Inside Motorsports - 2021

April 2021

s r a e y 75 s l l i r h y a t w d e f e p O s e v o r Selinsg Auto racing returns to bloomsburg fairgrounds albany-saratoga speedway carries on traditions A racing heart: Steve post’s passion spans a lifetime

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Inside Motorsports | April 2021

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COVER STORY

Snyder County Track Celebrating 75 Years Of Thrills

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Auto Racing Returns To Bloomsburg Fairground Moyer Putting Pennsylvania On The Map Hanover Racer Finds Second Home At Snyder County Track Afton Motorsports Park Promises Great Time For Racers, Families & Fans Ardc: Engine Rule Changes Generate Future Promise

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Vreeland Goes From Numidia Dragway To Nhra Star Ellis Begins 39th Year As Voice Of Williams Grove Sidney Native Finds His Passion In The Pits Wagner Nets Third Straight 410 Sprint Crown

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Cannon Returns To Sprint Car Wars 410 Sprint Cars: New Drivers Take On Central PA A Racing Heart: Steve Post’s Passion Spans A Lifetime Unadilla MX Drives Family Vision Forward

Albany-Saratoga Speedway Carries On Traditions

ON THe COVER: Ryan kissinger celebrating a win at selinsgrove speedway. | Photo: Steve williams

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A publication of The Daily Item and The Daily Star, a member of CNHI LLC.

Inside Motorsports | April 2021

Inside Motorsports is a cooperative publishing effort from The Daily Item, Sunbury, PA and The Daily Star, Oneonta, NY.

Editor Dennis M. Lyons – Sunbury, PA Denielle Cazzolla – Oneonta, NY

Writers/Contributors Harold Raker – Sunbury, PA Shawn Wood – Sunbury, PA Gene Ostrowski – Sunbury, PA Allison Collins – Oneonta, NY

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Publisher Fred Scheller

SELINSGROVESPEEDWAY.com

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Inside Motorsports | April 2021

CELEBRATING A MOTORSPORTS TRADITION FOR GENERATIONS!

47 Sand Hill Rd • Selinsgrove, PA • 570.374.2266

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Inside Motorsports Motorsports || April April 2021 2021 Inside

2021 SCHEDLUE OF EVENTS

Selinsgrove Speedway Snyder County track celebrating 75 years of thrills BY: HAROLD RAKER, FOR INSIDE MOTORSPORTS

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Inside Motorsports | April 2021

I

f it were somehow possible to experience the sights and sounds of the Selinsgrove Speedway starting that July day in 1946 when future Indianapolis 500 winner Bill Holland won the first race, what a story it would tell!

There would be the voices of late Hall of Famers Chris Economaki and Jack Gunn on the microphone, epic battles among such outstanding late model drivers as Roy “Check” Adams, the late Paul Long, Tom Peck, the late Ed Spencer, and a list longer than the 2,600-plus feet of clay.

Sprint drivers taking trips around the big half mile have included Jeff Gordon, Kasey Kahne, the late Jan Opperman, the late Mitch Smith and many more.

You’d hear the loud cheers and boos from the historic covered grandstand as drivers such as Fred Rahmer, Todd Shaffer and Blane Heimbach waved the checkered

flag in celebration in victory lane, or the no-brag-justfact exhortations of famed car owners such as the late Al Hamilton and the late Bob Weikert.

Perhaps you’d hear some words from legendary stunt driver and racer Joie Chitwood, who designed the track where the Chitwood thrill show was held several times in the track’s early years.

The track, which welcomed Hall of Fame driver Bill Holland into victory lane as its first race winner in July 1946, will celebrate the 75th anniversary on the exact date, July 20, of the first race. Three years later, Holland won the Indianapolis 500. Robert “Red” Byron finished second to Holland and went on to win the first NASCAR (then Grand National) race on the beach at Daytona in 1949. continued on page 8

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Inside Motorsports | April 2021

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About Selinsgrove Speedway

As part of a season-long celebration, the speedway will stage a pair of 75th anniversary-themed races in July. The first, a rare mid-week event on Tuesday night, July 20, will take place exactly 75 years to the date of the first race, featuring 410 sprint cars and late models. On Aug. 8, the track will present the second running of the Bill Holland Classic for United States Auto Club Silver Crown Champ Cars. That race will run 75 laps and pay $8,075.

One of the stalwarts of the track is Paula Long Schick, Paul’s daughter and wife of veteran late model driver and two-time track champion Donnie Schick.

Talking recently about the endurance of the venerable speedway, she wondered how it could already be 25 years since the track celebrated its 50th anniversary with a program featuring many of the great drivers and former champions.

Paula Schick, 54, a retired Line Mountain High School math teacher, was seven days old when she took in her first race at Selinsgrove. She spent much of her adult life working at the track in several capacities, including helping her mother, Twila, and father (after he retired from racing) in the main concession stand.

Paula also often spent time during the races in the photo stand with the children of other drivers, including Hall of Famer Opperman.

Steve Inch, of Lewisburg, has also been a big part of the facility for more than 30 years.

The longtime public address announcer, and now part of the management team, he recalls going to the races as a fan at age 5.

“My grandfather, Charlie Hoke, raced late models (at Selinsgrove) before I was born and racing has always just been a part of our family and the track was located just a few miles from where we were growing up,” he said.

Inch started working at the track while in high school.

Former promoter Tedd Reitz got him started working on the program books, including interviewing drivers and writing feature stories. Later, he had the opportunity to share announcing duties.

He believes that he has called all 50 races (and done the interviews) that Salfordville’s “Fast” Freddie Rahmer won at the Snyder County speed plant.

Rahmer switched from a successful career in modifieds to sprint cars and Selinsgrove.

As a youngster, one of Inch’s early favorites was Hall of Fame late model driver Tom Peck.

Inch remembers that as a kid, he would see Peck and his father when they stopped at a service station near Freeburg owned by Inch’s dad.

“I was very small and one day Tom picked me up and put me in his race car on the open trailer,” Inch said.

Inch talked to Peck last year when he was with his son at a go-kart race at Selinsgrove Raceway Park (located in the speedway infield) and said Peck remembers that incident all these years later. Peck said he will try to attend the anniversary race in July, Inch said.

Another memorable driver for Inch was the late Jim Nace, of Thompsontown.

“With everything Jim accomplished and then later to get to know him and (his wife) Chrystal and the family when I started working at the track, and then to be able to interview Jim in victory lane, it was really special,” Inch said.

“Probably the race that I am most proud of that I’ve ever done was the first Jim Nace Memorial,” Inch added, noting that it was also one of the most successful events and attracted one of the track’s largest-ever crowds.

Chrystal Nace, who still operates the family’s business, Fast Tees, at Selinsgrove and Williams Grove, said she started going to the races with Jim when they were dating at age 16. He started racing at Port Royal, then the now defunct Silver Spring and Selinsgrove.

Nace was a Selinsgrove fan favorite, especially when he returned to race 358s when the track switched its feature division from the 410s.

“He realized how important the fans were, so he made time to talk to them whenever they wanted,” Chrystal said.

“He just enjoyed everything about the races and it just became a natural part of our life.”

“My grandfather, Charlie Hoke, raced late models (at Selinsgrove) before I was born and racing has always just been a part of our family and the track was located just a few miles from where we were growing up.”

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Inside Motorsports | April 2021

Steve Inch

Twila still runs the stand as she has for 30 years, and Paula helps when needed.

Sitting in the stands with her family and the families of other drivers and watching the races was an every-Saturday night occurrence for Paula, so much so that, when her dad retired from racing and the family went to a restaurant with friends on a Saturday night (instead of to the track), she recalled, “I’m sitting there crying my eyes out because I didn’t know anything different, it was just so different for me not to be at the race track.”

At age 4 or 5, she remembers fights among fans and drivers and fans throwing marbles at Spencer’s car when he passed the grandstand.

“I remember when dad and Ed Spencer got into it one night and the red flag came out, and Ed pulled up right behind my dad and walked up and ripped dad’s shirt right off with the belts and everything still on,” she said.

Years later, whenever her mom would see Spencer somewhere, she would joke that he still owed her $20 for the shirt.

it, but yeah, it’s different from all the other tracks.”

He became a race fan as a kid, but it started with the main class of cars in his area, the modifieds, first at the old half-mile at Nazareth.

“In the early 80s, my dad and I become very interested in sprint cars and we made our way out to central Pennsylvania and Selinsgrove was just one of our favorites,” he said.

He has so many fond memories of going to the races and now has more of those memories as a promoter.

“Hopefully, we’re making memories for other kids and adults like I had,” he said.

Both Heffner and Scandle said that one of the team’s priorities is devising activities to bring more fans to the track and keep them coming back, especially in the days when they have so many other activities available and can watch or follow the races on their computers.

“I’m grateful that I’m involved in the 75th anniversary because it is one of the longest continually running tracks in the country and I’m really proud to be a part of it, because I love history and you know this track has an incredible history,” Heffner added.

Scandle recently joined the track’s team, along with Selinsgrove’s Todd Benner, president of Selinsgrove Ford.

Scandle said he and his uncle were involved in racing micro sprints in the early ‘90s and he has had a passion for racing for quite some time.

He met sprint driver Mark Smith, of Sunbury, and teamed up with him as the car owner as well as sponsoring many of the major events at the track through his business, Mach I Chassis.

Scandle is also amazed to be part of the venerable speedway’s 75h-anniversary.

“Growing up as a kid and having a passion for racing and the track, you never dream that someday you may be part of that, and a part of trying to make it better and improve it,” he said. “It’s kind of neat process to go through.”

He added, “I never would have expected it.”

Three-time track champion late model driver and two-time champion car owner Roy “Check” Adams still attends races at Selinsgrove regularly, even though he retired from racing as the car owner when his son, Tony, won his second and final track title in 2017.

Check Adams raced during arguably the most competitive years of late model racing, racing against the likes of Spencer, Long, Lenny Erb, Dale English, Bobby Goodling, Lynn Paxton and Ronnie Dunstan.

Perhaps as much as his track-fifth-best 42 wins and three championships the Sunbury area driver was even prouder of another accomplishment.

“I never bought an engine,” he said. “We always built our own engines.”

And, although a lot of people talk about their physical battles with Spencer, father of former NASCAR driver Jimmy, Long has no tales to tell.

“I never had any trouble with Spencer. We wouldn’t go out to dinner with each other but all in all, we got along pretty good,” Adams said.

Nace raced all throughout the eastern and mid-west part of the country, but always loved to run at Selinsgrove, Chrystal said.

“He liked that it was a full half-mile track and had multiple grooves. You could run high, and you could run low, and he really did like it,” she said. “As long as they were running sprint cars, he wanted to be there and be a part of it.”

For Inch, among all the memorable drivers, there will always be hometown boy Blane Heimbach, who got started in 358s at Selinsgrove, and won 40 races and three track titles before moving up to 410s.

Inch also mentioned that Selinsgrove hosted the biggest paying sprint car race in the country in 1989, the National Open, which paid $51,500 and was won by legendary Doug Wolfgang.

With then promoter Earl Zechman and some other sponsors adding prize money, the race paid more that year than the Knoxville Nationals in Iowa that year. “And that was just the winner’s share,” Inch said.

Fellow management team members Brian Scandle, of Paxinos, and Mike Heffner, of Hellertown, have come full circle at the facility that has seen the legends and wanna-be legends circling the half-mile dirt track, colliding with its guardrails and each other, and yes, even flying out of the park.

Heffner, of Hellertown, has gone from being a young fan with his dad in the early 1980s, to being a part of the management team 6 years ago. He has also owned numerous race cars with his drivers including the late Greg Hodnett. “(Selinsgrove Speedway) was not in my backyard, I lived two hours away (in Topton, Pa.), I grew to become very fond of the track,” Heffner said. “I don’t know what it is about

“He realized how important the fans were, so he made time to talk to them whenever they wanted.” chrystal nace

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Mike Heffner

Inside Motorsports | April 2021

“In the early 80s, my dad and I become very interested in sprint cars and we made our way out to central Pennsylvania and Selinsgrove was just one of our favorites.”

Auto racing returns to Bloomsburg Fairground BY: SHAWN WOOD, FOR INSIDE MOTORSPORTS

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Inside PA Motorsports | April 2021

I

t began as a casual comment from Bloomsburg Fair board member and motorsports coordinator Brian Wawroski during the Monster Truck Show at the Fairgrounds last year.

He was speaking with The Armory Agency and members of the United States Auto Club.

“I said ‘wouldn’t it be cool if we built a racetrack here just to see what they would say,’ ” Wawroski said. “We wanted to build a track anyway, and they said, ‘let’s do it.’ ” The last time racing took place at the fairgrounds was 35 years ago.

“The word on the street was that people were hoping to see racing come back to the fairgrounds and those were some of the biggest days (attendance-wise), for the fair,” Wawroski said. “There are a couple of us on the fair board that have an interest in racing and the board of directors bought into the fact that racing would be good for the Bloomsburg Fair.

“We were not going to just go out and get a backhoe and build a track, everything we were going to do with USAC and The Armory Agency is going to be top-notch. We want it to be the best facility in the country when we are done,” he added.

The fair board brought on Steve O’Neal to be the promoter of the track. O’Neal is the current promoter at the Port Royal Speedway.

The track will be 3/8th-mile in length and will be constructed on the inside of the half-mile cinder track while utilizing part of the frontstretch. The fair will continue to run horseraces on the cinder track and has hopes of being able to hold auto racing after the fair is over in the future.

The year marks the 166th edition of the fair, which began in 1855. According to an article in a Wilkes-Barre newspaper, race cars first appeared at the fairgrounds in October of the 1922 fair.

