~ By Tom Boggie

One of the most popular nights at Albany-Saratoga Speedway will take place Friday, when the track hosts its annual John Grady Memorial Nostalgia Night.

The annual event honors the memory of John Grady, who was the first track photographer at the speedway when Joe Lesik opened it in 1965. Grady, who died in 2018 at the age of 88, was an integral part of the speedway, in particular, and the Capital District racing scene overall for decades to come.

John’s son, Chris, has kept his father’s memory alive with Nostalgia Night, and this Friday will be special.

In addition to the many photo exhibits, antique race cars and dirt track legends, past and present, Friday night’s meet and greet will include Hall of Famer Billy Pauch, who will be signing copies of his biography, “The Last Cowboy: The Life and Times of Billy Pauch,” which was written by Buffy Swanson.

Buffy, who I’ve known since the early 1980s (when I was covering stock car racing for the Schenectady Gazette and she was writing for Speedway Scene), is somewhat of a legend herself, being named one of the “Outstanding Women in Racing” by the Northeast Dirt Modified Hall of Fame in 2010. Besides writing stints for Area Auto Racing News and Speedway Scene, she was also a senior or contributing editor for four different racing publications, and when her husband Jim became the race director at New Egypt Speedway in 1998, Buffy handled the PR duties until 2006, when the track changed ownership.

Buffy now serves as the selection committee chair for the Northeast Dirt Modified Hall of Fame and Museum in Weedsport.
She recently sent out an excerpt from the Pauch book, and if this is any indication, racing fans better bring some extra cash to Albany-Saratoga Speedway Friday night to buy a copy of the book.

Here’s a condensed version of the email that Buffy sent out:

*Hall of Fame driver Billy Pauch from Frenchtown, NJ, will be returning to Albany-Saratoga Speedway to greet fans, sign copies of his new book, and relive some great times in his career.
He cemented his status the first time he laid eyes on the place.

In 1977, his rookie Modified season, Pauch did venture out to New York, attempting to qualify for a couple of DIRT races at Lebanon Valley and Weedsport, as well as the biggie at Syracuse. “We went up there and got our ass kicked,” he remembered.

Nonetheless, two years later, Billy decided to drag his own Ebersole Gremlin across state lines to take a shot at C.J. Richards’ Super Shootout at Albany.

“We were going pretty good at home, winning races. When you’re going good, it gives you the incentive to go to other places and try to win,” he figured.

Besides, the race was a fairly short distance for a pretty impressive payoff. “Money motivates me,” Pauch bottom-lined. “It was 79 laps, $3,000 to win—that was big money! I think the Flemington 200 probably paid $3,000 to win back then. And that was 200 laps. This was only 79.”

So Billy, his dad Roy, girlfriend Barbara and buddies Dave Zyck and Bobby Fandel loaded up the car and headed upstate.

“We’d never been there, never seen the track. There were a lot of good guys there,” Pauch noted. Including Kenny Brightbill, Jimmy Horton, Kevin Collins, Jack Johnson, C.D. Coville, Lou Lazzaro, Frank Cozze—all the heavy hitters following the trail to Richards’ cold, hard cash.

Pauch was undeterred. “We drove to the front. I remember I was sticking the bottom real good, and I came up through on the bottom. It wasn’t a top deal—like at Fulton, I’d always run around the top. But there, I ran the bottom.”

On lap 22, Billy stole the lead from Jack Johnson (who would go on to win the first of his three A-S titles later that year). After a brief back-and-forth with fellow invader John Kozak with 25 to go, he retook the lead for good on a lap 58 restart—startling the Capital District crowd in a shocker that’s still talked about.

“I passed Johnny Kozak to get the lead…and that was a good car! That was Eugene Mills’ 30; he was winning a lot of races in Delaware with that car,” Pauch pointed out. “It was the first time I saw the track! There were only one or two times I went to a first-time track I’d never seen and won. I did that at Bridgeport, and I did it at Albany.”

That $3,000 winner’s share seemed like a small fortune to Pauch. “I remember how much it paid—it was a big stack of money! All fives and tens and twenties, and Barbara had to count it all out.”

