Home in Dauphin County is where Sprint Car racing legends got their start: Cool Spaces
One of two rooms off of the front door. A Cool Spaces home at 7395 Jonestown Road in West Hanover Township. July 7, 2025. Dan Gleiter | [email protected]
This home, built circa 1931, looks from the outside like a late 1800s Victorian, with a two-story turret, fish scale siding, high-pitched center gable with decorative bracket.
One of four second floor bedrooms. A Cool Spaces home at 7395 Jonestown Road in West Hanover Township. July 7, 2025. Dan Gleiter | [email protected]
Dormers, a full porch with colorful supports and railings, and colorful matching window frames complete the look.
One of four second floor bedrooms. A Cool Spaces home at 7395 Jonestown Road in West Hanover Township. July 7, 2025. Dan Gleiter | [email protected]
What started out as a one-story home (more on that later) became a Victorian look-alike thanks to the hard work of the owners.
Eric Yingst Jr. said his parents, Eric Sr. and Joy Yingst were into the Victorian style.
Being in construction, his dad started making additions to the home after purchasing it from his parents in the mid-1980s. He added a second story with the help of Amish who were contracted for the job.
The home has 3,900-square-feet of space and four bedrooms and three full baths. Improvements have been made over the years, including a great room with wood burning fireplace and 10-foot ceilings.
A door beneath the steps. A Cool Spaces home at 7395 Jonestown Road in West Hanover Township. July 7, 2025. Dan Gleiter | [email protected]
Wood floors cover a large portion of the first floor. The floors match the tongue and groove knotty pine walls and ceilings in the wide center hall and also in a large room between the hall and the great room. This room happens to have a tin ceiling. The pine wood walls and floor are all original to the home.
What’s in the cool turret? The kitchen has been updated and fits neatly inside the curve of the turret. The second floor turret has a full bath for the primary suite nestled neatly inside.
The home sits on 1.28 acres and includes a detached garage and a guest ranch cottage home with 760-square-feet of space. This space is rented and has two bedrooms and a full bath.
A Cool Spaces home at 7395 Jonestown Road in West Hanover Township. Photo provided by realtor. Dan Gleiter | [email protected]
The home comes with a lot of history, which is something to be expected for older homes in this off-the-beaten-path area adjacent to Allentown Boulevard.
Eric Yingst Jr. said the home was originally a single story and served as a roadhouse/restaurant and gas/service station known as Shady Oaks.
There were gas pumps in front and when you walked into the front door of the home that’s where the office was. The other part of the home had a kitchen and a dining area where travelers could stop, rest and get something to eat, Eric Yingst Jr. said.
Equally interesting is was what was once behind the home along the tree line. A row of stand alone cabins stood in a line to the left of a mechanical building that housed the water pumps and oil furnace for the cabins. Each had a bedroom, bathroom and some had kitchenettes.
A Cool Spaces home at 7395 Jonestown Road in West Hanover Township. Photo provided by realtor. Dan Gleiter | [email protected]
To the right side of the mechanical building was a row of attached and/or adjoining cabins. While the cabins are now gone, the concrete pad for the mechanical building still stands. It is believed the cabin managers lived in the rental home which is still on the property. Later, family members would live in the cottage rental home.
Eric Yingst Jr. said his grandparents, who bought the property in the 1960s, sometimes would take in people who were down on their luck and let them live for minimal cost in the back yard cabins.
The two-car garage connected to the (at the time) one-story home was occasionally used for informal fight nights where a boxing ring was set up in the garage. Perhaps this was how locals settled grudges or simply let off some steam.
A Cool Spaces home at 7395 Jonestown Road in West Hanover Township. July 7, 2025. Dan Gleiter | [email protected]
During the years Eric Yingst, Jr. and his sister grew up at the home, family was a constant presence. The home was a gathering place for family and much of this was due to the uncles who lived at the home.
Racing was a constant presence in the Yingst family. The racing was such a big part of the family — it was the thing that brought everyone together remarked Eric Yingst, Jr. His father would often help his brothers in the garage.
