The 4th Turn  ~ by Tom Boggie

Brett Hearn doesn’t look much like a baseball player, but he certainly hit a home run Tuesday night with “Big Show 10” At Albany-Saratoga Speedway.
Where to begin?

Cars parked on both sides of Route 9, because the parking lot was full two hours before the show even started.

Kenny Wallace finally finding time in his schedule to make a “Big Show.” The former NASCAR driver and current Fox analyst, who had a long line at his autograph tent, might be competitive in a UMP modified in the Midwest, but struggled in a big block, and had to tag the end of the field in the 100-lap feature. He completed 52 laps before pulling off. But as Wallace himself said, “This isn’t about me. It’s about the Big Show. I was here four years ago, but it got rained out.” Then, pointing to the woods off the third turn, he said, “I didn’t realize there are houses over there. That’s crazy.”

Gary Balough promoting his new book next to “The Batmobile,” the controversial modified that changed the face of racing after Balough’s win at Super DIRT Week in 1980, and Balough then going out in the car and delighting the fans with a couple of quick punches of the throttle during the parade laps.

Fifty-five modifieds and 57 sportsman. A lot of tracks don’t do those numbers in two weeks of racing.

Ryan Godown having one of the shortest stays ever at a “Big Show.” After landing a ride in the Andy Romano-owned 97, the New Jersey driver ran two laps of warmups, two laps in time trials and then didn’t complete a lap in his heat, catching the berm in the third turn and flipping the 97 twice.

And Stewart Friesen in victory lane after Matt Sheppard’s quest for the $10,000 payday was derailed by the lapped car of Willy Decker.

Stewart Friesen is good for racing. He’s young, charismatic, talented and he’s still old school. His family has been around racing for as long as I can remember, and he knows the significance of dirt racing’s past. He’s also juggling time between his fulltime ride on the NASCAR Camping World Trucks Series and running his dirt track modified, either in the Super DIRT Series or at local tracks, when the trucks are off.

“I live at home {with wife Jessica and son Parker in Sprakers} and work on these cars every day I can,” said Friesen after shaking hands, bumping fists and taking selfies after his win. “My focus is 100 percent on the dirt modifieds. I’ve got a great team in North Carolina and they take care of the truck. I might do a little phone session with them on Monday, but on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, I’m working on these cars. I’m not laying down on this, by any means.”

And it’s just a matter of time before he gets his first win in the truck series. He’s been in position to challenge for a victory in the last two races, but was involved in late-race wrecks (neither his fault) both times. “We’re getting faster every week,” Friesen said. “It seems like we’re using up all our luck in the dirt races and then getting skunked on the weekend. But I think we’ll get one soon.”

DKM SUCCESS

Friesen’s victory came in his DKM chassis, the creation of Eric Mack, Dave Constantino and Kyle Hoffman. This is the third season for “The Cyclone” chassis, named in honor of modified legend Maynard Forrette, who was Mack’s mentor, and with Friesen’s assistance, the chassis is making a name for itself. Constantino has been having a lot of success in the sportsman division in one, while Jessey Mueller’s first career modified win last Friday at Albany-Saratoga Speedway also came in a DKM chassis.

While Mack gets some pleasure in the fact he helped design the chassis and is now part of the crew that has carried Friesen to some big wins, there’s something else he’d rather be doing. “I’d rather be racing,” he said after Tuesday night’s win. “But I’d want to be racing a car like that,” he added, pointing to the Halmar-sponsored car that Friesen drives.

“I always had the leftovers, and was nickel-and diming it when I was racing,” he added. “I had some good runs in a modified, but never had really good equipment. When I stopped racing, I got into some other things and grew up a lot, but there’s no doubt, I miss racing.”

AROUND THE TRACKS

Matt DeLorenzo looked real strong in the early stages of “Big Show 10” and even led three laps early in the race, but when the top went away, he fell to 10th.

Although Ronnie Johnson dropped out of “Big Show 10” after just 45 laps, he turned some heads last Friday when he rocketed from a 24th starting position to finish second in the modified feature at Albany-Saratoga.

Among the drivers who didn’t quality for “Big Show 10” were Rocky Warner in the Jake Spraker-owned 1J, and Dave “Big Show” Rauscher, who was celebrating his 63rd birthday.

Mueller and his crew were ecstatic after his first win on dirt Friday night. Mueller had a lot of success as an asphalt racer at Devil’s Bowl and Airborne Park, but he knew picking Albany-Saratoga Speedway to hone his dirt skills was a little daring. “Running against guys like Kenny Tremont and Brett Hearn is tough,” he said. “If you’re off your game, they can make you look real bad.”

One of Mueller’s more impressive wins came in the 2014 C.J. Richards Memorial at Devil’s Bowl. That night, Mueller blew the motor in his car during his heat race, but the Mueller team then bought a spare motor from another race team, switched engines and made it to the starting grid for the feature with less than 10 minutes to spare. That win helped him clinch the Northern Modified Challenge Series championship.

I was amazed to read that it’s been 20 years since the death of former Orange County Speedway sportsman driver Barbara Luce. In 1998, three weeks after winning her first sportsman feature at the Middletown track, she was killed in a motorcycle accident at the age of 19. In the fall of 1997, Terry Rumsey and I had made a trek to the Orange County Speedway banquet to do a piece for “This Week on Dirt” about Luce winning the Sportsman Rookie of the Year award, and her charm and enthusiasm were infectious.

Hey, it’s the weekend before the 4th of July, so the sky will be filled with fireworks. I spent a lot of years setting up the displays at Albany-Saratoga with Bruce Richards, Dan Archer and Bob Prunier, and let me tell you, that’s no fun when it’s 90 degrees out.