KEVIN BOLLAND CLOSES ON WIN RECORD AT TRI-CITY SPEEDWAY
by Brian Spaid

May 12, 2006 

   Lou Blaney, Ed Lynch and Kevin Bolland are three men from three different eras with one thing in common.

   All of them will soon be tied as the DIRT Modified driver with the most career feature wins at Tri-City Speedway.

   Blaney and Lynch represent the old guard. Blaney, who hails from Hartford, Ohio, cut his teeth racing sprint cars in the 1960s on area tracks. In the late 1970s, Blaney started to experiment with the division that used to be known as Coupes. Driving a chassis built by the legendary Dick Tobias of Lebanon, Blaney quickly became a regular victor in the class, especially during the 1980s and 1990s. He is still the top winner at Sharon Speedway, Lernerville Speedway and Mercer Raceway Park.

   Lynch raced with Blaney, but his DIRT Modified prowess was established earlier than Blaney, who is a member of the DIRT Motorsports Hall of Fame. The Apollo Rocket was actually one of the rare breed of early 1970s crossover drivers. Competing in both Super Sprints and DIRT Modifieds, Lynch truly showed his dominance in the last half of the 1970s. During those years, he would win three or four times a week. He still holds the record at Tri-City for the most feature wins in a season, which are 10. And he did it twice – 1977 and 1980.

   Bolland, 46, of New Brighton entered the division as a true rookie in 1982. In fact, he has never driven in any other class. He entered the sport when Lynch’s dominance was coming to an end and Blaney was in the early years of his incredible DIRT Modified career.

   “I remember days when Lou would win and win and win,” recalls Bolland. “It’s nice to still have both of them around, even if they’re not racing. We’ve learned a lot from them. You paid attention when you raced with them on the track and learned more each time.”

   When Tri-City closed in 1987, Lynch was the top winner at 24 feature wins. His last win occurred in 1980. Blaney had only 15 victories. This was mainly due to the fact that Blaney raced at either Mercer or Sharon when Tri-City was in action. Bolland only had three victories at the half-mile track.

   Tri-City reopened in 1996 and Blaney found victory lane nine more times before his final win in 2001. For Bolland, however, success was more prevalent. Since 1996, Bolland has won 20 feature events and the 2000 track championship. With his win on opening day on April 30, he is now only one victory shy of tying two of the best DIRT Modified drivers in history.

   “I’d be honored to be the guy to break their record and set a goal for another driver,” said Bolland. “We’re never sure how long a record will last. It’d be nice to have it on our portfolio as the leading feature race winner at Tri-City.”

   Yet, Bolland is not necessarily concerned about the record.

   “We sort of never really worry about records,” noted Bolland. “We focus more on wins. When you win, everything else falls into place. Winning nowadays is tough with the competition we have now. In the days when records like the Tri-City feature win record were set, guys like Blaney, Lynch and Blackie Watt were above and beyond the competition. Today, wins are not as easy to come by. We get our fair share, but we’re always digging for more.”

   To date this season, Bolland and his entire team are thrilled with the performance of their red, white and gold Bicknell No. 777. So far, the team has two wins, two seconds and a fifth place finish in five feature events between Lernerville and Tri-City.

  “Things are off to a pretty decent start running two nights a week,” added Bolland. “All in all, we’d like to be running three nights a week, but our team got started late with mom’s illness.

   Rosalie Bolland gave the entire Bolland family and crew a scare when she was diagnosed with leukemia.  Rosalie has always been her son’s biggest supporter, even when he draws more ire from the fans for his success, dominance and hard-driving style. She loves her son, and loves racing just as much. But, this Mother’s Day, she’ll be home taking care of herself and wishing she was at the track to cheer on her racing hero.

   “Mom’s doing pretty good. The chemotherapy has been tough for her. She misses the racing, but her health is more important right now. If she can’t be there when we win, then we’ll bring the victories home to her.”

   And it would be a fine Mother’s Day gift if Bolland can score the record-tying win on Sunday night.

   The sponsors on Bolland’s DIRT Modified include Northland Ford of Zelienople, Cintas Uniform of Bridgeville and Youngstown, Brighton Hot Dog Shoppe and Bolland Machine of New Brighton, Bicknell Racing Products of St. Catharines, Ont., Butler Gas of McKees Rocks, Richmond Gear of Charlotte, N.C., Car Clean Products of New Castle, and D&S Auto of New Brighton.