Kim Hart recognized as racing pioneer by Ed Fuez, 

Fonda Speedway's first promoter.

MANY FORMER FONDA SPEEDWAY DRIVERS, CAR OWNERS,

 AND OFFICIALS ARE A PART OF THE 

NEW NYSSCA HALL OF FAME

FONDA, NY – On Saturday afternoon January 29 at the Saratoga Automobile Museum, the New York State Stock Car Association (NYSSCA) opened their Hall of Fame with many fans and Hall of Fame members in attendance for the opening ceremonies.

            NYSSCA unveiled their new Hall of Fame display which is a three panel lighted display located on the second floor of the Saratoga Auto Museum. It includes a center panel where the Hall of Fame members have all of their names printed and the year that they were inducted. The two side panels have photos of the Hall of Fame members and their cars. The Hall of Fame was started back in 1984 and includes a total of ninety-six members after the 2004 inductions were made in mid January at the annual NYSSCA awards banquet.

NYSSCA president John Keegan was on hand and spoke briefly about the NYSSCA organization. “I used to talk about NYSSCA to people and the benefits of our organization along with our Hall of Fame,” Keegan said. “I would mention the Hall of Fame and they would ask me where our Hall of Fame was but I couldn’t tell them because we never had a permanent home for it until today with the opening ceremonies at the Saratoga Auto Museum.”

            Ron Hedger who is a member of the NYSSCA Hall of Fame committee and also arranges for the displays of the race cars in the racing part of the museum has a goal to have at least two Hall of Fame cars in the museum all of the time. “Bobby Hackel just offered me his Mini-Stock to display in the racing exhibit at the museum,” he said. “A lot of people know what a Modified looks like but some people have never seen a Mini-Stock.”

            The displays in the racing exhibit at the museum are always changing and there are some “dream” cars that Hedger would like to get into the museum in the future such as a Richie Evans car and a flat head powered 1932 or 1934 Ford, which is what most people started their racing careers with in the 1950’s. “I have a list of cars that I have in mind for displays at the museum,” he said. “I made a deal with the Indianapolis museum to borrow Lee Wallard’s car which we will be getting at the museum next fall.”

            Some of the Hall of Fame members that were on hand for the opening ceremonies were asked about their number one racing memory and here is what they had to say:

            John Grady – “Unfortunately it was Mr. Rene Charland’s French barbeque at Albany Saratoga. That led to the story of the bravest thing that I have ever seen in my life when Eddie Flemke, who weighed all of 125 pounds at the time, ran into a big ball of fire that was Charland’s car and pulled Rene from the flames. I have never seen anything like it in my whole life. Afterwards Flemke shrugged it off and said well Rene would have done it for me to which I jokingly replied don’t count on it.”

            Car owner Cliff Wright – “Repairing the car from all of the wrecks that (Kenny) Shoemaker had. He gave me a lot of glory but also a lot of hard work.”

            Brian Ross – “The fire at Martinsville. I’ll never forget that. Winning the Race of Champions at Pocono. Racing at Daytona and Talladega. Chasing Richie Evans and beating him once in awhile was the deal though.”

            Ron Narducci – “A lot of my memories are not about winning races. The race that I am most proud of though was back in the All Star League when Ernie Gahan, Bill Wimble, and myself represented Fonda in the series one year. Ernie had what we thought was a heart attack, but it wasn’t, which put him out of the Trinkaus #62. Don Wayman took over the ride and just before the championship race at Nazareth at the end of the year Trinkaus built two 350 Modified engines and put one in his car and one in Wimble’s car. Both of those 350 engines blew up within three laps of each other, which left me out on the racetrack with my 327 with Gahan’s twin four barrels on it. Those big hogs down there blew by me on the straight-aways like I was chained to a post but I would go right back by them in the corners. I finished third in that race and that was the most gratifying moment for me because I was building my own cars and engines at the time.”

