Gobrecht Classic Qualifier Friday At Williams Grove; Mourning Loss Of Prolific Lynn Paxton

Story By: SHAWN BROUSE / WILLIAMS GROVE SPEEDWAY – MECHANICSBURG, PA – Williams Grove Speedway will team with Baps Motor Speedway to present the Kevin Gobrecht Classic Qualifier for Lawrence Chevrolet 410 sprint cars coming up this Friday night, September 20, at 7:30 pm.

The winner of the qualifier will be an automatic starter for the Kevin Gobrecht Classic taking place the following night at Baps, paying $10,000 to win.

The Williams Grove winner will receive $6,000 for his victory but he will also be eligible for a $2,500 bonus should he go on to win the Baps event on Saturday.

The Gobrecht Qualifier and Classic itself honors the 25-year anniversary of the untimely passing of New Oxford’s Gobrecht, who lost his life in a World of Outlaws sprint car racing accident in Nebraska in 1999 at the age of 30.

Gobrecht owns eight sprint car wins on the Williams Grove all-time 410 sprint car win list.

Also on Friday’s racing card at Williams Grove will be another event for the HJ Towing & Recovery 358 sprint cars.

The race will be just one of two contests left for the division at the track before crowing the 2024 track champion.

The Gobrecht Classic Qualifier will be another race in the 2024 Hoosier Diamond Series at Williams Grove.

The fast qualifier for the qualifier will earn the $300 Fast Tees Fast Time Award in memory of late track champion Jimmy Nace.

Adult general admission for the September 20 racing program is set at $20 with students ages 13-20 admitted for just $10.

Kids ages 12 and under are always admitted for FREE at Williams Grove Speedway.

Speedway Mourns Loss Of Prolific Lynn Paxton

Williams Grove Speedway is mourning the loss of one of its most prolific winners and true ambassadors throughout history, Lynn Paxton of Dillsburg.

Paxton passed away late Friday at the age of 80.

Inducted into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 1996, Paxton retired from the sport of sprint car racing after a win in the famed Williams Grove Speedway National Open in 1983, at the age of 39.

It was his second win in the prestigious event.

Paxton’s first ever win overall anywhere occurred at Williams Grove Speedway in 1965 at the wheel of the Rhee Smith No. 1.

Overall in his storied career from 1961 through 1983, Paxton etched 43 sprint car wins and a pair of super modified wins in the Williams Grove Speedway record books.

For a number of seasons Paxton’s win mark sat atop the oval’s all-time win list and was thought at one point to be insurmountable.

He was the 1979, 1981 and 1982 Williams Grove Speedway sprint car track champion.

By the end of his career, Lynn Paxton had recorded more than 220 overall career sprint car and super modified victories plus 14 in a late model stock car and a lone ARDC Midget victory.

He scored three KARS Series titles and trumped the World of Outlaws six times.

Paxton also scored track titles at Port Royal, Hagerstown and Penn National Speedways during his career.

The collection of car owners that clamored for his driving talents included Harold Hank, Shorty Emerich, Al Hamilton, Bob Benchoff, Maynard Boop, Roy Morral and Bob Weikert.

Lynn Paxton was a founder, driving force behind and curator of the Eastern Museum of Motor Racing, located just south of Williams Grove Speedway along Rt. 15.

Lynn Paxton won the hearts and minds of fans and fellow drivers alike both on and off of the speedway via his efforts to not only make his mark on the sport while behind the wheel but while in his “office” as well, at the EMMR.

The factual historical information and data that Lynn Paxton was able to provide through his own personal experiences and his learned knowledge to not only the museum but also to other racing historians and researchers across the state, nation and indeed the world, was immeasurable.

And it will be forever be missed.

No one could tell a story like Lynn Paxton.

And he will forever be missed. But his legacy will live on forever.

The staff and management of Williams Grove Speedway extends is deepest condolences to the family of Lynn Paxton at this time of loss.