The article notes that it’s the first time that race cars had ever been seen in Central Pennsylvania. Among the notable cars of the eight drivers that were entered in the race was the French Peugeot car which was driven by Howard Wilcox to win in the 1919 Indianapolis 500. British driver R. Burr Lampkin was behind the wheel at the fair race.

The schedule for the first year will feature a special-events calendar with eight dates from May 27 to Oct. 2.

“I said ‘wouldn’t it be cool if we built a racetrack here just to see what they would say,’ We wanted to build a track anyway, and they said, ‘let’s do it.’”

continued on page 12

Brian Wawroski

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Delivery | Carry Out | Order Online | Dine In

Inside PA Motorsports | April 2021

Race in for Fan Favorites...

The wingless United States Auto Club 360 East Coast sprint cars, the American Racing Drivers Club midgets, and the 360-winged sprint cars will kick off the calendar on schedule on May 27.

The USAC National Sprint Tour will invade the track as part of the Eastern Storm swing on June 20 while the ground-pounding Northeast dirt modifieds of the Short Track Super Series comes to the track on July 14.

The ULMS late models have two dates, June 20 and July 25.

The USAC National Midgets along with the USAC East Coast wingless sprints and the ARDC midgets are at the track on Aug. 6 while the United Racing Club 360-winged sprint cars will make an appearance on July 16 and Aug. 22.

A daytime show is set for Oct. 2 with the 305 sprint cars and the ARDC midgets. Later that evening, the 305 sprint cars will travel west on I-80 to race at the Clinton County Speedway.

“We are not to going to get into the weekly rut of racing,” Wawroski

About Bloomsburg Fairground Raceway Layout

3/8th’s-mile semi banked track located inside the half-mile cinder track

“I’m hoping to make all three midget shows.’”

John Heydenreich

Location

620 West Third Street, Bloomsburg Racing Divisions

Special events Contact

570-784-4949 www.bloomsburgfair.com @Bloomsburg_Fair

added. “We’re going to do eight races this year and we are going to keep the special-event format and expand to 12 to 14 races and go from there.”

Former Bloomsburg resident John Heydenreich is excited to see racing return to the fairgrounds.

Heydenreich, who lives in Indianapolis, is a four-time winner at the fairgrounds.

“The neat thing was that I could see the track from mom and dad’s dining table,” Heydenreich said of his memories of the track. “There’s a ton of talent that came out of the Bloomsburg area. It will be sweet to go back. I’m looking forward to it.”

Heydenreich, who turns 65 this year, was happy to see the ARDC midgets back at Bloomsburg.

“I have to give Shannon (Mausteller) a lot of credit for getting the ARDC midgets back up and running,” he said. “I’m hoping to make all three midget shows.”

Photo: The Ron Heddendorf Collecton

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Inside Motorsports | April 2021

Ed ‘Dutch’ Shaffer leads Kenny Weld in ARDC midget action on the cinder track at the Bloomsburg Fairgrounds during an event in the 1970s.

Photo: Steve Koletar

John Heydenreich works on his midget in the pits during the 2019 season. A former resident of Bloomsburg, Heydenreich is hoping to make all three midget events at the Fairgrounds this year.

Go Kart Racing Every Saturday Night!

2021 Schedule TIME 2:00pm

Apr. 24 May. 1 May 8

Regular Show + PA WINGS Regular Show + Twin 20's for Predator 375 Regular Show

2:00pm 5:00pm 5:00pm

May 15 May 22 May 29

Regular Show + $100 to Win Animal 375 $$ RACE FOR VETERANS $$ Regular Show + Mechanics Race

5:00pm 4:00pm 5:00pm

Jun. 5 Jun. 12 Jun. 19 Jun. 26 Jul. 3 Jul. 10 Jul. 11 Jul. 17

Regular Show Regular Show + 3rd ANNUAL JIM SCHUTT MEMORIAL = $200 TO WIN DIVAS Regular Show + 30 Lap Predator 340 King Of The Mountain Regular Show + PA WINGS HARVEY KOZLOWSKI MEMORIAL NO RACING Regular Show + ERNIE LOSS MEMORIAL $200 to Win Flat 350 BMS Pa State Championship Series Regular Show + Penns Creek Winged Outlaw Showdown

5:00pm 5:00pm 5:00pm 5:00pm 5:00pm TBA 5:00pm

Jul. 24 Ju. 31 Aug. 7 Aug. 14 Aug. 21

Regular Show Regular Show + PREDATOR CUP for Predator 375, Predator 410, & Jr. Predator Regular Show + TNC Trophies Kids Night Regular Show Regular Show + 50 LAP = $500 TO WIN CLONE CLASH for Clone 375

5:00pm 5:00pm 5:00pm 5:00pm 5:00pm

Aug. 28 Sep. 4 Sep. 11 Sep. 18 Sep. 25 Oct. 2

Regular Show + Twin 20s for Predator 410 Regular Show + SUMMER BLAST (FLAT 350 = $1,500 PURSE!) + PA WINGS Regular Show + Mechanics Race Regular Show + MIKE ZIMMERMAN MEMORIAL Regular Show + Twin 15's for Caged Clone Red Regular Show (Final Points Race) + Winged Outlaw Twin 15s

5:00 PM 5:00pm 5:00pm 5:00pm 3:00pm 3:00pm

For GPS: 1210 Mountain Rd Middleburg, PA

(570) 556-7462 or (570) 713-8616 www.pennscreekracewaypark.com

3 .,2( 3 1,0( 3 2,*.#2 )%'2, 0- )%'2,3 )1+.0 1/ 3*1+)2(3'+)(32 '2,0 *2 .#+23 %1./02/1/#2 1++3./3-/23'+1#2

*2, 0 ./! &)0-%-0.*2

Thanks to all my customers for the last 24 years!

My business has closed as of March 31st!

I will have part time hours until I sell the business.

Please call 570-847-6116 & I will return your call!

Park Fees: Pit Pass $10 (All Ages) General Admission $3 (Under 12 Free) Driver Registration Adult Classes $15 • Kids Classes $12

Have a great racing season!

Rod’s Automotive

300 N Market St, Selinsgrove, PA (570) 374-7401

Inside Motorsports | April 2021

EVENT

13

Regular Show

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DATE Apr. 17

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RACEWAY PARK

Pure determination Moyer putting Pennsylvania on the map story: GENE OSTROWSKI, FOR INSIDE MOTORSPORTS

The small Pennsylvania town of Shepp-

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Inside Motorsports | April 2021

ton (population: about 200) may not be recognizable beyond Schuylkill County. Therefore, people might be baffled to learn that an upcoming NASCAR short track sensation was born and raised there.

Driving for veteran racer Andy Hillenberg in the ARCA Menards East Series, 23-year-old Stephanie Moyer worked hard, aligned herself with the right people and has officially begun the start of what she hopes is a fulltime career.

Moyer cut her teeth on local Pennsylvania short tracks, including the dirt at Greenwood Valley Action Track, where she earned her first karting title at age 12. She dedicated that championship season to her brother and past Evergreen Raceway Factory Stock driver, Mike, Jr., who passed away earlier that year.

Just when her family was prepared

to step back from racing and planned to sell her brother’s car, Moyer begged her mother, Sonya and father, Mike, Sr. to let her move on to asphalt racing.

She wanted to use her brother’s car and compete on the third-mile oval at Evergreen Raceway (formerly Mountain Speedway) in St. Johns, Pa. Neither of her parents wanted to say “yes”, but when preseason practice rolled around, Moyer was turning laps on the track.

The whole experience was a huge learning curve for the young driver as her lap times increased with her confidence and sheer racing ability.

She rounded out the season by taking ‘Rookie of the Year’ honors and placing sixth in points.

After finishing as the runner-up for the championship in 2013, Moyer was awarded as the ‘Most Improved Driver’

in her division.

Fast forward to 2017: Moyer was older, even more experienced and preparing to start college at the University of Northwestern Ohio.

With the future on her mind, she tied for the Evergreen Factory Stock championship, yet feared that she wouldn’t be able to race the following seasons because of the long commute home on the weekends.

Yet, determined to be on track, she made it happen.

Moyer closed out the 2018 and 2019 seasons with runner up finishes in the standings and took the checkers to become the second female ever in her division to win the season-ending “King of the Green” in 2019.

She returned to the track as a college graduate in 2020 and didn’t waste any time vying for the championship. continued on page 16

www.SelinsgroveFord.com

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10 N. Susquehanna Trail Selinsgrove, PA | 570-374-8131

Inside Inside Motorsports Motorsports || April April 2021 2021

On The Fast Track To Your Best Deal!

One win came along the way and Moyer became the second female in her division and the second in her household to win an Evergreen championship.

Moyer offered a position at a race shop intern in North Carolina and she made the move south last November.

The move came in a timely manner, as she was also working on a project that would allow her to take the next step in her racing career.

She teamed up with team owner Hillenberg in the ARCA Menards Series and her crew varies with interns of the UNOH Race Club. In midJanuary they packed up and headed to Daytona International Raceway for testing and Moyer got plenty of seat time, plus the official approval to compete on superspeedways.

Moyer commented on her move from the third mile track at Evergreen to the 2.5-mile superspeedway at Daytona.

“My experience at Daytona was surreal,” she said.

“The front stretch and back stretch were like driving down a freeway, but you don’t even pay attention to how fast you are going. The turns have so

Andy Hillenberg

much G-force and it feels like the walls are closing in on you and as soon as you exit the turn, and then the walls open back up.”

She continued, “You know the saying ‘You have to remember to breathe?’ and it is a fact. The first time that you get out there, you are so focused on driving and you honestly forget to

breathe for a minute. I experienced what it was like to bottom out in the middle of turns three and four and it feels like something is punching the center bottom of the car.”

Moyer adapted quickly to the big track, but it didn’t come without a little intimidation.

“Coming out of turn two is a buttpuckering moment because the only thing that you see is that wall and the way the track flattens out. It makes you think that you are heading straight for it, but you just have to let the car do its thing and you’ll come to realize that it is supposed to be that way.”

Her first official start of the series took place Feb. 27 at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Fla., and she drove her No. 12 Toyota Camry to an impressive eighth-place finish.

If she can continue to maintain her current sponsors and collect additional supporters, she plans to be in competition at the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway in Tennessee on Saturday, May 8.

Other tracks on her schedule are Elko Speedway in Minnesota, Iowa Speedway, Winchester Speedway in continued on page 18

16

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Inside Motorsports | April 2021

REFRESH. REFUEL. REFILL.

5066 State Route 890 • Sunbury, PA • 570.988.2882

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Inside Motorsports | April 2021

“As for being a woman, this is a man’s sport. For me being able to make my way up the ranks and grab those past championships, it builds character.”

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Inside Motorsports | April 2021

Stephanie Moyer

Indiana, Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee and Salem Speedway in Indiana.

Devoted to working and learning at the shop, Moyer rarely gets out for other activities. But, when she does, it’s focused around snowboarding, gaming, cooking and sightseeing. However, she already has her season’s goals in place and can’t wait to execute them.

“My 2021 goals aren’t simple and with the right help, they’re achievable”, noted Moyer.

“I’d just like to get a full season of seat time, meet new people, gain a full-time sponsorship ride, and earn good finishes and learn new ways of racing.”

Sponsorship is always difficult to obtain, especially for someone new to the series. Moyer is happy to have several folks behind her for different racing events and she’s always willing to discuss future sponsorship endeavors with any interested parties.

Those who support her now are

Council Cup Campground, Donadi Grafix, American Legion Post 473 Freeland, Act Towing, Kelchner Motors, Highland Social Club, Bev and Charlie O’Donnell, Tammy and Mike Puvak, Paul Kuczynski, and her grandfather.

Along with her entire family, Moyer gives thanks to those who have supported her thus far in the sport, including Joe Polny and her fiancé, T.J. Peters.

Although it’s not uncommon for women racers to be competing in motorsports, it is fairly common for them to be judged by others for being females in the sport, even before those people saw them compete.

“As for being a woman, this is a man’s sport. For me being able to make my way up the ranks and grab those past championships, it builds character,” she said.

“I feel that there will be more women in this sport and dominating. A lot of teams out there are looking to have more of us women in those cars. You

have eyes on you all the time and it is something to get used to. I’ve learned to take no nonsense from the men out there that wreck us out. Female or male is not a question on the racetrack and to me, we are racers and that is it.”

Nonetheless, Moyer is pursuing her dreams.

“To me personally, this is my dream. From watching my dad and brother race to being a three-time champion is always going to be my greatest accomplishment. Those were my roots and my beginning for my racing career. It opened my eyes to work on myself,” she said.

“With being in this sport, it takes dedication, the ability to adapt, time, patience, understanding and the willingness to learn. It is hard work, but hard work always pays off in some way or another. I have never been so focused on anything in my life until I strapped myself in a seat.”

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Beaver Springs Dragway Hanover racer finds second home at Snyder County track

20

Inside Motorsports | April 2021

E

ntering its fourth season under the ownership of Mike McCracken, Beaver Springs Dragway not only shows continuous improvement, but also shows promise of a bright future for the drag strip itself and the racers who compete there.

Oh yes, it also shows a bright future for the hard-working McCracken crew, who even during the height of the Covid19 pandemic, never gave up.

That attitude, mixed with a great track and location is what helps urge drag racers such as Hanover, Pa., drag racer Chris Strausbaugh, to make the twohour tow to the track with his two sons as often as possible.

Story: GENE OSTROWSKI, FOR INSIDE MOTORSPORTS Photos: provided

For more than five decades Beaver Springs hosted a variety of drag racing divisions, which now range from junior dragsters to the super pro class.

