COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – Andrew Layser’s already-busy schedule for the upcoming season got a little busier, and also added a new frontier, on Monday afternoon.
Layser announced that he will broach the waters of the non-winged sprint car world by contesting selected Rapid Tire USAC East Coast Sprint Car Series events next year for car owner Gene Franckowiak.
A calendar of 10 to 12 non-winged 360ci sprint car starts will be built around the Collegeville, Pa., teenager’s USAC National Midget Series schedule with Tucker-Boat Motorsports, giving Layser another avenue to continue his development in the dirt open-wheel world.
The Layser and Franckowiak duo will have technical support from Brady Bacon Racing, while former Grandview Speedway modified division and United Racing Club sprint car driver Bob Swavely will serve as Layser’s crew chief and team manager.
He’ll race a XXX Chassis, with additional sponsor support from DMI Racing Components, Keizer Wheels, FK Indy Shocks and Champion Oil Products as he looks to progress further up the dirt ladder.
The 18-year-old met Franckowiak during his rookie midget season this year at Clauson-Marshall Racing and said that the veteran’s guidance and support was essential in putting a program together for 2020.
“It’s pretty cool to kind of take this next step,” Layser told Sprint Car & Midget by phone Monday evening. “It’s come together in the last month or two, but I’m really happy to be able to partner with Gene Franckowiak and Bob Swavely. They both have a lot of experience, on a regional level and on the national level, whether it’s fielding cars or driving cars. It’s really good to have those kinds of people behind me and I’m really excited for the opportunity to drive a sprint car.”
Monday’s announcement provides Layser with additional stability and a potential path forward into the future for his career, something he called a “natural evolution” for him alongside his midget slate.
“I think the midgets obviously keep doors open, I think, for all kinds of avenues,” Layser noted. “It’s great racing and that’s what I wanted to focus on this year. Driving for Tucker-Boat Motorsports, I think things will be great and really allow us to show what we’re capable of. And then the opportunity to run a sprint car, that was just something that really appealed to me. We have a lot of midget races, so being able to run more and fill in the gaps with sprint cars is really cool for me.
“It’s definitely the avenue that I think it’s going towards, as far as looking down the road, but right now we’re just focused on this upcoming year and running as well as we can every time we hit the track.”
Knowing that there will be differences between the driving styles of the sprint car and the midget, Layser didn’t hesitate to discuss where he feels his advantages and disadvantages will be on the sprint car side.
“I think they’ll be a little bit different, but I think we should be able to adapt pretty quick,” said Layser of the sprint cars. “The good news is that I’ll be with two guys who know how to get it done. And then with the series being based around where I grew up in Pennsylvania and the East Coast, there’s some tracks that I’ve raced at and the other competitors are some of the guys that I’ve raced against, so I think there’s a sense of familiarity there as well.
“It’s a really good series. It’s growing. It’s only in its third year, but it’s building and we’re excited to be a part of that,” Layser added. “I think probably the biggest challenge for me will be that there’s a lot of bigger tracks on the schedule. I feel like I’ve done pretty well at some big tracks in the midgets, but I haven’t at some of the other ones, so there probably will be a bit of a learning curve there.
“Just getting used to the speed of a sprint car on the big tracks will probably be the biggest adaptation for me.”
Layser hasn’t set any firm goals or expectations yet for his limited sprint car schedule, but he’s a racer at the core and said his competitive nature has been quick to set in.
“We’re going to have fun, all three of us,” Layser noted. “We just want to have fun and enjoy this deal, but we’re definitely not going to race and run in the back. We want to compete up front and compete for wins; we just know it may take a little time to get comfortable, jell and get to that point together.”