MOUNT PLEASANT MILLS -- Matt Horst has a good reason why he got started in his racing career at the age of 17, an old age by today's standards.

"My dad was a produce farmer when I was growing up so we didn't really get a chance to go to a lot of races, but I was always a sprint car fan, never really much of a NASCAR fan," Horst said. "The summers were a busy time and it wasn't until I got older that I could do it on my own." Now, at the age of 25, the former Selinsgrove Raceway Park go-kart champion is in his third season of wheeling a 410 sprint car.

Horst, of Mount Pleasant Mills, started working on his friends' go-karts at Lil' Greenwood Speedway in Oriental when he was a junior in high school. And, as fate would have it, a gentleman who raced at the track had a spare kart.

"I asked him if I could run it," Horst said of getting his shot at racing. "I did pretty well the first time out and I liked it. So I ran a couple of more races that year and the following year I ran the controlled outlaw class which they now call the controlled winged class."

Horst won the inaugural Controlled Wing championship at Selinsgrove Raceway Park in 2001, the year the track opened.

Horst then moved to the micro sprint division in 2002 and he spent four years in division racing the first three years at Selinsgrove and in the fourth year, 2005, he raced at Path Valley Speedway Park. At Path Valley, he won four races and was the only driver to win back-to-back features that year. He took the points lead into early September when motor problems and bad luck saw him fall to fifth place in the final standings. Horst made the jump to the 410s in 2006.

"It was a world of difference, especially the speed," Horst said of the move. "They're a lot louder sitting in the car and the shear horsepower is unreal."

His first 410 race was at the 410 opener at Selinsgrove Speedway.

"That was amazing," he said of his first night in a 410. "Having guys around you like Fred Rahmer, Greg Hodnett and Keith Kauffman on the track and just being able to say you raced with guys like that is awesome. I remember that I had chills going down my spine just knowing that I was on the track with guys that were my heroes. I was so nervous. There is so much to think about -- Is my fuel right? Are the bolts tight? Are my wheels staying on? Are the wheel tight? -- the wing, the car set-up, there's a lot to think about. It was probably one of the more memorable nights of my career in racing other than the wins in the go-karts."

Horst is employed full-time at the family-run Horst Craft Millworks business in Richfield. He's a molder operator and oversees the shop operations.

While he has experienced success in go-karts and micro sprints, he's still seeking his first career 410 win.

He almost achieved that win on May 23 at Clinton County Raceway but fell a few feet short to Neil Petock at the line as the checkers flew.

Horst is eighth in the points at Clinton County Raceway heading into tonight's Summer Sizzler sprint car 35-lap feature. Besides his second-place finish, he has a two top-10s and two top-15 finishes in six events.

Horst had praise for Clinton County promoter Vern Wasson. "Vern's doing a great job running the place and he always seems to keep the fans coming back," Horst said. "...as far as the race track goes, he been putting on more water than I've ever seen any of the other promoters put on. You can tell he really cares about the racing surface."

Horst has several 410 heat wins, but that first feature win is still something he's focused on.