            Kenny Tremont, Sr. – “Winning the Richie Evans Memorial race at Utica Rome and the 1999 Syracuse race as a car owner with my son Kenny Jr. at the wheel. Those meant an awful lot to me.”

            Nick Ronca – “A big part of my career was all of the friends that I made and the traveling that we did when we used pump gas in the race car that was 30 cents per gallon at the time. In the 70’s when gas started going up in cost it ended an era in my opinion. That changed racing a lot.”

NYSSCA HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES BY YEAR

1984 – Steve Danish, Jeep Herbert, Kenny Shoemaker

1985 – Pete Corey, Paul Marshall

1986 – George Proctor, Tony Villano

1987 – Doug Garrison, Irv Taylor, Jerry Townley

1988 – Eddie Flemke, Frank Trinkaus, Bill Wimble

1989 – Rene Charland, Cliff Kotary, Theron Moore, Ted Ryan, Ken Tremont, Sr.

1990 – Ernie Gahan, Mert Hulbert, Dick Nephew, Karl Haeussel

1991 – Nick Ronca, Howie Westervelt, “Tate” Eugene Tetreault

1992 – Cliff Wright, Donald Wayman, “Jollie” Ollie Palmer

1993 – Jerry Cook, Ralph Ouderkirk, Frankie Schneider

1994 – Chuck Ely, Ed Delmolino, Tim Baker, Ed Pieniazek

1995 – Claude Hoard, Hugh Hedger, Ron Narducci, Chet Hames

1996 – Fred DeCarr, Ernie Marshall, Dexter Dorr, Ernie Martin

1997 – Dick Clark, Mike Ehring, Richie Evans, George Janoski, Lou Spanier, Bugsy Stevens

1998 – Margaret Bosley, Leonard Bosley, Carlton Hughes, Harry Peek, Winn Slavin

1999 – Tommy Corellis, C.D. Coville, Stretch VanSteenburgh, Don MacTavish

2000 – Lou Lazzaro, Link Pettit, Sr., Ethel Searing-Wetmore, Ken Goodermote

2001 – Charlie LaDuc, Steve Luse, Vince Quenneville, Sr., John Osterhoudt, C.J. Richards, Ray Dalmata, Ed Feuz, James Gage, Sr., Jim Luke, George Welch, Bob Hackel, Charles “Chuck” Irving, Paul Roberts, Lee Palmer, Allen “Schootch” Schoonmaker, Stan Wetmore, Jon Button, Bernie Miller, Sonny Seamon, Bob Mott, Dutch Hoag, Arthur “Uncle Art” Stuarts

2002 – Robert “Bob” Whitbeck, John “Jocko” Martterer, George Marcus

2003 – Maynard Forrette, Butch Jelley, Andy Romano, Lenny Boehler, Freddy DeSarro

2004 – Donnie Wetmore, Brian Ross, Buck Holiday, John Grady

            For more information on NYSSCA or the Saratoga Auto Museum you can go to their websites www.nyssca.com and www.saratogaautomuseum.com

Saturday, February 26, 2005

Fonda Speedway “Ice Jam” to kick off 

Race of Champions Dirt Modified Tour

Read more on: whowon.com

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. -- Race of Champions Motorsports has aligned with northeast dirt tracks to form the Race of Champions Dirt Modified Tour for the upcoming 2005 racing season. The tour will feature combined big block/small block modified events at a number of different facilities throughout the northeast this season. The first tour event is slated for Fonda Speedway with the running of the annual “Ice Jam” on Saturday, April 9th.

The tour will be catered toward the weekly short track racer with a limited number of mid-week specials and strong purses that will pay a minimum of $4,000 to win each. A solid season ending point fund will also be in place for the top teams that follow the tour during the 2005 campaign. A blend of “hometrack” rules will make the Race of Champions Dirt Modified Tour a driver friendly trail to follow for all of the competitors.

