“I’m Rob Blair’s son,” Max Blair said. “That’s how people know me.”

And to Max Blair there is really nothing wrong with that. After all, the 18-year-old Centerville resident’s biggest aspiration is to be even half as good as his father, a legendary late model racer who has over 90 career victories.

But come Saturday night, Blair is hoping to be recognized as something else: the 2008 FASTRAK Racing Series Grand Nationals champion.

Blair has already taken a step toward that winning his regional event Saturday at Mercer Raceway Park to put him in a four-way tie atop the Grand Nationals point standings following Night 1 of the three-race series. The series concludes this week with stops at Friendship Speedway in Elkin, N.C. today and Thursday and Wythe Raceway in Rural Retreat, Va. Friday and Saturday.

The points leader at the end of the series will earn the FASTRAK Racing Series Grand Nationals trophy and its $50,000 prize. It would be quite a finish for Blair, who has already won 14 races, the $10,000 National Weekly Point Championship and the $5,000 Northeast Touring Series Championship in addition to weekly championships at McKean County Raceway and Tri-City Speedway.

“It has been an absolutely incredible season,” Blair said. “At the beginning of the year my goal was to win two or three features. That was it … I never imagined it would be like this. Not even in my dreams.”

Blair gives all the credit to his father, Rob, who is opting to miss a $50,000 to-win race of his own, to enjoy this first-time experience with his son. Blair will also be joined by his uncle Don Loney, who tows Blair to and from all of his races, his girlfriend, a couple friends and the truck driver.

“I’m excited,” Blair said. “This is the kind of season that doesn’t happen all the time. It isn’t going to happen next year or probably again the year after that. It’s been an incredible year and I hope it continues.”

Blair, Craig Bartz of Shawano, Wis., Ed Dixon of Washington, Mo. and Shanon Buckingham of Morristown, Tenn. lead the field with 35 points. Guys Mills resident Stephen Hollabaugh sits just five points (30) back in a tie for 21st place, while Waterford resident Bobby Powell, who pilots a car owned by Saegertown resident Scott Bidwell, is tied for 25th place with 29 points.

Blair said even though he holds the lead, he doesn’t plan on playing it conservative this week.

“It’s always in the back of your mind,” Blair said. “But all year I’ve gone into races racing to win. And even though I’m leading the points here now, I’m going in to win the race.”

Of course, in order to win the race, Blair must make the race, which is Powell’s biggest personal concern. Only the top 24 cars in qualifying will make the field and earn points.

“That’s what I’m worrying about right now,” Powell said. “We need to do really well in qualifying. We can’t afford a bad lap. There are going to be 70 cars out there that are going to be hard to beat. That’s where our focus needs to be right now.”

And focus is exactly what Powell is working on.

“I’m trying to keep the excitement down,” he said, just hours before he was scheduled to hit the road Tuesday to Elkin, N.C. “I don’t want to get too excited and screw it up. I’m trying to stay focused.”