Not only can an entire family come out to the track as spectators, but also come out as a racing family to compete in multiple age and financially appropriate classes. There is literally something for everyone, including junior ATV and motorcycle drags.

Strausbaugh’s main drag car is a 1977 Trans AM, which puts out roughly 2,000 horsepower. The turbo-charged vehicle weighs 3,600 pounds and is powered by a small block Chevy, single turbo. The 3-speed 400 transmission, combined with a custom fabbed 9-inch

rear with 40 spline axles, it is built to take whatever abuse that Strausbaugh can dish out.

He’s no newcomer to the sport and has been working on cars and around the garage since he was a teenager.

Here it is three decades later and he’s still in the garage, hanging with his sons, Garrett and Adley, working on his three drag cars and helping his customers and friends at his shop, offering the use of his chassis dyno.

And, he does all of that, plus works full time as a truck driver.

Chris’ ambition sparked when asked about how fast he’s gone on the drag strip. continued on page 22

Open Wheel Madness I 410 Sprints, PASS 305 Sprints, & URC 360 Sprints $2,000 on $1 Hot Dog Night 6:00pm Sat, May 1 410 Sprints, Late Models (dual heat passing points), & PASS 305 Sprints 7:00pm Sat, May 8 410 Sprints, ULMS Late Models (tt) $4,000, & Limited Late Models on York County Racing Club Night Presented

by Bobby Rahal Toyota Lexus of Lewistown with $10 general admission for all Mothers and Mothers Bus Ride and Pocono Raceway Displays and Giveaways 7:00pm Sat, May 15 NO RACING Fri, May 21 World of Outlaw Late Models Billy Vacek Memorial (tt) $10,000, Limited Late Models, & Wingless Sportsman 7:00pm Sat, May 22 World of Outlaw Late Models Billy Vacek Memorial (tt) $15,000 & 410 Sprints $4,500 7:00pm May 29 & 30 BOB WEIKERT MEMORIAL WEEKEND SPONSORED BY PACKERS CONCESSIONS Sat, May 29 Weikert Memorial Fallen Heroes Championships All Star 410 Sprints (tt) $10,000 & PASS 305 Sprints 7:00pm Sun, May 30 Weikert Memorial Finale All Star 410 Sprints $29,000 (tt) & Wingless Sportsman 7:00pm Mon, May 31 RAIN DATE FOR SUNDAY, MAY 30th ONLY Start Time: TBA Sat, June 5 410 Sprints, Late Models, & Limited Late Model Twin 18s on Camera & Autograph Night with Kids Bus Ride presented by Bobby Rahal Toyota Lexus of Lewistown 7:00pm Sat, June 12 410 Sprints, Late Models, & PASS 305 Sprints with $10 general admission for all Senior Citizens 62 years of age and older and $1 Hot Dog Night 7:00pm Sat, June 19 USAC Wingless Sprint Cars Eastern Storm (tt) $6,000, 410 Sprints (dual heat passing points) $4,500, & EMMR Exhibition 7:00pm Sat, June 26 NO RACING Wed, June 30 31st Annual PA Speedweek 410 Sprints (tt) $7,000 & URC 360 Sprints $2,000 7:00pm

Sat, July 3

31st Annual PA Speedweek 3rd ANNUAL GREG HODNETT CLASSIC for 410 Sprints (tt) $10,000 & Late Models 7:00pm Sat, July 10 410 Sprints, Late Models, & Limited Late Models on Kids Night with Bicycle and Power Wheel Races (helmets required) 7:00pm Sat, July 17 Open Wheel Madness II 410 Sprints, PASS 305 Sprints, & WINGLESS Sportsman 7:00pm Sat, July 24 AMA Flat Track Motorcycles presented by PROGRESSIVE (Raindate: Sunday July 25) Start Time: TBA Sat, July 31 15th Annual Living Legends Dream Race 410 Sprints (tt) $10,000 & Late Models Presented by River Valley Builders Modular Home Sales 7:00pm Sat, Aug 7 410 Sprints, Late Models, & PASS 305 Sprints – Kids Money Scramble presented by Pennian Bank 7:00pm Sat, Aug 14 NO RACING Sat, Aug 21 Open Wheel Madness III 410 Sprints, PASS 305 Sprints, & USAC East Coast Wingless 360 Sprints on Salute To The Military Night Free General Admission for past and present military with proper identification 7:00pm Thu, Aug 26 Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series “Rumble

By The River” (tt) $10,000 & Limited Late Models $1,500 7:00pm Fri, Aug 27 Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series “Rumble By The River” (tt) $12,000 & Mid Atlantic Modifieds 7:00pm Sat, Aug 28 Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series “Rumble

By The River” (tt) $30,000, Non Qualifiers Feature, & Mid Atlantic Modifieds 7:00pm - */°Ê{Ê Ê££ÊUÊ£ÈÇ/ Ê 1 Ê 1 / Ê "1 /9Ê , Sat, Sept 4 167th Annual Juniata County Fair Opener – 18th Annual ULMS Late Model Butch Renninger Memorial (tt) $5,333, 410 Sprints, & Limited Late Models $1,500 on Auto Racing Club Of Hagerstown Night (ARCH) 6:00pm Mon, Sept 6 ÇäÌ Ê Õ> Ê ÃÃÊ iÜi iÀÃÊ >L ÀÊ >ÞÊ Classic for 410 Sprints (gtt) $5,000, FWD 4-Cylinders, & Wingless Sportsman benefiting the United Way on Fan Appreciation Day – $5 Infield Admission and $12 Grandstand General Admission 1:00pm

Thur, Sept 9

All Star Circuit Of Champion 410 Sprint Cars (tt) $8,000 & PASS 305 Sprints Presented by Tedd Reitz 7:00pm Fri, Sept 10 } ÌÊ iv ÀiÊ/ iÊxäÊ Ê-Ì>ÀÊ ÀVÕ ÌÊ Of Champion 410 Sprint Cars $10,000 (tt) & Late Models Presented by Tedd Reitz (Last points race for the 410 Sprint Cars & LMs) 7:00pm Sat, Sept 11 x{Ì Ê Õ> Ê/ÕÃV>À À>Êxä Sponsored

by Ramsey’s Car Wash and Garage of Mifflintown & Presented by Packers Concessions (tt) $54,000 & Non Qualifiers Race 6:00pm Sun, Sept 12 Tuscarora 50 rain date (Saturday event only) Start time: TBA Fri, Oct 8 World Of Outlaw Sprint Car Series (tt) $10,000 & Limited Late Models (Top 24 in points) 7:00pm Sat, Oct 9 World Of Outlaw Sprint Car Series (tt) $15,000 & PASS 305 Sprints (Top 24 in points) 5:00pm Thu, Oct 14 Short Track Super Series Fueled by Sunoco Modifieds $5,000 7:00pm Fri, Oct15 Short Track Super Series Fueled by Sunoco Modifieds & 602 Crate Modifieds Qualifying Night 7:00pm Sat, Oct 16 Short Track Super Series Fueled by Sunoco “Speed Showcase 200” $50,000 & 602 Crate Modifieds $2,500 5:00pm Sat, Oct 23 £äÌ Ê Õ> Ê iÞÃÌ iÊ,>Vi->ÛiÀÊ Challenge 305 Sprints (gtt), Limited Late Models, & FWD 4-Cylinders (Last points race for LLM and 305 Sprints) 3:00pm

Inside Motorsports | April 2021

Sat, Apr 24

All 410 Sprint Car Shows: minimum $4,000 to win and $400 to start All Super Late Model Shows: minimum $3,000 to win and $300 to start

21

2021 Schedule of Events!

“Let’s just say it’s been 155 mph in the 1/8th mile.”

His success has been read about and viewed on television as well.

“I’ve been in RPM Magazine, I’ve been on Street Outlaws (Discovery Channel) and won lots of grudge races, but I also lost some too.”

He recalled the first time that he was introduced to McCracken and his son, Mikey, at Beaver Springs.

“I won the first no prep event at Beaver Springs Dragway, hosted by MASO. Duane Morris is the head guy at MASO and handles the no prep racing scheduling for me so I can focus on other important things.”

Simply put, “no prep” means that nothing has been done to the track to help the drivers. It literally puts everything into the hands of the driver.

“Duane has helped me in so many different ways including off track,” Strausbaugh said. “I couldn’t do it without him. He introduced me to Mike McCracken, the owner of Beaver Springs Dragway. The first time at the track Mike made me feel like I was part of the track family. His son Mikey reminds me of me when I was his age, so we get along very well.”

Seemingly, McCracken and his team are always improving the facility and during the recent offseason they totally remodeled the track restrooms.

McCracken always takes the initiative to have the recent improvements and up-todate news posted on the track website, www.beaversprings.com.

Being that he considers the group of track supporters part of his family, other news is listed on the site as well.

Some news is happy while others remember a lost one who was part of their racing family and has recently passed on. Every time he takes a minute to share something with his supporters, they are quick to react, mainly because they recognize that receiving up-to-date information is crucial in today’s digital world.

Strausbaugh commented on how much respect McCracken has done for the folks that support his facility and drag racing in general.

“That shows he cares about us racers and it’s definitely my favorite track.

Chris Strausbaugh

22

Inside Motorsports | April 2021

“That shows he cares about us racers and it’s definitely my favorite track.”

Chris Strausbaugh

They treat team MASO with the utmost respect, even though we are mostly no prep racers.”

He hopes to have his second car complete soon and plans to bring it out to Beaver Springs.

“I love all types of drag racing including track racing. My 2000 Trans AM will be a small-tire track car, so fingers crossed, it will be ready at the end of this season, or the beginning of next.”

The tentative Beaver Springs track schedule, which runs from April through October and into early November, is posted on the dragway website. McCracken did note that the schedule is subject to change because of the pandemic and any associated regulations that may come from it. He also asked the racers for their input

on the season schedule, as during these times it seems nearly impossible to have a concrete schedule of pretty much anything.

The track gates were scheduled to open at 4 p.m. Saturday, April 2 for time shots and a test and tune will follow the next day from noon until 4 p.m. The remainder of the month is similar and then the first International Hot Rod Association points event is set to kick off on the Mother’s Day, May 9.

Strausbaugh’s looking forward to returning to the track to compete, while his sons are apparently excited to make the trek back for the concessions.

“They love the cheeseburgers there.

My boys and I love having a great time anytime, and Beaver Springs definitely allows us to be ourselves.”

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23

Inside Motorsports | April 2021

607-316-8593 153 Wharton Creek Rd. Edmeston, NY 13335

‘Fast, Fun, Furious’

Afton Motorsports Park Promises Great Time for Racers, Families & Fans story: Allison Collins, FOR INSIDE MOTORSPORTS Photos: Scott Seward

Three-wide racing action happens at Afton Motorsports Park on the Afton fairgrounds.

A

fton Motorsports Park, at 46 East Main St. in Afton, New York, has long been bringing fast-paced fun to Chenango County.

The 4/10-mile dirt track, situated on the Afton Fairgrounds, hosts modifieds, open sportsman, crate sportsman, street stocks, factory stocks and slingshots April through October.

Promoter and Afton native Ron Ford, with the track since 2017, announced renewal of his contract in early 2021. Ford continues a racing tradition started more than 30 years ago.

“It’s been going for quite a few years now,” Ford said. “Jim Randall was a local promoter for a long time and he went to the fair board and got it operating … in the early to mid-‘80s.

There have been a few different promoters, but it’s been pretty steady since Jim took it over.

“I’ve always been into racing,” he continued. “I raced myself. It’s just something I’ve always liked and I enjoy it. It gets in your blood.”

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Inside Motorsports | April 2021

Bouncing Back

Ford said, despite the challenges related to the pandemic caused by the spread of COVID-19, he’s hopeful for the 2021 season.

“Last year was not a good year,” he said, “but it’s looking pretty good for this year. We only raced three times (in 2020), but the governor did not allow any fans. To have no fans — it’s hard to pay purses when you don’t put people in the grandstands to generate the money. We had quite a tough time and … we lost money, so we’ve just got to hope

for that fan base this year. Racing is a tough thing to do without fans.

“It looks like they’re going to give us possibly a percentage of grandstand (capacity),” Ford continued. “The thing out right now (in late February) is about 33% (attendance), but that puts us in a pretty good range of what we normally get, so that would work for us.”

The covered grandstand at Afton Motorsports Park seats 1,500, Ford noted.

“I wish we had that, but we don’t get that many,” he said.

“On an average night, we’re in the 600 range.”

Ford said, aside from pandemic-related hurdles, Mother Nature has historically presented the greatest challenge to upkeep of the all-clay track.

“Weather is your biggest issue,” he said. “If the weather’s not good, we’ve got to decide, are we going to race, or are we not? The grandstand is an issue and preparing the track is the same – watering the track and how much or not to put on.”

The mid-April start of the season, Ford said, will see the return of all racing divisions.

“Right now, we’re running modifieds — that’s your headline division — then crate sportsman and we also run open sportsman and street stocks,” he said. “Then we run factory stocks, which is similar to a street stock, just not as advanced, and slingshots. A lot of the kids run slingshots, (because) that’s a steppingstone to get kids into and further them in racing.” continued on page 26

About Afton Motorsports Park Layout

4/10-mile clay track Location

46 East Main St., Afton, New York Racing Season

Friday nights, April through October, with a hiatus of several weeks in September. Hot laps start at 6:15 p.m., racing at 7 Racing Divisions

Modifieds, Open Sportsman, Crate Sportsman, Street Stocks, Factory Stocks and Slingshots

Contact

AftonMotorsportsPark aftonmotorsportspark.com @AftonMtsptsPark

1430653180

25

Grandstand admission begins at 4:30 p.m., guests 15 and over are $10; guests 9 to 14, $5; and 8 and under, free. Special events may have an up-charge, which will be indicated in the schedule.

