Lake County Speedway Drivers Bios

CHUCK SADAR

MY START: I have been a gear head my whole life. I had an in-law family that had raced for years! I had seen the drama, the time and the money that went into a racing lifestyle, and tried to avoid it at all cost! An in-law of mine had a car he wasn’t racing, a Ford Grenada (roll-me-over Ford, so I have been told), and was bugging me to drive it. I fought this tooth and nail! Then one night my wife, who is an avid fan and has been going to the track for years, came home after a night of racing and indulging and got on my butt about not driving Steven’s car! When she said, “What, are you scared? Your 16-year-old niece (Natasha Rossi) does it!” well, that hit a nerve! The next day, a call was made. Two weeks later, my career began!
NUMBER: I never had any number mean anything to me, so picking one was a little hard. A brother-in-law (Mike Brzozowski — yeah, there were four at that race) was 99, and I wanted something rare. So 00 it was!
WORST NIGHT: It’s a toss-up between when I short-shot the gap and got caught in the middle, and when the throttle stuck and I hit the wall in the feature. Both sucked really bad and cost me weeks of racing!
HEROES: Sorry to all the great drivers, but my heroes are my wife and kids! They deal with Daddy working on the car, they know on a bad night to leave Daddy alone, and they cheer for me even when I’m in last place!

MELVIN W. MARTIN III

MY START: Well, my start to the racing bug began when I was very young. When I was growing up, Arnett “Pops” Titus lived four houses up, and his nephew (Steve Smith #11) drove for quite a few years. Then when Tom Dugan, Jeremy Holbrook and Brian Workman started taking over that ride, I was constantly over there. I mean I lived a mile away from the track. Everybody in the park had a racecar at that time! My first true experience on the track was in Scott Skufca’s #99 Camaro. Well that did me in (along with nearly making me wet myself). Since them, Skufca, Gums, Josh Bee, Jim Bee and my now-ex Linna gave me the tools to get back racing in ’07.
NUMBER: This one was kind of a toss-up, but I remember when I went to the track with Pops. I didn’t even root for their car when it was in the big dawgs. I proudly obtained my number from Dan “Gums” Zundel, #68.
WORST NIGHT: Well there’s no question here: May 12, 2007 in my Mustang, when I got blasted on the red flag by Mat Rowan.
BEST NIGHT: Hands-down, the night I won the Figure 8 feature, May 3, 2008. Fighting Tom Hayden for that win was sweet, let alone the hardest I’d EVER driven a car!
HEROES: Well, my hero at Painesville (now Lake County Speedway) has to be Dan Zundel, but beside Gummy Bear (LMFAO), it has to be Auggie. The nights that he would park the white and black wagon in the turn 2 pit, and all you would see was a burst of fire extinguisher out of the roof — those were the days!
WINS: Well, in 2007, I won a heat and a pursuit (through three Mustangs). In 2008, I won 11 races, four dashes, three heats, three pursuits and one feature. I would like to thank Josh and Daphne Bee, Trigger, Robbie (soon-to-be #86), Linna, Carl, Ryan #1, Greg #89 and the rest of my fans for this season.

DYLAN SHARP

MY START: Well, let’s see. I’ve been watching racing my whole life. I was raised at the track watching my cousin Micky, number 47B, and Chad Tekavic, 47F, who’s also the reason I wanted to run Figure 8. Then my dad, Jim Sharpe, number 44B, got a new car, and I started working on race cars and fell even more in love with racing. Then last year, I got my chance to race, and even though the car was junk and I got beaten, I still got hooked on racing. After my first night of racing, nothing else I did could come close to how much fun I had that night.
NUMBER: I was car number 86, but that wasn’t my number, so I changed it this year, and now I’m number 147. The reason I want that is because I really have no choice thanks to my friend Tekavic, and it’s rightfully his, so KEEP IT. But 47 is my football number, and two of my favorite drivers’, Mickey and Chad’s. My dad’s also my favorite driver, but 44 isn’t my number. The divisions I have raced are Street Stock and Figure 8, and that’s it.
HEROES: My hero is my dad. If it wasn’t for him, my car wouldn’t be out there every week. He puts my car before his, which is why he won’t be out the first night, and I want to say thanks, Dad. And my other heroes are the rest of the Figure Eight guys. Every meeting I’ve been to, they ask me what I think. Just little stuff like that makes me feel all warm inside.
BEST NIGHT: Let’s see, my best night of racing would probably be my first night.
WORST NIGHT: My worst would be that last race of the year, when my car wouldn’t start.
WINS: I have not won any races yet, but I’m looking for my first win this year. And all my wins are for my mom, who I know is still watching me race from up above. See ya’ll Saturday!

CHAD TEKAVIC

MY START: Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been coming to Painesville Speedway (now Lake County Speedway) in hopes of one day racing there. I’ve always loved the racing, and there was something about the Figure 8 that always drew me in and got my blood pumping. When I was in high school, the speedway was one of the first places I would take a girl on a date. If she didn’t like it, she was gone! I got my start in 1995 driving an old, bent, dog-tracking Chevelle. Our parents had recently divorced, so my brother and I didn’t get to see much of each other during this time. I figured that getting a car might be a good way for us to spend time together. Honestly, I didn’t know much about cars, and Scott was in school at Auburn Career Center for it. Our father spotted me a few bucks, and we bought it. I maybe raced four or five weeks my first year, but it was AWESOME! There was a “survival of the fittest” mentality that loomed over the entire Figure 8 feature back then. Craig Marving and Robert Raab could’ve “retired” me in the X during my first Figure 8, but somehow I escaped intact, and with the most incredible adrenaline rush.
NUMBER: When I started, the numbers that you could choose from were pretty limited. I chose my number because it was my football number in high school.
HEROES: I enjoy NASCAR and have my favorites, but when I was growing up, the drivers that I looked up to were the hometown heroes that ran at Painesville Speedway. Augi “The Dog” Landsmann was my number-one favorite. He always had time to sign an autograph, which I still have to this day. I grew up in Grand River, so I was automatically a fan of Jeff Marvin and Ron “Cowboy” Zahursky. Kyle Mattson Sr., Gordon Allen, Joe March, Dan Fults, Herb Reynolds, Mickey Caranci and Jeff Kokish are a few that come to mind.
WINS: In the early 2000s, I was as hard-chargin’ as they come. Many trophies were brought home, and even a championship. I had the Eye of the Tiger. I am now about to enter my 13th year of racing. There have been many highs and lows along the way, but certainly no regrets. I won some and lost some. Been there, wrecked that. However you want to put it. The one thing that I can say, without hesitation, is that I wouldn’t have changed a thing.