up the track and fell back to 17th place. Undeterred, he worked his way back up through the field during the 40 lap event and came home in 7th place. The car had visibly lost its handle during the closing laps of the event and the crew quickly found the broken right front shock to be the cause. The following night we made our first ever visit to Central PA Speedway in Clearfield, PA for another FASTRAK Northeast Tour event. Butch started the heat event in 3rd place, running a right front shock borrowed from fellow competitor David Scott, and that is where he finished. He re-drew the 8th starting spot for the feature, but struggled to find the handle from the beginning of the 25 lap race. When the checkered fell, he had uncharacteristically fallen to a 12th place finish.

The team had 6 days to regroup before the next FASTRAK Northeast Tour Event at Roaring Knob Motorsports Complex in Markleysburg, PA. For once we drew a good pill for the heat event and Butch started on the pole. A slow restart saw the first heat win of the season slip away and he had to settle for a second place finish, which was still good enough for the feature re-draw. Luck was with us, as Butch redrew the #2 starting spot for the feature event. At the drop of the green flag, he moved comfortably into 2nd place as the event went non-stop for 21 of the 25 laps. He survived 4 separate cautions and a red flag in the last four laps to bring home his 2nd second place finish this season. Four days later, on Wednesday, June 30th, the team rolled into Expo Speedway at the Trumbull County Fair for yet another FASTRAK Northeast Tour event. Expo Speedway is only in operation once a year during the fair and the track conditions on this hot & sunny day were dry and very dusty. Butch started and finished his heat in 5th place, just shy of the feature re-draw, putting him in the 13th slot for the feature event. At times it was difficult to even see the cars throughout the race. Butch used his steady and patient driving style to slowly work his way through the field and crossed the line in 3rd place for his 5th top three finish out of his last seven starts!

One of the most anticipated races of the season was on Saturday, July 3rd at Mercer Raceway Park, where they hosted the FASTRAK National/Northeast Tour “Summer Nationals”. Thirty-nine teams from eight different states signed in for the $6,000 to win payday. Butch put up a great qualifying effort and came out 15th fastest. This earned him a 4th place starting spot in the heat event. He was on a mission from the drop of the green and secured a 2nd place finish in the heat to be able to redraw for the top 8 starting spots in the feature event. After a four-wide salute to the fans, the green flag dropped on the 40 lap event and Butch was riding comfortably in 6th spot for most of the race. At the halfway point he started battling with Super Late Model star Doug Horton for 5th place. The race went green for 35 laps until a caution for a spinning car set-up a crazy final five laps. The field was lined up with 4 lapped cars between the 1st and 2nd place cars. On the restart, Butch jumped up into 4th place, but a spinning lapped car collected four cars running in the back half of the top ten and although the lap counted, Butch was forced to go back to 6th place. On the ensuing restart, another lapped car crashed coming out of turn four and a huge pile-up ensued with the 2nd place car barrel-rolling right in front of Butch. When the dust cleared, the 2nd, 4th, 5th and 6th place cars, plus others were all at a stop. Butch managed to come out without minor damage, but because he had to stop to avoid the flipping car, he was forced to go to the back of the field with just 3 laps left in the event. He managed to pass a few cars and crossed the line in 9th place. It was a bit of a disappointing finish to what could have been a great night.

FASTRAK announced on Tuesday that lapped cars will now go to the rear of the field on all restarts in Northeast Tour events. A little late for our team and all the other cars that were tore up the past two weeks due to lapped cars, but hopefully it will save some headaches and heartbreak in the future.

The team hopes to carry some momentum from this month’s strong finishes into July. This Saturday, July 10th we will compete in the biggest FASTRAK National/Northeast Tour Event of the season at West Virginia Motor Speedway in Mineral Wells, WV as the top FASTRAK drivers in the country will vie for the $10,000 to win payday. Butch has never been to the 5/8ths Mile “Speedplant”, but expectations are high for the event. Saturday, July 17th we will be in action at Mercer Raceway Park for a regular event and will follow that up on Sunday, July 18th with a FASTRAK Northeast Tour race at Tri-City Speedway in Franklin, PA. The following weekend will be regular weekly action at Mercer Raceway Park on the 24th for “Meet Your Hero’s Night”, and Tri-City Speedway on the 25th. On Wednesday, July 28th we will return to Sharon Speedway in Hartford, OH for the 11th FASTRAK Northeast Tour event of the season. We have tentative plans to attend the FASTRAK National Event at Tony Stewart’s Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio on Saturday, July 31st, where Butch won the non-qualifiers event there in 2009. August will also be a busy month with FASTRAK Northeast Tour Races at Hesston Speedway, Dog Hollow Speedway, Raceway 7 and our first visit to Woodhull Speedway in Woodhull, NY.

