Whatever it Takes – Ford / Chevy; Alky or Gas; Eric Biehn looking for First Trip to Modified Victory Lane at Grandview in 2023

Eric Biehn had success on both gas and alcohol as well as with both a Ford and Chevy motor during the 2022 season and will continue his search for whatever combination he needs to land him in Grandview’s victory lane his first career modified win in 2023.

Eric reflected “When they said Grandview Speedway was closing late last year it was like my entire racing career flashed before my eyes. This place has been my Saturday night home since I was 5 years old. My dad introduced me to racing at Grandview Speedway when I was in first grade and we went to the track every Saturday night rooting for our favorite drivers Kerry Kratz, Doug Pannepacker, and Rich Lindaberry. I have been in the stands for 25 years and on the track for the past 11 years. Grandview has always been my true home track as we only live 6 miles away in Barto, PA. My dad and I are very thankful to be back at Grandview again this year and hopefully indefinitely like it should be.”

Eric continued “I got my first go-kart for Christmas when I was ten years old and started racing at Shellhammer’s.  I raced karts for six years wining a handful of features and held Shellhammer’s record for fastest feature in the rookie purple division. But despite racing at Shellhammer’s; my dad and I still spent our Saturday nights in the stands at Grandview until we went modified racing. In 2011 I graduated college, got a job, bought a modified and started racing modified at Grandview.   We ended our first season in modified by qualifying for the final 6 races of the 2011 season.  In 2015 we finished in 2^nd place behind Mike Kellner for my career best finish at Grandview.”

In 2022 Eric posted a top five finish and two seventh place finishes.  At the final points race of the season, Eric was on his best run of the year running in 2^nd place for 23 laps only to drop a cylinder with 7 laps to go and still managed to finish 7^th on 7 cylinders.

Eric commented “We started 2022 on alky and then switched to gas later in the summer looking to have a more consistent handling setup in the feature on racing gas.   A disadvantage of alcohol is you run twice or three times as much fuel in the feature than racing gas and that is a significant amount of weight.  The weight change in a feature on alcohol would be about 100 pounds while on gas would only be a 50-pound change during the feature.  During Memorial Day weekend we ran gas on Saturday night and then went home and switch to alcohol for the TOTH “Balls to the Wall” race on Sunday.”

Eric runs a torsion bar suspension with either a J bar or left side pan hard which is a typical suspension used on a modified at Grandview; but that is where the typical ends for the Biehn Racing 87 team.   Fuel is not the only thing that they changed during the season, they also alternated between Ford and Chevy motors during 2022 racing season.   

Eric noted “We are one of only very few with a ford engine in modified at Grandview.  I think Mike Lisowski may be the only other ford engine at Grandview.  The Ford Motor has a bit more weight than a Chevy but has more horsepower and torque which sometimes can be difficult to get hooked up without breaking the tires loose.  It is not too hard switching between a Chevy and a Ford as you use same parts and pieces except for engine mounts and exhaust systems.”

Eric commented “We hope to build on our good run in the final points race last season and we have fresh rebuilds on both our chevy and ford engines ready to go for this season.   Our 2023 goals are to qualify for as many features as possible (hopefully all of them) and get that elusive first feature win.   We also hope to be able to get our car to run better on racing gasoline as we had been switching back and forth between gas and methanol last season. We had some issues running gas; but believe we have replaced all the necessary parts for the car to run better this year. Methanol is snappier and provides more horsepower but that comes at the cost of carrying heavier fuel weight at the beginning of the race. Gasoline is more consistent and allows us to weigh less which would mean a more consistent set-up throughout the feature race.”

“We are planning on running methanol to start this season but then may switch over to gas again at midseason as we look to get better at racing on gas. We are very happy to just be able to race at Grandview Speedway again this year and look forward to getting the year started. We plan on racing every week at Grandview and hope to sprinkle in some races here and there at Georgetown Speedway and Big Diamond Speedway this year.”

“Dad and I would like to thank all our sponsors for their continued support:

• Gebhard printing

• Hoffman Speed Supply

• Shock Spa

• Birdsboro Napa

• Hartnett Lettering

• Wide Open Technologies“