2/27/2008

Area Racers Sprint Toward Another Season
by Gene Ostrowski

Once Temperatures Heat up, Anderson’s Would Love to “Ice” the Competition
    Like a jet down the backstretch at Selinsgrove Speedway carrying speeds of over 125 MPH, Berwick's Charlie Anderson hangs on to his 358-sprint car and knows that it will stick to the clay surface as he heads into turn three.
   Without anything else on his mind and with 100% focus on the competition, Anderson completes the event with yet another eight-lap heat win during his '06 season and a successful stint the following year.
    Although the local ace often talks about retiring in the near future, Anderson spoke about his love for racing, family and plans for the upcoming season of racing. Racing plans not only for himself, but also his daughters, Amanda and Jessica.
    Anderson started his racing career at 18 years of age by drag racing at in the early 70s at Numidia Dragway and Maple Grove. He also street raced. Street racing was not exactly legal, yet many teens in the 60s and 70s compete against each other across the area on any given weekend. Sometimes the win offered pink slips, yet most often it was for cash. Laughing, Anderson said, “We made more money on State Road on a Saturday night than we did racing at the track on Sunday”.
    He began racing a late model stock car in 1976 at Beach Haven Speedway. At the track, Anderson raced with drivers such as Steve Laubach, Ed and Jimmy Spencer. He then made the haul to Selinsgrove, Hagerstown and Williams Grove and raced in the “CARS” series, which was promoted by Jack Gunn. The series consisted of a number of races at the three facilities, which had a combined points systems amongst the three tracks.

The Love of Racing
    Anderson also raced against the late Johnny Crawford, Sr. in the late model division at Selinsgrove during the late 70s. Crawford drove a Ford, as did Anderson. Matter of fact, they were the only two Ford drivers in the division at the time, which meant that the two began to talk about set ups and such. “We became good friends”, Anderson said of Crawford. Well, one thing led to another and Anderson began helping out in the shop and in turn, attended many of Crawford’s holiday and family functions, which is where he met his wife- Joni. “I was at all of these family gatherings and met Johnny’s daughter”. Smiling, Anderson said, “We’re still married to this day”. After a few seasons of piloting his late model, Anderson took a break and opened his own business, Anderson Enterprises in 1980.

“Follow Your Dreams”
    Fast-forward to the year 2000- before his father lost a battle to lung cancer, the elder Anderson told Charlie to live his dreams. Charlie said, “My dad and I worked side-by-side, yet he never told me he had cancer. “One day he told me that I work too much and need to take a vacation or do what I need to do to fulfill my life, even if it did involve racing again”. Always wanting to race a sprint car, Anderson took his father’s advice and began competing in the 358-sprint car division at Selinsgrove.
    Very different than the late model division for Anderson, the sprint cars were a learning curve. “Reaction is the key and timing is everything”, he said. “If you have to think about what you’re doing, you’re in trouble. “It’s still fun, but with the new generation coming up it’s also kind of scary at times”, noted Anderson.
    Anderson only missed a few shows in ’06 at Selinsgrove and said despite many engine problems throughout the year, he had some great runs. One of those strong finishes was a third place feature finish in the 25-lap event. “We unloaded that day and I was 0.5 seconds faster than anyone. “I passed a lot of cars in the feature, but just ran out of time and couldn’t get that first win”, he said. Even without a feature win, Anderson has had success over the last few seasons and was also named the division’s “most improved driver” in ’04.
    Even though Anderson loves the rush of wheeling his 358-sprint around the half-mile at Selinsgrove, he admits that he wouldn’t be disheartened if that first feature win eluded him before retirement. “I’m in it for the fun, but also for the commodore. “You make an ungodly number of friends through racing. “It’s like- on the track we’re all competitors, but off the track there are many friendships that have evolved”.