 Butch currently sits in third place in the FASTRAK Northeast Points Championship, just 9 points out of second place. He is also slowly climbing the ranks in the FASTRAK National Weekly Points Championship and is in 23rd with just 14 of the 15 required races. So far in 2010, we have competed in 16 events at 10 different tracks and have recorded 13 Top 10 finishes and nine Top 5’s.


Don’t forget to “Become a Fan” on Facebook (Butch Lambert Racing), where we have up to the minute race results, schedule changes, news and contests, and as always, our website, www.lambertracing.com is updated weekly with results and stats. You can also follow us on Twitter @LambertRacing27!

 Butch Lambert and the Lambert Racing team would like to thank all of their sponsors and supporters for 2010: Bagel Bites, Austin's A1 Bleach, Fannie's Friends Pet Cremation Services, Fleming Tire & Auto, Lambert Plumbing, RAM Transit Lines, Inc., Kozminski Auto Body, BP Construction, Harmony's Angel Candle Co., Smardt Equipment, Woodward, Inc., Flinner Signs & Decals, Mars Beer Distributor, Marburger Farms Dairy, Hotsy, B&E Mini Mart, Herr's Potato Chips, Epic Action Video Cameras, Ultrashield Race Products and Fleming Design Services.

 

LAMBERT CLOSES OUT MONTH OF MAY WITH STRONG FINISHES

 (6-3-10) After some disappointing finishes at the beginning of the month and a whole lot of rain-outs, Butch Lambert & the Lambert Racing Team has put up a string of strong finishes to end the month of May. On Saturday, May 8th, we were scheduled to race at Mercer Raceway Park, but they once again succumbed to Mother Nature. Fortunately, they canceled early enough for the team to make the trip to Roaring Knob Motorsports Complex. We dodged the rain most of the night and Butch put in a solid run, coming from 17th to 7th at the finish. We made our first visit to Tri-City Speedway on Sunday, May 9th and after charging from an 8th place starting spot in the heat, to a 4th place finish, Butch sat on the outside pole for the start of the feature. Unfortunately, he didn’t stay there long. The car kept bottoming out on the rough surface sending to towards the wall on three separate occasions. Butch was able to hang on and finish 6th.


On Friday, May 14th Butch filled in driving the J19 Sportsman Car at Lernerville Speedway for the vacationing Jason Fosnaught. Although he had never driven the car, and had not been in a Sportsman car in over 3 years, he did a fantastic job of coming home in 2nd place in both the heat and feature events. The Lambert Racing team returned to Tyler County Speedway on Saturday, May 15th for the rained out FASTRAK Northeast Tour race from May 1st. Butch took the green from the 20th starting position, but could only manage to advance to a 15th place finish. We stuck around and competed in the regularly scheduled FASTRAK weekly event at Tyler County. Butch qualified to start 15th in the 18 car field, but for some reason lined up 17th at the start. He patiently worked his way through the race and ended up with an 11th place finish, just shy of 10th. On Sunday, May 16th, we got up early and put a new body on the car to participate in the Pittsburgh Circle Track Club’s “Motorsports Day” at Kennywood Park. The Club had a great turnout of cars on display throughout the Park and we were happy to be a part of the day.

On display at Kennywood Park – 5-16-2010

Mercer Raceway Park once again lost to Mother Nature on Saturday, May 22nd. We returned to Tri-City Speedway on May 23rd and participated in the FASTRAK Driver’s Meet & Greet with the Fans on the front stretch of the race track. Many thanks for Herr’s Potato Chips for providing us with a very popular giveaway to the fans. After struggling in the heat event, Butch was on a mission in the feature event, charging from his 15th place starting spot to a 4th place finish at the checkers!

