It's not unusual for drivers to travel two or three hours to race at speedways around Western Pennsylvania. But Saturday, one driver might set a distance record when the IPOWER Dash Series rolls into Motordrome Speedway in Smithton.

Kevin Williams of Fayetteville, N.C., is an army contractor for Kellogg, Brown & Root. He currently is working in southern Iraq as a security coordinator, providing protection for soldiers and civilians. But Saturday, Williams will complete an 18-hour trip from Iraq to race in the U.S. Foodservice 150 at Motordrome.

A former member of the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division, Williams will be driving the No. 00 car, better known as the "All American." In fact, every driver in the field will race a car better identified by a name rather than a number in an effort to give the cars personality when fans are most likely unfamiliar with the drivers in this touring series.

Other cars are named "Slingshot" and "Bandit," or even "Empty Pockets," in the case of one driver who found he was spending excessive money on racing. The numbers have been reduced to a 20-inch circle in front of the rear wheel.

"We are creating a new identity with the cars, giving them a character," series president Buck Parker said. "We want to build a relationship with the existing fan, as well as add fun and new fans to the sport."

The cars competing in the IPOWER Dash Series, a 30-year-old circuit most recently known as the Goody's Dash Series, are Toyota Celicas, Mercury Cougars and Pontiac Sunfires outfitted with V-6 engines that produce approximately 325 horsepower.

At Motordrome the cars should race at about 100 mph, and the field is expected to be about 20 cars deep.

In addition to the U.S. Foodservice 150, the regular Motordrome modifieds and street stocks will compete, with fireworks to follow the racing. Gates will open at 5:30 p.m. with qualifying at 6, a chance for fans to meet the drivers and see the cars up close at 7, and the feature at 8.

Outlaws reign again

Ed Lynch Jr. of Apollo wasn't able to defend his Silver Cup title Tuesday night at Lernerville Speedway, where Sammy Swindell drove off with his 15th career victory at the Sarver dirt track. In the previous running of the Silver Cup two years ago, Lynch held off Tim Shaffer to become the first weekly racer at Lernerville to win the event.

Lynch, who has 71 career sprint victories at Lernerville, was the fastest local qualifier, and fifth quickest overall with his lap of 13.052 seconds around the 0.4 of a mile speedway.

He finished 19th in the feature, the top performance by any track regular, but by that point he was in a backup car and never in contention.

In a heat race, Lynch was stuck behind a side-by-side fight between Swindell and Dale Blaney with no room to pass. That relegated him to the B-Main feature, where he had a chance to win before his motor failed. He used a promoter's provisional to make the 26-car field for the main event.

"The car was real fast and felt really good," Lynch said. "Then I could smell that bad smell, the smell of death to a motor. I just pulled it out of gear and shut it off. They allowed us to start scratch and bring out the other car, but it really wasn't right. We didn't have enough time to mess with it that much."

Lynch and fellow Lernerville competitor Chad Hill plan to race against the Outlaws again July 28 at Sharon Speedway before heading to Knoxville, Iowa, for the Nationals in mid-August.

Hill, of Cowansville, started on the pole and won his heat race, but couldn't recover in the feature when Outlaws rookie Jason Sides ran into him on the first lap.

"We don't normally run with the Outlaws because I never felt we could be competitive," Hill said. "We don't have a good qualifying motor, but we have an outstanding qualifying car. We started on the pole in the heat race and we walked away with it, so we can be competitive with these guys."

Lugnuts

Lernerville, Motordome, Pittsburgh's Pennsylvania Motor Speedway and Jennerstown Speedway have regular shows on their normal racing nights this weekend. ... Mercer Raceway Park will feature $1,300-to-win winged and wingless features for sprints as well as for American Race Drivers Club midgets.