The 4th Turn

~ By Tom Boggie

It was good to see John Flach Jr. having a good time again.

Granted, it was only an exhibition race by the Mohawk Valley Vintage Dirt Modifieds last Friday at Albany-Saratoga Speedway, but it was great to see Flach get out of his car with a big smile on his face.

Driving a replica of the familiar 77J that carried him to two modified championships at Lebanon Valley Speedway, Flach might have been a little slower than he was in the late 1980s, but he brought back a lot of memories on his way to another victory.

And to make the win even sweeter, it came on his birthday. After squeezing himself out of the Gremlin-bodied 2008 Bicknell chassis (hey, John is a big man), Flach needed a little time to catch his breath.

“I’m so out of shape and rusty,” he said with a laugh. “The first couple of laps, I scared myself, and I’m sure I scared some other people out here, too. After the first caution, I just told myself to take a deep breath, settle down and get it together.”

Back in the late 1980s, Flach ruled Lebanon Valley, driving to two consecutive modified championships, in 1988 and 1989. Although he won his first modified feature at the Valley in 1983, Flach was never a big winner, accumulating only 13 career victories. But he was one of the most consistent drivers to ever run on the high banks.

He only had one win in 1988, and two in 1989, but he knew how to get a car home in one piece. During one stretch in 1989, he recorded 10 straight top five finishes, which included one victory and four seconds.

His last win at the Valley came in 1991, and if I’m not mistaken, that was in the No. 10 that was owned by Bryan Goewey and sponsored by WTEN in Albany.

When he made the decision to stop racing, Flach became heavily involved in the racing careers of his sons, JC and Keith. But life hasn’t always been kind to the Flachs. As everyone around dirt track racing knows, the family has seen more than its share of personal tragedies over the years. But hopefully, they won’t have to suffer any more hardships.

Because it was good to see John smiling again in victory lane.

Staying on the subject of the Mohawk Valley Vintage Dirt Modifieds for a minute, how about that gorgeous Pete Corey replica 1937 sedan that George Palmer of Clifton Park was driving? Pete Corey Jr. built that car, which was then hauled up from North Carolina.

I saw another Mohawk Valley Vintage in the pits after the race. Oh, wait, that was C.D. Coville, who seems to have become the permanent right-hand man to DKM’s Eric Mack.

HISTORY LESSON

You didn’t think you were going to get away without a little history lesson, did you?

In doing some research on Flach, I stumbled across the DIRT Texas Tour of 1989. Anyone remember that?

That was Glenn Donnelly expanding his dirt racing footprint to the Lone Star State. The tour was scheduled as eight races in 10 days, and began at Devil’s Bowl Speedway in Mesquite on March 3. The winner of the first Texas Tour race was Jack Johnson.

The next three events were canceled because of bad weather, including a snow storm, and resumed at Battleground Speedway on March 8, with Jumpin’ Jack again in victory lane.

The other winners on the Tour were Danny Johnson (Devil’s Bowl), Bob McCreadie (85 Speedway) and Doug Hoffman (Devil’s Bowl). Jack Johnson had two wins, a second and a third in five starts to win the series title.

AROUND THE TRACKS

How good was the racing surface at Albany-Saratoga Speedway last Friday? Marc Johnson set a new track record for modifieds with a lap of 14.924 seconds during warmups.

Rich Scagliotta had a short night at Albany-Saratoga. During the first modified heat, C.G. Morey got into Don Ronca in the second turn and spun him around. Scagliotta then launched over the front end of Ronca’s car and barrel-rolled three times, doing heavy damage to his race car.

Jessey Mueller was ready to kick himself after he screwed up on a restart on lap 29 of the modified feature at Albany-Saratoga. Mueller was sitting third, behind leader Mike Mahaney, but got into the rear end of Mahaney’s car between turns one and two and had to check up, dropping him to fourth.

“I definitely thought I blew it,” said Mueller after the race. “I was thinking I had killed my good run.”

But on the next lap, Neil Stratton and Rocky Warner, who were battling for second, spun in the second turn, putting Mueller back in the No. 2 spot, and he came away with the win, which paid $3,000.

Stewart Friesen is in an uncharacteristic slump. On Saturday night, he was leading the feature at Fonda Speedway when his car lost oil pressure, which allowed Warner to record his second straight win in the Jake Spraker 1J.

That misfortune comes on the heels of Friesen running out of fuel with three laps to go at Kansas Motor Speedway in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series, which prevented him from chalking up his first career victory in that series. Early in the season, he was also leading a race at Five Mile Point when he broke a suspension part.

On the other side of the Friesen breakfast table, wife Jessica had her best finish in a long time Saturday, coming across the finish line third in the modified feature at Fonda. I won’t be surprised if Jessica has a win before the season is over. I don’t think she’s won a race since 2014, when she won the Canadian Sprint Car Nationals at Ohswegen Speedway.

Peter Britten was definitely hooked up Saturday night, burying the field to record his first career modified victory at Lebanon Valley Speedway. In the small block modified division, Andy Bachetti had his three-race winning streak snapped by Brett Haas. Bachetti was fast at the beginning of the feature, but only lasted seven laps before dropping out with mechanical problems.

Former modified driver Jeff Trombley, seeking his third straight CRSA championship, won the first race of the sprint car series last Saturday at Canandaigua (yeah, I know it’s Land of Legends, but it will always be Canandaigua to me). Trombley drew the pole and never looked back.

Reserved seats and VIP accommodations for Brett Hearn’s “Big Show 11” have gone on sale. They can be purchased through the www.thebigshow11.com website. The 111-lap Super Dirt Series race, scheduled for Tuesday, June 25, will pay $11,111 to the winner.

Tim Hartman Jr. picked up $1,000 for his second straight win in the sportsman division at Fonda last Saturday, and can earn up another $1,000 this Friday at Albany-Saratoga Speedway, which will be holding a Sportsman Shootout Series race as part of its card.

Congratulations to Bryan Jones Jr. for notching his first career win in the limited sportsman feature at Albany-Saratoga last Friday. The Clifton Park driver started 25^th in the 30-car field, but moved into the lead on lap 18 of the 20-lap feature. According to my notes, he only had one top-five finish during 2018, a fourth.

If you’ve got nothing to do on Monday, head out to Weedsport for the Super DIRT Series Heroes Remembered 100. Friesen announced earlier this week that he’ll be taking a run at the top prize of $7,500. Friesen won the 100-lapper last year.