Malta, NY – The traditional path for dirt track, short track drivers is to start out on the dirt tracks near their home then move to asphalt and, if the opportunity is there move through the NASCAR ladder. Jesse Mueller however is not your modern day traditional short track racer, not only is he a throwback, hands on driver but he is trading the asphalt for the dirt. Not just any dirt, the clay of the Great Race Place.

“We have raced asphalt for five years,” Mueller said. “We are ready to do something different. We won 11 races last year and now we want to move to the dirt to win races.”

The 20 year old from Chestertown, New York will be ready come opening day with a pair of brand new Teo Pro Cars and engines built by Carl Wagner of Wisconsin. He will call both the Great Race Place and the Fonda Speedway home in 2015.

“We have two brand new Teo cars,” Mueller said. “I am heading to Florida with Matt Hearn and Stewart Friesen to learn about dirt track set ups.”

Mueller is not only the driver, but the Crew Chief as well. He will be learning from two of the best in Florida in the coming weeks, an education that will come in handy as Jesse makes all of the adjustments on his DIRTcar Modified. The team is owned by his father.

After a very successful asphalt career, Mueller is making the move for a very understandable reason – there is no place else left to go on asphalt.

“We are ready for something more challenging,” Mueller emphasized. “There really is no place else to go. We are not looking at moving up in NASCAR, we love Dirt Modified racing.”

With sponsorship coming from Freihofer’s, Macmillan Construction and W.J. Mueller & Son’s, Jesse is looking to learn about racing on dirt, to become competitive on dirt and add to his 26 career feature win total.

“I want to be competitive and learn a lot,” Mueller said. “I want to earn respect. We go to win, not to finish second. I know it’s going to be tough.”

Jesse Mueller is a rare talent, he won his first Dirt Modified race at the age of 15 and four years later is looking to tackle a different challenge. The challenge that is the DIRTcar Modified wars of New York’s Capital District. Mueller will make a great addition to the Great Race Place family.

Albany-Saratoga Speedway’s next event will be the annual Awards Banquet. The banquet will be held on Saturday March 7th at the Saratoga/Wilton Elks Club. The 50th Anniversary season opener will take place on Friday evening, April 17th. For more information about Albany-Saratoga Speedway please log on to www.albany-saratogaspeedway.com.