Jacob Begenwald will have the shortest commute to Lernerville Speedway of any sprint car driver entering the Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup on Tuesday.

He lives in Buffalo Estates, which is located across from the track in Buffalo Township, and now that he successfully passed his driver’s license test Thursday he can make the drive himself.

Though he’s only been street legal for a short time, Begenwald, 16, has been making laps on racetracks for quite a while.

Now he’ll race against the national stars of the High Limit Sprint Car series during the 33rd edition of the Silver Cup, which pays $25,000 to win.

“We moved here about eight years ago and started coming to (Lernerville) ever since then,” Begenwald said. “I ended up liking it, and we met (seven-time Lernerville champion) AJ (Flick) and he’s a really cool dude. It sort of went from there.”

Begenwald is in his second year racing a 410 sprint car.

He got his start in go-karts then moved to micro sprints and smaller-motored 305 sprint cars, achieving success at every level.

He won a heat race at Lernerville during the season-ending Steel City Stampede in his rookie year in 2023 and picked up a heat race win July 12.

“It’s been a big adjustment from micros to the big car, because the scale and the power to weight ratio is just incredible,” Begenwald said. “I always thought sprint cars were really cool. Watching videos of them ripping around the wall at Eldora and the sheer speed they get is incredible. Honestly the other reason I like sprint cars is because I don’t want to do body work every week like they do in late models.”

Begenwald went to Freeport the last two years and was accepted into Lenape Technical School in Ford City starting this fall. He’s entering a construction trades program.

He’s ninth in the Lernerville weekly points standings with a top five and two top 10s, the second of which came Friday.

High Limit is in its first year as a national tour after debuting as a 14-round mid-week series last year, which included a stop at Lernerville in September. It’ll be the first time the Silver Cup is sanctioned by High Limit after previously being sanctioned by the All-Star Circuit of Champions and World of Outlaws.

The series is the brainchild of 2021 NASCAR champ Kyle Larson and five-time World of Outlaws champion Brad Sweet, who are brothers-in-law.

Sweet left the World of Outlaws after winning the series title last year to run High Limit full time.

He’s the current points leader over former All-Stars champion Tyler Courtney, Central Pennsylvania Ace Brent Marks, Rico Abreu and Corey Day.

Along with Flick and last Friday’s winner Carl Bowser, Begenwald will be part of a local contingent going up against the High Limit drivers.

“It’s pretty crazy,” Begenwald said. “You look at those guys with their big toters and all the equipment they have, they’re putting everything they have into it. We’re just out here looking to make a name for ourselves. We race against guys like (Brandon) Matus, AJ, Bowser and (Brandon) Spithaler every week, and it’s hard to run with them let alone the (High Limit) guys. Sweet came in here last year and set the track record. To run with those guys you have to have top-notch equipment and have a little luck come your way.”