FORESTVILLE — Last Friday night was another of many at Big Diamond Speedway for Slatington’s Kyle Follweiler.
And yet it was so different.
It was the first night without his grandfather, Raymond “Jack” Follweiler, watching him in the grandstand.
The elder Follweiler died July 11 after he was stricken while watching his grandson in the second of two 358 modified features.
The medical emergency forced a stop to the race. Kyle eventually won, a victory that Raymond Follweiler learned hours before he died at Geisinger Medical Center, Danville.
One week after the elder Follweiler was buried, Kyle returned to Big Diamond to drive once again.
“First of all, he would have wanted us to be here and, you know, it was an unfortunate event and he was a big part of what we do here,” he said. “But you know, we just come back and keep on going. It’s an unfortunate part of life. Everybody’s going to have to deal with it at some point.”
In fact, Kyle had already experienced it. In 2007, his grandmother died from cancer, an outcome much slower than the episode that claimed his grandfather.
The irony was that the episode came just before Kyle scored his second career win.
“We wanted to celebrate it because it’s been seven years since I won, and it took us a while to get close here again,” he said.
The fact that race leader Meme DeSantis’ car had run out of fuel during the red flag, putting Follweiler into the lead, only added to the surreal setting.
“We had plenty of fuel left,” Follweiler said. “We probably could have gone 100 (laps).”
Knowing some competitors gamble with less fuel to produce lighter and faster cars, Follweiler said, “I’m not even within 50 pounds of the rules (for minimum weight). It’s like I got a big block (engine) in there when I go across the scale, but I don’t.”
Unlike others, Follweiler added he doesn’t experiment with shock packages or weight distribution.
“I just know that if the car feels stable and feels pretty good in the corner, that’s what I’m going to go with,” he said.
Follweiler does have one advantage — heredity.
His father, Jack, has 20 modified victories and two track championships at Big Diamond in addition to 10 more wins, including two Forrest Rogers Memorial races, at Grandview Speedway in Bechtelsville.
Kyle Follweiler also looks back to his grandfather. Raymond Follweiler was a standout football and basketball player in the Class of 1955 at Slatington High School. He had an offer to play football at the University of California, but was unable to attend because of a family commitment.
“We’re just a competitive family. I don’t think we can just sit at home and go to the movies,” Kyle, 29, said. “I played football and baseball all the way until I was 23 years old, until I graduated from college.”
That competitive streak kept Follweiler returning to the track regularly as he was searching for that elusive second win.
But with a family-owned car, he has had to strike a balance between speed and the need to save expenses.
“When you’re bending stuff up and there’s a hole, are you going to hit the gas or are you going to slow up and try to wait a lap?” he said. “You can’t race like that, but that’s the difference.
“If you finish in the top 10, top five, three weeks in a row and that hole’s here, you’re going to go for it. If you bend stuff up over the past three weeks and you spent a couple thousand dollars in bills, it’s a little different mindset.”
Yet Follweiler doesn’t think about any competitive disadvantage. It’s just not in this family’s DNA.
“You just want to do something where you try to win,” he said. “You want to be a winner, you know.
“I think the days when you stop competing in anything, you stop trying to get better, not only as an athlete, but as a man.”
Today’s racing schedule
· Where: Big Diamond Speedway, Forestville
· When: 8:15 p.m. Gates open at 5:45 p.m.
· Program: 358 modifieds, roadrunners, street stocks, TSRS 305 sprints and enduro dash cars
· Admission: General admission, $15; senior citizens, $13; active military with identification, children ages 12 and under, free