Inside Motorsports | April 2021

Admission

Cars queue at Afton Motorsports Park in this undated photo.

Slingshots, aftonmotorsports.com notes, race every other weekend. All races are held on Friday nights, with hot laps beginning at 6:15 p.m. and racing at 7.

Strong Support

Ford said the track attracts local drivers and fans, with some out-of-state devotees.

“For the most part, it’s local (drivers), but we do have a guy out of Sheffield, Massachusetts, and we do have some Pennsylvania guys,” he said. “But the majority is local, within a 30-mile radius. “(For fans), it’s roughly the same,” Ford continued. “For the most part, it’s local, but the outside guys that are coming from a distance usually have a fan following.”

Ford said fiscal support also reflects a strong local interest.

“Most of our sponsors are just local businesses,” he said.

“It’s a lot of friends who own small businesses in the area.”

A January aftonmotorsportspark.com post noted that, with Ford’s extended contract, “American Racer tires, through

a partnership with Lias Tire in Indiana, Pennsylvania, and Sunoco Race Fuels, via Insinger Performance of Dushore, Pennsylvania, will return as the official tire and fuel suppliers at the speedway.”

The facility, Ford noted, is “absolutely” family-friendly.

There’s even, he said, a recurring Kids’ Club.

“The Kids’ Club is a thing we have that the kids sign up for and we give away bicycles every week or have an activity, like coloring contests,” he said. “It’s different things to get kids interested and make them say, ‘Mom, we’ve got to go to the racetrack.’ It’s all geared toward kids.”

Special events this year will include the Chad Sindoni Memorial Street Stock Race, scheduled for June 26, the Dirt Modified Nostalgia Tour on Aug. 6 and 7 and the “Working Man’s Race” Short Track SuperNationals on Oct. 11 and 12.

For more information, including the 2021 lineup and racing rules, visit aftonmotorsportspark.com or find “Afton Motorsports Park” on Facebook. Also, reach Ford at 607-6243772 or ampmotorsportspark.com.

26

Inside Motorsports | April 2021

DRIVE IN FOR YOUR RACE DAY NEEDS

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Inside Motorsports | April 2021

GPS Info: Type “Beaver Springs Airport”

28

Inside PA Motorsports | April 2021

109 Race Track Lane, Beaver Springs, PA 17812 p 814 - 329 - 0810 beaversprings.com

2021 SPONSORS

Anything Mechanical, Bill Marks Auto Sales, Brian’s Trailer Sales, Bud Godek Autobody, Class 1 Transport, Colours Inc, Den Lounge, DRC Race Products, EJK Motorsports Insurance, Fullthrottlesigns.com, Gemini Enterprises, G Force Transmissions, Irvin’s On Main, Long Shifters, Glory Days Fiberglass/Low Life Kustomz, Mike Ventre Excavating & Demolition, Nye’s Auto Body, R&S Miller Trucking, RMJ Restoration, RockAuto.com, Rumble Lane Rods, Smitties Pretzels, Surplus City, Unlimited Cycle, Center, Vinces Pizza, W&W Racing, Whitmers Fuels, ZooCrew, BOOMERS RANGS, DEALZ ON WHEELS, Bowersox Auto Body, WHIPPLES AUTO RESTORATION & REFINISHING

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JULY

10 11 16 17 18

SURPLUS CITY & BUTCH GUMMO MOPAR NO CAR RACE EARLY PARKING FOR MOPAR EVENT T&T 10:00 am TO 3:00 pm GAMBLERS RACE @4:00 pm MOPAR RACE DAY GATES OPEN @9:00 am TIMESHOT @ 10:00 am T&T OR RAIN DATE FOR MOPAR RACE T&T STREET CRUISE #2 Houdini Race GATES OPEN @ 4:00 pm TIMESHOTS @ 5:00 pm MASO JUST SEND IT RACE IHRA POINTS DAY #4 MUTT & JEFF RACE PARKING GATES OPEN @ 12:00 $10,000.00 RACE $20,000.00 RACE $10,000.00 RACE GATES OPEN 8:00 am ALL DAYS TIME RUNS @9:00 am STREET RACE POINTS # 3 T&T GATES OPEN @ 4:00 pm TIMESHOTS @ 5:00 pm T&T 10:00 am TO 2:00 pm WILLIAMSPORT CIRCUIT EARLY JENSENS LATE NIGHT DRAG PARTY GATES OPEN @ 3:00 pm SBRA POINTS # 4 T&T T&T STREET CRUISE NITE CAR SHOW GATES OPEN@ 4:00 pm TIMESHOTS @5:00 pm FREE PASS WITH PD SPECTATOR SBRA POINTS # 5 T&T RACING FOR RITA TRACK PICNIC & DJ IHRA POINTS # 5 T&T STREET NIGHT, CAR SHOW, CRUISE NITE #3 Houdini STREET RODS, FREE PASS WITH PD SPECTATOR 17th NOSTALGIA NATIONALS NETO EAST COAST GASSERS, CAR SHOW 17th NOSTALGIA NATIONALS NETO EAST COAST GASSERS, CAR SHOW STREET RACE POINTS # 4 T&T 10:00 am TO 2:00 pm T&T 3:00 pm TO 9:00 pm WILLIAMPORT CIRCUIT SBRA POINTS # 6

JULY

28 29 3 4 5 6

9 10 11 12 16 17 18 19 24 25 26 1 2 3 8 9 10 14 15 16 17 22 23 24 29 30 5 6 7

T&T CRUISE NIGHT CARSHOW # 4 Houdini Race SPECTATOR PASS DOWN TRACK HEAVY CHEVY SHOW T&T GAMBLERS HEAVY CHEVY SHOW T&T RACE DAY FLASHBACK FRIDAY RACE PACK THE TRACK IHRA POINTS # 7 NOSTALGIA SUPER STOCKERS SBRA POINTS # 7 STREET RACE POINTS # 6 T&T T&T 10:00 am TO 2:00 pm T&T 3:00 pm TO 9:00 pm IHRA POINTS # 8 STREET RACE POINTS # 7 T&T GATES OPEN @ 4:00 pm TIMESHOTS @ 5:00 pm T&T 10:00 am TO 2:00 pm WILLIAMSPORT CIRCUIT EARLY JENSENS LATE NIGHT DRAG PARTY GATES OPEN @ 3:00 pm TIMESHOTS @ 4:00 pm SBRA POINTS # 8 LABOR DAY WEEKEND JET DRAGSTER T&T WFO INSANE 8 WICKED BIKE GATES OPEN @ 4:00 pm TIMESHOTS @ 5:00 pm IHRA POINTS # 9 MANDRA, PROSTICK IHRA POINTS # 10 MANDRA, PROSTICK SBRA POINTS # 9 GLORY DAYS TOP BEAVER RUN OFF $1000 BUCKS END OF IHRA POINTS SERIES FE RACE & REUNION # IX T&T FE POWERED ONLY 12:00 pm TO 5:00 pm T&T AND GAMBLERS RACE GATES OPEN @ 9:00 am TIMESHOTS @ 10:00 am BEER AND BRATS AT 6:00pmISH AFTER RACE FE MAIN EVENT RACE & CAR SHOW RAIN DATE CLOSED IHRA BRACKETS @ DRAGWAY 42 CLOSED IHRA BRACKETS @ DRAGWAY 42 CLOSED IHRA BRACKETS @ DRAGWAY 42 CLOSED IHRA BRACKETS @ DRAGWAY 42 STREET RACE # 8 T&T JALOPY RACE, EAST COAST GASSERS JALOPY RACE, EAST COAST GASSERS T&T CRUISE NIGHT CAR SHOW # 5 Houdini Race FREE PASS TO PAID SPECTATORS T&T 10:00 am TO 2:00 pm SMALL TIRE RACE SBRA POINTS # 10 LAST POINTS RACE BEAVER BLAST T&T JR DRAGSTERS ATV AND TCR GATES OPEN AT 4:00 pm TIMESHOTS@ 5:00 pm BEAVER BLAST JR DRAGSTER RACE ATV AND TCR UNLIMITED CYCLE DAY ATV RACE AND TCR SBRA BRACKETS CLOSED SBRA BRACKETS CLOSED SBRA BRACKETS CLOSED SBRA BRACKETS CLOSED STREET RACE POINTS # 9 T&T T&T 10:00 am TO 2:00 pm T&T 3:00 pm TO 9:00 pm WILLIAMSPORT CIRCUIT T&T 10:00 am TO 2:00 pm ZCR BIKE RACE GATES OPEN @ 3:00 pm TNR CRUISE NIGHT CALL OUT CAR SHOW PAID SPECTATOR FREE PASS AT END OF NIGHT HALLOWEEN RACE GHOST AND GOBBLINS T & T CRUISE NIGHT CAR SHOW #6 HOUDINI RACE GRUDGE AND CALL OUTS T&T T&T

Inside PA Motorsports | April 2021

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15 20 21 22 27

EARLY PARKING FOR BUICK OLDS PONTIAC BUICK OLDS PONTIAC T&T & GAMBLERS RACE GATES OPEN AT 9:00 am T&T 10:00 am TO 3:00 pm BUICK OLDS PONTIAC RACE DAY GATES OPEN @ 9:00 am TIMESHOTS @ 10:00 am Bop Hangover Nationals and Mandra Race .

STREET RACE POINTS # 5 GATES OPEN: 4:00 pm TIMESHOTS: 5:00 pm T&T 10:00 am TO 2:00 pm T&T 3:00 pm TO 9:00 pm IHRA POINTS RACE # 6

29

MAY

15

25 30 31 1

7 8 13 14

AUGUST

8 9 13 14

T&T 10:00 am TO 2:00 pm 3:00 pm TO 9:00 pm SBRA # 1 POINTS RACE PLUS T&T STREET POINTS RACE # 1 T&T GATES OPEN 4:00 pm TIMESHOTS @ 5:00 pm T&T 10:00 am TO 2:00 pm ZCR BIKE RACE 3:00 pm TIME IHRA # 1 POINTS RACE MOTHERS DAY RACE EARLY PARKING FORD EVENTS FORD ONLY EVENT T&T 10:00 am-3:00 pm GAMBLERS RACE @ 4:00 pm-FORDS ONLY MAIN EVENT FORD RACE DAY GATES OPEN 9:00 am TIMESHOTS @ 10:00 am RAIN DATE FORD EVENT T&T GATES OPEN 9:00 am TIMESHOTS @ 10:00 am STREET RACE POINTS # 2 T&T #1 Houdini GATES OPEN 4:00 pm TIMESHOTS @ 5:00 pm T&T 10:00 am TO 2:00 pm WILLIAMPORT CIRCUIT T&T 3:00 pm TO 8:00 pm SBRA POINTS RACE # 2 GATES OPEN @ 9:00 am TIMESHOTS @ 10:00 am MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND JET DRAGSTERS WFO INSANE 8 WICKED BIKE T&T GATES OPEN 4:00 pm TIMESHOTS @ 5:00 pm IHRA POINTS #2, MANDRA PROSTICK NETO T&T GATES OPEN @ 9:00 am TIMESHOTS @ 10:00 am IHRA POINTS #3, MANDRA PROSTICK NETO T&T GATES OPEN @ 9:00 am TIMESHOTS @ 10:00 am (Brian Boyle Memorial Race) SBRA POINTS #3 GLORY DAYS TOP BEAVER RACE $1000.00 BONUS GATES OPEN @ 9:00 am TIMESHOTS @ 10:00 am

24

6

SEPTEMBER

1 2 7

22 23

OCTOBER

30

GATES OPEN @ 4:00 pm TIMESHOTS 5:00 pm T&T 12:00 pm TO 4:00 pm CLOSED EASTER T&T GATES OPEN @ 4:00 pm TIMESHOTS 5:00 pm T&T 12:00 pm TO 4:00 pm T&T 12:00 pm TO 4:00 pm T&T GATES OPEN @ 4:00 pm TIMESHOTS 5:00 pm T&T 11:00 am TO 3:00 pm 4:00 pm TO 9:00 pm T&T ZCR SMALL TIRE RACE GATES OPEN AT 9:00 am TIME SHOTS 10:00 am T&T GATES OPEN @ 4:00 pm TIMESHOTS 5:00 pm CRUISE NITE, GRUDGE 1 FREE PASS WITH PD SPECTATOR AT END OF NIGHT

NOVEMBER

APRIL

2 3 4 9 10 11 23 24 25

American Racing Drivers Club Engine Rule changes generate future promise for historic club

30

Inside Motorsports | April 2021

I

story: GENE OSTROWSKI, FOR INSIDE MOTORSPORTS

t’s no secret that the cost of racing in general, yet alone the cost of open wheel racing has significantly increased over the least two decades.

As they say, money buys speed. Truth is, the rising costs of open wheel racing is what has typically caused the smaller, low budget teams to shutdown, while others have decided to run limited schedules. Thanks to the American Racing Drivers Club, otherwise known as ARDC, several rule changes were implemented this season, which will allow more racers to compete in their popular and historic open wheel midget series.

The club was originally put together in 1939 by a group of East Coast midget drivers and car owners. Bill Schindler was elected as the first club president and midget drivers across the eastern U.S. began to send in their memberships.

According to their website, ARDC has had and continues to have some of the brightest stars of midget racing.