Charlie’s Angels
    Recently, Anderson’s two daughters joined forces with his race team. The first to sit in the driver’s seat was Amanda, who is a teacher for the Danville Area School District.
    Amanda jumped right into the big leagues with a 358-sprinter at Selinsgrove during the ’02 season. Anderson admits that he should have started her off at a slower pace. He said, “Selinsgrove was too fast for her, so we took her to Clinton County to race”. She was the ’02 Rookie of the Year at Clinton County.
    Knowing that Amanda needed a little more exposure to the open wheeled cars, Anderson said, “To put someone in a car- that’s not the way to start. “Amanda’s a very talented driver”, Anderson said.
    Since then, Amanda has run a few shows in the sprinter, but has spent most of her time concentrating on the micro sprint car at Selinsgrove Raceway Part and Greenwood Valley Action Track. She had one feature win late in the ’06 season at Greenwood.
    Anderson’s youngest daughter, Jessica, is a 16-year-old honor student at the Berwick Area High School. Although a high school junior, Jessica made her first micro sprint start in ‘05 at Selinsgrove Raceway Park. To the surprise of many, the racing natural grabbed two feature victories at the track. She also competed at Raceway Park and garnered a feature win there as well. The young talent might have half decent equipment, but in the game of micro sprint racing, time, patience and sometimes a little aggression plays a factor.
    Anderson expressed Jessica’s talent by saying, “Jesse’s going to be the racer in the family. “She’s totally race orientated and she won’t let anyone do things to the car unless she’s there”. Laughing he said, “Her Christmas present was tools, and she’s not a tomboy either. “She just wants to work on the car all the time”. Anderson noted, “You just can’t believe how she drives. “She’s not bashful, yet not reckless, but definitely not bashful”. His plan is put Jessica in the driver’s seat of the 358-sprinter within the next few seasons.
    Anderson’s middle daughter is Megan, who isn’t a driver or even a race fanatic. It doesn’t affect him one bit. “Megan’s definitely not interested in driving, which is fine”, Anderson expressed. He said that Megan still comes out to the track on occasion to show her support for her sisters on the track.

Hectic Schedule
    On Friday nights the family heads over to Selinsgrove Raceway Park. It is a 1/5th mile infield micro sprint track, which is located in the infield at Selinsgrove. After getting in late Friday night, Anderson is back to work on Saturday- then loads up and heads back to Selinsgrove to race his 358-sprinter. “It’s a pretty hectic schedule, but I enjoy it. “I still manage to run the business and have a lot of fun on the weekend with me and the girls racing”, he said.

Work on and off Track
    For any successful race team, much work and preparation has to go into the equipment. Anderson says that he spends at least twelve hours per week on his 358-sprinter, and that’s when it isn’t scratched, bent and damaged. He also said that an additional six to eight hours is spent on the micros. “Those things seem to shake off every nut and bolt when they run, so we have to go over them every week as well”, he said.

Where His Father Started
    Anderson has another racer in the family- his son, Charlie. Charlie spends his free time drag racing at Numidia Dragway in his ’96 Chevy Camaro. He also owns and operates CSA Performance, which is a chassis dyno shop in Berwick. Although Charlie doesn’t like to hit the drag strip as much as he would like, he keeps busy with his business and tuning his drag car.

Past to Present
    Anderson commented about the difference in racing over the last thirty years by saying. “Years ago, if you had a $10k late model, you pretty much had things wrapped up. “At the time (1979) the top prize in that division was $800 and now it’s $1000. “The difference is money. “It definitely cost more to race now, but guys are really taking things to extremes. “There was a crew last season that had new tires on the car every time it went on the track. “It didn’t matter if it was a heat, feature or even a consi, they always had fresh tires. “How, or why would people do that to win $1200 is beyond me”. Every driver or track will attest that operational costs have sky rocketed. Especially over the last fifteen years- and not only does it show with the number of drivers on the track, but also with the number of fans in the stands.

“If I had to decide on a friendship, or a feature win, I’d take the friendship”- Charlie Anderson
    Although he still looks for that elusive first feature win, Anderson does hold many heat wins to his credit. He plans to compete in the 358-sprinter again at Selinsgrove and also plans to field micro sprints for his daughters this season. Even though he’s suggested time and time again that retirement may be in the near future, judging by the excitement that was brought out when talking about racing- don’t expect Charlie Anderson to retire anytime soon!