TVR: For those who may not know, who were some of the notable competitors you raced against? 
Lynn: Oh boy! Well, you just take the Sprint Car Hall of Fame and take the people that are in and anybody who raced during the same period of time that I raced and they're there. From Kinser, to Wolfgang, to Ferkel, to Bobby Allen, Steve Smith (Sr.), Keith Kauffman, Smokey Snellbaker, you name 'em... I raced against 'em. I had some good times with them. 

TVR: Who were your closest or favorite competitors to race against? 
Lynn: We all had a great time. I had good races with a lot of guys. Mitch Smith, him and I were good friends on and off the race track. He was as nutty as a fruit cake off the race track. Boy, would he ever go though! Smokey and Allen, you know. I had a good, close relationship with all these guys. Keith Kauffman, I remember seeing him win his first race. You know where Keith won his first race? He won a lot of races. East Windsor, New Jersey. That's where he won his first sprint car race. That's just a little trivia thing. <laughs> I can remember it, you know? 

I knew what it was to win the first race. I really enjoyed watching people win for the first time. I know that emotion. And, that only comes once, because after that, you're expected to win. That first one... that's the one that means you're legitimate. 

TVR: Who do you feel were the more talented drivers you competed against?
Lynn: <laughs> They were all talented! There were some that had more God given talent, umm... Jan Opperman. tremendous God given talent. Didn't have the mechanical ability of a Kenny Weld. Kenny Weld and Jan Opperman were two tremendous racecar drivers. Kenny Weld, I don't think was as good a driver as Jan Opperman. People will argue with me, but as far as a builder and a mechanic, there wasn't much better. Opperman was probably a better pure driver, but he didn't have the whole package. 

Bobby Allen... tremendous. You know, the whole package. Bobby, if it was wet and rough you wouldn't look at him to go out and guts it out. If that track was slick and smooth, there was nobody that hooked a car up better than he did. So, it's really hard to say, you know... you have guys like Keith Kauffman and Mitch Smith. tremendous racecar drivers. Not the mechanical "geniuses" like some of these other guys I mentioned, but they had a natural ability to get a car in and out of, or through a hole with reflexes like a cat. They had a sixth sense about where the trouble was. And, I think you put a guy like Foyt in that category, Tommy Hinnershitz, you know. These guys were all just tremendous.

TVR: Who do you feel were the more talented car builders and mechanics during your career?
Lynn: Number one would be a guy that covered my career. He was winning races with Johnny Mackison, when I was still wet behind the ears and he's still a force in our area. That's Davey Brown, bar none in this area. Davey Brown is still the man. He's been working his magic for 50 odd years. The only guy I think on the same level with him would be Karl Kinser. Those two are probably tow of the tops... I mean there's other great ones. Don't get me wrong. But, around here, as far as mechanics...

Now as far as builders, man! Just take a number! I was always impressed with Hillegas, nobody know who Hillegas is, but they were built in Allentown. Of course, Frank Kurtis... built a lot of midgets and champ cars. Then you've got Floyd Trevis, umm... Bobby Allen, you know. Lloyd Racing Enterprises. Of course you've got the Gamblers and Stanton, Gary Stanton. Still with the Chrysler product, but he's a hell of a car builder too. An awful lot of them around... you know. 

TVR:  Who do you feel may have been some of the most underrated drivers you raced with? 
Lynn: Well, in our day, it was a little easier than today. I always thought Jimmy Shaffer was a tremendous champion at Silver Springs. I just don't think he ever really got the chance in the sprint car ranks. That would be one. uh... There was a lot more. I mean there were more that just never got that opportunity. A guy like Billy Wertz. I mean nobody remember who Billy Wertz was. He got killed at Selinsgrove, but what a neat guy. He had his equipment. He'd say, "I worked in my gah-den a little bit (in a heavy Pennsylvania Dutch accent) and I worked on my racecar." What a neat guy. Just a laid back, neat type of guy. 