Cory Reed, the Orange County Fair Speedway co-promoter will serve as the Competition Director of the tour with Five Mile Point Speedway owner and Race of Champions President Andrew Harpell taking the role of Administrative Director.

Reed commented on the new tour: “There has been a great deal of excitement already generated among the participating speedways.

“This has been a complete team effort among the northeast track owners and general managers.”

With regards to the Race of Champions involvement Harpell remarked, “The Race of Champions identity is a natural fit for the new tour as it is based on the same concept of our Asphalt Modified Tour. We want to support the weekly racers by providing them with strong paying events at the best venues in the northeast.

“The Race of Champions started on dirt at the 1-mile Langhorne Speedway, so in a sense this is a return back to its roots.”

The list of participating venues is an impressive one with the possibility of other facilities being added to the mix in the weeks to come. The tour will go green on Saturday, April 9th at Fonda Speedway with the running of the annual “Ice Jam” event. Other participating speedways include: Five Mile Point Speedway, Orange County Fair Speedway, Penn Can Speedway, Ransomville Speedway and Utica-Rome Speedway. The combined efforts of all the facility owners will help to make the tour a very exciting avenue for competitors and spectators alike. The theme of being a “driver friendly” tour will be emphasized throughout the summer months. All of the events will lead up to the season ending Eastern States Weekend at the Orange County Fair Speedway on October 21 – 23.

With the tradition of the Race of Champions name partnered with the rich tradition of the participating speedways the 2005 tour will be pure dirt track excitement. The dirt tour will complement the existing asphalt modified tour. The Race of Champions Asphalt Modified race is the second longest running event in the United States. An impressive list of event winners include both dirt and asphalt stars like: Frankie Schneider, Dutch Hoag, Will Cagle, Merv Treichler, Geoff Bodine, Richie Evans, Jimmy Spencer, Billy Pauch and George Kent.

The 2005 tour schedule will be released shortly along with the dates for a companion Race of Champions Dirt Sportsman Tour. For additional information please phone Cory Reed at (315) 374-1168 or Andrew Harpell at (607) 238-0432. The official website can be found at www.rocdirt.com.

AMERICAN RACER & SUNOCO 

ADD MONEY TO THE 2005 FONDA SPEEDWAY POINT FUND

FONDA, NY – Fonda Speedway promoter Ric Lucia recently announced that American Racer has been chosen as the tire for the 2005 racing season at the Track of Champions. “We will also be using Sunoco fuel and between the two companies we will be starting the drivers point fund out at $12,500 ($10,000 from American Racer and $2,500 from Sunoco) instead of zero where we usually start out the season,” Lucia said.

            Jumpin’ Jack’s Pro Speed will be the tire distributor for the American Racer tires and to inquire about the availability and prices of the new tires you can call Jumpin’ Jack’s at (518) 355-5314. “The tires will be marked with a Fonda logo on them and the Modified and Sportsman divisions will most likely be on the same tire now,” Lucia said.

The new tires will not be mandatory when the 2005 season begins, as the drivers will be allowed to use up their inventory of Hoosier tires from last year through the month of April. “We would like to have the drivers on the American Racer tires by May 1,” Lucia said. “As of right now a fuel distributor has not been chosen but we should be able to finalize that by the end of February.”

The 2005 schedule will be very similar to last year except for the year ending McDonald’s weekend which this year will be held on September 24 & 25. “To stay open an extra month into October and get snowed on just isn’t working,” Lucia said. “I know I can’t guarantee that it isn’t going to rain in September but at least it will be a little bit warmer if it does.”

The 2005 Fonda Speedway schedule has been presented to the Montgomery County Fair Board and has been okayed by them. Later this month Lucia has to present it to the Town Board for them to okay it before it is released. “I try to always make sure that these are the steps that I take every year before I release the schedule,” he said.

