Steve Book Hopeful Hard Work Leads to Consistent Season

With the competition for The Fyre Place & Patio Shop OSCAAR Hot Rods presented by Bromley Automotive ramping up each season, Steve Book knows there’s only one thing needed to do to be competitive. 

“I'm hoping to have a little bit better running equipment this year,” he revealed. “We had some engine trouble last year, a couple of times and we got into a couple of little fender benders there and bent some parts, so I think we've got things straightened out there; still working on an engine program right now. But, I did some painting on the car the other day; I have done some body work on it, put a whole new skin on one side and fixed up the bumper. So, it looks a little better than the end of last year.

“Hopefully we can get some consistency out of the car. I had to change some bent steering parts from that last race at Peterborough with Autumn Colors. I just showed up for the features there and they had that wreck on the first lap and I slid through the grass and got into that a little bit, but hopefully we can get the car working well and have some strong runs.”

Book is hoping the changes will allow him to be consistent without DNFs this season, and not repeat the woes which kicked off his 2025 campaign at Flamboro Speedway.  

“The rest of the year we weren't bad, but we weren't up front as much as we needed to be,” he continued. “So we need to get the car handling a little better, and the driver always needs to be better.” 

Looking at the schedule for the season, Book is most excited about the pair of events at Delaware Speedway. 

“I like Delaware for the speed, and you know, Flamboro is always challenging,” he commented. “There's a couple of tracks I need to get better on - Sauble being one of them. I've had some pretty decent runs at Full Throttle, so that one's a fun track, but it's hard to pass there, and we've had some success at Brighton as well.” 

Book is coming off a solid 2025 campaign that saw him run up front on a weekly basis, and make a surprise visit Knightworks Designs victory lane at Peterborough Speedway. 

“There were some really, really strong cars there,” Book recalled. “Mark Gordon had trouble the first lap. Tyler Hawn is always really strong there. He's strong at every track, but he really likes Peterborough and he runs good there. Dan Archibald was there running strong, and he made it really close at the end; we were seconds apart across the line between me and him. So that was fun. 

“I mean, Trevor Thompson had the lead early and his car was going away on him a little bit, got a little loose and allowed me to get the lead and then the other guys kind of freight trained him on the outside. So you know, I was hoping Tyler would give Dan all he wanted for looking in the mirror and defensive driving so I could get away a little bit, but they stayed right there with me and made it real close at the end.” 

While the action caught attention on the track, Book’s unique Studebaker Hawk does that on its own for the fans in the stands. The idea of building that body style was simple - his dad’s very first racecar was a 1959 Studebaker.

“I was fairly young when my dad stopped racing as he stopped in the late 70s, so I was about 7 years old,” Book recalled. “But I do remember going over to Flamboro and being the stands and going down for the pictures. And then my cousin and myself did the soap box races on the front straightaway at Flamboro for a few years there until I got too big. I was the pusher for another kid - Bobby Slack. Now, we painted the cart up to look like his dad Randy Slack’s car, and that was fun.”

While his father was his inspiration, it’s support from family that continues bringing him back year-after-year.  

“I'm a fairly competitive guy, and I like racing,” he commented. “It is very fun to me and it's family oriented. My dad started it years and years ago, and he, and my mom come to everything, support me very much. And you know, I've got lots of friends there. I work with Tyler Hawn as well, and we're friendly at the track, and Trevor Thompson and everybody. Really, there's nobody we don't really get along with there. So everybody helps each other out, and it's a fun group.”

It’s almost hard to believe the Hot Rod Series only started nine years ago and with only four cars at the first event at Flamboro Speedway. 

“It grew really fast,” Book reflected. “I mean, I wasn't there at the very beginning. That's when they were first getting it going with four cars. I think when I saw them at Flamboro. Nick Clarke was there in the Nova and Tyler was there, and there were a couple other cars. Then we went to Sunset for the first race that I got the Camaro ready the next year, and that was the first time I'd ever seen the track since the reconfiguration. I went up there once years ago for an endurance race and my cousin's race and I was helping them pit, but I had never been on that track. 

“So we ran that and finished lap down in, I think seventh at her first race, and we just progressively, we got a little better and a little better. And then when we got the Studebaker; it's a better chassis. But now, there's so many good cars out there, so many good drivers, and a lot of people that love this series; it's very popular, and the retro look. 

“There's going to be even more talent coming in this year and old guys like Jay Doer are coming back in here, and I heard Kevin Cornelius is going to be running a car. There's a couple other big names that have had a lot of success in the past in other series and are coming into the hot rods with us this year. So it's very tough to win in this series and there's a lot of fast cars.”