Drivers such as Mario Andretti, Nick Fornoro, Sr., Nick Fornoro Jr., Larry Dickson, Johnny Parsons Jr., Ron ‘Sleepy’ Tripp, Jan Opperman, Bobby Marshman, Tom Bigelow, Smokey Snellbaker, Mitch Smith, Mel Kenyon, Wally Dallenbach, Len Duncan, Leigh Earnshaw Jr., Pancho Carter, Billy Hughes, and many others raced in ARDC before

progressing in their racing careers.

The club generally sanctions or co-sanctions an average of 20 racing events per season, and so far this season the club has all their shows scheduled in Pennsylvania, at Big Diamond Speedway, Lincoln Speedway, Grandview Speedway and Bloomsburg Fair Speedway. Historically, they competed on dirt ovals that were one-quarter mile to fiveeighths of mile a mile in length, but the club has decided to focus on tracks that are under one half of a mile.

With the announcement of the rule changes for this season, the biggest and most cost savings for most teams is the implementation of an engine rule amendment.

ARDC has decided to implement a set of engine rules using production passenger car engines, which will help the organization to be more parallel with other midget racing associations. Already in effect for this season, the rule change allows current purpose-built engines such as Gaerte, Fontana, etc. to be in competition for a three-year transition period.

“The cost of these OEM based engines will make midget racing more affordable and enable others to experience just how much fun midget racing really is.” said ARDC president, Shannon Mausteller, of Bloomsburg.

Photo: Steve Kolatar

Randy Mausteller (No. 21) races with Zack Curtis at Lincoln Speedway. Randy’s son Shannon is working on reviving the ARDC legacy.

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7:00 pm Mod, LM, SS, HS, F/RHS + East Coast TQ Midgets Aug 14 7:00 pm Mod, SM, SS, HS, F/RHS, P4 Aug 21 7:00 pm Mod, SM, SS, HS-cr, F/RHS Aug 28 NO RACING Sep 4

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“The rules allow all production car engines, with a maximum displacement of 2.4 liters. Engines must be four-cylinder, inline and have no more than four valves per cylinder. All engines will have OEM blocks, cylinder heads and crankshafts. Engines currently in use by other organizations are Chevrolet, Ford, Honda and Mazda.

Currently these engines are being built by many engine builders as well as competitors building their own.”

Now, if you are already familiar with midget racing and the various organizations, the United States Auto Club, otherwise known as USAC, requires engines like Gaerte and Fontana, which are specifically built and prepped for midget racing, Mausteller said.

So, how does this affect the ARDC racer that uses an OEM engine and want to compete in some USAC events?

Mausteller summed it up by saying, “A Gaerte or Fontana used in ARDC competition is already at a disadvantage to a Toyota or SR-11 used in USAC competition. However, a well-built production-based engine is competitive with a Gaerte or Fontana, so I don’t think we’ll be at any more of a disadvantage than we already are.”

On average ARDC has about 30 registered drivers per season, including seasoned veterans to rookies, who have moved up and into ARDC from other open wheel classes, like micro sprints, etc.

The first show of the club’s 2021 season is slated for the evening of Friday, May 14 at Big Diamond Speedway in Minersville, Pa. Visit ARDC online for their entire schedule at www. ardcmidget.com.

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32

Inside PA Motorsports | April 2021

5

July

3 CLOSED 10 Regular Show – Rain date for Firecracker 500 17 Regular Show –Mason Dixon 270 Racing Series – Mini Late Models 19 600 Speedweek Show 24 Regular Show – No 600 wingless class/ no points for 600 winged 31 Regular Show

August

Regular Show – Kids Night Sponsored by Zeeke Graphix and George Automotive STARTS 1 ½ HRS. EARLY/ FREE GENERAL ADMISSION 14 Regular Show 21 Regular Show – Mini Late Models 28 Regular Show

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September

Regular Show – FREE GENERAL ADMISSION 11 Regular Show – 10th Annual Bacon Memorial 18 Regular Show – Mini Late Models 25 Regular Show – POINTS END 4

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Regular Show –FREE GENERAL ADMISSION/Qualifier for Blaise Alexander Memorial 9 Regular Show – 21st Annual Blaise Alexander Memorial 16 Regular Show 23 Regular Show 30 Regular Show TBA Appreciation Banquet 2

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Inside PA Motorsports | April 2021

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Vreeland goes from Numidia Dragway to rising NHRA star

34

Inside Motorsports | April 2021

F

or the 16th straight season, Brooklyn native and businessman Bob DiMino is the man behind the controls of Numidia Dragway, near Catawissa.

Dubbed as “Home of the Guaranteed Payout,” Numidia Dragway has hosted some of the most spectacular shows and in turn, helped develop some of the most spectacular racers.

That holds true with Rich Vreeland, who isn’t just the owner of Vreeland’s Harley Davidson in Bloomsburg. He’s also a fellow Numidia drag racer, preacher of the gospel and now an official National Hot Rod Association event qualifier.

In mid-March, Vreeland, his crew and family hit the road and headed to Gainesville, Fla., for the 52nd annual Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Camping World Gaternationals, which were held at Gainesville Raceway. He has looked forward to the event for months and when it was time to make the haul south, Vreeland had his 2020 Top Fuel Harley Davidson Sportster prepped and ready to race.

To the surprise of many, including himself, he secured the number one spot in first-round qualifying, with a

story: GENE OSTROWSKI, FOR INSIDE MOTORSPORTS

speed of 191 miles per hour (6.638 ET).

Without a doubt, he was a bit ecstatic and became a hot topic and the talk of the NHRA for the weekend.

Vreeland went back to the lanes the following days for the next round.

Although he ran his best time ever with a 6.50 ET (208 MPH), he lost by eight one hundredths of a second to NHRA National Champion Radel Andres.

Nonetheless, Vreeland and his team headed back home, smiling from ear to ear.

Even though he’s been riding for years, Vreeland figured that he’d try his hand with the bike drags on Friday nights at Numidia and credits the track and people at the track for being a part of his success.

“I learned to drag race on Friday nights at Numidia Dragway,’’ Vreeland said.

He enjoyed those nights, which were also enjoyed by many of the people who frequented Vreeland’s Harley Davidson.

“Racing Friday nights at Numidia was always an event for our customers.

Everyone would come out and cheer me on. We would grill burgers and

have a great time,” he said.

The DiMino family has been known to help out a variety of racers in many ways. Being drag racers themselves, they respect the hard work that teams put into their racing efforts. They recognized this with Vreeland and jumped on board as one of the first sponsors of his career.

“The DiMino family (is) the first real sponsor that I ever had. It started when I was running Nitro (division) ten years ago and they have been great supporters ever since,” Vreeland said.

He plans to get back to the track for competition with the All Harley Drag Racing Association at Atlanta Dragway in Commerce, Ga., on April 17-18.

Vreeland has been frequenting Numidia Dragway for many years and said that he has noticed the resurgence of the track since it was purchased by DiMino 16 years ago.

The entire jam-packed weekend schedule for Numidia Dragway from April through October can be seen by visiting www.numidiadragway. com. They also have an informative Facebook page.

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35 Inside PA Motorsports | JUNE 2020 35 Inside Motorsports | April 2021

MUSTANG

THERE’S NO POWER LIKE PONY POWER.

36

Inside Motorsports | April 2021

Bruce Ellis’ love for racing began at a young age when his dad, also named Bruce, took him to Evergreen Speedway in Hazleton.

At age eight, the younger Ellis got into quarter-midget racing. It was during that time he would announce his first race.

“My first announcing job came at a quarter-midget track as my car was out of commission that week and they needed an announcer, so I volunteered,” he said.

Ellis was not interested in driving race cars past quarter midgets, but he kept his interest in racing by going to tracks like Reading and Selinsgrove.

A native of Hazleton, Pa., Ellis, and his late wife Denise, are graduates of Bloomsburg University. Both went on to enjoy long-term success as educators with Bruce teaching high school English.

Ellis began his writing career began in 1976 when he sent a letter to Gater Racing News, based in Syracuse, N.Y., and offered to do a column for them.

Since then, he has penned articles and columns in National Speed Sport News, Racing Cars magazine, Stock Car Racing Magazine, Open Wheel Magazine, and since 2002, Sprint Car & Midget Magazine.

In 1982, Ellis was hired by Nick Turo at Williams Grove Speedway to do the publicity for the track.

The 2021 season marks the 45th year in which Ellis has been working in motorsports.

While Ellis has interviewed the biggest names in the world of motorsports, there is one person who stood out as the most unique person he has ever interviewed: Kenny Weld.

“I truly believe he was a mechanical genius and a great driver,” he said. “Kenny was getting tired of dirt-track racing and he wanted to go to Indianapolis and at that time it wasn’t going to happen for him, and he knew it as he wouldn’t play politics and he couldn’t buy a ride. He had done everything he could around Central Pennsylvania and he was looking for other options, so he built a race car that shocked the modified world: the famed Batmobile, which Gary Balough drove at Syracuse in 1980.

Weld had quit racing because of a broken back. He landed in prison in August of 1983 on federal drug trafficking charges and carrying a firearm during a felony.

“He got back into racing after he got out of prison and he seemed like a different person when he got out,” Ellis said. “He was an excellent public speaker, he got into the development of racing engine heads. He was more laid back after prison, and he looked at life a different way.”

Outside of motorsports, Ellis’ biggest passion is basketball: high school and the NBA. “I’ll travel anywhere in Pennsylvania to watch good players and good teams play,” Ellis said. It’s neat to watch a kid in high school and follow them through their careers. I’ve seen greats like LeBron (James) and Kobe (Bryant) play in high school.”

For 25 years he was the radio voice of the Hazleton High School boys’ team on WAZL. During his tenure as the voice of the Cougars, Ellis announced the game between Hazleton and Lower Merion when the late Bryant was a junior.

“We knew right then he was going places,” Ellis said of the talent that Bryant possessed.

The game was the PIAA Class 4A Eastern quarterfinals as Hazleton defeated Lower Merion in overtime, 64-59, at Liberty High School in Bethlehem on March 15, 1995, even as Bryant scored 35 points. It was the last time Bryant lost a high school game in Pennsylvania.

These days, even during the COVID-19 pandemic, Ellis is in his sixth season as the public address voice for the boy’s home games at Hazleton High School.

Ellis was inducted into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 2015. Along with Williams Grove, Ellis has announced at various tracks throughout the East Coast and has anchored the radio broadcast of the Knoxville Nationals. Ellis did not attend a race at Knoxville last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the first time he had missed a race at the track since 1987.

Even with all that he has accomplished, there is one track where Ellis would like to have worked: Indianapolis.

“When I was a little kid, I always listened to the radio broadcast from Indianapolis and I thought that was neat,” Ellis said.

“Bob Jenkins (a longtime voice of the IMS network) told me to send him an audition tape, but I never did because at that time I was still teaching.”

On the Thursday night of the 1987 National Open weekend at Williams Grove,

Photo: SHAWN WOOD

Ellis begins 39th year as Voice of Williams Grove

World of Outlaws champion

National Sprint Car Hall of Fame member Danny Lasoski, left, talks with track announcer Bruce Ellis in the pits at Williams Grove Speedway the National Open last year.

the phone rang at the Ellis’ residence. On the other line would be Turo.

“Nick would often call and ask me to do him a favor and get something into my press release,” Ellis said. “I would tell Nick, sure, what do you need?”

Except for this time, getting something into a press release wasn’t the reason Turo called.

“Nick said to me that I better ask him what the favor is before you say sure,” Ellis said. “I said, OK, what’s the favor?”

That’s when Turo told Ellis that he needed an announcer for the National Open as track announcer Tedd Reitz had quit. Other than his announcing at the quarter-midget track, Ellis had never called a race of any kind before.

“It was my baptism of water, not fire,” Ellis said of the National Open weekend.

“It rained most of the weekend. We got most of the show in on Friday night and we were rained out on Saturday and we got started late on Sunday afternoon.

Joey Allen passed Dave Blaney and Doug Wolfgang to win the race.”

Ellis has also worked in Television for Cable 4, from York, announcing the TV races from 1984-1986.

“Originally, the announcing job was just for that weekend as I was doing a lot of writing and I considered myself a writer,” Ellis said.

“At first, I wasn’t interested in the announcing job. But I then decided to apply. I sent in my resumés as did others and they hired me.”

— SHAWN WOOD, FOR INSIDE MOTORSPORTS

45 INSIDE PA MOTORSPORTS | JUNE 2020 37 Inside Motorsports | April 2021

Ralph “Doc” Wilkinson

Story: Allison Collins, FOR INSIDE MOTORSPORTS

S

idney, New York, native Jon Carvin came to victory lane by way of the football field.

The 39-year-old is head pit coach with Hendrick Motorsports, an organization he joined in 2015 after years spent playing and coaching college football.

“I played at the University of Albany then really, from there, went right into coaching,” he said. “I was a collegiate football coach for 10 years. My first job was at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, then I went to Lafayette College in Pennsylvania, then University of Illinois. That’s when my wife and I got married — we’d met at the University of Albany — and we had our daughter there. From there I went to the University of Idaho, where our son was born, and that was where we decided to get out of football. I just needed more family time for myself and I didn’t want to look back and wish I’d had more, because football at that level is extremely time-consuming.”

38

Inside Motorsports | April 2021

Driving Forward

Carvin said, though always a racing fan, his entry into the industry was happenstance.

“I was never a racer myself; I never raced anything other than my own legs,” he said. “But I watched it growing up with my dad and then I became a fan and watched it when I could, but just casually on TV. “When I left football, my wife was actually the one who went on Hendrick’s website and found a job for a pit coach,” Carvin continued. “I didn’t know such a thing existed. We went through (the job description) and, line for line, it sounded just like a football coach.”

