There are plenty of graduations in the near future for Manchester’s Reid Lanpher.
Not only will the 17-year-old graduate from Thomas College with an associate’s degree in business in May, he also will receive his high school diploma from Maranacook Community High School in Readfield in June.
But before both of those events, the stock car driver will graduate from Super Late Models to NASCAR K&N Pro Series East cars.
The K&N Pro Series East would be the equivalent of Class AA baseball with Sprint Cup acting as the the major leagues and the Xfinity Series being AAA. There also is the Camping World Truck Series, but that involves trucks rather than cars.
He has a five-race K&N Pro Series deal with Marsh Racing based in Old Lyme, Connecticut.
Lanpher is coming off a memorable 2015 season in which he won the Pro Series points championship at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in Scarborough and finished second in the 42nd annual Oxford 250 at Oxford Plains Speedway.
He will make his K&N Pro Series East debut in the PittLite 125 on April 16 at the legendary Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee.
It will be the fourth race on the tour’s 14-race schedule.
“I’m pretty excited about it,” said Lanpher. “This is a great opportunity. They were looking for a driver for this season. It worked out really good.”
Former four-time K&N Pro Series East champion Andy Santerre of Cherryfield helped broker the deal as he was a mutual friend of Ted Marsh, the owner of Marsh Racing, and the Lanpher family.
Santerre has occasionally worked with Lanpher, and he said he has known Marsh for a long time.
“He’s a good guy,” said Santerre, who once drove for Marsh Racing.
Santerre sees a bright future for Lanpher.
“He’s a really good driver, and I hope this opens doors to bigger and better things for him,” said Santerre. “He’s a great kid, he’s respectful, and his age will be a bonus for him.
“He reminds me a lot of Austin Theriault,” said Santerre, referring to the Fort Kent driver who has run races in the Camping World Truck Series for Brad Keselowski Racing and the Xfinity Series for JR (Dale Earnhardt Jr.) Motorsports.
The 22-year-old Theriault has run the first two K&N Pro Series East races this season.
“Andy has helped me in my racing career for some time now along with the Prescotts and my dad, [Scott],” said Lanpher, who has raced for Team EJP (Prescott) in the past.
Lanpher is hoping to attract sponsors so he can run more than just the five races for Marsh Racing.
Lanpher would like to test in the K&N Series car, especially before tackling Bristol Motor Speedway’s steeply-banked, 0.533-mile oval.
“The track is fast and high-banked, and you don’t get much chance to practice before the race,” said Lanpher. “I definitely hope to get a test in but, if not, it is what it is, and I’ll jump right into it.”
In addition to his five K&N Pro Series East races, he intends to run Pro All-Stars Series Super Late Model North races, including the Oxford 250, and he will try to squeeze in some races at Beech Ridge.
Since he won’t be racing on any one tour exclusively, he won’t be racing for points.
“I’ll just be racing for wins,” said Lanpher, who has played on two Class C state championship soccer teams at Maranacook and played baseball and basketball earlier in his career.
“It’s going to be a fun year. I’m going to give it my all and, hopefully, we can keep progressing and open a lot of other doors. It’s always a struggle to land sponsors. Thankfully, I’ve got some real good people behind me,” he added.
Having two diplomas will give him more time to dedicate to his race career.
“It has been a lot of extra work, but it’ll certainly be worth it when I’m all done. I’ll save a lot of time and money,” said Lanpher, who drove to Thomas in Waterville to take classes.