By STEVE BARRICK

Since its inception, the PA Sprint RaceSaver 305 Series (PASS) has attracted drivers and team owners from any number of racing backgrounds, including 270 and 600 Micro Sprint hopefuls, former Midget racers, and a few competitors from the ranks of Sportsman Stock Cars.

Unique to the Series and to the sport in general is Tyler Schell, a 21 year old college senior who has entered PASS events for the first time this spring. Schell’s sole prior racing pedigree? He is a championship winning sim/computer racer, and one of the very best. In 2022-2023, Schell won the World Of Outlaws i-Racing championship.

Aside from a trophy, Schell earned over $10,000 ($8,000 after taxes) for the title, plus an all expenses-paid trip to Florida to be honored nationally. He is literally an i-Racing veteran and actual racing novice. Since receiving the big bucks, Schell has been working at putting together a traditional racing program, a 305

effort, which has now happened.

In his first two PASS 305 Sprint starts, one at Port Royal Speedway on April 19 and Selinsgrove Speedway on April 26, Schell just missed making the 24-car PASS feature, both times by just one spot, and each time with over 40 cars competing for A Main spots.

He just recently graduated from college in Penn State Harrisburg with a degree in accounting.

The budding career development by Schell is the story of the growth and influence of computer racing and how it has the capability of translating from the keyboard to the steering wheel. Not only is i-Racing here to stay, it has become a legitimate path to a future in motorsports.

“I started iRacing in 2017 when I was 14, and just for fun,” Schell told AARN. “Then when COVID hit, iRacing really took off. There were some big opportunities, some events that paid very well. In a sense, I had an advantage because of the time I had spent with iRacing that a lot of the other guys didn’t before the sport got so popular.”

Flush from i-Racing success, Schell, last summer, started planning a 305 Sprint career for 2025. “So far it’s been going pretty well and I’m looking forward to seeing how far I can take it,” he said. “All the exposure i-Racing in general has been receiving and because of the big World Of Outlaws i-Racing win I had personally earned, it kind of opened some doors for me and helped put the 305 Sprint team together,” Schell said.

“It’s certainly helped me build relationships.” Schell said that winning the big cash prize was a major influence in deciding to build a 3

05 Sprint team but he had harbored a desire to become involved in three-dimensional racing for some time. “I had wanted to give it a shot, and the money I won made it a realistic opportunity instead of a dream,” Schell described. “I kind of felt like I had earned the right to try to fulfill a dream.”

The PASS 305 Sprint Series travels to many different tracks during a season. Schell said it will be his intention to focus on races are scheduled on Saturdays and Sundays. He has penciled in 26 such events throughout the season, and has allowed in that planning for a couple of off-weeks during the summer. The intention is into spread those races throughout year into October.

Schell is graduating from college this coming weekend. He has a post-graduation job offer from Miter, this following a college internship with the cutting edge manufacturing company.

Schell compared and contrasted the two distinctly different racing disciplines. “There are similarities in that you learn race craft and discipline with i- Racing. The biggest differences are the on-track sensations, what you feel and how you feel it, the nature of the feedback from the wheel and the g-forces you absorb,” Schell said.

He said heknows of others who have moved directly from sim racing into traditional racing pursuits. “Some friends I know have done it, but they have all gone into go-karts, not to full size Sprint Cars like I have,” he said.

Since acquiring a Sprint car, Schell, his father Mike, and a cousin have been working on learning the intricacies of the car. He said it hasn’t been widely publicized that he is a former sim racer now racing Sprints. “I have it on my profile but I don’t really make too much out of it really,” Schell said.

Mike Schell never raced himself but has aptitude and experience from helping several local race teams in their shops and at the tracks. Tyler Schell’s 305 ride is an RPM chassis built by Russ Mitten powered by a 305 motor built by Chris Fair, who also owns the car Schell is driving. The white, red and black No. 85 is being maintained and run out of Fair’s shop in Carlisle, PA.

To shore up the learning curve, Schell has studied his own movements in his Sprint Car by utilizing a Go Pro camera. “That helps a lot. I also like to watch as much in-car stuff as I can from other drivers. It’s like any other sport really where players watch what other players are doing,” he offered.

