by Kimberly French, USTA Web Newsroom Senior Correspondent

Kimberly French

Louisville, KY — His birth certificate officially designates him as John Flanigen, but anyone that peruses a program from Buffalo Raceway or Batavia Downs recognizes him as Jack or Jackie. Flanigen was recently selected as the 2011 Western New York Driver of the Year, an honor also bestowed upon him in 2010.

“It’s really exciting to be able to drive nice horses,” said the Oakfield, N.Y., resident. “With this economy, I guess I’m just lucky to make a living at it.”

The 45-year-old was granted a pilot’s license in 1984 at age 18 after being around his father’s stable throughout his formative years, but up until resigning his position with the New York State Department of Transportation in January of 2010, it was merely a hobby and not his chosen profession.

UNY/USHWA photo

Jack Flanigen set career highs in both wins and earnings in 2011.

Like most fledgling drivers, Flanigen’s first six years were rather slow and he failed to break the $100,000 mark in earnings from his mounts until 1990 when he drove 840 horses, gathered 148 victories and $212,421 in purse money. Prior to that year, he had never had more than 299 drives and more than $68,160 in purse money.

From 1991 to 1999, Flanigen always averaged more than 1,000 drives a year and never banked less than $300,000 or more than $556,000, but in 2000 he cut back on his drives and the closest he came to 1,000 pari-mutuel miles in the sulky was in 2006 when he collected nearly $700,000 from 705 trips around the track.

Then in 2008, the reinsman suffered a severe concussion in an accident at Buffalo Raceway in July, one night before the meet ended which kept him out of the bike for the rest of the year.

“I could have came back earlier,” Flanigen recalled. “I could have came back in October or November, but after I got into that wreck, I decided to take the rest of the year off, because I just wanted to take a break.”

In 2009, he came back with a vengeance as he held the lines on 1,038 occasions with 157 triumphs and $696,752 in his pockets. He was honored as the Comeback Driver of the Year by the Upstate New York Chapter of the United States Harness Writers and after some deliberation, decided to quit his day job and devote himself to driving full-time the following year.

“I worked for the DOT (Department of Transportation) for nine years,” Flanigen explained. “It actually became too difficult for me to keep doing both with the requirements for the state. It was a hard choice, but it worked out well.”

Last year, Flanigen cleared more than $1.4 million and had 302 wins from 1,552 drives. All were career highs, but this year he eclipsed those standards with more than $1.5 million in his coffers, and 305 victories from 1,684 miles, to enjoy the best year of his 27-year career.

Besides receiving accolades from USHWA, Flanigen has persistently been the leading dash-winning driver at both Buffalo and Batavia for the last several years.

In his opinion, the reason he has enjoyed success in his chosen line of work has nothing to do with his own ability.

“The top trainers are putting me on competitive horses and I think that just kind of snowballs,” Flanigen said.

There are not any special races he seeks to capture or a specific goal he hopes to achieve other than the obvious.

“You make the most money if you win,” Flanigen said. “I just always hope to be able to make a living and not get hurt.”