This past Friday, the racing world lost Jean Lynch of Apollo, Pa.

In my mind, she is the first lady of auto racing. She did everything but drive a racecar. She was a scorer and timekeeper for the Indianapolis 500, NASCAR, Cart, and an official for many sanctioning bodies including DIRT and the All-Star Circuit of Champions.

Locally, she was at one time the General Manager at Sharon, Tri-City, and West Virginia Speedways. She handled many duties at Lernerville Speedway. She served on the board of directors for the All Stars and was the coordinator for the original Ohio Sprint Speedweeks. She also promoted racing events at several other race tracks.

In addition, she was a publicist for National Speed Sport News as well as other publications. She was inducted into the National Sprint Car Hall Of Fame, DIRT Motorsports Hall of Fame, Lernerville Speedway Hall of Fame, as well as the Pittsburg Circle Track Hall of Fame.

She sold tickets, signed in drivers, scored events, promoted the race and worked the souvenir trailer. She married Ed Lynch a racer who won 113 Modified features and 27 Sprint car features. Her son Ed Lynch Jr. has won 105 features at Lernerville Speedway and is the all-time Sprint car winner at Sharon Speedway with 50 wins. Grandson Sye Lynch is now racing Sprint cars and making a name for himself.

If you ever met her she had a smile and could talk with anyone. We lost an auto racing legend a true pioneer. I know of no woman with such a vast knowledge of racing who has done everything except drive a racecar. She will be missed by many.

This Saturday night, Sharon Speedway will honor another true racing legend, Lou Blaney. Father of Dave and Dale, and grandfather of NASCAR star Ryan Blaney. From 1961 to 1980, Lou won over 200 Sprint car races before switching to the big block Modifieds, earning another 400 victories and numerous track championships. He was always a gentleman and was known for his sportsmanship. I swear I saw him win so many times when he made a move on the last corner of the last lap as he stretched for the checkered flag.

In reality, I believe he could have passed much earlier but he wanted to put on a show for the crowd. Of all the drivers from our region, only two have made it to NASCAR, his son and grandson. I could fill the page with Lou’s wins and what a great person he was. He passed away in January 2009 after battling Alzheimer’s. Much of the program will be geared toward the Ryan Blamey Family Foundation battling Alzheimer’s disease.

The program will feature The All-Star Circuit of Champions for $10,000 to win along with the BRP Tour Modifieds.

It promises to be a great event with many of the country’s top dirt stars. Come see why grassroots racing is becoming so popular.