Brock Zearfoss has turned his small, family-owned sprint car team into a consistent contender no matter where he shows up to race.
After moving up through the ranks and gaining experience racing 410 sprint cars in central Pennsylvania, Zearfoss began traveling more and more. Last season, he raced full time with the Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions.
Zearfoss, of Jonestown, Pa., won three races with the series and finished fourth in points.
Zearfoss, who turns 30 this month, races as much as he possibly can whether it’s with the All Stars or against the World of Outlaws or with the Pennsylvania Posse.
“The Jonestown Jet” will forever be remembered for winning the first sprint car race after the COVID-19 shutdown. That victory came at Park Jefferson Speedway in South Dakota.
Despite this season being very unusual, it has been successful for Zearfoss.
“It has been strange for everybody,” Zearfoss said. “Our year has been pretty good. I feel like we’ve had speed most of the year. I’ve won in places where we don’t typically race. With the way everything has been going, it has pushed us to different parts of the country, and I was fortunate to win the race at Park Jefferson. That was cool.”
He was fast to start the year in Pennsylvania and likely would have won a race or two had his starting spots been better as he was constantly racing from mid-pack to top-five finishes.
As the season restarted after about six weeks off, Zearfoss rolled with the changes and continued racing as much as possible, no matter where the revised schedules took him.
“Even with the All Stars, we got pushed to a different part of the country in Oklahoma and Texas,” said Zearfoss, who earned his second victory of the season at Southern Oklahoma Speedway, which was a track he’d never seen before.
“That’s two more states to check off that I’ve won in,” Zearfoss continued. “Our year has been good from the beginning and we’re fortunate to keep racing now. We’re trying to race as much as we can.”
His mindset doesn’t change when he rolls into a new track and his ability to adapt to new places has helped him be successful.
“It’s the same game plan as rolling into a place you’re familiar with,” Zearfoss said. “You roll into a race track thinking you can win the race. Every race track has similarities and differences. You try and look at all the similarities between the race tracks that you know and the new race track that you’re at. You try to get a base line when you first get there. It makes it a little easier when you have a team that’s been on the road for a while. Shane (Bowers, crew chief) has been on the road a long time and he’s seen a lot of race tracks.”
Zearfoss is only in his seventh year of racing a 410 sprint car, but his experience is paying off.
“It has made me a better driver,” Zearfoss said about traveling. “You get to see different race tracks and different parts of the country, different surfaces and how the race tracks change during the night. When you race in one region, you kind of get stale, but you know those tracks like the back of your hand.”
Zearfoss enjoys the challenge of racing at different tracks.
“It makes you step your game up as a driver and as a team,” Zearfoss explained. “If you want to travel and be successful at it, you have to be on kill every night and you have to be on top of your game every night and be aggressive with everything you do. Everybody has the same mentality and it makes you a better driver overall.”
Racing sprint cars professionally fulfills a dream for Zearfoss.
“It has been a dream of mine ever since I was a little kid,” Zearfoss said. “I’m fortunate to have the opportunity to do this. There’s been a lot of great people involved in our deal that allow us to be able to do this. Without them believing in our program, we’d be running locally. We are fortunate to have people invest in our program and believe that we can be successful traveling and be a professional race team.
“I am fortunate to be able to live a dream. Not many people actually get to do that. I cherish it every day and be thankful.”
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