FASTRAK Meet & Greet at Tri-City Speedway

We closed out the month of May at Sharon Speedway for the first of three FASTRAK Northeast Tour events to be held there in 2010. Our bad luck with pill-draws has continued and Butch started the heat event in 5th place, but quickly charged to a 3rd place finish, earning a spot in the coveted top 12 re-draw for the feature event. Surprisingly, Butch drew the 4th place starting spot for the feature event. At the drop of the green, he jumped into 3rd place. He survived challenges from Mike Pegher Jr & Gary Knollinger but was able to race back passed them each time to maintain his 3rd place standing. He was starting to reel in the 2nd place car at the end of the event and crossed the finish line in 3rd! The winner was disqualified in post-race inspection, moving Butch up to 2nd place finish – his best of the season so far! Butch is currently sitting in 6th place in the FASTRAK Northeast Championship Points and 33rd in the FASTRAK National Weekly Points standings.

May was a busy month for Butch & the Lambert Racing Team, but the season is just starting to heat up with lots of action in the coming weeks!
On Friday, June 4th we will return to Lernerville Speedway to compete with the Pro Crate Late Models. Hopefully we will be able to improve on our 5th place finish from April. Saturday, June 5th will find us at Mercer Raceway Park for a regular scheduled weekly event. The following week we will return to Mercer for Lambert Racing/Bagel Bites night on June 12th! Be sure to join us if you can! We will follow that up with a regular event at Tri-City Speedway on Sunday, June 13th. The following three events will be FASTRAK Northeast Tour races at McKean County Raceway on Saturday, June 19th, Central PA Speedway on Sunday, June 20th, and Roaring Knob Motorsports Complex on Saturday, June 26. We will return to regular weekly action at Tri-City Speedway on Sunday, June 27th. We will round out June at Expo Speedway in Cortland, OH, as part of the Trumbull County Fair on Wednesday, June 30th for a FASTRAK Northeast Tour race.


We have been using our Epic Action Wide In-Car Camera and have posted the videos to YouTube and our Facebook Fan page! Be sure to check it out! We are still working to give our website a refresh for 2010. Don’t forget to “Become a Fan” on Facebook (Butch Lambert Racing), where we have up to the minute race results, schedule changes, news and contests.


Butch Lambert and the Lambert Racing team would like to thank all of their sponsors and supporters for 2010: Bagel Bites, Austin's A1 Bleach, Fannie's Friends Pet Cremation Services, Fleming Tire & Auto, Lambert Plumbing, RAM Transit Lines, Inc., Kozminski Auto Body, BP Construction, Harmony's Angel Candle Co., Smardt Equipment, Woodward, Inc., Flinner Signs & Decals, Mars Beer Distributor, Marburger Farms Dairy, Hotsy, B&E Mini Mart, Herr's Potato Chips, Epic Action Video Cameras, Ultrashield Race Products and Fleming Design Services.

Lambert Racing Ready to Roll in 2010

(4-1-10) The 2010 Racing Season is upon us and Butch and the rest of the Lambert Racing Team have been hard at work preparing our 604 Crate Engine powered Rocket Late Model.  The team expects our first event to be Saturday, April 10th at Mercer Raceway Park.  We hope to follow that up with practice at Tri-City Speedway on Sunday April 11th.

The first FASTRAK Northeast Tour event of the season will take place "topless" at Tyler County Speedway in Middlebourne, West Virginia on April 17th.  We will follow that up with a weekend of racing at Mercer Raceway Park on April 24th and Tri-City Speedway's Opening Night on Sunday, April 25th.  We will return to one of our favorite tracks on Friday April 30th, when Butch will compete at Lernerville Speedway.  The following night we will be back at Tyler County Speedway for the second FASTRAK Northeast Tour event of the year.

The remainder of May will find us racing weekly at Mercer and Tri-City, in addition to participating in the Pittsburgh Circle Track Club's Motorsports Day at Kennywood Park on May 16th.  Tri-City will have a FASTRAK Driver Meet & Greet on May 23rd and we will take on Sharon Speedway on May 29th for a FASTRAK Northeast Tour race.

