Alex Ferree has legacy at Lernerville through his car, name

Every time Alex Ferree is on a racetrack, he helps carry on multiple legacies.

There’s the legacy of his last name, which he shares with his hall of fame father Ed.

There’s also the prestige of the #1 Cochran car he drives, which once was piloted by another hall of famer in Lynn Geisler.

This weekend, Ferree, a Saxonburg native, once again will try to put that car in the main event of the Firecracker 100 Saturday night at Lernerville Speedway in Buffalo Township.

Ferree has been in the #1 Cochran car since 2021, and he’s aiming to make the Firecracker 100 main event for the 15th time in his career.

“The #1 Cochran car has been at Lernerville for as long as I can remember, and it has a prestige because that car has always been a winning car,” Ferree said. “Lynn has a boatload of feature wins here. He’s in the triple digits (108). My dad started racing in the early ’80s and had a lot of success.”

Ferree has had some pretty good success in his own right. He’s won 41 times at Lernerville and is a multi-time track champion.

His best finish in the Firecracker 100 was 12th in 2015.

This year, he’s still looking for his first win at the track. But he’s shown speed.

He led the majority of the feature event June 7, but contact with a lapped car took him out of contention for a victory.

On the first preliminary night of the Firecracker weekend Thursday, Ferree qualified sixth in his group and finished fourth in his heat, but a mechanical issue relegated him to a 22nd-place finish in the feature.

“I’ve been fortunate to have a decent amount of success, but it’s been a little tough here lately,” Ferree said. “We haven’t had the speed we want. It’s getting tougher because everyone is getting closer together (on speed). Everyone that races here weekly puts the time and energy in to make their stuff fast, and that’s made it very competitive.”

The Firecracker weekend brings in an added challenge of racing against the touring professionals of the Lucas Oil Dirt Late Model Series. That makes it even more important to be on top of everything from the beginning of the night.

“Those guys are good enough that they can race to put food on their plate,” Ferree said. “We have day jobs and do this as a hobby. Them guys are good enough to do it for a living. If we were good enough, we’d all do this for a living.”

Ferree has put the #1 Cochran car in the Firecracker 100 all three years he’s raced it. He’ll look to extend that streak to four, and five overall dating to 2020, when he drove his family-owned No. 4 car.

“There’s 53 cars here, so making the show is tough,” Ferree said. “It’s just hard because all of them are good cars. We got mud in our wheel (Thursday) night, so we had to pull off and that puts us in a bit of a hole. But hopefully we can dig out of it and make the show (Saturday). That’s the goal.”