The same divisions will be running at Fonda in 2005 (Modified, Sportsman, Pro Stock, Street Stock, IMCA) and the rules for all classes will be the same as in 2004. Promoter Lucia has already had meetings with several drivers in both the Pro Stock and Street Stock divisions and is currently trying to schedule a meeting with the drivers in the Sportsman division. “I have also talked with several of the drivers in the Modified division about the upcoming season,” Lucia said. “So far we have gotten very good driver feedback and very good driver support for what we are trying to do by going independent in 2005.”

The Pro Stock division at Fonda is going to experiment with some crate motors in 2005. “We are going to ask some drivers who already have the crate motors to run with us,” Lucia said. “Some guys who already have the crate motors have talked about wanting to run them at Fonda so we said sure lets test the waters with the future in mind. But there will be no weight breaks or any other breaks given to anyone using a crate motor. The rules will be the same for them as they are for everybody else.”

Lucia is also working closely with the other speedways that have decided to go independent in 2005 along with Fonda (Utica Rome, Afton, Five Mile Point, Accord, and Orange County) to try and organize a series of races among themselves. “We are trying to keep an organization together enough to keep parity in the rules so that we can run a series among those tracks,” he said. “And we are trying very hard to bring it all together.”

Because of the way the group of tracks is being developed, each track will be able to strike their own tire and fuel deals. “What we will do for the series is whatever brand of tire or fuel that is used at your home track will be legal at all of the other tracks in the series even if the brands are different,” Lucia said. The rules for the cars in the series will also work the same way. “If your car is legal to the rules at your home track you will be able to run the same car at any of the other tracks in the series. We are trying to bring this all together on short notice to give the drivers something to run for and look forward to because the DIRT series as you know it is not going to be the same.”

The rumor that is going around about Fonda reversing their decision and going back to DIRT this season is just that, a rumor. “I have made my decision,” Lucia said. “And all of the decisions that I made were made with the drivers, owners, and fans of Fonda Speedway’s best interests in mind.”

Fonda Speedway will open for warm-ups on Saturday April, 2 with the first race of the season taking place on Saturday April, 9 with the annual Ice Jam event. The regular season begins on Saturday April, 16 with starting times for these three dates being 1:00 p.m. On Saturday April, 23 the starting time will switch to 6:00 p.m.

For more announcements about the 2005 season at Fonda you can go to their website www.fondaspeedway.com

                     Stafford Speedway's Television Show Continues

(SUFFIELD, CT) Stafford Speedway's Dodge Weekly Racing Series events will again receive extensive television coverage on Connecticut's UPN network affiliate WCTX.  For the third consecutive season, Stafford's NASCAR New England, a one hour show, will air weekly starting in late May and running through early September.  With over-the-air-coverage reaching into Long Island and Southeastern Massachusetts (Channel 59 on the UHF band) and Cable coverage on all Connecticut cable systems, NASCAR New England will reach a potential audience of over 1 Million homes. The show is the cornerstone effort of SMS Images & Teleproductions. Stafford's Audio/video production company headed by track President and ABC broadcaster Jack Arute. In addition to NASCAR New England, SMS Images and Teleproductions produces local commercials and Stafford's annual Awards Banquet. "We are both pleased and gratified that WCTX has renewed with us," said Jack Arute. "They have played a very big role in delivering the message that NASCAR is right here in Connecticut." The partnership of SMS Images and WCTX has created a business model that has
drawn the attention of NASCAR. Over the off-season, Arute has presented the NASCAR New England story to hundreds of weekly track promoters as part of  NASCAR'S Short Track Summits in Las Vegas NV and Daytona Beach, FL. "It's a great indication of the renewed emphasis NASCAR has put upon their short track network," said Arute. "It's also quite an asset to take into our 2005 season. Hopefully, the increased NASCAR attention will result in new and exciting elements to each episode of the program." A new addition to the SMS Images & Teleproductions efforts is an intern program for aspiring television professionals. The company is accepting resumes from interested individuals for positions as apprentice cameramen, videotape operators, directors, producers and non-linear editors. "Experience is not necessary," said Arute. "We offer potential interns to opportunity to learn as they go and get hands-on experience in the field. What we are looking for are people with a passion for television." Interested individuals can apply at Stafford Motor Speedway's web site www.staffordspeedway.com or contact SMS Images & Teleproductions directly by e-mailing jackarute@cox.net.  Stafford Speedway's NASCAR New England program also means that for the third consecutive racing season, SK Modified®, Late Model, DARE Stock, and now Limited Late Model teams that compete at the Connecticut half mile will be the only teams in the New York, New England region assured of continuous television coverage for them and their sponsors. For more information about NASCAR New England, please contact the Stafford Motor Speedway track office at 860-684-2783 or visit us online at www.staffordspeedway.com