We are working to give our website a refresh for 2010 and also have a new Facebook Fan Page (Butch Lambert Racing), where we will have up to the minute race results, schedule changes, news and contests, so be sure to "Become a Fan" today!

Butch Lambert and the Lambert Racing team would like to thank all of their sponsors and supporters for 2010: Bagel Bites, Austin's A1 Bleach, Fannie's Friends Pet Cremation Services, Fleming Tire & Auto, Lambert Plumbing, RAM Transit Lines, Inc., Kozminski Auto Body, BP Construction, Harmony's Angel Candle Co., Smardt Equipment, Woodward, Inc., Flinner Signs & Decals, Mars Beer Distributor, Marburger Farms Dairy, Hotsy, B&E Mini Mart, Herr's Potato Chips, Epic Action Video Cameras, Ultrashield Race Products and Fleming Design Services. 

Lambert Racing Looking Forward to the 2010 Season

(12-28-09) As 2009 comes to an end, Butch & the Lambert Racing Team are already making plans for the 2010 Racing Season. We are proud to welcome back returning sponsors Fannie's Friends Pet Cremation Services and Austin's A-1 Bleach for the 2010 season. We will have more sponsor announcements in the coming weeks, but would welcome any new sponsors that would be interested in joining our team.

The team is currently on the search for a newer chassis than our current 2002 Rocket. Hopefully we will be able to put something together soon, as the action in the garage will be hot & heavy soon as the team starts preparing for the new season.

Although no official track or series schedules have been released at this point, our initial plans are to follow the 2010 FASTRAK Northeast Tour schedule and compete weekly at Mercer Raceway Park and Tri-City Speedway. This is, at this point, subject to change.

Our first official event of 2010 will be the Mercer Raceway Park/FASTRAK Northeast Banquet on January 16th where Butch will pick up 8th place honors in the Mercer points standings and 7th place from the FASTRAK Northeast Tour points. On January 30th we will attend the Pittsburgh Circle Track Club Banquet where Butch will be crowned the 2010 PCTC Crate Late Model Champion.

Lambert Racing hopes that everyone had a wonderful Christmas and here's to a safe and happy New Year!

Butch Lambert and the Lambert Racing team would like to thank all of their sponsors and supporters for 2009: Bagel Bites, Austin's A1 Bleach, Fannie's Friends Pet Cremation Services, Fleming Tire & Auto, Lambert Plumbing, RAM Transit Lines, Inc., Kozminski Auto Body, BP Construction, Harmony's Angel Candle Co., Smardt Equipment, Woodward, Inc., Flinner Signs & Decals, C&D Embroidery, Mars Beer Distributor, Marburger Farms Dairy, Hotsy, B&E Mini Mart and Fleming Design Services. 

2009 Season Comes to Close as Lambert Eyes Grand Nationals
(October 2, 2009)  Mars, PA - The 2009 season is just about over for Butch and the #27 Lambert Racing team. It has been a season of highs and lows but it's not over yet! Up next for the team is the long anticipated FASTRAK Grand Nationals, a three race series that pays an unbelievable $30,000 to the winner. All FASTRAK Teams in the nation start at zero points for Night #1 of Nationals, which takes place in their own Regions. The Southern Region will compete at Lavonia Speedway in Georgia, the Great Lakes Region at Langlade Speedway in Wisconsin, and the Northeast at Mercer Raceway Park here in PA. All of the regions come together for Nights #2 and #3 at Volunteer Speedway in Bulls Gap, Tennessee and Wythe Raceway in Rural Retreat, Virginia. At the end of Night #3, the driver with the most points accumulated will be crowned the 2009 Grand National Champion!

The team is going into Night #1 at Mercer Raceway Park on Saturday, October 3rd needing to finish 5th or better to move on to Nights #2 & #3 in the south. We feel that anything worse than a fifth place will not be enough points to justify making the trip South due to lack of funds. Last year's trip cost the team over $2500 and we fell just one point shy of finishing in the Top 30 in points to win any money and came home with only $140 in winnings.

