Published: April 28, 2023
Beth Ann Miller
Senior Steven Lakin, 18, of Boswell and sophomore Will Hemminger, 17, of Stoystown, have each grown up around the half-mile track, as both belong to families with a history in short-track racing.
Steven is the son of Zane and Kristin Lakin, of Boswell, and Will is the son of Michael and Jenny Hemminger, of Stoystown.
On April 21, these two young race car drivers brought their cars to Boswell to share their passion for racing with other North Star High School students at the school’s athletic field.
Lakin may be in his second season behind the wheel, but this will be his first season driving his new Howe late model chassis race car. In his rookie season in 2021 at Jennerstown, he finished 10th overall in the Fast Fours division. He then took off the 2022 season to build his new race car, which he now plans to take to a number of racetracks this season, including Jennerstown Speedway, Anderson Speedway in Indiana and Painesville Speedway in Ohio.
“I joined a race team (Albert Francis Racing), and this is what they drove. I thought about getting into it, and I did,” he said.
Before Lakin got behind the wheel, he was his mother’s crew chief for about six years, including the four seasons she raced in the four-cylinder division at Jennerstown. When Jennerstown Speedway reopened in 2014, Steven was 10 years old and the youngest crew chief at the track, Kristin Lakin said.
“He called the shots, he called what changes had to be made, he was the one screaming in my ear telling me where somebody was, where I was,” she said.
Now the roles are reversed, and Kristin is her son’s crew chief and spotter.
“Do we have some tension when he’s on the track and I’m giving him directions? Definitely,” she said. “It takes a lot of dedication on his end to listen to me, because I become no longer your parent, now I am your boss. That’s a hard lesson to learn for any child.”
Steven said his first Pro Stocks race at Jennerstown this season is still to be determined. Fans can follow his racing itinerary through his Facebook page, Steven Lakin Racing. After graduating from North Star, he wants to continue racing and eventually be a driver in the NASCAR truck series.
“Steven has had four different NASCAR drivers approach him at different tracks, as they were traveling around with the (Albert) Francis team,” Kristin said. “He’s met countless NASCAR and truck series drivers (and) that has driven him now to work even harder, because now he wants that goal.
"I tell you, if it wasn’t for Mike Belardi (director of racing operations) at Jennerstown introducing him to Albert Francis, moving up to this division would probably not have been possible. They have put countless hours, taking him under their wing, and traveled with him across the country racing. We owe them everything.”
Will Hemminger will start his fourth season behind the wheel on Saturday, when opening night kicks off the 2023 racing season at Jennerstown.
He said he’s looking forward to having fun at the racetrack, and hopes that some of the momentum he had at the end of last season will return this season.
“Last year was a little stressful … we won the first race but after that we just couldn’t get it gripped up,” he said. “The second half (of the season), we won four out of the last six races, so we started getting better and hopefully we can keep it going."
Hemminger finished in fourth place last season in the Pro Stocks division, where he won five races, finished in the top five 13 times and in the top ten 19 times (out of a total of 20 races). Two years ago (the 2021 season), he won the points title in his first year in Pro Stocks, driving the same No. 76 car with the Port City chassis that he plans to race again this season.
He said his car’s number and its new paint scheme this season are a tribute to his grandfather, Larry Hemminger, a former driver and one of the current owners of the Jennerstown Speedway.
“This year we did a new paint scheme, yellow and black, like my pap raced back in the day,” Will Hemminger said. His father, Michael Hemminger, races in the Late Model division at Jennerstown and a brother used to race as well.
Hemminger said he enjoys working on his car and driving it around the half-mile oval on Saturday nights.
“Going to the races, and winning, is pretty fun, and driving the car,” he said, “but I have the most fun at the shop, working on it. Being with people that help me along the way.”
He’s also on the golf team at North Star, and he’s looking forward to going on a fishing trip to Canada with his family this summer.
"(Racing is) what I have the most fun doing,” Hemminger said. “If I’m lucky enough, I’ll keep doing it.”
