Western Pennsylvania lost another link to its racing history when Emma Webster Garin passed away Saturday at age 86.

Although she and Nick Garin never married, they were together for more than 50 years. after more than a decade of planning and building, they realized a dream in 1979 when they opened a massive half-mile dirt track named Pittsburgh's Pennsylvania Motor Speedway in Imperial. When Nick fell ill in the late '80s, eventually passing away in 1990, Emma took on the role of speedway owner. She continued a lease agreement, which started in 1988, to have Red Miley and his team operate the facility.

Unlike many people in the racing business, Emma Garin never sought the spotlight. Her niece, Deborah Kay Czambel, said she always wanted to be in the background where nobody would see her, but she would be watching. After opening the facility, built with many elements from the long-gone Heidelburg Raceway where Nick raced in the late 1940s and '50s, Emma handled much of the business aspect of the track.

"She didn't like to get in the limelight," said Brian Underwood, who has worked at PPMS since it opened. "She did do the financial end and she'd collect the money at the gates on race nights. She took care of all the banking stuff, the insurance stuff, all the paperwork. Nick didn't do too much of that."

What they did share was devotion to racing. The two vacationed regularly at Daytona Beach, Fla., to watch the Daytona 500. After Nick passed away, her sister, Elnora Alters, said Emma still watched racing on television and would go to PPMS nearly every day. "It was something she held onto all this time," Alters said. "She thought a lot of it."

"Emma told me that when they laid the track out, Nick and her went around and put rocks around the edges where the track would be to cut it out," Miley said. "To build what they built, when most of the tracks were much smaller in the '70s, when everything was a quarter-mile or 3/8-mile, to build that track and the layout of that track was way ahead of its time. I think when you look at how the track was dreamed up is a credit to their thinking."

Miley, who owns Motordrome Speedway in Smithton, has a lease to operate the track through the end of the year and hopes to continue running the speedway beyond 2004 to honor the Garins and keep it from meeting the same fate as Heidelberg, which was turned into a shopping center.

Miley said there should be any changes for the balance of the season. He also dispelled the long-running rumor that the land the track is built on is owned by a coal company.

Emma Garin was buried yesterday in Melrose Cemetery in Bridgeville. She is survived by her sister, Elnora Alters, her brother, "Tip" Webster, and nieces Sue Carol McCullough and Deborah Kay Czambel. Based on her fondness for animals, Garin's family suggests memorial contributions be made to a local Humane Society or animal shelter.

Lugnuts

Lernerville Speedway welcomes back the All Star Circuit of Champions sprint car series tomorrow night for the completion of the Dave & Earl Bauman Memorial feature, which was postponed in August. There also will be a complete regular show.

Motordrome Speedway hopes the skies remain dry for a regular show tomorrow night. Motordrome's first special event of the season, Twin 50s for the late models, is May 21.

Pittsburgh Raceway Park features its first round of Pittsburgh Street Wars tomorrow night, followed by a regular show Saturday.

All five divisions will be in action Saturday at PPMS, with an open practice slated for Wednesday and Twin 20s set for May 15.

Jennerstown Speedway has its first practices on the new pavement this weekend. Gates open at noon Saturday with practice lasting from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. Gates open at 10 a.m. Sunday with practice lasting from noon to 6 p.m.

Arnie Kent will go for his second consecutive sprint victory and third of the season at Mercer Raceway Park Saturday after ending Jamie Smith's two-race win streak last weekend.

Cranberry native Travis Geisler will be back behind the wheel in the Gateway 250 NASCAR Busch Series race Saturday at 1.25-mile Gateway International Raceway near St. Louis.