Fifty drivers are eligible to run in Night #1 of the Grand Nationals at Mercer Raceway Park, but we expect the car count to be around 30 cars. Butch is coming off of a 3rd place finish in the last FASTRAK Northeast Tour Event at Mercer on September 12th, so we have high hopes of a good finish.

All of the seasonal points battles are over for 2009. Although they are still auditing the points for the FASTRAK National Weekly Championship, Butch looks to have finished in 30th place out of almost 300 drivers in the US. Four of the top 8 drivers in the points are from the Northeast Division, which is a testament to how strong the competition is in the Northeast.

The final FASTRAK Northeast Tour Event was held last Saturday at McKean County Speedway. Butch finished 7th in the race to wrap up an 8th place finish in the Tour points despite missing two events earlier in the season. He also finished 8th in points at Tri-City Speedway (missed 1 event) and Mercer Raceway Park, despite competing in only 9 of the 16 events held there.

Butch Lambert and the Lambert Racing team would like to thank all of their sponsors and supporters for 2009: Bagel Bites, Austin's A1 Bleach, Fannie's Friends Pet Cremation Services, Fleming Tire & Auto, Lambert Plumbing, RAM Transit Lines, Inc., Kozminski Auto Body, BP Construction, Harmony's Angel Candle Co., Smardt Equipment, Woodward, Inc., Flinner Signs & Decals, C&D Embroidery, Mars Beer Distributor, Marburger Farms Dairy, Hotsy, B&E Mini Mart and Fleming Design Services. 

SEASON OF UP'S & DOWN'S CONTINUES FOR LAMBERT
(6-12-09) The 2009 season is barely three months old, but Butch and the Lambert Racing Team have already had their share of ups and downs and this past weekend was no exception.

It was a homecoming of sorts on Friday, June 5th as Butch returned to Lernerville Speedway to run in the Pro Crate Late Model event. He took the green flag for the heat event from the third spot and looked to finish there until a bad restart handed him the pole position. He pulled away to a significant lead to pick up the heat event win. For the feature, he drew the 5th starting spot and it was a really good race. He quickly raced his way to third place in the caution filled event. As the race went on, the leader broke, but Butch had been racing side by side and didn't get the spot at the line. Instead of restarting 2nd, he was relegated to third and put up a hard fought battle to capture a second place finish. We were very happy to come home basically in one piece with a top 3 finish.

With no racing at Mercer Raceway Park on Saturday evening, we headed to Tri-City Speedway on Sunday for a regular event. Butch started his heat from the outside pole and quickly took the lead. He cruised to his second heat event win of the weekend with a hard charging Max Blair nipping at his heels. An Invert Zero line-up was pulled for the feature event, putting Butch on the outside pole beside Mike Pegher Jr. As soon as the green flag dropped, it was apparent there was a problem. For the first few laps, Butch dropped to 4th, then charged back to 2nd, only to drop back again, this time to 6th. With only 5 laps on the board, he pulled into the pits leaving all of us to wonder what happened. Our initial investigation found a problem with the carburetor, forcing us to load up for the night. He was credited with a 12th place finish.

Monday evening the team dug a little further into the problem and found metal in the oil, which is not a good sign. The engine was pulled and given to Mike Ingram of Ingram Engines to check out. He discovered early Wednesday that a lifter had come apart. Not something you would expect to see in a motor that only has 14 nights of racing on it. Needless to say, we were pretty disappointed. The good news is that we will have the engine back in time for next weekend and will run last year's motor in the meantime.

This weekend, we will be racing at Mercer Raceway Park on Saturday Night and Tri-City Speedway on Sunday night.

We are also pleased to announce that we have new Butch Lambert Racing T-shirts available for order for only $10! We are also offering tanks, hoodies, sweatshirts and long-sleeved T's. Please contact me if you would like to place an order!

Butch Lambert and the Lambert Racing team would like to thank all of their sponsors and supporters for 2009: Bagel Bites, Austin's A1 Bleach, Fannie's Friends Pet Cremation Services, Fleming Tire & Auto, Lambert Plumbing, RAM Transit Lines, Inc., Kozminski Auto Body, BP Construction, Harmony's Angel Candle Co., Smardt Equipment, Woodward, Inc., Flinner Signs & Decals, C&D Embroidery, Mars Beer Distributor, Marburger Farms Dairy, Hotsy, B&E Mini Mart and Fleming Design Services. 

