FORESTVILLE
By all appearances, Big Diamond Speedway's practice session Sunday had a team visiting from western Pennsylvania.
The 358 modified, sporting number 97, had a Mercer-based sponsor on the rear panels and a prominent western Pennsylvania mechanic's name, Merle Black, on the engine hood. Showing signs of wear, the car also had four stickers on the left rear window, denoting the number of features it has won.
The car's owner-driver, Paul Moyer, then spoke.
"I left them on there to fool people," he says with a grin.
Moyer would like nothing better than to demonstrate the car's winning reputation when Big Diamond opens its season at 3 p.m. Sunday with a program of 358 modifieds, sportsmen and roadrunners.
Instead, he will settle for experience, something he also got with last Sunday's open practice.
A 39-year-old rookie, a resident of Beavertown in Snyder County, will resume a lifelong love in the 2014 season.
"I got all of the things in life in order, pretty much where I need to be financially," he said. "I guess I always wanted to drive a race car, but I never wanted it to take away from my family."
Many signs pointed Moyer's life toward a speedway.
Living in the heart of sprint car
territory, Moyer grew up around the sport. A cousin, Roger Moyer, raced sprint cars and Paul competed in go-karts between the ages of 8 and 14. Then Paul moved into a micro midget for three more years.
"Then I got out of racing pretty much for a while," Moyer said, adding the reason with a shrug: "Girls."
As the years passed, Moyer found not only a wife and a family, including a child currently 10 months old, but also a career. His business, Moyer's Home Improvements, has enough work that he has five employees and the income to support his new hobby.
Living five miles from Beaver Springs Dragway, he once rode motorcycles there, but said he prefers the experience of muscling a car through turns. A one-time attempt at piloting a sprint car at Clinton County Raceway was a reminder that he wanted to return to oval track racing.
Moyer then found his current modified, a Teo-Pro chassis previously campaigned by Greenville's Rod Artman throughout western Pennsylvania, for sale online. Speaking by telephone from Mercer, Black said the car had not been raced in a long time, but he was confident the engine he built would still be competitive.
"I'd think that car should be pretty good," Black said.
What mattered to Moyer was the car was available for the right price.
"It's pretty expensive to race a sprint car, so I think I'm going to start in this venue here and see where this goes once," Moyer said. Then nodding to his modified, he added, "All in all, I'd really like to have a sprint car but, I don't know, I have to admit that's pretty fun. I think I'm going to like this."
Last Sunday's practice required plenty of adjustments by Moyer, who was admittedly concerned before he took the No. 97 on the track for the first time.
"It's a different feel," he said. "It rolls you over (in the turns) a little bit. It's a lot different (than a sprint car). Just the way it has me sitting in there, I feel more confined sitting in one of these, to be honest with you, and I think it's just because of all of the panels in there."
However, as last Sunday wore on, Moyer found himself getting closer in lap times with the other 358 modifieds on the track.
"I didn't give it enough throttle to make it drive good," Moyer said about his first attempt. "You've got to drive these with the throttle. I've got to learn to use my foot, my right foot, a little more to drive it."
Achieving that goal later in the practice, Moyer plans to return Sunday to begin a weekly tradition.
"Well, 358 mods don't run real close to us out there," he said about Snyder County. "This is the closest, which is an hour, 20 minutes away, and we figured this would be a good place to get our feet wet. It seems like a lot of heavy hitters are down here that could teach me something."
Big Diamond often welcomes some of the best modified drivers on the East Coast, but Moyer is happy to lose and learn from them rather than drive a sportsman, which has less horsepower.
"I was going to do that, but I thought, 'I'm spending all of this money already. I'm going to go right to the 358 mods because that's all where we want to be,' " he said. "I had the money to get one, and I got a pretty decent deal, I think, to get one."
Therefore, some western Pennsylvania businesses initially will get some free publicity as Moyer circles the Forestville oval.
Wishing to put his own Snyder County sponsors before the Big Diamond crowd, he said, "I have a straight, plain white body and I'm going to get it on (the car), but I might put a couple of weeks in just so. In case I mush it up, I'll still have a nice body.
"I'll know after next week, when you've got to use the throttle out there, you know."
Season Opener
When: Sunday, March 30
Schedule: Gates open at 1 p.m.; warm-up laps at 2:30 p.m.; program begins at 3 p.m.
Divisions: 358 modifieds (30 laps for $3,000 to win, $300 to take the green), sportsmen (20 laps for $1,000 to win) and roadrunners (20 laps for $300 to win)
Admission: Grandstand admission - $20 for adults, $18 for seniors, active military and students ages 13 to 17 (all with ID), and free for childrean 12 and under. Pit fees - $30 for members and $40 for non-members. Fans who bring their wrist bands from the last race of the 2013 season will receive $2 off grandstand admission.