~ By Tom Boggie

Sometimes, you just have to ask dumb questions.

When it became apparent last Friday night that Josh Masterson was going to win his first modified feature at Albany-Saratoga Speedway, I began to wonder what angle I was going to take when I wrote about his win. Masterson hasn’t really been a threat to win at Malta since joining the big block modified ranks two years ago, so he hasn’t been on my radar.

So, after he was done getting victory lane pictures taken, I told him I had a dumb question to ask. “Are you the same Josh Masterson who dominated the late model division at Devil’s Bowl when it was asphalt?” I asked.

When he said he was, I knew I had something to work with.

Masterson, 34, began his racing career in the old Bomber division at Devil’s Bowl in 2013, but he had been bitten by the racing bug long before that. When Masterson’s father Jay was hospitalized in Boston while battling cancer, father and son would always talk about racing on Josh’s visits.

Unfortunately, Jay died in 2009 at the age of 42, and never got to see his son fulfill his dream.

In his first season at the Bowl, Masterson won six races, and was both Rookie of the Year and track champion in the Bomber division. He moved up to late models the next season, and won the late model track championship in both 2015 and 2016.

How many drivers at Albany-Saratoga can say they’ve raced at New Hampshire Motor Speedway? Masterson can. For four straight seasons, Masterson took part in the Bond ACT Invitational at New Hampshire Speedway, finishing 22^nd in 2013, 30^th (after starting ninth) in 2014, 19^th (after starting seventh) in 2015 and 12^th in 2016.

Masterson ran the entire nine-race ACT Series in 2017, getting three top-five finishes, including a third at White Mountain Speedway in North Woodstock, New Hampshire. “We rolled all over New England,” said Masterson.

But Masterson’s career took a turn in 2017 when Devil’s Bowl owner Mike Bruno announced that the track would be switching back to dirt for the 2018 campaign.

“When they went back to dirt, I raced at Thunder Road for a year,” said Masterson. “But a friend of mine started talking about running dirt. His dad is Carl Murray, and our program is still housed at Carl’s shop.”

Longtime Champlain Valley Racing Association fans will remember Murray racing in the amateur division in the mid-1980s. He chalked up his only modified win at the Bowl in 1992.

Masterson sold his late model in 2019, saying he wanted to concentrate on his business (Murray and Masterson Environmental Services) and family, and came back in 2020, running a sportsman/modified at the Bowl. His best finish in 2020 was a fifth, and the next season, in 2021, won a non-winners race late in the season.

He finally returned to victory lane at the Bowl in 2023, winning the first of Twin 20s on July 30, and for the last two years, has been concentrating on the modified division at Albany-Saratoga.

“We haven’t had that great of a season,” Masterson admitted after his win last Friday. “I’ve never had anything with the power that this has, and it’s really hard to get it hooked up. This is only my second year in this (after five years in a sportsman), and we only race once a week. We’ll try something different one week, and if it doesn’t work, we’ve got to wait another week to see if the changes we make work.

“The track was tricky tonight,” he added. “It seemed like the bottom was better in one and two, and the top was better in three and four. We had to use both to get the job done.”

One of the people standing in victory lane with Masterson at Malta was Jeff Carter. Carter was Dave Lape’s crew chief in the 1980s and Carter then moved to Vermont and worked with Todd Stone and the G. Stone Motors Racing team for 26 years before joining Masterson’s team.

MYSTERY HOUR

If you read the results story from Albany-Saratoga last week, it stated that Demetrios Drellos finished fifth, after getting a ride in Alan Hammond’s car.

Turns out, that wasn’t accurate.

As I was looking through other results earlier this week, I saw that Drellos was in Pennsylvania last Friday, finishing sixth in his late model at McKean County Speedway. So, obviously, he wasn’t at Malta.

After texting Albany-Saratoga handicapper John Casterella, I learned that Hammond had signed up as a substitute driver for Drellos last Friday. So it was Hammond, not Drellos, who came from 12^th to finish fifth, passing both Matt DeLorenzo (who started ninth) and Adam Pierson (who started seventh) in the process. Hammond had competed in four modified races until Friday night, finishing 27^th, 25^th, 31^st and 19^th, so last Friday was obviously his best performance of the season.

