~ By Tom Boggie

There are very few dirt track modified drivers who have accomplished as much as Ken Tremont Jr. has. He’s the winningest big block driver in the history of Lebanon Valley Speedway; he’s a 13-time champion at Albany-Saratoga Speedway; he’s been in victory lane during Super DIRT Week at Syracuse; he’s already a Hall of Famer. But leave it to Tremont to come up with another milestone in his career.

“I’ve never wrecked a race car three weeks in a row,” he said last Friday after another heartbreaking night at Albany-Saratoga Speedway.

That’s right. In three weeks, Tremont has yet to finish a modified feature. In the process, he’s destroyed one race car, and last week, he did the unthinkable, tangling with a lapped car when he had a huge lead.

For all the fans who thought Tremont could get around Malta blindfolded, “The Sand Lake Slingshot” has shown that he’s human after all.

His string of misfortune began on opening night. He suffered a flat tire on the second lap of the feature, pitted for a new tire and then pulled in for good after 16 laps. At the time, it didn’t seem like a big deal. Opening night, new Jersey barriers on the inside of the turns, everyone itching to race after a two-month layoff, lots of contact. Write it off as opening-night gremlins.

But the next week, Tremont and James Meehan were battling for the lead heading into the first turn. Neither gave an inch, the two made hard contact, Tremont got sideways, caught the berm and then did a series of barrel-rolls. More on that in a second.

Then, last week, Tremont started sixth in a brand-new chassis, had the lead after eight laps and was long gone. But on lap 28, he got together with the lapped car of Matt Depew in the first turn (almost in the identical spot where he and Meehan had hit the week before). A broken steering box sent Tremont to the pits.

Instead of enjoying the fruits of his labor, Tremont just seems to be making more work for himself. When he said he had destroyed his car in the incident with Meehan two weeks ago, I was curious about what happens when a car is “garbage.”

“We’ll cut it up for scrap metal and use the money for coffee money,” said Tremont (he wasn’t joking, either. At least, he didn’t seem to be). “They pay more at the scrap yard if you cut it up into three-foot sections than if you take in the whole car.”

I told Tremont he should take a week off. “That won’t change anything,” he said. “We’ve just got to change our luck.” So he’ll be back Friday night, trying to get through a 35-lap feature for the first time this season.

HARTMAN JR. ON A ROLL
One car that won’t be seeing the scrap yard anytime soon is Tim Hartman Jr.’s Troyer. That car is hooked up.

Hartman Jr. notched his second sportsman win in a row at Albany-Saratoga last Friday, catching leader Brian Calabrese coming out of the fourth turn for the final time and sticking a bumper in front at the flagstand. The finish was so close that Calabrese also pulled up on the front straightaway for a victory-lane shot, thinking he had won the race.

Hartman Jr.’s win was a carbon copy of Stewart Friesen’s victory in last year’s “Big Show XI,” when Friesen caught Brett Hearn just before the start-finish line.

Calabrese has been snakebite at Malta. He hasn’t won a race since late in the 2018 season, when he stunned the sportsman ranks by winning the 602 Crate Nationals in his un-sponsored, underpowered car. That was his first career win at Malta. He’s stepped up his program since then, but hasn’t been able to get another win. His runner-up finish last week was his third in the last two years.

Calabrese did earn a little extra cash last weekend, winning the $200 bonus in the Service Tire Truck Center sportsman Dash for Cash.

SCARY ACCIDENT
Have you seen the video of the accident at Laurens County Speedway in South Carolina last weekend? A late model-style car climbed the retaining wall in the fourth turn, went through the fencing and hit a group of spectators. According to reports, four fans were injured, but no one had life-threatening injuries. But a Gofundme page was set up for one of the victims, and the information on the page stated that doctors weren’t sure if she would walk again.

In looking at the videos, it looks like the track just had a chain link fence protecting the front straightaway stands. In fact, in a later report from a TV station in South Carolina, it was reported that track officials said they are going to install steel cables (much like Albany-Saratoga Speedway has) to prevent another accident like the one that occurred last weekend.

Ironically, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said Wednesday that it is illegal for people to attend any sort of racing event at speedways or racetracks and illegal for businesses to welcome fans and spectators.

AROUND THE TRACKS
Those Jersey barriers at Albany-Saratoga are causing a rash of flat left front tires from drivers who are trying to cut corners too closely. Derrick McGrew Jr. took a hard hit in turn one last week when he slammed into the tires that create a crash pad at the ends of the barriers.

I had talked to Derrick McGrew Sr. prior to Friday night’s racing, and he said he was happy with his son’s progress in his first season in the modified division. “I’ve got to get the car a little better, and he’s got to keep getting better,” McGrew Sr. said. “But we’re OK. We just have to be patient.”

Don’t expect to see Mat Williamson, who recorded his first career modified win at Albany-Saratoga last Friday, back for a while. Williamson, who lives in Canada, had been racing in the U.S. for a couple of weeks, but had planned to return to Canada last weekend, which meant he would have to go into quarantine for two weeks. “This is one of the places that was marked on our bucket list,” said Williamson after his win last Friday. “It’s so cool to race here.”

Sunday was a big night for the Comes family, as Justin Comes won the sportsman/modified feature at Devil’s Bowl, and his younger brother Austin was the winner in the limited sportsman feature. The last time brothers were in victory lane on the same night at the Bowl as Sept. 23, 2001, when Joe Santoro won the pro-stock feature and his brother Vince won the hobby stock feature.

The Ronca brothers pulled off that same feat at Albany-Saratoga on Sept. 3, 2003. On a night of double features, Mike Ronca won the 358 modified feature, and Rich Ronca won one of the sportsman features.

Lebanon Valley Speedway will be holding the first Butch Jelley Memorial Saturday night, with $3,000 going to the modified winner. According to the track’s Facebook page, the grandstands will be open for spectators, who must wear face coverings, and the activities will include a 4^th of July fireworks display.

I was doing a little research on Jeff Heotzler this week, trying to determine if the 62-year-old was the oldest winner of a modified feature at Fonda Speedway (he got his first career win at Fonda last weekend in the Palmer Racing 76). Turns out he’s not. Jack Johnson was 64 when he won his last modified race at Fonda on May 30, 2009. I also came across the fact that three of the Capital Region’s top modified drivers won the Eastern States 200 at Orange County in Middletown in three consecutive years. C.D. Coville was the winner in the Bob’s Auto Parts ride in 1983, Dave Lape won in the RC Putnam car in 1984 and Jumpin’ Jack was victorious in 1985.