He still does some sim-racing but “just for fun” and not anywhere near the extent he did before. As for any long range plans, Schell anticipates continuing onward. “After the season, we’ll evaluate what we did and look ahead to 2026,” said.

Frank Burman, writer for the PA Sprint Series (RaceSaver 305s) contributed to this story.

By STEVE BARRICK

Central New York Dirt Modified driver Gil Tegg, Jr. is facing an uncertain future in racing after crashing heavily at Land Of Legends Raceway in Canandaigua, NY on Saturday, May 17.

Tegg, 53, of Rochester, NY, was released from Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester. NY on Wednesday, May 20, after being admitted following his accident.

Tegg was diagnosed with C1 and C2 non-displaced neck fractures that will not require surgery. It is expected Tegg will be wearing the neck halo he was fitted with at Strong Memorial continuously for three or four months. He also received sternum and rib fractures in the wreck; neither of these injuries require surgical procedures.

“It’s unfortunate, but I’m used to it in a way, because I’ve done it before. I broke my neck on the road in a motorcycle accident in 2012. From that wreck, I had fusion of the fifth and sixth vertebra,” Tegg revealed.

“I’m not sure, but I think that may have actually helped me. The doctors could see from the x-rays what had been done and said that the work had been done beautifully.

“Two of the colleagues of the doctor who performed that surgery saw me. That made me kind of nervous in a way, wasn’t sure if they might be disappointed in me for getting hurt again after they had given me a second chance.”

Land Of Legends promoter Paul Cole had a close up view of the Tegg accident.

“He was coming down the backstretch late in the race and had gotten off the racing surface. With all the rain we had, and with the time of night it was, around 10:00 p.m., the grass over the outside edge of the track was dewy,” Cole had observed.

“He accelerated to get back on the track heading into the third turn and when he did, he got into the grass. He was all by himself. When he slid, he got into the barrier that protects the pit entrance and when he hit, it launched him straight over,” Cole stated.

What happened next Cole said, was both unusual and shocking.

“After he went up, he came down hard right on the nose of the car, then the car slammed right down on the roof. Usually with these crashes, the car will take four or five tumbles. This one, the car hit the barrier, nosed down, flipped over, and stopped.”

Cole said once Tegg was pulled clear of the wreck, EMTs took over.

“The EMTs assessed him quickly, put a neck collar on him right there, they called for an outside ambulance to come to the track, and they transported him to the hospital.”

At one point, a life flight helicopter was being considered, but the nearest life flight facility had both of its copters out on other emergencies.

“As it happened, the EMTs came to realize that life flight transport wasn’t going to be necessary,” Cole said.

Tegg was taken to Strong Memorial, the closest medical facility with a trauma center, where he was a patient until his release.

Tegg was told that he never lost consciousness during or after the crash, and his recollection of events is surprisingly vivid.

“Unfortunately, I remember the details of the accident very well. I was coming out of turn two. I had been running the high line pretty much the whole race. I had spun out earlier, had to go to the back, and was working to the front. Had passed a decent amount of cars, my dad said I had come back through to about twelfth,” said Tegg.

“It was getting near the end of the race. On the backstretch, there is a little berm up there on the outside, have run there hundreds of times, gives you a better angle going into (turn) three when you hit it right. There was wet grass out there, and unfortunately I caught it. When I did, I remember seeing out of the corner of my eye the orange Jersey barrier that protects the pit entrance.”

Tegg described what transpired next. “The first instinct is to get on the gas more to drive out and away from it. But at that point, I couldn’t avoid it. I remember hitting the barrier extremely hard, then getting airborne, coming back down on the nose, then over on the roof. I’m not going to lie, it scared the s**t out of me.”

Once the car was at rest, Tegg said he had the presence of mind to focus, at first, on the racer’s instinct of getting out of a crashed car.

“Got done with flipping, figured I’d climb right out. But I couldn’t. One of the track guys came to the car, and reached in to help with my belts. I wasn’t out cold, but wasn’t sure were I was, wasn’t grasping the situation I was in. My physical ability to take off the HANS device, take off my helmet, wasn’t there, I just couldn’t do it. The EMT guys had to,” said Tegg.

“At that point, I told the track crew they’d have to get me out of the car, I was that disoriented and in a lot of pain. I could move, but just couldn’t coordinate.”