The primary suite bath, housed inside the homes turret. A Cool Spaces home at 7395 Jonestown Road in West Hanover Township. July 7, 2025. Dan Gleiter | [email protected]
The uncles figure into the headline of this story. There were three uncles. Two were heavily into racing, while a third, Kermit Yingst, was in the masonry business. The pair of uncles who raced lived in the cabins out back for a while and spent much of their time working in the detached garage, sometimes with help from Kermit and the late Eric Sr.
A first floor full bath. A Cool Spaces home at 7395 Jonestown Road in West Hanover Township. July 7, 2025. Dan Gleiter | [email protected]
Uncles, the late Maynard K. Yingst and his brother Dave Yingst, started out racing motorcycles and sportsman in the 1970s. They would spend their time in the garage building motors and doing setups for vehicles. Both eventually got into sprint cars in the 1980s.
A first floor hallway with a view to the steps to the second floor. A Cool Spaces home at 7395 Jonestown Road in West Hanover Township. July 7, 2025. Dan Gleiter | [email protected]
Dave Yingst built engines and sprint cars out of the garage. He would build cars for various sprint car drivers in the space. Dave eventually got picked up for the World of Outlaws and became crew chief for World of Outlaws champion Donny Schatz. Dave (now retired from racing) crewed for many champion teams, including with Tony Stewart.
A first floor room. A Cool Spaces home at 7395 Jonestown Road in West Hanover Township. July 7, 2025. Dan Gleiter | [email protected]
Meanwhile, Maynard Yingst raced in the #88 sprint car, which he piloted to victories at area speedways. Maynard ran at Silver Spring, Port Royal and Williams Grove, among other tracks, before graduating to NHRA racing.
The kitchen, housed inside the homes turret. A Cool Spaces home at 7395 Jonestown Road in West Hanover Township. July 7, 2025. Dan Gleiter | [email protected]
Maynard was crew chief for Chuck Etchells’ “Nobody Beats the Wiz” NHRA nitro funny car team and later for Bruce Larson, when he won the 1989 Funny Car National Championship in the USA-1 car.
The kitchen. A Cool Spaces home at 7395 Jonestown Road in West Hanover Township. July 7, 2025. Dan Gleiter | [email protected]
The uncles built sprint cars for about 20 years out of the garage, which housed a small machine shop where they made some of their own parts.
“It was cool growing up there. I was on the race team with them for a couple years. My uncle said “hey if you want to drive one of these you have to put the time in the garage,” said Eric Jr.
“It was really kind of the center for our family. When I say for our family, my grandmother’s sisters would come down and stay for the summers. A lot of times people would come for the sprint car garage. Some of the fondest memories were sitting out back, running around as a kid out back, the sound of the cicadas, lighting the punk sticks to keep the gnats away. You always felt like you were with family.”
The primary suite bath. A Cool Spaces home at 7395 Jonestown Road in West Hanover Township. July 7, 2025. Dan Gleiter | [email protected]
Despite the rural setting, the home is close to major highways and towns such as Hershey (7 miles), and the cities of Harrisburg (11 miles) and Lebanon (22 miles) and Cumberland County (14 miles).
Located at 7395 Jonestown Road in West Hanover Township, the home is listed at $524,900 by agent Gary Burk with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Homesale Realty.
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A Cool Spaces home at 7395 Jonestown Road in West Hanover Township. Photo provided by realtor. Dan Gleiter | [email protected]
The first floor. A Cool Spaces home at 7395 Jonestown Road in West Hanover Township. July 7, 2025. Dan Gleiter | [email protected]
The great room with stone fireplace. A Cool Spaces home at 7395 Jonestown Road in West Hanover Township. July 7, 2025. Dan Gleiter | [email protected]
A first floor room with a view toward the front door. A Cool Spaces home at 7395 Jonestown Road in West Hanover Township. July 7, 2025. Dan Gleiter | [email protected]
A first floor full bath. A Cool Spaces home at 7395 Jonestown Road in West Hanover Township. July 7, 2025. Dan Gleiter | [email protected]
A Cool Spaces home at 7395 Jonestown Road in West Hanover Township. Photo provided by realtor. Dan Gleiter | [email protected]
