Story By: CAMDEN PROUD / ISMA – OSWEGO, NY – Longtime winged and non-wing Supermodified competitor Eric Lewis will be back behind the wheel of his No. 28 machine this season and plans to hit several events on the ISMA tour.
Lewis returned to the circuit last year with his beautifully re-worked race car which had been significantly damaged in the Star Speedway Classic back in 2015. After sitting out for two seasons to repair the car, the Syracuse, NY resident was happy to get back behind the wheel.
“It was great to get back on the track last year with support from Radical Racegear and our great sponsors,” Lewis said. “My efforts were mainly focused on a few small changes to the suspension geometry of the car which we re-did a little bit before bringing it back out.”
In his first event in over two seasons, Lewis finished runner-up in his qualifying heat race before leading several laps of the Carquest Genden Auto Parts ISMA 75 at Monadnock Speedway in New Hampshire. He went on to finish fourth place in the main event behind the podium of Mike Lichty, Dan Bowes, and Jon McKennedy.
After a strong run at Monadnock, Lewis next ventured to Sandusky for a run at the Hy-Miler Nationals, but his Friday night ‘Fast 40’ ended early with issues. Things once again came to a screeching halt on Saturday as the No. 28 was involved in a wild early race crash. Lewis later returned to action at Thompson Speedway, only to be sidelined with issues there as well.
“Overall, I was pretty pleased with the performance of the car,” Lewis commented. “We had a good run at Monadnock, but ran into a couple of issues at Thompson coming back from the crash at Sandusky. We figured out the problem and are pretty excited for the 2019 season.”
Lewis’ plans for the upcoming season are really pretty similar to that of last year’s agenda, but he now intends to run quite a few more races. Eric is planning on hitting as many as eight out of the ten events on ISMA’s calendar.
“Six to eight events is our plan for this year depending on how things go,” offered Lewis. “I know I definitely will be at Monadnock and also Sandusky, Lee, Star and Thompson. In addition to the ISMA racing, I’m also going to be driving in select USAC Eastern Midget races for the Radical Race Gear team.”
To date, Lewis has a pair of top five finishes to his credit at Oswego Speedway and several on the ISMA tour, but never a feature win. Should he make his way to victory lane this season, it would be his first checkered flag on the ISMA trail. He has backing from Dave’s Body Shop, Orchard Earth & Pipe, and Radical Racegear in his attempt to reach that goal.
Meanwhile, the USAC Speed2 Eastern Midget season got underway this past weekend at the Dillon Motor Speedway in South Carolina. Lewis was clocked fastest in time trials, and was able to drive to a solid sixth place result in the main event.
ISMA’s first show of the 2019 season is now slated for Saturday, June 15 when the fan favorite Harvey Lennox Memorial will take place at the Delaware Speedway in Ontario. A full schedule for the year is posted on the ISMA website.
A dedicated competitor in the Supermodified ranks since 1989, Lewis has competed on a semi-regular basis in each and every ISMA season from 2007 forward with the exception of his time away prior to 2018. You can expect to see him open his 2019 campaign when the No. 28 rolls into Monadnock on Saturday, June 29.