TVR: What tracks did you compete at?
Lynn: We tried 'em all, I think. There weren't many that operated during the period that I drove that we didn't run. I will tell you this. Pocono? Where the big track is now. We were the first person to run it. Not on the big track, it wasn't done yet. The 3/4 mile track, okay... back in the 60's. That was the only thing that was done. They invited us up for tire testing, before the first race. We showed up and it rained out. Well, we had just put a new motor in the Emrich car, the Kenny Weld built car, and they left us go out and run in the rain. Then, we came back the next week to run tire tests. But I probably was the first race car that ever turned a lap. I should tell Dr. Mattioli that. He probably wouldn't remember back that far. That was in the infancy... of course now, looking at pictures of it, its been years since I've been back up there. Dr. Matioli's done a tremendous job up there at Pocono. 

TVR: What was you favorite or best track?
Lynn: Umm... I liked any track that I figured out and we had the setup for. I mean... its hard to say, it really is. There was tracks we went to, we were only there once. I never seen them again. There was other tracks that we went to quite a bit. We always went well, most everywhere. I never had a real favorite. Just a period of time when we were at Port Royal, or Selinsgrove. They knew that if everything was equal, we were gonna cover 'em, okay. Just because I knew something about the race track or the setup or something. 

Williams Grove was always tough. You could win one week and you couldn't hit your rear end the next week. The was people that put together a lot of wins, but not for a long period of time. Williams grove is a tough place. 

There was tracks that I disliked. It wasn't that I disliked the race tracks, it was probably I disliked the type of racing that took shine there. Everybody brings me to mind, and I said this right over the microphone, the reason I didn't race at Lincoln was I didn't like the place. And... I shouldn't have said that. I happened to win a race and announcer shouldn't have asked that question... he knew the answer. He didn't think I'd say it. I did and got a lot of people mad at me. But, it didn't mean I didn't like Lincoln Speedway. Lincoln Speedway, when I was running there, 90% of the racing there we run on the bottom. You know, Bobby Allen, Steve Smith... that deal. It wasn't the type of... well, if things ain't right you go to the cushion and gut it out. I was kind of a "gut-'er-outer". I wasn't as good, probably, at running around the bottom as those guys were. So... you know. I didn't feel like I had an edge there. Now if there'd been a nice cushion up there... I think that's what I mean about that. The preparation of that race track suited them more than it suited me. That's what I meant by that. It had nothing to do...you know, when we went good at Lincoln, I liked Lincoln. When we didn't go good, I didn't like it. People always ask me about that. You know... you make one dumb comment like that over the microphone in front of everybody... everybody remembers that. 

TVR: What was the most memorable or proudest moment of your career?
Lynn: First win... okay? That makes you sure that you had arrived. Some of the neatest times were watching other people win for the first time. I remember a lot of those. They may not even remember them, but I do. I remember standing there watching the crew get excited. Of course, winning when my kids were pretty young. They'd play around the flag pole, then they'd come over and get their picture taken, stuff like that. And, winning the National Open (Williams Grove) I guess was pretty big. I tried to win that thing for a lot of years and it just looked like it wasn't supposed to happen. We went so well and had so much trouble and, of course, the last two years I ran, I won it... lead every lap. But then there's a story behind that too! 

Not anybody knows this, but I'm gonna tell you this... and I've never told this story... that I can remember, in mixed company. What it was... I had a lot of fans and I had this one lady that was a big fan of mine, which was normal. Everybody had their fans who wore their t-shirts and stuff. Well, I won the National Open. This girl came down and umm... let's see... She had a t-shirt on with the racecar on it. It had rather large tires, if you get my drift. So, she came down to the winners circle and she insisted that I sign her t-shirt on the "front tire". Okay? Her husband was standing there, so, I did! I signed right on the protruding right front tire. That was fine... she was satisfied. I come back the next year, 1983, I win the race again... led every lap. Here comes this lady with her husband again. Same t-shirt. Now she wants the rear wheel signed! I signed the rear wheel. It scared me so bad to think what I was going to have to sign next... I retired! That's a true story! <laughs> 

TVR: What was the hardest or most disappointing moment of your career.
Lynn: Probably leaving... not knowing that I was going to leave. The hardest points had nothing to do with racing... uh... yeah, they did. Anytime you went to a race track and you saw somebody get killed, or badly hurt. That... you gotta blank that out. The following week, I'd go to the race and a guy would say, "What do you think about what happened last week... seeing so and so killed or really hurt badly. I'd say, "Look. I go to the races for a lot of years and I can honestly say 99.9% of what I saw was good and I enjoy it. Now if I had to go see what I saw there every time, I would never go again." Thank God that's in a very small minority. That's the best answer I could have. I didn't like that. 

