By Tony Veneziano 

Lucas Wolfe is pretty well versed in the rivalry between the Pennsylvania Posse and the World of Outlaws. After all, he has been associated with both sides during different times of his career. 

The 31-year-old cut his teeth on the Central Pennsylvania sprint car circuit before hitting the road with the World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series for a handful of years. Wolfe returned to full-time racing in his home state a few years ago and is one of the drivers who carries the torch for the “Posse” when the Outlaws come to town. 

The first visit of the season for the Outlaws to Central Pennsylvania is this week, with a trio of races. First up, is the Gettysburg Clash at Lincoln Speedway on Wednesday, followed by two nights at the famed Williams Grove Speedway for the Morgan Cup on Friday and Saturday. Wolfe, who is a second-generation driver, grew up in Mechanicsburg, in the shadows of “The Grove.”

“It’s a long-storied history, with many different chapters over the years,” Wolfe explained. “I think the level of local competition and the number of races we run here a year gives it a little bit of a special feel. Many of the tracks that the Outlaws go to are one-offs for sprint cars on the schedule throughout the year.

“Being in Central Pennsylvania, fans have the chance to watch sprint cars two, three and even four times a week. Sprint car racing is a cornerstone of our whole area. We are sprint car-specific. Anytime a national touring body comes in, things are amped up. With the Outlaws, it’s a whole different level.”

While the car counts grow and the intensity level increases when the World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series invade Central Pennsylvania, Wolfe takes the approach of treating it like any other week or preparation at the shop. 

One main difference, though, is the focus on qualifying, which plays a vital part in the way the Outlaws format plays out over a race night.

“You plan the best you can, especially with the emphasis on being good early in the night in time trials,” he noted. “You try to save your best engine or make sure you have one that is fresh and try to make sure you have a car that you are happy with. You’ll put fresh body panels and things like that to make sure you are at the ‘Outlaw level’ and be as prepared as possible. The reality is, though, you are just going to the track for another night of racing. It just happens to be the World of Outlaws, who you are racing against. You do the same things for a local show that you do for an Outlaws show.”

Wolfe, who was the 2008 Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year award winner with the World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series, spent five seasons on the road with the series, between 2008 and 2012. During that span, he finished among the top 10 in points four consecutive years. Wolfe also earned his first-career Outlaws win in 2012 at Bloomington Speedway in Indiana. 

While on the road, he always looked forward to getting to race close to home for a couple of reasons.

“The Outlaws schedule is daunting at times and the level of competition is so high that sometimes you could use a little bit of a break to get home and be at a track you are familiar with to get a good result and build some momentum with,” Wolfe shared. 

“You always hoped it would catapult to the next trip you were heading out on. The opportunity to come home and see people you were used to seeing was always great as well. When you race locally, you get to see those folks all the time, but when you are on the road, you only get to see them a handful of times a year. When I was out there, most of my sponsors were from Central Pennsylvania or the Northeast, so it was always great to get back home to see them and for them to get to see us.”

The last several years a new chapter has been added to the Outlaws vs. Posse rivalry and that is the running of the Morgan Cup. The event honors Morgan Hughes, the late owner of Williams Grove Speedway. The winning organization gets the actual Morgan Cup to display at their headquarters for the next calendar year. 

If the Outlaws win, the Cup goes back to Concord, NC. If a PA Posse driver wins, it stays right at Williams Grove.

“It's great to have unique events like the Morgan Cup,” Wolfe stated. “It pays very well and it’s a huge commitment to do that. It adds a little bit of spice to the rivalry. It’s great to have marquee events and to continue to grow events and make things even better. The Morgan Cup has certainly done that. They have gone through a couple of different versions of how they structure it. All things considered, I think it’s great to continue to improve the sport on both the side of the Outlaws and the local tracks.”

The World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series will contest a total of nine nights of racing in Central Pennsylvania this season at three different tracks. In the spring, the series visits Lincoln Speedway and Williams Grove Speedway. In the summer, the series returns to “The Grove” for the Summer Nationals. During the fall, the series makes their final stop of the year at Williams Grove for the National Open, which this year pays a record $56,000 to the winner. Also, a two-night event will be contested at Port Royal Speedway on October 26-27.

“I think it’s great that our area shows it can support that volume of Outlaws races throughout the year,” Wolfe said. “It adds variety as well, getting to some of the different venues. Lincoln (Speedway) and Port Royal (Speedway) are longtime operating facilities and good tracks and places that the Outlaws belong at. It’s the best way that Pennsylvania can showcase our big events is to get a variety of all the tracks. I’ve been very pleased the last few years that we’ve been able to branch out a little bit in regards to Outlaws shows in the area.”

Wolfe will pilot the No. 24 machine for the Barshinger Racing team during all of the World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series events in Central Pennsylvania. While the bulk of his season will be in that car, he also will run the familiar No. 5W from time to time. The 31-year-old ran the No. 5W in Florida in February.

“It offers me a very good opportunity to run some extra races throughout the year,” he noted. “There are a handful of shows in New York throughout the year and some double-headers in Pennsylvania at our weekly events, where 360s run as a support division. I get the opportunity to run a handful of special shows like Florida this year. I plan on doing Bridgeport next week in the 5W. It’s good to have another option. Hopefully, with two teams, I can keep them both a little fresher, which puts you in a better position to challenge for better results.”

Wolfe has been close to winning with the World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series in the past in Central Pennsylvania. This season, he has won twice so far, once at Williams Grove in weekly competition and once at Port Royal with the United Racing Club (URC). Wolfe has six top-10 finishes thus far in 2018 at the Grove, with three of those being top fives. At Lincoln, he has finished sixth or better in all four of his starts, including a couple of runner-up finishes.

“We've been good,” Wolfe said. “It’s certainly tough to win at any of those tracks in local races. We’ve had some strong runs at Outlaws shows around home in the past and just never quite got everything worked out. We’ve been running pretty consistent and I think we are fairly good. We’ll keep working hard, and hopefully, we'll be able to factor in when everything is said and done.”