Rick Miller is proving his championship run last year at Motordrome Speedway was no fluke. Like last year, Miller and his late model have started the season strong in the NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series, winning three of the five features the track has been able to sneak in around six rainouts.

Miller, who races with a fuel-injected motor, is ahead of Neil Brown, who uses a carbureted engine, by 16 points in the standings.

Brown, a two-time late model champion at Jennerstown Speedway, has won twice this season at Motordrome, site of the Cintas Twin 50s tomorrow night.

"The last couple of weeks, Neil has really stepped up his program," said Miller, who ranks third in the NASCAR Northeast Region standings.

"When the season started, we had the distinct edge in handling and our package was a little bit better. Neil, in the last couple of weeks, has gotten really good."

The pressure to master a setup for the half-mile asphalt speedway in Smithton will increase as the season progresses, especially if rain forces more cancellations.

To qualify for NASCAR points, competitors must race in 18 features. If rain persists, track officials will be forced to stack more features on race nights.

"The double features can work either for you or against you," said Miller, of Dunbar, Fayette County.

"If you're on a night where your setup is working well, double features aren't that big of a deal. If it's a night when your car's not handling as good as it should be, well, then it can make for a long evening."

In addition to the track title, Miller is aiming to become the Northeast Region champion. Last season, Motordrome competed in the Atlantic Region, where Miller finished fourth and region champion Mark McFarland, who raced at Old Dominion Speedway in Manassas, Va., was the national champion. McFarland collected more than $200,000 for his efforts.

"The way we look at it right now, if we can finish ahead of Neil then we'll more than likely win [each week]," Miller said. "Last year we watched Mark McFarland drive away from us. We were running second and third and feeling comfortable, but he was at his track winning every week. This year, we're making a concerted effort to stay on top of our game."

Cranberry speed

Lynn Geisler of Cranberry continues to win late-model races on dirt tracks in the region while his son, Travis, has hooked on in the NASCAR Busch Series. Lynn needs one victory for his 100th win at Lernerville Speedway. Travis finished 21st Saturday at Nashville Superspeedway and races again this Saturday at Kentucky Speedway in the Meijer 300.

Don Lampus, though, has to be the fastest driver in that Butler County township. At the NHRA Pontiac Excitement Nationals last weekend at National Trail Raceway in Hebron, Ohio, Lampus qualified his Top Fuel dragster 13th with a pass of 4.692 seconds at 306.12 mph, which was enough to maintain his NHRA license. In the Sunday eliminations, though, Lampus went out in a ball of fire after his engine let go against Scott Kalitta.

"The car had five passes on it and right out of the box it ran a [4.849-second pass], which I'm real proud of the guys for that," said Lampus, a former NHRA rookie of the year who recently returned to Western Pennsylvania after living in Texas. "We had a problem with a slide valve that kept leaking on us so probably each time we went down the track we had a different tuneup in it because we couldn't get the thing to work right. Finally on Saturday night we pulled it out and put another tuneup in it and then, whoops, we had driver error. I felt it pulling away from me but I wasn't going to give up until it went kaboom. We fireballed it pretty good."

Lugnuts

Tomorrow is Fan Appreciaton Night at Lernerville Speedway. ... Pittsburgh's Pennsylvania Motor Speedway is featuring the limited late model division Saturday. ... Jenners-town will run two 15-lap races for the Charger division Saturday. ... Tomorrow at Pittsburgh Raceway Park is Subcompact Madness followed Saturday by a regular show with a Quick 16, where the top eight dragsters and door cars will square off. ... All five divisions will be in action Saturday at Mercer Raceway Park. ... Latrobe Speedway has a regular show Sunday.