He will join his Hanover High School football teammates at 7:30 a.m. at Sheppard-Myers Athletic Field to travel to a 10 a.m. game at York County Tech.
Only then, after the running back/linebacker plays in the game, can Heltzel focus on another of his passions.
"We're just going to go check the car, make sure everything's all right with it and then start to head up (to Lincoln Speedway) about 3:30, 4 o'clock," he said.
Heltzel will drive the No. 28H in the 358 Sprint Championship program. He dreams of a victory one week after the senior experienced another dream of sorts -- a touchdown in Hanover's 35-14 win last Friday at Fairfield.
"It felt different. I just decided I saw a hole and just picked the thing and went," said Heltzel, who moved to Hanover from West York in September. "It's just like driving a car. You see a hole. You can't wait. You just go."
The skill is picking the right spots, an ability Heltzel, 17, is learning each time he competes.
"I learned to give a lot of drivers a lot of respect, and you'll get it back," he said of this season, "and not to have too much of a lead foot coming out of the corner."
Meanwhile, football offers Heltzel, who may continue his athletic career as a bowler at Wichita State, an opportunity to stay in shape.
"You have to be in shape to race. It takes a lot out of you being in that (driver's) suit in the car," said Heltzel, known at
But few have attempted the double Heltzel will try Saturday. He also said he has an ankle sprain suffered in Monday's junior varsity game.
Yet, in his mind, racing will be the tougher challenge, particularly if he remains the first driver out for time trials, which is what he drew before the event's rainout on Sept. 12.
"I'm more focused on football, actually," he said, "because we have everything set up for the racetrack. It's just a matter of driving it up (to Lincoln)."
So, after knocking heads with York Tech's players, he will try to avoid doing something similar to his opposition with his 358 sprint that night.
And he hopes to impress his new teammates in the process.
"They don't know," he said about his racing career. "I told them to come watch me on Saturday."
Same race, new name: It's time for a trivia question.
Name the drivers who have won both the Kenny Weld Memorial and the Pennsylvania State Sprint Car Championship at Lincoln Speedway.
Actually, it's the same event, having been renamed 13 years ago.
If you answered Fred Rahmer, you're right, but now you can add Stevie Smith to the short list.
Smith's victory on Saturday marked his first victory in the event since 1988, eight years before the name change and five years before his father, now retired, won the same race.
However, Smith's win on Saturday worth $6,925 in lap and prize money was what the former New Oxford resident wanted to end a strong first season in the Zemco No. 1 super sprint.
"I thought it was a really good year. I was really proud of these guys, and I wanted to end up with a win. This is our last race for the year, and it's good to go into the winter with," said Smith, who now lives in Broken Arrow, Okla.
No Doubt: Abbottstown's Duane Watson could ensure his second Lincoln Speedway thundercar track championship in three years with nothing less than a win last Saturday, and that's what he did.
It took Watson eight laps to move from his 10th-starting spot to the point. However, he got his biggest break when the cars of points runner-up Sam Gallagher and Will Walls collided with two laps left, sending Gallagher to the rear for the restart.
However, Gallagher, the Trail-Way track champion, got a consolation prize when he won a dash for $350 and set a five-lap track record of 1 minute, 40.45 seconds.
Notes: Biglerville's Gary Guise got an automatic win, as he fielded the only strictly stock truck last Saturday at Path Valley Speedway Park. Racing with the 6-cylinder strictly stocks, he placed third. ...
York's Johnny Mackison Jr., whose car was the only one to drop out, and Thomasville's Josh Wells, whose car featured the sponsor's cylinder heads, each won contingency awards during the Weld Memorial. Rahmer won the hard charger award for moving from 18th to sixth by the finish ...
Todd Shaffer, Thomasville's Greg Hodnett, Mark Smith and Lincoln champion Brian Monteith are in contention for the Williams Grove Speedway super sprint championship entering the division's final show Friday night ...
Four-time Lincoln champion Cory Haas is seeking to wrap up his fourth 358 sprint track title at Williams Grove on Friday. ...
Dover's Gene Knaub won the Trail-Way/Lincoln/Williams Grove Shootout last Saturday by taking the limited late model feature win last Saturday at Williams Grove. He is seeking to secure his first track title at that track on Saturday, but Hanover's Bobby Beard remains in contention. ...
Justin Henderson has been hired to drive the Sorokach Motorsports No. 35 super sprint for the rest of the 2009 season.



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