The 4th Turn

~ By Tom Boggie 

Welcome to Super MUD Week.

What would Super DIRT Week be without a little wet weather? Heck, it’s October in New York. From all my years at the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse, I’ve seen everything from rain to snow to 90 degree days.

By the way; just for full disclosure. I can’t welcome you to Super DIRT Week in Oswego because I’m not there. But that doesn’t mean I can’t keep you entertained.

The wet Super DIRT Week began on Tuesday night, when the “Pre-Game Party” at Utica-Rome Speedway was rained out (more on that later). The rain didn’t let up, washing out Wednesday’s practice session at Oswego Speedway.

The wet weather continued on Thursday, canceling all events, including time trials for both the 358s and big blocks. Those events have been added to today’s schedule, which already included sportsman qualifiers and the Triple 20s heat races for big blocks.

For good reason, officials are now concerned about the durability of the racing surface.

One of the big blocks drivers who has really been hurt by the rain is Albany-Saratoga Speedway rookie Jack Lehner. Other drivers have two years of experience at Oswego; Lehner still hasn’t turned a lap on the track.

As of Thursday morning, 69 big blocks, 65 small blocks and 76 sportsman had gone through tech.

Racing did take place Wednesday night at Weedsport, with a 100-lap DIRTcar 358 Series race. Erick Rudolph started third and drove off to an easy win. Bobby Varin was the top local finisher, crossing the finish line seventh in the Palmer Services machine. Jessey Mueller was running fifth when he got a flat tire with 10 laps to go.

There was also a DIRTcar Sportsman Series race at Weedsport. Albany-Saratoga Speedway regular Connor Cleveland was the top area finisher in that one, coming in ninth.

Most fans who have been to Super DIRT Week can usually single out one race that was their favorite. I could probably do the same thing, if pressured, but I think the one race that was really important to the Capital District was the 1999 Eckerd 300.

In those days, there were about two dozen drivers from Albany-Saratoga, Fonda and Lebanon Valley who made the trek to Syracuse every year, and 1999 was no different. That year, Kenny Tremont Jr. won the biggest race of the season, taking home over $86,000 in cash and contingency awards. But just as impressive was the fact that six area drivers finished in the top 13.

Ronnie Johnson finished fourth after starting 30^th in the Goewey Motorsports car. Johnson was also named Rookie of the Year.

Todd Wilkinson, the 1996 Lebanon Valley sportsman champion who moved up to big blocks in 1998, was seventh, and Tim Dwyer was ninth in the Gable Motorsports-sponsored modified.

Varin, who started 36^th, charged up to 12th in the Harrell Trucking car, and Donnie Corellis, who started 42^nd in the 44-car field, was 13^th when the checkered flag flew.

In addition, Maynard Forrette won the non-qualifiers race that season, and finished 26^th after having rear end problems on lap 142. Dave Blaney was behind the wheel of the other Goewey Motorsports car that year and won the pole. But he crashed on lap 154, finishing 25^th.

MORE ON UTICA-ROME

Utica-Rome rained out twice this week, losing their final regular-season show on Sunday before the Tuesday night show was also canceled. Of 21 original dates on the track’s schedule this year, only nine events were run.

Billy Dunn was declared the 358 champIon, beating out Marc Johnson by 10 points. If that number sounds familiar, Johnson also lost the Albany-Saratoga Speedway championship to Brett Hearn by 10 points. Talk about being snake-bItten!

In doing some research this week, I came up with a great story from the final race of the 2000 season. That night, Jack Johnson won a 100-lap DIRT 358 Series race, his first win at Utica-Rome in 13 years. He and his son Ronnie, who had won a race earlier in the season, became the first father-son duo to win modified features at the track in the same year.

But that wasn’t the real story. On lap 83 of the 100-lapper, the generator failed, and the track went completely dark for about five minutes.

Promoter Eric Kingsley quickly switched over to Niagara Mohawk power, and when the lights started to come back up, the fans saw the car of Danny Johnson, who had been leading the race, blowing off a ton of steam from an overheating motor.

The Doctor was done for the night, and Jumpin’ Jack, who had been running third in the Witz Roofing car when the lights went out, grabbed the lead on a later restart and held off Brett Hearn for the win.

“When the lights went out, I just tried to slow down and I hoped we wouldn’t get hit,” said Johnson after the race.

ELITE GROUP

Tremont is one of seven drivers who have won both the big block and 358 features during Super DIRT Week. In addition to his big block win in 1999, Tremont also has four 358 wins. He also started on the pole in the big block race in 1993, and set fast time for the 358s in 1992.

Hearn tops the list of double winners with 11 (six big block, five small block) while Billy Decker has 10 (four big block, six small block). The list also includes Danny Johnson (2-2), Matt Sheppard (2-2), Tim Fuller (1-2), Bob McCreadie (1-1) and Doug Hoffman (1-1).

Tremont’s Syracuse record would be even more impressive had he been a little better with fuel economy. He ran out of fuel on the last lap of the 2004 big block race on the Moody Mile, handing the victory to Fuller. In 2002, when the Eckerd 200 was extended to 203 laps because of a late caution, Tremont, who had been leading when the final caution came out, ran out of fuel on lap 202, giving the win to Vic Coffey, who only led the final lap. Tremont finished fifth, one lap down. Only 10 cars were still running at the finish of that race, and only three (Coffey, Gary Tomkins and Jimmy Horton) completed all 203 laps.

Tremont also had a 358 win slip away in 2000, when he ran out of fuel on lap 144 of the 150-lap race, losing to Pete Bicknell. “We knew it was going to be a gamble,” said Tremont after the race.

The Sand Lake Slingshot is firmly No. 3 on the all-time list of drivers with wins in both divisions, but add in two more big block victories and another 358 win, and his Super DIRT Week resume would be even more impressive.

SEASON OVER

While Utica-Rome was rained out last Sunday, Glen Ridge Motorsports Park got in its 20^th racing card of the season, with Andrew Buff winning the crate modified feature. That was The Ridge’s final racing eventry of 2018. The awards banquet will be held on Oct. 13 at 1 p.m. at Eion’s Hideaway Pavilion on the speedway grounds. According to a post on the track’s Facebook page, “2019 is shaping up to be one of the best years in the history of the raceway, we have already started working on the schedule and are looking into some cool stuff for the fans.”

Co-promoters Ray Sefrin and Mike Parillo deserve a lot of credit for pumping some new life into The Ridge when it seemed like the track was on its last legs.