Catchfence

For every championship racing driver who flashes across a computer or TV screen, a humble start at local tracks was the precursor to greatness.

A sophomore at Scranton Prep who is barely old enough to drive on public roads, Clarks Summit resident Jerry Tunney has been making waves on the motor racing scene, both locally and nationally. After spending much of his career racing on dirt tracks, including at Five Mile Point Speedway in New York, Tunney made the jump to racing on asphalt in 2011.

While he is done racing for the 2011 calendar year, Tunney is busy putting plans together for next season. He is hoping to move up to the super late model class of racing, and is also aiming for at least one start in an ARCA Series race.

From traveling to and from races each weekend, to learning the basics of everything from mechanical setup, to promotion and sponsor relations, the life a young race car driver is busy and demanding. But for those who stick with it, the ladder of career opportunities is there for the climbing.

And in the case of Clarks Summit resident Jerry Tunney, climbing the ladder- all the way to NASCAR, perhaps- is exactly the plan for the future.

A sophomore at Scranton Prep who is barely old enough to drive on public roads, Tunney has been making waves on the motor racing scene, both locally and nationally. After spending much of his career racing on dirt tracks, including at Five Mile Point Speedway in New York, Tunney made the jump to racing on asphalt in 2011. Running a full season of races- many of them at Mountain Speedway, in the town of St. John’s, Pa.- the young driver who displays the name of his hometown on his windshield is excited about the progress he made this year, both on and off the track.

- Wilkes Barre Times-Leader