Carvin noted that, after leaving football in spring 2014, he returned to his hometown for roughly nine months, during which he coached Sidney football and basketball, before pursuing the position with Hendrick Motorsports.

“The opportunity presented itself and, from the first phone call to actually visiting, within a month I was down here (in North Carolina),” he said. “It worked out that the organization I was the biggest fan of was the one with the job opening. I had an interest in the sport before I started, and to be able to work at the premiere motorsports team in the country, that was a huge bonus.

“I started out as an assistant coach for the 48 and 88 teams — Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. at the time,” Carvin continued. “I came in and, even though I had a lot of training as a coach, I had to learn a different sport. March 27, 2015, was my first day, so this is my seventh season in NASCAR.”

Life in the Pits

Today, Carvin said, he oversees Hendrick Motorsports’ seven teams. The organization, he noted, employees roughly 600.

“I’m a coach over all of our teams and we have seven, with five on a team,” he said. “There are four main teams — the 5 (Kyle Larson), the 9 (Chase Elliott), the 24 (William Byron) and the 48 (Alex Bowman) — and (each team) involves the car, the driver, all the people that build the cars and the pit crews. We have enough people to have three extra backup teams, so we have the four Hendrick Motorsports cars and teams, but in our pit department, we have those three other

Photo: Hendrick Motorsports

Sidney Native Finds his Passion in the Pits

groups … and those are our younger guys, trying to get better and eventually become our starters and that’s all part of the process.

“We basically build the cars from the ground up,” Carvin continued, “but the part I’m responsible for is making sure that, when a car is about to run out of gas and its tires are worn, we put more tires on and fuel it up and keep it going around the track.”

A successful pit stop time, Carvin noted, is roughly 11 seconds.

“Right now, the fastest times in the sport are in the 11second range,” he said. “We’ll change four tires and fill a car up with fuel with our five team members … and, luckily, all of our crews can do it in that 11-second range. A 12-second (pit stop) is still really good, but if you get into 13 and 14 seconds, it’s likely something went wrong.”

Reaching that level of efficiency, Carvin said, can take years.

“No one plays pit crew in their backyard growing up,” he said. “Most of our members were very successful at a different sport. Through our connections with sports, before COVID, we’d call and visit colleges and they’d give us their guys who maybe weren’t quite good enough to make it to the NFL or the major leagues, but still wanted to compete at a professional level. We test them and put them through a mini camp and teach them from Day 1 how to walk.

Through that process, they go from being really good at a sport to being an absolute beginner, but through practice and work at the gym and watching videos and seeing how fast they can go or how much weight (they can carry), they become better and better.

“It’s like any other sport, except we’re starting from absolute zero when someone new gets here,” Carvin continued. “You (become) proficient enough at your job and you’re able to do it at a fast enough pace … that you can compete and not lose spots on pit road and try to gain positions in the race, it just takes a few years, typically.

Coaching Connections

While training and work in the pits is tactical, Carvin said, his deeper purpose as a coach is interpersonal.

“It’s the relationships and the coaching – that’s the greatest part about it,” he said. “You evaluate, train, plan, go perform and then do it all over again. I continually try not to just get these guys better, but I’m always trying to get myself better. I want to be a better coach today than I was yesterday. It’s about never settling – you can relax and enjoy

man.

“Winning them over and adjusting my coaching style more toward working with them and not so much telling them what to do – they’re already really good – was probably the toughest part,” Carvin continued. “It was about developing relationships and changing how I coach to match the expertise and the level of athlete. That, and just learning the sport and learning what you need to do and how to do it to be successful.”

The View from Victory Lane

Carvin said, alongside connections forged, it’s championships with which he’s been involved that stand out.

“For sure my highlight memories were the two championships,” he said. “Chase Elliott won last year, and the first one was Jimmie Johnson’s last championship in 2016. That was his seventh and I was one of the coaches with the team at that time and it was really cool, because there are only two other former drivers that have seven championships. That’s like the absolute, paramount number for the sport.”

Coming from a small town, Carvin said, has put his professional gains in perspective.

“There’s no question Sidney is a very different place … and the opportunities there aren’t as great,” he said. “You can have a great life there – I had an amazing childhood with all my family there – but there are other opportunities and things you didn’t even know existed outside of those town borders. I don’t really know how or why I ended up here, I just always looked for more.

“I always wanted to push and see what my limit was, and is, and I still don’t know,” Carvin continued. “I was told ‘no’ many times. I had to walk on at Albany, and they cut me after my first year. I stayed there that summer to hopefully get back on the team. So, just because someone tells you ‘no’ doesn’t always mean no; it can just mean, not right now. Just don’t give up and, if you want something, don’t be afraid to go after it.”

Carvin said, far from eyeing the finish line, he’s happy for now to stay in the race.

“I’m so excited to continue, hopefully with a lot more wins – fast pit stops and wins,” he said, laughing. “My daughter’s 9 and my son’s 7, so I just want to continue to be a part of their lives and continue to grow old with my wife and hopefully continue to have a great job, win some races and keep getting better.”

Inside Motorsports | April 2021

Jon Carvin

39

“It’s the relationships and the coaching – that’s the greatest part about it.”

where you are and what you’re doing – but it’s constant and it’s just how I’m programmed.”

Adjusting his coaching style from the collegiate to professional level, Carvin noted, proved important.

“I went from college to a professional sports organization with professional athletes, so you’re not dealing with college kids, you’re dealing with men,” he said. “They have families and kids and have to be coached differently than a 19-year-old in college. It’s a different respect level … because they’re grown men. You need to have that respect back and forth, man to

Port Royal Speedway

Wagner nets third straight 410 sprint crown L

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Inside Motorsports | April 2021

story: SHAWN WOOD, FOR INSIDE MOTORSPORTS

ogan Wagner finds himself in some rare company in the Port Royal Speedway record books.

Four drivers: Keith Kauffman, Lance Dewease, Larry ‘Smokey’ Snellbaker and Frankie Thompson, have won the 410 sprint car track title three years in a row.

Kauffman, the track’s all-time winningest 410 sprint car driver, is the only one to have ever won four straight titles, doing it from 1978 to 1981.

“I feel like any time that your name is mentioned in the conversations as Keith, Lance, Smokey, that’s not only owed to the performance of the car but the team,” Wagner said of his third straight 410 sprint car title.

“At the end of the day, we are focused on getting wins and running up front. By doing that, the point championships

will take care of themselves. If we get the fourth straight title and tie Keith, that will be fantastic. But we are focused on the here and now.”

This is Wagner’s fourth season with the John and PeeWee Zemaitis-owned sprint car team.

“We started four years ago trying to figure out how (crew chief) Tommy (Karl) likes to set up and what I like and towards the end of that first season he and I clicked,” Wagner said. “Knowing how the driver and crew chief think and can communicate goes hand-in-hand with going fast and winning the race which also leads to a bond between the driver and the crew chief.”

Throughout his career, Wagner has worked with many different crew chiefs including fellow driver Lance

Photo: SHAWN WOOD

Logan Wagner races off of Turn 4 at Port Royal Speedway on opening day. Wagner is seeking his fourth straight 410 sprint car track title.

Inside Motorsports | April 2021

41

Dewease, who came in and helped for several races when Wagner was driving the Wayne Dadetto car.

Wagner, who has nine career wins at the track, lives in Harrisonville and is a full-time pilot for Bun Air Corporation, based out of the Bedford Airport.

This is his 10th year flying for Bun Air, a testimony to his detailed work habits since he had never flown an airplane and had only flown twice in his life: once to Australia to visit his older brother, Mike, who was studying abroad, and then to the flight school in Florida.

“I did some research online and found that flying a plane was profitable and there may be a high demand for pilots plus the ability to travel and go fast, seemed like a winner,” he said.

He noted the airport in Hatteras, N.C., was an interesting airport to land at with only a 2,800-foot runway, crosswinds, where deer or wildlife could be standing, and people also fly kites at the airport. As for scenery, Wagner said he likes to fly into Ocean Reef Club in Key Largo, Fla., with the golf course right alongside the runway.

Heading into the 2021 season, Wagner said that he has never felt better going into a year than this year.

“At the test (March 12) we were three- to fourth-tenths faster than anyone. I felt we left a lot on the table in terms of what the car can do in the feature on Sunday, but I truly feel that we are in a position to be in contention to win every night. I feel really good about the car and the team.’’

His dad Mike has 12 career wins to go along with his two track championships in the 410s.

Port Royal was able to hold 28 events despite the suspension of racing for a time due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Selinsgrove’s Dylan Yoder’s bid for a second straight super late model track championship came up 45 markers short to Andy Haus as the championship was decided on the final night. The top three in the final point standings in the COVID-19 shortened-season, Haus, Yoder, and Colton Finner, were separated by 61 points.

This is the second track title for Haus, whose father Scott, has eight late-model titles at the track.

Andrew Yoder, of Selinsgrove, picked up his second consecutive limited late model championship as he won four times in the eight races held for the limiteds last year due to COVID-19.

Among the improvements which Port Royal made over the offseason was to pave the pits, begin construction on new VIP booths atop the Turn 4 pit bleachers and add multiple Whelen safety lights around the track.

Port Royal has set a slate of 41 races for the 2021 season.

Among the highlights are the $10,000-to-win Living Legends Dream Race, the Butch Renninger Memorial, the Labor Day Classic, a pair of Pennsylvania Sprint Car Speedweek dates and the Short Track Super Series for Northeast dirt modifieds.

Tony Stewart’s All Star Circuit of Champions will have six dates on the calendar including the $10,000-to-win Keith Kauffman Classic in April; the two-day Bob Weikert over Memorial Day weekend and the 54th annual Tuscarora 50.

The finale of the three-day event will pay $54,000 to win on Sept. 11.

The World of Outlaws will have two dates on Oct. 8 and Oct. 9 while the 10th Annual Keystone RaceSaver Challenge 305 Sprints wraps up the season on Sat., Oct. 23.

The Great Race Place

Racing, as seen in this 2020 photo, takes place on Friday nights at AlbanySaratoga Speedway.

A

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Inside Motorsports | April 2021

lbany-Saratoga Speedway in Malta, New York, is distinguishing itself as a dirt track with determined leadership.

During the pandemic caused by the spread of COVID-19, organizers at Albany-Saratoga persisted, saving the 2020 season and earning track promoter Lyle DeVore “Auto-Racing Promoter of the Year” in early 2021. The “ARPY: ‘Without Fans’ Award,” DeVore noted, was the first of its kind, as it recognized promotional gains despite a fanless season resulting from COVID-19 restrictions.

“I won ‘Regional Promoter of the Year’ for the Northeast the past three years,” he said, “but I just won the national promoter of the year … for not having any fans — we weren’t allowed — so the track has become more nationally known.”

A December 2020 article at albany-saratogaspeedway.com called the facility “an oasis in the pandemic wasteland.”

“Under the direction of DeVore, and with the help of a dedicated staff and some very generous corporate sponsors, Albany-Saratoga completed a 14-week schedule, running five divisions every Friday night, giving drivers and owners alike the weekly diversion they needed to get through an uncertain summer,” the article states.

Steering Toward Success

DeVore, 49, credited ingenuity and sponsors with saving the 2020 season.

“We never worked as hard just to be able to make it a go from week to week,” he said. “One of the hardest things was that we didn’t cut our purses. We were fortunate that we got some sponsors to help out with races and purses and so forth, but it was a struggle, because we didn’t know what was going to happen next in the world.

Albany-Saratoga Speedway Carries on Tradition of Friday Night Fun story: Allison Collins, FOR INSIDE MOTORSPORTS Photo: Provided

“It’s been a big financial struggle, because we weren’t allowed to have fans and you need to have fans to survive,” DeVore continued. “The fan part is pretty big and, with this situation we had last year, we weren’t able to. We couldn’t really ask our sponsors, because there were no fans in stands to advertise to. That’s why we moved to payper-view and we did utilize that for some of our sponsors.

We followed the protocol of what we needed to do to race without fans, with regard to the safety of the racers and their pit crews, and we averaged 151 cars a night. That’s why we got that national award.”

DeVore said powering through the challenges of last year has him hopeful for the 2021 season, expected to start in April and continue through September.

“Moving forward, we’re pretty optimistic that everything is loosening up and that we’re going to be able to put capacity fans in our stands,” he said. “We’ll still follow whatever health guidelines we need to in order to make it work.

“And I think that (optimism) is going to be industry wide,” DeVore continued. “There are some promoters that are more optimistic than others, but you’ve got to maintain the right frame of mind and be positive that we’re going to be able to

come out of this.”

The Albany-Saratoga facility, DeVore noted, seats “close to 5,000.”

About Albany-Saratoga Speedway

History and a Homecoming

4/10-mile dirt track Location

2671 U.S. Route 9, Malta, New York Racing Divisions

DIRTcar Modifieds, DIRTcar Sportsman, Pro Stocks and Street Stocks, with regular appearances by four-cylinder racers; special events include traveling racing series, featuring sprint cars, vintage modifieds and classic car shows Racing Season

Weekly races at 7 p.m. on Friday nights, April through September; season opener, “Hell or High Water” is scheduled for April 16 Track Promoter

Lyle DeVore; Albany-Saratoga Speedway is owned and operated by Lebanon Valley Auto Racing Contact

518-587-0220 www.albany-saratogaspeedway.com Albany-Saratoga Speedway

1430653511

Inside Motorsports | April 2021

Cars, Crowds & Community

Fans and drivers, DeVore said, represent a wide swath.

“We draw from western New York to down toward New York City to Vermont and up toward the Canadian border,” he said. “It’s a pretty big radius of racers that come to the track and, if we have a special sprint car race, there are guys up from Pennsylvania and Canada.