*According to published records, Pauch has won a total of 744 races at 33 different race tracks. But the one that always eluded him was the big block modified feature during Super DIRT Week at the Moody Mile in Syracuse. Pauch never won “the big one.” His two wins on the mile came in the small block race in 1987 and the World of Outlaws sprint car feature in 1994.
The meet and greet and the displays at Albany-Saratoa will be held behind the main grandstand between 5-7 p.m. Oh, yeah, there will be racing, too.

The modifieds will be competing for $3,500 to win, with $3,000 for second and $2,500 for third. The modified feature will be 43 laps in distance, a tribute to NASCAR great Richard Petty, who won NASCAR Grand National races at Albany-Saratoga in 1970 and 1971.

In keeping with the Nostalgia theme, the Mohawk Valley Vintage Dirt Modifieds will also be on the racing card.

MALTA NOTES

Count Demetrios Drellos as one of the drivers who has enjoyed the slick racing surface at Albany-Saratoga for the last two weeks.

“The slicker it gets, the better I go,” said Drellos with a smile after recording his second straight modified win last Friday night. “At about lap 28, the car really took off.”

James Meehan seemed to have the win locked up until he got sideways between the third and fourth turns coming to the white flag, giving Drellos the opportunity he needed.

Jessey Mueller, who had dropped out of two consecutive features in the month of July because of driveshaft problems, was pleased with his runner-up finish. “After all the problems we’ve had, this is better,” he said. “It should give us some good momentum, and I’m looking forward to next week. I thought we were going to get a win tonight. I gave it all I had.”
Matt DeLorenzo maintained his point lead with a hard-fought third-place finish, coming from his 13th starting position.

Speaking of hard-fought finishes, what about defending sportsman champion Tim Hartman Jr.? Hartman Jr. finished third in the 32-lap sportsman feature, after nearly getting taken out early in the feature. On a restart on lap 6, Hartman Jr. missed the tires that guard the jersey barrier in turn one by inches, and then was hit by Drew Cormie. Hartman Jr., who started 19th, kept his foot in the gas, battled his way through traffic and nosed out Travis Witbeck for third at the finish line.

Chris Johnson’s win in the “Flying Trowel” 32-lap sportsman feature was his first win since May 14, 2019. “It’s awesome to get back in victory lane,” he said after the win. “It’s been a while. We’ve been struggling, but I’m glad to be back.”

One of the most dedicated workers at Albany-Saratoga has headed for greener pastures (or at least more heat), as Mike Prunier and his family recently moved to Florida. Prunier, 56, has been on the staff at Malta for most of his life, and to his credit, did some of the dirtiest, nastiest jobs at the speedway without complaint. When it comes to dedication, no one does it better than the Prunier and the Archer families.

I’ll miss you, Mike.

AROUND THE TRACKS

Albany-Saratoga’s Nostalgia Night won’t be the only memorial race this weekend. Devil’s Bowl Speedway will be hosting the 67-lap C.J. Richards Classic “Battle at the Bowl” on Sunday, offering $10,000 to the winner of the big block/small block feature.

Andy Bachetti pulled off a sweep last Saturday at Lebanon Valley, winning both the big block and small block modified features. He also has the point lead in both divisions.
In case you haven’t noticed, sportsman driver Whitey Slavin is having an outstanding season at the Valley. In 10 starts, Slavin has three wins and has yet to finish out of the top four. But he only leads Hartman Jr. by 10 points in the race for the track championship, as Hartman also has three wins. But his one bad night came on May 30, when he was involved in a first-lap wreck and finished 16th.

Frank Twing Jr. added his name to the list of pre-teen drivers who have won an open wheel feature. Last Saturday, the 11-year-old Twing Jr. chalked up his first limited sportsman win at the Valley.

Orange County Speedway will be celebrating its 103rd year of racing with a special show on Aug. 11. The anniversary race was scheduled for 103 laps, but has been cut back to 75, with track officials citing tire availability, high fuel costs and the extreme dry conditions in the Lower Hudson Valley for the cutback. The feature will still pay $17,500 to win.

It finally happened. The Buff brothers hit the trifecta Sunday night at Glen Ridge Motorsports Park, with Zach getting the win, Justin finishing second and Andrew crossing the finish line third.
Stewart Friesen finished fourth in last weekend’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series playoff race at Indianapolis Raceway Park. The next race will be held on Aug. 13 at Richmond, which means Friesen won’t be at Fonda Speedway for its Night of Champions.