HARD CRASH ENDS LAMBERT'S HOLIDAY WEEKEND
 (5-29-09)  As the old saying goes, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”, for Butch and the Lambert Racing Team this past weekend.  The team started the Memorial Day Holiday weekend out by making the 9+ hour tow to The Dirt Track at Lowe’s in Charlotte, North Carolina for the Goodyear FASTRAK Challenge event.  The special event was limited to 50 entries and 47 drivers signed in for the night.  Before the racing action, Butch participated in an autograph session under the grandstands.  Track officials claim, that at times, the line of autograph seekers reached over a quarter of a mile in length! The atmosphere of the event was overwhelming, and we are very proud to have been fortunate enough to participate.

Butch pulled pill #28 and took the green for the heat event from the 4th place position. In front of the sold out crowd of over 15,000 race fans, he patiently worked the inside line and made a thrilling pass on the white flag lap to secure a 3rd place finish and a spot on the starting grid for the feature. We were thrilled to have made the show through the heat and felt that we had accomplished our #1 goal by just making the race.  He took the green flag in the feature from the 16th starting spot. A lap one spin in front of him cost him a few spots, but once the race restarted, he was on the move. Using the whole track, he started weaving through traffic. Coming for the checkered flag, he had a strong run down the backstretch and through 3 and 4 that allowed him to pull right up on the 9th and 10th place cars. Unfortunately, he just didn't have enough time and finished in 11th place, just about a foot shy of a top 10 finish.  Needless to say, we were ecstatic with his performance and very happy with our finish.  The race was won by Austin Dillon, the grandson of well-known Sprint Cup Car Owner, Richard Childress.  Not only was he on hand, but NASCAR stars Tony Stewart, Kasey Kahne, Steve Park & Clint Bowyer were also spotted roaming the pit area.

 After Butch's strong run at The Dirt Track at Lowe's on Friday night, the team was optimistic heading into the FASTRAK Southeast event at Wythe Raceway on Saturday night. Unfortunately, that optimism was short-lived, as we knew we were in trouble after hot laps. Butch qualified 33rd out of 40 cars, which put him in 7th on the starting grid for the heat. The crew worked diligently to try to get the car working better, but to no avail. He finished the heat in 6th, forcing him to run the B-main to try to make the feature. The crew went to work once again, but just could not find the magic set-up for the car. Although it was not through lack of effort, his 6th place finish in the b-main would not be good enough to make the feature starting grid, so we were done for the night.

Sunday morning we awoke to gloomy skies and a forecast of 60% rain for the Princeton, WV area. This, combined with the FASTRAK Northeast event at Mercer Raceway Park waiting for us on Monday, compelled us to make the decision to head for home. The team pulled out of Wytheville, Virginia a little after 10am and pulled into Tri-City Speedway around 5:30pm, just missing hot laps. Butch started and finished the heat event at Tri-City in 3rd place. The Invert Zero re-draw put him in 5th on the starting grid for the feature. The caution flag only flew one time in the event and this allowed the field to get spaced out with very little passing towards the end of the event. Butch crossed the finish line in 5th place, exactly where he had started.

We were thrilled to have survived three straight nights of racing with very little damage or issues and looked forward to having a strong run at Mercer Raceway Park on Monday for the Steel Valley Classic, FASTRAK Northeast Tour event. The night started off well with Butch racing his way from a 7th place start in the heat to a 3rd place finish. This secured him a spot in the feature event and put him in the re-draw for the top 12 starting spots. As luck would have it, he re-drew the 11th place spot to start the feature. The track had changed considerably from the heats to the feature, and alot of cars were struggling at the beginning of the race. A lap one crash shuffled the field and caused some confusion, but Butch re-started in 10th. He was running in about 8th place when disaster struck on un-lucky lap 13. A lead car spun going into turn one and Butch had no where to go and very little time to react. As a result, he crashed hard into the car sitting broadside in the corner, only to be hit two more times as other cars joined the crash. Luckily, Butch was able to walk away. The car, however, was not so fortunate. Both the left and right side front suspension was all but destroyed, and he also took a very hard hit to the left side rear quarter.