“Our base crowd is (from) probably within 60 miles,” DeVore continued, “but there are numerous times when there’s people here from out of state. When we were doing pay-per-view, there were people from Kansas watching and even different countries. I’ve had people from all over the U.S. come. It’s affordable, family entertainment; we do promotions that are geared toward kids, (such as) a bike giveaway and fireworks, so we try to do things for everybody.”

DeVore credited the track’s location and reputation with keeping it viable.

“I think the location is key; we’re located (where there is) a base of racers within close proximity of the track that, from generation to generation, has helped maintain strong fields,” he said. “And it’s the racing; because of the size of the track, a lot of people enjoy coming there to race. It’s also not as expensive as some places.

“An announcer at the track gave it the nickname ‘The Great Race Place,’” DeVore continued, “because the racing was so good and is kind of what the track is known for — good racing and the configuration — so it stuck. Whether it’s real close finishes or three- and four-wide racing, it’s full of action.”

This year, DeVore said, that action starts with the April 16 season opener, “Hell or High Water.” Fans can watch the pay-per-view event live via dirttrackdigest.tv.

June 22 will see the start of the Super DIRTcar Series, DeVore noted, and the Malta Massive Weekend is scheduled for Sept. 24 and 25.

For more information, find “Albany-Saratoga Speedway” on Facebook or visit albany-saratogaspeedway.com.

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DeVore said the 4/10-mile track has a long history of attracting racing enthusiasts.

“The track was built in 1965 and, at that point, it was an asphalt track,” he said. “It had a few different owners, then, in 1977, it was switched to dirt by … C.J. Richards and he promoted the track until he passed away (in 2012). We leased the racetrack and then purchased it (later that year).”

DeVore noted that he runs the track with help from fiancée, Marcy Mangino, and her daughter, Mia. “It’s been a Friday night racetrack as long as I can remember,” DeVore continued. “I grew up five miles down the road and actually, at the age of 7, I started picking up garbage at the track in lieu of a pass to go to the speedway.

At 6 in the morning, we would start picking up trash. I’ve been involved with several different speedways across New York State, but it was a homecoming to come back to this.”

“It felt good, better than I expected. You are always anxious to start the season.

But then the mind just kicked into gear and it felt good. ” Pat Cannon

Cannon returns to sprint car wars Story & Photos: SHAWN WOOD, FOR INSIDE MOTORSPORTS

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Inside Motorsports | April 2021

P

at Cannon hadn’t raced a sprint car since June 17, 2016.

It was on that night at Williams Grove Speedway that Cannon suffered breaks to the inside and outside of his ankle when the U-Joint broke and the torque tube slammed into his foot during hot laps. The result of the accident was two broken bones in Cannon’s left ankle.

Cannon had to have surgery to repair the break and the timetable to heal would not allow him to get back in the car before the year was out. That led to the difficult decision to parts ways with the Highland’s sprint-car team after an 11-year run.

During these past four years, Cannon did not actively pursue a ride and there was an occasion or two where an opportunity was there, but it wasn’t the situation he felt would produce a solid outcome.

It was during the summer last year that the drive to get back into the car kicked in for Cannon.

“I told my wife Stacey that I wouldn’t mind doing something in racing again,” Cannon said. “It seemed that racing was the only thing that was still going during the pandemic.”

It would be a call from his former crew chief with the Matt Highlands team, George Brandt, that got Cannon’s interest.

“George called me and said that John Stehman came up to him at Port Royal Speedway and told him that he wanted to start a 410 sprint car team and that he wanted George to be part of it and he wanted me to be the driver,” Cannon said. “I started to ask questions and we went and met with John and listened to his plans.”

Along with the 410 team, Stehman owns a 360 wingless sprint car and is putting together a 358 sprint car to run at

410 sprint cars

Inset: Pat Cannon looks over the cockpit of his 410 sprint car prior to warm ups at Port Royal Speedway.

Williams Grove.

“George stressed to me that it was a good opportunity and listening to his comfort and excitement level, made the decision a lot easier,” Cannon added. “George and I clicked early on in my tenure with the Highlands team and the conversations we had picked up where they left off four years ago.”

The plans for the team right now are to race the 410 at Port Royal Speedway and to do some shows at Selinsgrove Speedway where Cannon is the all-time winningest limited sprint car driver with 49 checkered flags. Down the road, according to Cannon, there might be some 360 winged shows.

The team made its debut at Port Royal on March 13 and the first day together they qualified for the A-Main continued on page 46

recharge the batteries for the upcoming season which I am looking forward to.”

At press time, the team has only been together for a few races while Madsen said there are no concrete plans as of now as to race regularly at tracks in Pennsylvania.

“It’s more important to get along first and to see if it is going to work,” he said. “I enjoy the challenge of racing at different tracks, to be honest. I can see positive signs already in the race or two we have had. We have a great engine program and a good crew and car, so I am excited to see where that takes us.”

Madsen finished second on opening day at Port Royal on March 13 after leading the race and 17th at the opener at Williams Grove on March 14 after spinning out early in the feature during difficult and windy conditions.

Tim Shaffer, a four-time All Star champion, will be piloting Mike Heffner’s 410 sprint car this year.

“Mike was looking to race about 70 times this year and my crew chief knows Mike’s crew chief Heath Moyle, so they said he was interested in speaking with me and the call went very well, and here we are,” Shaffer said.

For the past few years, Shaffer was splitting his time between two westernPennsylvania based teams.

“I try to do 70 to 80 races a year as I do it for a living and with those number of races that can pay the bill,” he said.

“It’s hard to be competitive with trying to get two teams as competitive as I like and they said that if I can find something better, go for it,” Shaffer added. continued on page 46

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Main: Pat Cannon, Etters, raced on the low side of Turn 3 at Port Royal Speedway as he makes his return to 410 sprint car racing with the John Stehman team on opening day 2021 at Port Royal Speedway.

The old saying “never say never’’ applies to Kerry Madsen.

Madsen admitted that in this game you never say never when asked if he thought that he would ever race for a season in Central Pennsylvania.

“You hear the stories about Central Pa., and I read about this place in Open Wheel Magazine as a kid, but you don’t realize how the racing is woven into the fabric,” Madsen noted. “Everyone here is awesome and it’s nice to come out to.”

Madsen, who came to the United States during the 1999-2000 season and lives in Knoxville, Iowa, will be piloting the Michael Barshinger-owned sprint car this year.

Madsen finished 15th in the World of Outlaws sprint car series point standings last year. He won the 410 track championship at Knoxville in 2005.

“I was calling around to see what rides were available and the deal with Michael came together quickly,” he said. “So far it has been pretty enjoyable and pretty awesome with the new team.”

Madsen, from New South Wales, Australia, is taking over the ride from Mechanicsburg’s Lucas Wolfe who drove the car from 2017 to 2020.

Because of the travel ban, Madsen was unable to get back to Australia where he pilots the famed Krikke Boys No. 2 sprint car during the racing season in Australia.

“It was almost nice to have a break and have a full winter here in the USA,” he said. “I shoveled a bit of snow this year and it was good to

Inside Motorsports | April 2021

New Drivers take on Central Pennsylvania

with Cannon finishing 22nd.

“It felt good, better than I expected,” Cannon said of his return to the cockpit. “You are always anxious to start the season. But then the mind just kicked into gear and it felt good.

We took a shot at the setup with a new chassis, new engine, and a new team and we have a better game plan going forward.”

Cannon noted that Stehman has built the deal for the longterm and realizes that there is a building process to getting

the team to where they want to be.

“We are hoping to get to a point where we are competitive every night,” Cannon stated. “Whether it’s top-10s or topfives, that’s the goal we are working towards. If we get a win or two, that would be a great year. Port is a tough track to race at, so we’ll take it one week at a time.”

For Cannon, 42, he’s getting a second chance to prove that his collection of wins from the Super Sportsman to the 358s and 410s, still makes him a threat to win and he’s ready to prove that with his new team.

The 2021 season is the 38th year that Shaffer has been involved in sprint car racing. He has also raced gokarts, three-wheel ATVs, and motocross before getting in the sprint car scene.

Shaffer, 53, from Aliquippa, was the Sharon Speedway (Ohio) Rookie of the Year when he was 16 and racing against guys like Lou Blaney, Ed Lynch, etc.

“Central Pennsylvania sprint car racing is big, and the fans are really into and they are educated about the sport,” Shaffer.

Pennsylvania, those fans are demanding, they want results.”

Shaffer scored four wins last year on the All Star circuit.

“I spent a lot of time talking with Heath on the phone asking him questions back-and-forth and we were jelling off the bat,” Shaffer said. “The key with Heath is his knowledge and he watches the race car and not the race and that’s so hard to do as a crew chief. When I came in after a race, our communication has been spot on. It’s so hard to find a team

In 1997 he raced the famed Apple-sponsored car for Ed and Lee Stauffer for a year before getting a World of Outlaws ride in 1998 and being named the WoO Rookie of the year in 1999.

“I was in the Apple car and Greg (Hodnett) was in the 11H car on the Outlaw tour and we switched rides,” Shaffer said.

Shaffer said that there’s no timetable on the deal, but that they want to get out and make it happen.

“In sprint car racing you have to prove yourself all the time, especially in Central

that communicates and has fun together but getting those people who can do that, that’s what makes you successful.”

Shaffer put the car in victory lane on March 6 at Lincoln Speedway and following the March 14-15 weekend, Shaffer was the points leader at the track. He finished 23rd at Williams Grove on opening day.

— SHAWN WOOD, FOR INSIDE MOTORSPORTS

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Inside Motorsports | April 2021

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Steve Post broadcasts for MRN from Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, in this 2020 photo.

A Racing Heart Broadcaster Steve Post’s Passion Spans a Lifetime

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Inside Motorsports | April 2021

F

or as long as Motor Racing Network broadcaster Steve Post can recall, his life has revolved around racing.

“I don’t remember a time when I was not interested in racing and what got me started is my dad,” Post, 56, said, noting that he grew up in Hallstead, Pennsylvania. “We’d always go to the local races at Penn-Can Speedway (in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania) or Five Mile Point Speedway in Kirkwood, (New York), so I don’t remember an aspect of life where I was not just all absorbed with racing. It goes back to going to those racetracks.”

Announcing Allure

Post said, from the first lap, announcing had his attention.

Story: Allison Collins, FOR INSIDE MOTORSPORTS Photos: Provided

“As a child, one of the things that fascinated me was the announcers,” he said. “I would take my Matchbox cars on the braided rug or under the dining room table and have races and announce them. I loved talking about the racing, so it was always a passion of mine … and talking about the racing has always been part of who I’ve been.

“One of those Friday nights Cal Arthur and Jim Beavens were the two announcers,” Post continued. “I’ll never forget it: my dad knew those guys from being in the community and … he took me up to the tower before the races started. I remember looking out over the racetrack and what a moment that was for me.”

But it was hearing such races

broadcast over static-riddled airwaves, Post said, that really set his wheels spinning.

“I loved listening to baseball on a transistor radio and the two stations I could get were the Cincinnati Reds and the Philadelphia Phillies,” Post said.

“But there was a Sunday afternoon when I was scrolling on the AM channel — holding my breath, holding the thing up in the air – and I heard NASCAR racing on the radio. I could not believe it.

“The signal was terrible and I’d get it for seconds, then it’d be gone,” he continued, “but I knew it was out there and thought, ‘That’s interesting.’”

From PR to Pit Road

Post said that early interest

ground of the broadcast crew.”

“I do NASCAR broadcasting and pit road reporting … so I’m down in the trenches,” he said. “Broadcast of the event starts … with interviewing the drivers pre-race — what they’ll be looking for, how they feel about their car – then, as the race is unfolding, we deal with the pit stops and strategies and those aspects of the race; we monitor on a scanner all the conversations among the crew chiefs and gather information on what everyone is doing; and we talk to drivers during the race that have fallen out. When it’s over, we go over to victory lane and talk to the winners.”

A Peak of the Pits

Post said a recent trip to victory lane stands out from the rest.

“When I look at the way my career has gone — and I’ve had a bevy of great moments — my absolute favorite moment in the sport was this year’s Daytona 500, when Mike McDowell won his first race.”

Post noted that the 2020 retirement of veteran MRN broadcaster Winston Kelley meant McDowell’s win dovetailed with his own first Daytona 500 victory lane coverage. But, Post said, a connection to McDowell predated such shared newness.

“My very first Daytona 500 experience was with this journeyman

driver who had never won before, but the story was even deeper with Michael,” he said. “He’s a guy who’s very strong in his faith and has, over the course of his life, done a lot of speaking in churches and rallies and youth groups. I would go with Michael to these events maybe 10 years ago and lead a Q-and-A, then he’d transition into his testimony and faith and it would be like a revival service that we’d break into. So, we had a relationship off the track.

“We’ve had some good bonding time as a pair of guys doing what we were doing at that point (10 years ago), so we know each other well and each other’s families,” Post continued. “I’m closer to Michael than I am with most of the other drivers and here we are, at the Daytona 500 and he’d had a long winless streak, and I get to be there in victory lane to see his face when he climbs out of the car and grabs that checkered flag. He walked over and gave me a big hug, which is against all protocols with NASCAR and social distancing, but he didn’t care, and I didn’t care and it was just a really neat moment. To get to ask him about that race and hear him break it down is something I’ll remember for the rest of my life. That stands out as the moment I’ll remember the most.”

continued on page 50

Inside Motorsports | April 2021

Steve Post is seen broadcasting for Motor Racing Network at Daytona in February of last year.