Then, Tegg said, his situation took an ominous turn.

“The track guys woke me up a little when they told me the car was on fire. Normally that would get my attention but I still wasn’t capable of helping to get myself out of there. I didn’t know it, but while there had been a fire, it was a small oil fire that went out as quick as it had flared up,” Tegg related.

While a patient, Tegg confided that his focus shifted from fixing the car and getting back in the seat, to bracing himself for an uncomfortable convalescence.

“I’ve crashed before and my usual reaction is, “okay, I crashed, the car is junk, let’s get it back to the trailer and we’ll fix it during the week. Instead, my thoughts now are, ‘now I’ve got to through another neck and back injury’.”

Tegg admitted that he may not race again. “It’s a real shame because my father and I had two good cars ready for a good year of racing. We got the crew t-shirts, the team really looked good, had great equipment. We knew we weren’t going to win many races, but we started this year off with the best team I’d ever had.

“I felt that with two cars, racing at Utica-Rome on Fridays and Canandaigua Saturdays, we were going to do well. Had been running at Outlaw Fridays but got a new sponsor who wanted us racing at Utica,” Tegg said.

Instead, what might have been his most promising season in years, has come to a painful, tough pause.

“It’s all heartbreaking, the hardest thing I have ever dealt with because now it’s all about whether I’m all done as a driver. I had thought about that, how much longer I would race, when I might decide to not race any more. This crash may have been decided for me,” Tegg said.

The No. 22 big-block Modified Tegg was racing is owned by himself and his father. The Teggs operate a service station in Rochester, NY.

“My father and I have had our moments over the years but we have a bond. Neither of us are getting any younger, I’m 53, my father is 76. I had always wanted to keep racing until he decided he didn’t what to race any more. That would have been my cue,” said Tegg.

“Right now, I’m unsure if want to put my body through this anymore. I don’t want be the guy the people up in the stands see as the old guy who is going to crash.”

Safety precautions Tegg had taken before the start of the season paid off.

“I was wearing a brand new helmet, not one of the $2,000 helmets, but a new one. It held up. I had the HANS. I don’t feel like or think I had a concussion which is amazing for the ride I took,” Tegg shared.

“I was wearing a new fire suit that wound up being cut off me. They had to do it. If they had started wiggling me around to get the suit off, I know I would have been put in terrible pain.”

Pain management is a full time occupation now for Tegg following his release.

“When I roll around to get out of bed and stand up, it hurts so much I have to talk myself into doing it,” Tegg said. “It’s hard to bear, but I do it.”

Tegg’s medical challenges don’t end there. He underwent prostate removal cancer surgery recently and remains under post-operation treatment. That operation prematurely ended his 2024 season. He had just gotten a clean bill of health from his latest three month checkup a week before the Land Of Legends crash.

The big-block Modified race was a 30-lap feature. Tegg’s crash happened with 27 laps completed. Tegg’s fellow racers voted not to run the last three laps and the race was called official.

“Matt Sheppard was the one who spoke up about calling the race, he was in third place at the time,” said Cole.

“The decision not to continue was made by the drivers, which I thought was a classy for them to have done. Most of the Modified guys who race at Canandaigua every week are friends with each other. They race each other hard here and at the same time respect one another’s talent, they can trust one another.”

Cole said he has the high regard for Tegg both as as a race car driver and as a person and feels bad for him.

“Gil is a great guy, it’s heart-breaking to see what he will now have to go through. He was looking forward to a very good season. He’s raced here about 30 years, which would put him on the same level, just behind, as Danny and Alan (Johnson), as far as number of years racing here,” Cole said. “Now, he’s set back, not knowing exactly what his future may look like.”

Tegg has long been regarded by Cole as one of the first choices to represent the track at media events. Retiring as a driver, but staying involved in another form, might be a choice he now takes.

“We had our whole summer to look forward to racing two nights a week, had a different car for each track. That all came crashing down to a big, big halt,” Tegg, Jr. said.

“It just might be a sign that this is a time to maybe still stay involved in the race community, but in a different capacity.”

Tegg said he is most appreciative for the quick response from the race crews and the first responders who cared for him.

“It’s amazing to see the racing community step up with the support that they always do,” Tegg said. “That’s what’s keeping me going.”

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