Certain things are expected in Western Pennsylvania racing: Ed Lynch Jr. will win more times than he doesn't, John Flinner will drive aggressively and draw the ire of a fellow racer, and a Phil Lukon-owned car will win the late-model championship at Pittsburgh's Pennsylvania Motor Speedway.

Well, Dave Wade can't do anything about Lynch and he's too calm to let Flinner get under his skin, but he is on pace to end the three-year reign of Lukon's cars at PPMS.

After not winning more than one race in a season or finishing higher than fifth in the standings since 2001 when he moved into the top-tier division, Wade has four wins this season, including a thriller last Saturday when he held off Lou Bradich.

That victory gave Wade a 67-point lead in the standings over Steve Baker and an 88-point lead over Al Atallah, who had won the past two titles in Lukon's car. Keith Barbara drove Lukon's car to the 2001 championship.

But don't expect to see Wade hooting and hollering about it. That's not his style.

"You can't be emotional when you're out there," said Wade, who won the 1998 and 2000 limited late model titles at PPMS.

"Racing is 90 percent mental. If you can outthink them, or mentally if you have a good setup for that night, you can do good. If you're out there yelling and screaming and getting mad at the guy in front of you or getting mad because you got passed, you're beat.

"If someone passes you and you get mad at him, that guy's got you beat because all you're focused on is that one guy. You can't do that. You've got to focus on your race car, your equipment and the racetrack that night. Everything else will come to you. You've just got to maintain a calm demeanor."

His composure -- and finishing a new garage that diverted some of his attention last year -- has helped him focus on putting his cars into victory lane this season. He also discovered that as those victories begin to come, they have a snowball effect with the necessary sponsorship and money that makes it easier to afford to be competitive.

"You can maintain your equipment better," Wade said. "When parts are starting to get bad you can replace them before they break. That's the big thing. You can keep the maintenance on the race cars higher, get the better motor parts or whatever you spend your money on, but you've got to spend it smart.

"You just can't go out and buy everything. You've got to spend it where you need it."

Wade calls it pocket-book racing. To be successful on a local level, every team must stretch its money as far as it can, something Wade has been doing throughout his 20-year racing career. And just because he's trying to win his first late-model title doesn't mean he's going to change his approach as the season winds down.

"I've always raced sort of on the conservative side because of my budget," he said.

"Sometimes you want to take that chance, but you think, 'If I don't make it, it's going to cost me.' I've always raced more cautious to try to bring the car home in one piece. That's our goal every week, to bring it home in one piece and do the best we can."

A weekend of special events

The World of Outlaws Late Model Series returns tomorrow night to Lernerville Speedway, where it staged its most exciting race of the season in April. Outlaws regular Chub Frank has won both times he has raced this year at the Sarver oval.

Points-leader Rick Miller aims to widen the gap between him and Neil Brown and Garry Wiltrout tomorrow night in the NAPA 100 for late models at Motordrome Speedway.

The American Speed Association rolls into Jennerstown Speedway this weekend for the Jennerstown 250, with posted awards in excess of $131,000. The grandstands open at 10 a.m. Saturday with the super late model and late model features preceding the 8 p.m. start of the ASA race.

The dirt late models of the Mid-Atlantic Championship Series will race Saturday at Pittsburgh's Pennsylvania Motor Speedway in the $4,000-to-win, 40-lap Garin Memorial.

Apollo-native Ryan Hemphill will race for his seventh victory and fourth in a row when the ARCA Re/Max Series competes Saturday at Nashville Superspeedway.