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carried through his college years at Pennsylvania State University, where he earned a marketing degree, until becoming catalytic.

“I went to college and then settled in Binghamton and decided this radio passion was something I wanted to pursue,” he said. “I got a job doing overnights at a country station … and I had other jobs, but certainly had a passion for (radio) and always listened to it, whether conversational or music.

“I had a car show in Scranton, I had some PR clients, I was guest announcing — so I was doing everything I could,” he continued. “But I was about 30 years old and it struck me, ‘If I don’t make the move from Pennsylvania and upstate New York to North Carolina to pursue a dream with NASCAR racing, I may never do that.’”

In 1995, Post relocated to North Carolina for a public relations position, setting something more in motion.

“I started working in PR, which is a great entry-level way into the sport if you’re not mechanically inclined, which I am not,” Post said, laughing.

“I got to know the folks at MRN, got to listen to them a lot and work with them. Then, in 2002 — I had expressed my interest (in broadcasting) and I have a strong voice — I did an audition.

I worked my first race in 2003 and, at that point, made the transition from PR to broadcasting.”

Though those years presented challenges, Post said, he’d never switch lanes.

“In the early days where you’re working not many races at all — I think I had 12 races that first year and my paycheck was in line with that —you’re cobbling things together: races and PR projects and juggling chainsaws,” he said. “Even if you catch them, you’re still not sure they’ll all add up to what you need.

“There was frustration, but I don’t know that that’s unique to what I do,” Post continued. “The asterisk I have … is that I was pursuing my dream job, so as bad as it might have been, it still wasn’t quite that bad. I don’t think I’d change anything about it now, when I look back.”

This year, Post noted, he will cover “somewhere in the vicinity of 65 to 75 races with MRN on pit road.”

Eighteen years later and Post said he still loves being “the boots on the

Fueled for the Future

Post said every race has driven something in him.

“It’s career and hobby,” he said. “I love radio and I love the sport of auto racing, whether it’s NASCAR or not. When I’m not at NASCAR, I go to the local dirt tracks and I’ll announce, or I’ll go in the pits or I’ll sit in the stands and just hang out and be a fan.

“And I love travel and this job takes me to different places,” he continued. “I get to try some wonderful restaurants, breweries and do some great sightseeing. You take all these things and put them together and I’m sitting here, at a time when people my age are thinking about slowing down, and I’m more excited about this year than any other.”

For more information, visit stevepostcommunications.com or follow Post on Twitter @ThePostman68.

Honoring His Hero

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Inside PA Motorsports | April 2021

Post’s racing hero, No. 68, Pete Cordes, is seen in this undated photo.

With a lifetime of race loving under his belt, Steve Post said, it’s a man from the tiny hamlet of Sidney Center, New York, that still tops his list of best-loved drivers.

“Pete Cordes raced in the ‘60s and ‘70s and into the ‘80s and he drove the No. 68 car,” he said. “My Twitter account is ThePostman68 and that ‘68’ is for Pete “My dad used to take me to the pits and we’d talk to Pete after the races,” Post continued. “Everyone loved him and respected him as a racer. That 68 reminds me of what it’s like to be a fan at Five Mile Point (in Kirkwood, New York) and to have a hero. He was my hero.”

Despite his own continuous involvement in the sport, Post said, it wasn’t until recently that he forged a connection with Cordes.

“He’s been inducted into a couple of different halls of fame — he’s a very respected racer — and, as an adult, in the early ‘90s, I was president of the We-Go (Racing) Fan Club and we inducted Pete into that hall of fame,” he said.

“But, for whatever reason, that night I never really got a chance to visit him. I presented him with his award but never got to talk to him.

“Then three or four years ago, I had a speaking engagement at Watkins Glenn … and someone came up to me and said they lived next to Pete and gave me a contact,” Post continued. “I was able to connect; I flew into Syracuse … and drove down to Sidney and had dinner with Pete and (his wife) Judy. So, as an adult, I got to meet my hero. It is an amazing thing when you find out your hero as a child — this person who was bigger than life — is a better man than you even imagined as a kid.”

An Industry on Track for Recovery Post, self-described as “ridiculously optimistic,” said he’s hopeful the motorsports industry and the world can turn the corner after the pandemic caused by the spread of COVID-19.

“I have hope,” he said. “I think racetracks, whether NASCAR or local tracks, have weathered a brutal storm and, beyond the sport, our society has weathered a brutal storm. There are industries that are absolutely gutted and industries that are thriving; somewhere in the middle is the motorsports industry.

I’m blessed and have continued to work a lot.”

Pandemic-induced restrictions and creativity, Post said, will likely yield gains on and off the track.

“Some tracks are barely hanging on, but there’s hope (because) NASCAR and the local teams have learned new things: pay-per-view and how that factors into the sport; not practicing all day long and burning fuel and tires and people out; trimming things down and making things efficient,” he said.

“As things open up and we get into a post-COVID era, people will want to get back out and do things,” Post continued.

“Track operators and people in the sport that will have come out of this will be in a spot to put together some fun racing programs and get people back out into the world. I have a lot of hope that we come out of this thing.”

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Unadilla MX Drives Family Vision Forward, Offers Renowned Racing BY: Allison Collins, FOR INSIDE MOTORSPORTS

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rother-sister duo Jill and Greg Robinson, lifelong Edmeston, New York, residents, are keeping their parents’ dream on track.

The pair owns Unadilla MX, the pro and amateur motorsports facility at 5986 State Highway 8, New Berlin, New York, started by their dad, Ward Robinson, in 1969.

Riders in the 2019 Circle K Unadilla Pro National are seen waiting to race at Unadilla MX in New Berlin, New York.

Track Info

All-natural, dirt tracks Amateur track: 1.25 miles Pro track: 1.5 miles Location

5986 State Highway 8, New Berlin, New York Premiere Events

June 4-6: MX Rewind Vintage MX Weekend June 18-20: Loretta Lynn’s Amateur Regional July 16-18: Northeastern ATV National Aug. 14: Unadilla Pro National MX Contact

607-965-8450 www.unadillamx.com

Photo: Stephan LeGrand

Inside PA Motorsports | April 2021

About Unadilla MX

“We do not race every weekend,” Robinson continued. “We offer organized races only, so there are not times where people can just come in and practice. We usually host a round of the ATV national series … and that’s broken down by individual races, ages, ability level and quad size. The races themselves are broken down by age or ability or both, so that people who are racers every now and then and maybe aren’t that comfortable aren’t out there with people who are serious, and this is what they do.”

An Action-Packed Season

Excepting the 2020 and 2021 seasons, Robinson said, Unadilla MX events have been on the rise.

“For the most part, we’ve been doing larger (American Motorcyclist Association) events with a larger draw,” she said. “If we do a small, local race, it’s generally only one a year.

“We’re on schedule to do the Loretta Lynn’s Amateur Regional,” Robinson

“We’ve had people in their 80s race, so it’s all ages and all ability levels.”

Jill RoBinson

continued. “It’s the largest AMA event in the country. It starts at Lorretta Lynn’s ranch in Tennessee and (competitors) have to qualify to go, so the top AMA riders compete to go.

There’s a two-stage qualifying process and in the final stage for amateurs — typically kids 16 and over are what’s called AMA regionals — we’d have about 800 racers and their families here and they’ll be from all over New England, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, Ohio, North Carolina and we’ve even had riders from Florida for that one.”

Unadilla MX also hosts an annual vintage event, Robinson noted, wherein bikes can’t be any newer than 1999. That race, she said, draws racers “from about 35 states, Canada and Ireland,” bringing roughly “1,100 racers and their families” to New Berlin.

And, each July, Unadilla MX hosts a round of the ATV nationals, Robinson said, attracting “about 500 racers (from) about 22 states and Canada and Argentina.”

At the time of writing, the Unadilla Pro National MX weekend was scheduled for Aug. 14. Hosting a round of the pro nationals, Robinson said, is an annual highlight. continued on page 54

Inside PA Motorsports | April 2021

Chad Wienen, front, and Jeffrey Rastrelli climb a hill during the second pro qualifying session July 11, 2015, at Unadilla MX.

53

A Reputation for Racing

In the intervening decades, Robinson said, the all-dirt, two-track facility has distinguished itself at local, national and international levels.

“Over the past 52 years, Unadilla has earned a reputation as one of the best tracks in the United States, if not the world,” unadillamx.com states.

“In addition to being the first track in the U.S. to host the MX des Nations, Unadilla has also been home to the 250 USGO and the fall Trans-AMA and Trans-USA series.”

Though the 2021 season remains tentative because of the pandemic caused by the spread of COVID-19, Robinson said in January, Unadilla MX typically hosts competitive dirt bike and all-terrain vehicle events from May through September.

Events, Robinson said, run the gamut.

“It just depends on our event — some are dirt bike only and they’re open to kids as young as 5, right on through adults,” she said. “We’ve had people in their 80s race, so it’s all ages and all ability levels.”

Photo: Daily Star file

“We are second-generation owners,” Jill Robinson said. “It started with my father back in 1967 or ’68. He went to a scrambles event, which is somewhat similar to motorcross, in New Hampshire. He came home and said to my mother, ‘This is what I want to do, I want to build one of those tracks.’ She said something along the lines of ‘over her dead body,’ but that didn’t really work.

“He set out to find land and there was a dairy farm and the farmer was looking to retire … and looking at selling,” she continued. “It was just a confluence of the perfect events: my father made an offer and purchased the farm in 1968 and ran his first race in ’69. It all just fell together and the stars aligned.”

Ward and the late Margaret Robinson operated the track through 2010, Jill Robinson noted, though she said she and Greg “basically grew up doing it.”

Inside Motorsports | April 2021

54

Ken Roczen of Germany celebrates after winning the first moto in the 450 class Saturday, Aug. 10, 2019, at Unadilla Motocross in New Berlin.

than if you’d put the brakes on.”

In non-pandemic years, Robinson noted, the Pro National weekend typically attracts racers from “35 states and around 20 foreign countries.”

Tracking the Impact

Such events, Robinson said, rev things up on and off the track. “(Competitors) are not local, for the most part,” she said. “In terms of tourism, those are the events our area really depends on. The tourism events of most value … are events that bring people from 75 miles away or more.

(Visitors) will get food and groceries and gas and buy sundry items, so it’s of great value to our local area and it ripples out.

“When we do those kinds of events, businesses bring in additional staff, those employees work more hours, they’re buying more products and … all of a sudden, a local worker has a bigger paycheck,” Robinson continued.

“It has a greater circulatory value and, for our businesses in New Berlin, they love those events. They want to know when they are, when they’ve got to make their staffing increase and it makes a huge difference to their bottom line.”

A recent study, Robinson noted, estimated that the Pro National weekend brings “$18 million to New Berlin and surrounding 40-mile area.”

Living a Legacy

Robinson said, despite the challenges, she’s happy to be steering Unadilla MX toward its future.

“My brother and I grew up in the sport and I think once it gets in your blood, it doesn’t leave,” she said. “It’s a unique business to run. There aren’t many brother-sister combinations out there doing it; out of 12 tracks, three of us run on brother-sister combinations.

It’s an exciting sport and we enjoy the people. For us, even though it’s a national sport, there’s a lot of family to it. Some of the people in the industry my brother and I have known since we were kids, so it’s like a family reunion for us.

“We just want to keep it going,” Robinson continued. “My mom and dad were trailblazers; when they did this, there wasn’t much known about motocross and people were like, ‘You want to do what?’ but over the years, it became pretty obvious that they had something. I can go to a motocross place anywhere in Europe and they know the name Unadilla and that’s pretty cool. We’re so used to it and comfortable with it, sometimes I say to my brother, ‘Step back and realize what got created and what we’re caretaking.’ It’s in the blood.”

For more information and event dates, visit unadillamx.com, find “Unadilla Motocross” on Facebook or call 607-965-8450.

Photo: Jared Bomba | The Daily Star

“The Pro National Motorsports Series is generally a 12-race series and, in traditional times, it starts in midMay in California and then it starts working its way east,” Robinson said.

Other host states, she said, include Florida, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota and Washington.

“There are 12 tracks in the country that hold a pro national, and we’re one of them,” she continued. “It’s a bear of a weekend. But generally, we’re lucky enough that we host one of the NBC rounds, so part of that round goes out on the NBC network and their affiliates and goes worldwide. That’s pretty cool for the area. The camera guys are pretty good about going out in the area and finding something cool they can shoot — they’ve done the Northeast Classic Car Museum in Norwich and the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown — so it just highlights the area even more. It’s an interesting experience.”

The influx of that weekend, Robinson said, shifts Unadilla MX into high gear.

“That is always a rock-solid event,” she said. “During Pro National weekend, the amateurs stay on the amateur track and the pro track stays just for the pros. That pro track doesn’t lend itself well to putting about 1,200 amateurs on it on Friday then trying to get it ready for a pro race on Saturday, so we have to separate them.

“They’re dirt tracks, all natural, and they take advantage of the hills and elevations and there are some straight pieces in there,” she continued.

“The amateur track is about one and a quarter mile long, so it’s a close course. The pro track is about a mile and a half of all-natural terrain and our top-level pros will probably sustain speeds pushing 30 to 45 miles per hour if conditions are prime; if we get a mud race, all bets are off.”

The nature of such tracks, Robinson noted, means particular upkeep.

“We’re pretty careful about how many events we do,” she said. “We’ve got a lot of rock in our soil, so after events we have to go screen it out and find someplace to replace the topsoil with. It’s not as nice as some of our pro national friends that have sand. We’re pretty careful with how much we’re doing, because we need repair time and, if you don’t take that time, you end up making an even bigger mess

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