The crew took the day off on Tuesday to rest, but started to assess the damage on Wednesday. Their findings were not good. In addition to the front shocks, a-arms, and other suspension and steering parts, the chassis is also bent, not just in the front, but in the rear as well. There was heavy sheet-metal and cosmetic damage on both ends of the car also.

Unfortunately, we are forced to take this weekend off to re-group. We hope to have the car ready for next Friday's Pro Late Model event at Lernerville Speedway. We have also made the very difficult decision to pare our schedule back to racing one night at week at Tri-City Speedway (barring any specials). This crash has put a serious dent in our racing budget for the year, so unfortunately we will have to sit out some events. Hopefully this will be a short-term change and we will be back to also racing at Mercer Raceway Park on a weekly basis soon.

 Please remember to stop in at our newly designed website www.lambertracing.com for updates and scheduling.  You can also find a link to our Blog, with all the latest and greatest, on the “News” page of the website.

Butch Lambert and the Lambert Racing team would like to thank all of their sponsors and supporters for 2009: Bagel Bites, Austin's A1 Bleach, Fannie's Friends Pet Cremation Services, Fleming Tire & Auto, Lambert Plumbing, RAM Transit Lines, Inc., Kozminski Auto Body, BP Construction, Harmony's Angel Candle Co., Smardt Equipment, Woodward, Inc., Flinner Signs & Decals, C&D Embroidery, Mars Beer Distributor, Marburger Farms Dairy, Hotsy, B&E Mini Mart and Fleming Design Services. 

LAMBERT RACING ANNOUNCES LAUNCH OF RE-DESIGNED WEBSITE...
May 8, 2009 - Western Pa FASTRAK Crate Late Model Driver Butch Lambert is pleased to announce the launch of his re-designed website, www.lambertracing.com . The site was 're-freshened' by Fleming Design Solutions.

The site features information about Butch, his crew, and his sponsors, among other things. Fans can keep up to date on Butch's schedule which includes action in both his Crate Late Model and the Chuck Neely-owned E-Mod he pilots. The cars in the #27 stable will see action in Pennsylvania , Ohio , North Carolina , Virginia and West Virginia in 2009.

Butch stated “Our old site was in need of some updates and we noticed the awesome job that Fleming Design Solutions has been doing on several other driver sites. We gave Jason a call and he was able to provide us with a high-quality, professional looking site at a reasonable price. I would recommend his service to anyone who is considering a website.” When asked about his 2009 season so far, he proclaimed, “So far, 2009 hasn't started off as well as we would like.  We’ve had some strong runs but have had a couple of rough weeks lately.  We feel the car is very close and we just need some luck to come our way."

Butch would like to thank his 2009 sponsors and supporters: Bagel Bites, Austin's A-1 Bleach, RAM Transit Lines, Fannies Friends Pet Cremation Services, Smardt Equipment Inc., B.P. Construction, Inc., Kozminski Auto Body, Fleming Tire & Auto Service, C&D Embroidery, Mars Beer Distributor, Harmony's Angel Candle Co., Woodward Inc., B&E Mini Mart, Flinner Signs and Decals, Marburger Farms Dairy, and Fleming Design Solutions.
 


LAMBERT RACING PREPARED FOR 2009 SEASON...
January 7, 2009 - It's 2009 and it's almost time to go racing!  Work has started on both cars for the 2009 season and we are happy to announce that we will have a new look for 2009 as well.  We will be returning to Flinner Signs and Decals for our lettering this year and the emod will have an entirely new look!

I have been working diligently to get the new website up and running.  Hopefully we will be able to debut it before the start of the new season.

We are currently looking for Associate, Product and Primary Sponsors for 2009.  Please contact Robyn for more information at robyn@lambertracing.com.

Our first event is scheduled to be the Chiller Thriller at Mercer Raceway Park on March 28th where Butch will compete in the first event of the UEMS Series for Emods.  For now, we will have to settle for attending the Tri-City Speedway and Pittsburgh Circle Track Club Banquets to get our racing fix.