But, racer mentality was that it always happens to somebody else, it doesn't happen to you. You're indestructible. That's the mentality you have to have. Okay? Finally, when you start getting up in age, you do lose that mentality. Until you're 30 years old, I'll tell you what... you're just indestructible and nobody can do anything to you. I was no different than anybody else. Then later in my career I started getting a little sense. You have a family and stuff, you realize you're not the only one you have to cover. That makes a difference... it really does. 

TVR:  What were some of the funnier moments in your career?
Lynn: <Big laugh> Oh lord! There were so many! Umm... things that happened, now you sit back and laugh. I'll tell you one story, because we just joked about this about two weeks ago. I was uh... I was not running Port Royal regular. Seems like we'd run Port Royal for a year, then Mr. Boop would want to go run Selinsgrove. Of course, anytime that you're a regular at one, and you run the other, you're hated. You know, that's the way it goes. Okay? So, I remember we were running Selinsgrove. But, if there was a big money show at the other one, we'd sneak over. Of course, then everybody'd boo the hell out of you. Normal... 

Anyhow, Barry Camp was a competitor for a lot of years. Everybody liked Barry, everybody still likes Barry. Well, Barry's running at Port Royal. I read in the paper one week, Barry looks like he's gonna win the feature and Jay Myers came up and put a job on him, crashed him out of winning the feature. From what I understand, the fans and everybody was upset and, you know, Barry was not happy. So the next week, I don't know if they were paying more money at Port Royal or something, but instead of running Selinsgrove... there could have been a bounty for Friday night at Williams Grove, I don't know what happened. Anyhow, we decided to go to Port Royal. 

Now this was 1976. I owned the racecar. Mr. Boop sponsored it... Ralph Heinzleman was working on it. Ralph said of all the owners he worked for, I was the cheapest owner he ever worked for. I would run the tires a little longer, or leave something on a little longer, simply because I didn't want to spend the money. There was nights that instead of winning we ran 2nd or 3rd because I didn't put the new rubber on. We were close enough to win and we knew what it took to win, but I wouldn't spend the money. That would make Ralph mad. So, this car we were running... actually it was a car we traded Keith Kauffman. I had sold him the #K33 that Trevis and he started his career in. Well, I sold that to him. That was actually one of the old Hamilton cars that I had bought and sold it to him. We had traded this old #2X that he had, it was an old sprint car. We built this new frame we were gonna sell. We ended up having to race it. Well, the steering and everything... the components were out of Keith's old car. It had a 3-prong steering wheel in it. Ralph kept telling me that steering wheel was getting weak. I kept saying, "Nah, it's all right... it's all right... it's all right." 

We go over and we qualified real well and we were really running good. Of course, since you weren't running there regular, you had to start back. I remember we started back and we came through the field like Hogan's goat. I mean we were just flying. We got up... in about 6, 8 laps we came from way back, up to the front. Past the guys that you'd probably figure was gonna win. Now here's poor Barry out in front. Hadn't won a lot of races... had just got hosed the week before... now you know all the fans are just routing for Barry. They're definitely not routing for me because I came over from Selinsgrove and I'm an invader. 

Now this is all going through your mind. I mean, I come up on Barry and its over. Usually, late in the race I would really shine. If I'm going that good early, shame on 'em. I got 'em covered. Just one of them nights, we had it all hooked up. I mean I closed a half straightaway on Barry and I'm just getting ready to really put it on Barry. But, I want to make sure that I don't do anything to make anybody think that I'd get close enough to disrupt Barry. I don't want all the bad publicity that Jay had gotten the week before. You understand? I don't want that. In other words, whatever I do, it's gonna be absolutely as clean as I can do it. I like Barry. Barry was not a, you know... do unto others as they do unto you. Barry's a guy who would never run into anybody and I was gonna race him extra clean that night. 