FONDA LEAVES DIRT FOR 2005

BY: RON SZCZERBA

FONDA, NY – After some careful thought about what was best for the Fonda Speedway and its drivers and owners in 2005, promoter Ric Lucia has decided to leave the DIRT fold and will not run under the sanctioning body for at least one year.

“DIRT hasn’t released any schedules yet for the series races, nothing has been announced about racing in Florida next month, and nobody is sure what the rules are going to be,” Lucia said. “But I know what we’re doing. We’re going out on our own this year, do our own tire and fuel deal, do at least one year without DIRT and see what happens. What else can we do? Utica Rome did it, Accord did it, and others are ready to do it. I feel as though DIRT has left me no other choice.”

Lucia attended all of the meetings that DIRT Motorsports presented and came away from them trying to make heads or tails out of what was going on. “After I left the meetings I thought that the new corporate structure might be pretty good,” he said. “I really don’t know who told DIRT that their system was broken and that they needed to fix it. The bottom line is that it looks to me as though they did a triple bypass surgery on something that only needed Rolaids. All of a sudden they started talking about using 104 fuel, 9 to 1 motors, crate engines, and rev limiters. But I feel as though the best thing for me to do is to not change anything.”

For 2005, Fonda will run under 2004 rules and enforce them so nobody has to change their cars. All of the same divisions will run at Fonda in 2005 including the combined Big Block and 358 Modifieds, Sportsman, Pro Stocks, Street Stocks, and IMCA. “We will try to keep parity with other tracks including Albany Saratoga, Utica Rome, Accord, and Afton among others so that drivers can race back and forth at other tracks,” Lucia said. “I feel that DIRT is pretty much at a loss as to what they are doing and really haven’t given us much of an option or a choice. I’m not mad at anybody, and there is no discontent or animosity towards anyone with what I am doing. I am just trying to do what makes the most sense to get us racing in 2005 at Fonda.”

2005 will be Lucia’s ninth year at the helm of the Fonda Speedway and he has a contract for at least two more years. A tentative schedule for the 2005 season at Fonda has been drawn up and awaits the approval of the Montgomery County Fair Board and the town officials in Fonda. The new schedule will be announced in a couple of weeks.

Also to be announced in a couple of weeks will be the fuel and tire that will be used at Fonda in 2005. “I hope to save our drivers a little money if I can on tires and fuel and give them some more incentives in the point fund and in our purses,” Lucia said. “But I’m not going to tell the drivers that they have to be on a certain tire at out opening event in April. I will give them a few weeks to use up the tires and fuel that they have and to make the transition towards the new tires and fuel.”

So Lucia looks forward to the new season and is very optimistic about 2005 and beyond at the Track of Champions. “I find it very hard to believe that none of the new owners have even visited Fonda after they took over DIRT Motorsports last year,” he said. “They don’t even know where Fonda is! So I feel that we have to strike out on our own because if we don’t we’re letting they’re indecision be our decision and that just isn’t going to work.”

Please go to www.fondaspeedway.com for more announcements in the next couple of weeks on the new schedule for 2005 and what tires and fuel will be used this season at Fonda.