~ By Tom Boggie

Earlier this week, “Area Auto Racing News” broke the story that Ken Tremont Jr. has decided to retire at the end of the 2023 campaign.

I can’t say I’m surprised.

In all my years of covering dirt track racing, I’ve spent a lot of time talking with Tremont, through good times and bad. We’ve discussed his retirement a lot in the last couple of years, and his mantra has always been, “I’m just taking it year by year.”

Now, it looks like that final year has come.

Heading into August, the 61-year-old Tremont is still winless at both Albany-Saratoga and Lebanon Valley. There’s still plenty of time to pick up a couple of wins and add to his gaudy career total of 392, but it’s a well-known fact that Tremont has struggled to find consistency with the now mass-produced short rod, left-side panhard bar modified chassis. Dirt track racing is a fulltime commitment, and when it stops being fun, it’s time to move on. Tremont’s spiral began in 2020, when he wrecked on three consecutive Friday nights at Albany-Saratoga. He finished 12^th in points at Malta that year, easily one of his worst campaigns ever.

Since recording the first modified victory of his career in 1982, Tremont had won at least one feature every year since, a string of 41 consecutive seasons with a win. Tremont will go down in history as the second-best driver to ever come out of the Capital District (Sorry, Ken. I’ve still got Jack Johnson at the top of that list.). But he’ll also be remembered as the best modified driver who also worked fulltime, working side-by-side with his father Ken Sr. at the family-owned Brookside Garage in West Sand Lake during the height of his racing career.

I wrote a story for “Trackside” magazine in 1990, which carried the title, “Tremont Hits That Ol’ Crossroad.” During the 1990 season, Tremont finished fifth in the battle for the overall DIRT championship. The four drivers who finished ahead of him were Brett Hearn, Bob McCreadie, Doug Hoffman and Danny Johnson, who all derived their income from racing. Tremont finished just four points out of third place (without getting a win on the series), and picked up nearly $10,000 in bonus money at the DIRT banquet that year, but here’s how he summed up his season.

“The season was really lousy,” he told me. “All the work we put into the car and you have to ask, what do we have to show for it? If I had known at the beginning of the year that I was going to finish fifth, I probably wouldn’t have gone (chasing points).”

The fork in the road that he had reached was whether to keep working a fulltime job, or take a chance at becoming a fulltime racer.

“I definitely like racing,” Tremont said. “It’s something I want to do, and I think I’m pretty good at it.”

As we all know, he never strayed off the path, continuing to work in the garage while pursuing his racing career. All the hard work came to fruition in 1999, when he racked up 29 wins, culminating with his victory in the Eckerd 300 at the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse during Super DIRT Week, which Tremont still calls the highlight of his career.

Tremont’s legacy includes a total of 143 big block wins and 14 titles at Lebanon Valley (he also has 31 small block victories and four crowns in that division), 81 wins and 13 championships at Albany-Saratoga and 90 wins and 10 titles at Devil’s Bowl. He’s won features at 20 different race tracks, and as of today, his last win came in last year’s Vermont 200 at Devil’s Bowl in a car owned by longtime friend John St. Germain Jr.

What do you get the driver who has everything when he retires? Tremont is already a three-time Hall of Fame inductee (Northeast Dirt Modifieds, New York State Stock Car Association and Lebanon Valley Speedway). So that’s no longer a big deal. How about naming the sponsor’s tower at Lebanon Valley “The Tremont Tower,” the same way they honor NASCAR legends at Bristol? It’s just a thought.

I’m sure Tremont feels a sense of relief, that he’s lifted a big weight off his shoulders, by finally announcing his retirement. And I’m sure he’s going to work as hard as he can to get at least one win and keep that streak of consecutive seasons with a victory intact.

Even though he’s going to climb out of the car, he’ll still be hanging around Lebanon Valley on Saturday nights, spending more time mentoring his son Montgomery. Enjoy retirement, Ken. You’ve certainly earned it.

AROUND THE TRACKS

Friday night will be “Stan Da’ Man Night” at Albany-Saratoga Speedway, honoring the memory of promoter Lyle DeVore’s father Stan. The wildly popular night will be highlighted by a 32-lap modified feature, which will pay $3,200 to win. The modified heats will also carry a bonus of $320 each. The 32-lap “Flying Trowel” for sportsman will pay $1,320 to win, as will the Native Pride pro stock feature.

After four straight rainouts, Glen Ridge Motorsports Park finally returned to action last Sunday, with Jordan McCreadie recording his third straight 358 modified win. The “Fluff” Hagan Memorial pro stock feature drew a huge field of 35 cars and was won by Ian Bressett, who took home the top prize of $2,500. That was Bressett’s second stop at Glen Ridge this season, as he also finished sixth in the Silver Fox Memorial on May 21. I know Bressett is from the Potsdam area, but is this the same Ian Bressett who played hockey at St. Lawrence High School and helped the Larries reach the New York State Division II championship game in 2017?

Tim Fuller, who was inducted into the Northeast Dirt Modified Hall of Fame on July 13, won last Sunday’s Wade Decker Memorial at Thunder Mountain, earning $5,000. Fuller had never raced at Thunder Mountain before Sunday.

Devil’s Bowl Speedway has canceled the “Battle of the Bowl” big block/small block showdown, which had been scheduled for Sunday, Aug. 6. Instead, promoter Mike Bruno will be staging a 67-lap “Prelude to the 200” for sportsman modifieds, which will pay $5,000 to win. “There are more sportsman cars in this region than any other type of race car, so we want to reward those teams with another big event,” said Bruno in a press release.

Matt Sheppard and Mat Williamson both had $10,000 paydays earlier this week at modified races in Quebec. Sheppard won at Granby on Tuesday and Williamson was victorious at LeRPM on Wednesday. Former Albany-Saratoga champions Mike Mahaney and Marc Johnson made the trip across the border. Mahaney was 11^th at Granby and fourth at LeRPM, and Johnson was 20^th at Grandy and fifth at LeRPM.

Stewart Friesen needs a good finish at Richmond this weekend to earn a spot in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series playoffs. Friesen got caught up in a Stage 3 wreck last weekend at Pocono when he was battling for a top-10 finish and is now nine points behind Matt Crafton in the battle for the final playoff spot. Friesen also made the trip to Canada earlier this week, and was second at LeRPM.