I got up to Barry, just getting ready to pass him, which I thought was gonna be pretty easy. Of course Barry will tell it a little different, but that's beside the point. Low and behold, I felt this snap! One of the 3 prongs of the steering wheel broke off. Broke off! Now what's happening is a third of that steering wheel is going down. If you've ever driven a racecar, trying to steer a car with a piece going up and down, it just throws your timing off. Now I get up behind Barry and this happens. I kinda back away. Now I gotta learn how to drive this thing. I get back up and I'm gonna try Barry. I figured out how to do it. Guess what... I run about another 5 or 8 laps... this thing's going down... I'm not running a real good line anymore. I'm erratic, which is not me. You know, of course, now my guys are pissed. They don't know what... "Why is he wasting time here? GO!" You know... They don't know what's happening in my cockpit. 

The 2nd one snaps off! Now the steering wheel's going down... I'm actually hitting my knuckles on the dash. I killed the switch a couple of times. Now I'm still all over Barry though. In the mean time, guess who's know... I had just passed Jay Myers. Jay Meyers is all over me! I'm all over the place. Barry's here <points in front of himself>... okay? Now I thought, "Holy sh*t! I got too much to handle here." I shoulda pulled the car in, but I remembered Ralph saying about the steering wheel. "Aw.. it's okay, it's okay"... see? I thought there's now way I can pull in. Ralph's payday was 25% of something. If I pulled in? Then 25% of nothing and he had told me what was wrong. So, I can't quit. I thought, "What the hell am I gonna do?" 

The damn thing keeps flapping around and hitting the switch. I'm being erratic. Here's Jay beating on me. So... the light bulb comes on. We're down to a couple of laps to go. What I did, I grabbed a hold of the spoke with my hand, yanked real hard on it, snapped the steering wheel off, the outer ring and threw it out on the backstretch. The last two laps, I'm steering with 2 spokes. I held Jay off. Of course, I couldn't do anything with Barry. 

Very popular victory. Barry came walking down through. They use to interview and then at Port Royal, you come down through the pits. Of course you always went out, I always did. If somebody beat me fair and square, I would be the first one to say, "Hey. Nice race, good job." Of course, I had to make an excuse with Barry. In the meantime, a guy came in from the backstretch and said, "You lost this back there!" It was the steering wheel, you know, the outer ring. 

Now Barry, he's interviewed and everything. Everybody's happy. Barry don't know why I didn't pass him. He comes walking down and I said, "Barry, congratulations!" Then I said, "Had it not been for this..." He looked at my car, no steering wheel. He took it! He took it. That was his trophy, that steering wheel. 

I was up there two weeks ago. It's still in his trophy case. He will not give it up. Okay? Now, you know, I make my excuse. Of course, Barry thinks it's bull, but that's beside the point. <laughs> He knew we didn't just stick a wheel on it that had no... he understood that I had him covered. But... circumstances.

I remember when I pulled in, and these guys don't know what in the hell was going on... why I looked like a champ for the first 10 or 15 laps and then start looking like a monkey with a football, you know. Of course Ralph, he went in and looked in...He saw the steering gone... he never said a word. He was mad. Then he walked away. The next night, we ran Susquehanna. He showed up with four brand new tires. He said, "There, owner!" 

In the mean time, Jay Myers' father walks up. Little guy, nice...nice guy. He walks up to me and he says, "Jay never thought you'd do anything like that!" I said, "Like what?" He says, "Well, blocking him!" I said, "Is that what he thought I was doing?" He said, "Well, what other excuse is there? You moving all around like that... that's not you!" I said' "Tell you what you do. You go look in the racecar, see what I had to work with, then you explain to me what I did." He went over and looked and saw the steering wheel was gone. I said, "That's how I drove this car." I didn't need to explain the situation. But, that was an interesting story. 

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