~ By Tom Boggie

Today, we’re going to start by paraphrasing a quote by Spanish-American philosopher George Santayana, who in 1905 wrote, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

Now, I’m sure George wasn’t talking about dirt track racing, but I am. Why do Northeast promoters insist on trying to begin their schedules in early April?

Albany-Saratoga Speedway was scheduled to kick off its 59th season of racing last Friday, but as everyone knows, the race was rained out. Personally, I didn’t care. I was in Tampa, sipping gin and tonics next to a poolside bar, enjoying temperatures in the 80s on a quick trip South that had been planned long before Albany-Saratoga promoter Lyle DeVore put together his 2024 schedule.

Let’s take a look back at the 13 seasons since Howie Commander took over the reins at Albany-Saratoga, following the death of C.J. Richards in February 2012. Actually, I’m taking into account 12 seasons, because racing didn’t start until June in 2020 because of the Covid pandemic.

Since 2012, six of 12 opening-night races have been rained out. Last year’s opening night, held on April 14, marked the earliest opening date since 1999. The worst start to a season came in 2019, when the track didn’t open until May 10 because of four straight rainouts. Since 2012, no races have been held before April 14.

Hey, I get it that promoters have bills to pay and the more nights they race, the more money they can make. But let’s be realistic. It’s going to rain in upstate New York in late March and early April. Wouldn’t it make sense to hold off a couple of weeks, giving drivers more time to get their cars ready and creating more track prep time to insure a good racing surface?

Just to let you know. If Lyle begins the season on April 11, which is the second Friday of the month, in 2025, I won’t be around. I’ll be in St. Louis, watching the NCAA hockey championships.

BE PREPARED

I was never a Boy Scout but I always like to be prepared. For that reason, I made sure I talked to a couple of drivers during the inspection day at Malta, just in case Mother Nature reared her ugly head. One of the drivers I talked to was two-time modified champion Marc Johnson, and one of the first things I asked him was to sum up his 2023 season.

“Frustrating,” he said without hesitation.

“We struggled all year looking for speed and a good balance,” he continued. “But this is a new year. We’ve got a new (Bicknell) car, a fresh Billy the Kid motor. Hopefully, we can get off to a good start.”

Last season, Johnson began the year with a Bicknell chassis that he had purchased at the tail end of the 2022 campaign, but he said he never felt comfortable in the car and after just two weeks of racing in 2023, he took delivery of a new chassis and put it together in less than two days.

He finished second to Ronnie Johnson when he debuted the new chassis on April 28, but then suffered a string of recurring disappointments. He had three straight weeks of finishing out of the top 10 before coming up with another runner-up finish, again to Ronnie Johnson, on June 2.

His only win of the season at Albany-Saratoga came on Sept. 1, on Champions Night, which allowed him to avoid his first winless season at Malta since 2015. As a result of all his misfortune, Johnson finished fifth in the modified championship point race, his worst placing since finishing sixth in 2017. Johnson, who turned 44 in December, also made one trip to victory lane at Lebanon Valley in 2023.

“Unless you’re winning, it sucks,” he said. “I had some good runs here, but overall, last year was horrible. We were burning off three tires a night, we were lucky if we were finishing in the top 10 and we were bringing home $200 a night. That was no fun.

“It’s like I tell the new kids who ask me for help. The most fun I had was my first year, when it was fun to come here and just race. Once you get competitive, it gets more frustrating, because you want to win more and finish well every week. You don’t have to win them all, but you at least want to be competitive every night.”

Johnson spent a couple of weeks in Florida in February, running at All Tech Speedway and at the Super DIRTcar Series races at Volusia County. He had three top-10 finishes (fifth, seventh and seventh) in the four-race series at All Tech and finished 15th, seventh and ninth in the three-race series at Volusia County. His ninth-place run was probably his best performance, after starting 22nd.

“It can’t hurt,” said Johnson of the Florida trip, “as long as you have the funds to do it and it doesn’t set you back for the rest of the year. You really can’t learn a lot because the two tracks are so different, but it was good to knock the rust off.”

He also had a seventh-place run at Port Royal in March, so he’s already got eight races under his belt.

Johnson can’t wait for the 2024 campaign to get into full swing.

“I worked my ass off this winter,” he said. “There was a lot of crap I had to handle, and I hopes it makes a difference this year.

“My goal is to win the championship here and at the Valley, and win some races in between,” he added. “But that’s always my goal.”

WHAT’S AHEAD

DeVore is forging ahead with the 2024 schedule, moving to Week 2 on the calendar. The modifieds will be running for $3,000 to win Friday night, while the pro stocks and sportsman will be competing for $1,000 to win, through sponsorship from Crane’s Outdoor Power Equipment. Gary and Patricia Van Alstyne have kicked up the winner’s payout in the limited sportsman feature to $500.

Lebanon Valley will be holding an open practice on Saturday from 3-8 p.m. Grandstand admission is free.