But the one question I have is, why did Drellos need a substitute driver?

Drellos hasn’t been involved in the modified points chase since midway through the season. In fact, he even competed as a substitute driver for Robert Bublak on July 11 because, as he told me, he didn’t care about points anymore. Drellos’ focus for the rest of the season will be on the RUSH Late Model Tour, where he is leading the Rookie of the Year race and is third in the overall standings. If he can maintain both spots, that will mean $10,500 in bonus money.

So, I ask again. Why did Drellos need a substitute driver last week?

MORE FROM MALTA

As expected, Kolby Schroder was serving a one-week suspension last week for his run-in with James Meehan on Aug. 15.

With the limited sportsman running for a whooping $3,000 to win, through sponsorship from JCO Plumbing and Heating, the big race drew 37 cars, including a number of outsiders. One was Camron Hotaling, who took home the top prize in a wild finish. Just when it looked like Bodie Marks was going to come away with the biggest win of his young career, he made hard contact with a slower car driven by Derrick Emigh in the fourth turn on the final lap, and when Emigh spun, the yellow flag was thrown, creating a green-white-checkers finish.

The impact obviously did some damage to Marks’ car, because on lap 34, he hit the concrete barrier in the fourth turn. Hotaling swooped to the top and led the last lap to get the win.

“This is my first time here,” said Hotaling in victory lane. “I only run at Fonda. But this track is amazing, and I’ll definitely be back.”

When a driver starts to dominate a division, there are always critics who say he or she should move up. But they can’t say that to PJ Cram Jr., who has already started racing a pro stock while he finishes up his street stock season.

“My sponsors wanted me to move up,” he said after recording his ninth street stock win of the season last Friday. In the race before the street stock feature, he finished 10^th in his simple, nearly all-white pro stock. “There are a handful of guys here who make it tough to get through the pack,” he said about his street stock win. “I’ve learned a lot from racing with them.”

Pete Stefanski took a major step toward the pro stock track title last Friday with his fifth win of the season. He hadn’t been in victory lane since June 30. “We didn’t know what was going on for seven weeks,” he said after his win. “We found a major problem last week and now, we’re right back to where we were before.”

Tim Hartman Jr. put on quite a show for some of his co-workers at Knolls Atomic Power Lab, who were in attendance at Malta last week and joined Hartman in victory lane. Hartman used a last-corner pass to beat Chris Jakubiak to the finish line by .035 seconds.

The points season will end for the modifieds, sportsman and pro stocks Friday at Albany-Saratoga. Mike Mahaney has a 19-point lead over Marc Johnson in the modified division, Hartman Jr. leads Connor Crane by 48 points in his quest for a sixth sportsman title and Stefanski has a 16-point lead over Kim Duell in their battle for the pro stock crown. The final leg of the DiCarlo Auto Body 358 Shootout Series will also be held Friday.

AROUND THE TRACKS

Marc Johnson finally made his way to victory lane at Lebanon Valley last Saturday, winning the 30-lap big block modified feature. Frank Twing won the Old Buzzard 30, a memorial race for Jimmy Langenback, for the second straight year. Bobby Chalmers, who passed away last month, had been the driving force for the Old Buzzard 30 for many years, and last weekend, the New York State Stock Car Association and Racing Junk.com joined forces to promote the Old Buzzard 30 and dedicated it in the memory of Chalmers.

Oh, by the way, Stefanski finished third in the Old Buzzard 30, after starting 23^rd (he was obviously aided by the 11 yellow flags), and regained the DIRTcar Pro Stock Series point lead.

Joey Scarborough won the Charlie Laduc 54 Memorial at Devil’s Bowl last Saturday, his fifth victory of the season at the Vermont track. The Bowl will be holding the Vermont 200 this Sunday, which will pay $10,500 to win, plus lap money. If either a Devil’s Bowl or Airborne Park regular takes the checkered flag, that driver will receive a $12,500 payday. Matt Janchuk has won the last two Vermont 200s.

Former Albany-Saratoga modified champion Dave Camara picked up his first 358 modified win of the season Wednesday night at Airborne Park.