'Big R': Scott Kerwin returning for some fun in 2021

Veteran Scott Kerwin is returning to Ransomville Speedway and adding his name to the competitive Investors Service Sportsman division. Kerwin will be behind the wheel of the Dirt Rocket Racing No. 1 for Bubby Pawlak.

“Over the winter, Bubby told me that he would like me to drive his car in the Sportsman division for the 2021 season,” Kerwin said. “Bubby said that it was no pressure, just having fun and maybe have a couple of beers; so, I figured I’ve been out a couple of years so why not one more year?”

Kerwin returned in 2019 to drive the Pawlak No. 1 on a handful of occasions. He was victorious on the Sid Jeffery Memorial Night and won the 2019 appearance by the Sportsman Super DIRTcar Series.

The partnership started when Pawlak wanted to race in the Kevin’s Carpet Cleaning Novice Sportsman division prior to the 2017 racing season.

“When Bubby bought a car and wanted to race, we took our team down to his shop and we all worked together like we still do today, which makes it nice,” Kerwin said.

Pawlak raced for three seasons and won eight feature events and several qualifying heat races over that span.

“For 2021, we might race here and there,” Pawlak said. “I’m going to sit back and take care of the car for Scott. I started helping Scott as a sponsor back in the 1980s and, when I wanted to get into racing a handful of years ago, he was there helping me.”

Right now, the plan for the Dirt Rocket Racing No. 1 is to attend the DIRTcar Sportsman opener at CanAm Speedway on April 10 along with the race at Land of Legends Raceway in Canandaigua, prior to the Ransomville Speedway 2021 race season.

Kerwin’s Dirt Rocket Racing No. 1 is sponsored by HyTech Concrete, Can American Stone Spreaders, Sunset Bar & Grill, Rutland-Corwin Funeral Home, HTI Tire Recycling, SANY and Wendt’s Propane Oil. The car will be wrenched by Pawlak, Mike Seefeldt, Nik Lange, Johnny Cocco, Aidan Seefeldt, Pete Cocco, John Villella and Brad Duhow, with special thanks to Bill Hebler and Mike Elia.

If Kerwin ends the season on top of the point standings, it will be his seventh overall track title at “The Big R,” and fifth in the Sportsman division (1990-92, 2004).

“If it happens to win the track title, that would be cool, but it doesn’t really matter to me anymore,” Kerwin said. “We are going to have some fun and hopefully win a few races in a class that is very competitive.”

There is a healthy mix of youth and experience in the Investors Service Sportsman division at Ransomville Speedway. Add in the four-time divisional champion Kerwin to an already tough field, and it sets up one of the toughest and competitive fields of cars in all of DIRTcar Northeast Sportsman racing.

Ransomville Speedway is located on Braley Road in the hamlet of Ransomville. “The Big R” is a 3/8th-mile DIRTcar-sanctioned facility that is the “Home of the Summer Nationals.” It also features a 1/16th-mile go-kart track for action on the “Little R” on Thursday nights. For more information, visit www.ransomvillespeedway.com or call 716-791-3602 or 716-791-3611.