If Tommy Druar and Tony Jankowiak were alive, they would be busy mentoring the racing careers of their sons, Matt Druar and Andy Jankowiak.

Neither is still here but their fatherly duties are being handled by their good friend Jim Sulzbach and his Team Jim Racing Team.

Sulzbach raced against Tommy Druar and Tony Jankowiak in the 1980s in the Modified division, primarily at Lancaster Speedway (now Dunn Tire Raceway Park). The men became good friends.

In June 1989, Druar was killed in a racing accident at Lancaster. Jankowiak perished in a racing wreck the following year at Stafford, Conn.

Both Matt Druar and Andy Jankowiak were very young at the time. Sulzbach retired as a driver in 1990 to concentrate on his business, Jim and Bob's Service in Akron.

Sulzbach never forgot how much his departed friends meant to him and in the last few years he has been instrumental in helping Matt and Andy develop both as men and as race drivers.

Matt Druar drove a Team Jim 4-Cylinder car to the last two championships at Dunn Tire Raceway. Those were the first championships of any type that Sulzbach has enjoyed in his long career either as a driver or owner.

Druar left the team this year to join the Street Stock class.

Andy Jankowiak is dominating the Sportsman standings at Wyoming County International Speedway on the strength of eight wins. It would take a major disaster for this championship to slip away this late in the season.

Always a busy man, Sulzbach also fields a Sportsman entry for his grandson, Matt Jurek, and a 4-Cylinder car for his daughter, Debbie Jurek. Debbie won a race at Dunn Tire Raceway earlier this season.

"I raced against Tommy and Tony, and I liked them and got to know them pretty well," said Sulzbach. "For the last many years I was out of racing due to my business but I got back into racing as a car owner a few years ago.

"I guess you could say that I have been a mentor to Andy and Matt as well as my grandson and daughter. What I like about Andy is that he is willing to listen to me and try new things, as all my drivers are.

"My daughter loved going to the races and watching and she enjoyed it. We started talking about her driving so one day I said, 'Hey I've got a car for you if you want to go for it.' She took me up on it."

Andy has been a frequent visitor to victory lane at Wyoming this season and the winning hardware is piling up. "I like getting all those trophies that he's won," laughed Sulzbach. "We have them on display down at our race shop."

All of Sulzbach's racing efforts are self-sponsored. He has owned all of his own equipment going back to his driving days.

"Racing is a little more expensive than it used to be," said Sulzbach. "We had Troyer build our Sportsman cars but I did the 4-Cylinder cars that we run. My racing budget lives year to year."

This Saturday, the annual Tommy Druar/Tony Jankowiak Memorial Modified 100 will be run at Dunn Tire. The Sportsman cars have been given the night off to allow drivers to compete in the Budweiser 100 at Holland NASCAR Motorsports Complex.

 While Sulzbach cannot be in both places at the same time, his heart will be in both locations.

 "We committed to run the Bud 100 at Holland but I want to be at Dunn Tire to honor my two good friends, Tommy and Tony," said Sulzbach. "I've reflected on it a lot and I've decided that I will go to Dunn Tire and honor them and also to help Debbie. I will be in contact on my cell phone all night with Andy and Matt at Holland, keeping up on things. We'll all be back together for the rest of the season.

"As it turns out, I am at Dunn Tire every time the cars run but I rarely get to Wyoming County because they race Fridays and that's hard with my business. We plan on running the rest of the season at Wyoming County and Dunn Tire as well as the US Open at Dunn Tire and the Race of Champions at Oswego.

"I've had a lot of good memories in racing as well as some bad. I've enjoyed Team Jim and the night that Debbie won at Dunn Tire was especially a good memory. It's all been worth it and we have more fun ahead."

Pit stops

* Drag racer Pete Maduri Jr., became the first driver to win four consecutive races in the TNT Super Series. He did it the hard way last Friday at Dunn Tire. When his car broke, fellow competitor Rich Halleen let Maduri borrow his car. Maduri was the fastest qualifier and won the race.

"I can't thank Rich Halleen, his father Ron and his wife Vanessa," proclaimed Maduri. "It's one thing to help out a friend but it's a completely different story to let them hop into your $30,000 race car."

* After a layoff of more than a month, Little Valley Speedway will jump back into action Sept. 5 with the $3,000-to-win Super Late Model Coca-Cola Classic. It will be the final points night for the E-Mods. Race time is 6:30 p.m.