~ By Tom Boggie

OK, this is going to be your only warning.

If you don’t want to read about Demetrios Drellos, stop now. Go get a back issue of “Guns and Ammo” or “Field And Stream” or whatever is sitting on that little shelf next to the toilet and leaf through that for a while.

The 26-year-old Drellos, who is in his ninth season of modified racing, has developed into a driver to be reckoned with. He proved that last Friday when he picked up his first victory of the season in the 35-lap NAPA Modifieds feature at Albany-Saratoga Speedway.

Granted, starting eighth was a big help, but it wasn’t his fault that he had fuel pump issues the previous week and didn’t even turn a lap in the feature. But he’s been fast all year, and finally got a chance to prove it.

“We’ve had a good car all year, but it’s tough to pass 15 or 20 cars here every week,” he said after the win, which was his seventh career victory at Albany-Saratoga.

Drellos has been no stranger to controversy during his modified racing career, which began in the small block modified division at Lebanon Valley in 2015. The next season, he also began racing weekly at Albany-Saratoga and picked up his first win at Malta on June 16, 2017.

If you were there that night, you’ll remember Drellos getting booed in victory lane, with fans taking exception to the fact that he had crowded fan favorite Ken Tremont Jr. off the backstretch on his way to the front.

Racing fans have long memories, and that night still sticks in the craw of some people sitting in the grandstands at Albany-Saratoga. But, in all honesty, Drellos is a heck of a driver, and reminds me a lot of C.D. Coville, another figure who had a love-hate relationship with the fans. Neither Coville, and now Drellos, are well known for patience. Instead of waiting for a hole to open, they stick their nose in and make it open.

Drellos had to do that again in the closing laps of last Friday’s feature, when he caught the tail end of the pack. Now, these weren’t backmarkers who were down a couple of laps and were just riding it out. This particular pack contained Josh Hohenforst, James Meehan, Keith Flach and Jack Speshock, racing as hard as they could for position. When Drellos came up on then, he forced his way through the middle, made some contact and came away unscatched.

“I had no idea how far Peter (the second-place car of Peter Britten) was behind me, and couldn’t wait for those lapped cars,” Drellos said after the race. “Sometimes, you’ve got to use the nerf bars to squeeze by the lapped cars.”

So Drellos picked up his first win of the year and, yes, there were some boos when he climbed out of the car for an on-track interview.

Although Britten put on the I-finished-second-but-I’m-not-really-happy face after the race, there really wasn’t much he could have done differently.

“A lot of times, it’s just a race to the front,” he said. “He started eighth and I started 12^th, and I felt like we were racing about the same speed all night. He just got the lead before I could get there.”

There have been other controversial moments during Drellos’ career. In 2018, he and Tremont were both suspended for a week because of an on-track incident, and in 2021, he quit racing at Devil’s Bowl to protest a call that went against him during the Vermont 200.

But with age comes wisdom and maturity, and when you throw in Drellos’ talent, that’s a tough combination to beat.

With his win last Friday, Drellos is now just 29 points behind current modified point leader and defending track champion Matt DeLorenzo, who also finds himself having to work through a gaggle of cars every week. He finished fifth last Friday after starting 14^th, extending his string of top-five finishes to seven in a row.

If Drellos can avoid little things like fuel pump problems, he and DeLorenzo will be taking this point race right down to the wire.

MORE FROM MALTA

You just had to smile with the results of the two sportsman features last Friday, which were run as the annual Mark Hughes Memorial.

Derrick McGrew Jr., whose father Derrick Sr. was instrumental in setting up the Hughes Memorial after his death in a work-related accident in New York City in 2014, won the first 20 lapper, and four-time sportsman champion Tim Hartman Jr. chalked up his first win of the season at Albany-Saratoga in the second feature.

McGrew Jr. got a big break in the first feature. On lap nine, he was running in the top five but went too high in the second turn and dropped off the backstretch, losing a number of spots. But before the lap was completed, the yellow came out, putting McGrew back into his original spot on the last completed lap for the restart. He then got the lead to complete lap 11, and led the rest of the way.

“Mark was like a second dad to me, and I’m super proud to pull this off for him,” said McGrew Jr. after his second win of the season.

And what was Hartman Jr.’s reaction after his win.

“I’m tired as hell,” he admitted. “We’ve been working our asses off all year.”

Hartman Jr. also caught a big break. When a caution came out of lap 19, he was racing a distant third. On the final restart, Hartman Jr. swung high coming out of the fourth turn and caught leader Taylor Wason at the wire, winning by 0.196 seconds.

“I was lucky the caution happened right then,” Hartman Jr. said. “I got into (turn) one good, stayed over him and just drove as hard as I could into three and hoped he didn’t slide up into me.

“It’s been a struggle this year because we’ve been on bars for years and this is our first year with coils,” he added. “We’re going to celebrate this one.”

Hartman Jr. was also celebrating on Saturday, after recording his fourth win of the year in the sportsman division at Lebanon Valley.

Friday will be Military/Law Enforcement/ Fire & Rescue/EMT Night at Albany-Saratoga, with all first responders receiving free grandstand admission with proper ID. The pro stocks will be racing for $2,000 to win in the 30-lap “Rockin’ The Rez” feature.

AROUND THE TRACKS

Matt Sheppard win Thursday night’s Super DIRTcar Series race at Orange County Speedway, picking up $7,500. The race was originally scheduled in May, but was rained out. Sheppard beat out Hall of Famer Brett Hearn for the win on Thursday, as Hearn continues to make his presence felt with his new TEO prototype chassis.

Talk about old timers. Another Hall of Famer, 82-year-old Tommy Corellis, got behind the wheel of a Tremont backup car and finished 16^th in the modified feature at the Valley last Saturday. Corellis will be honored on Tommy Corellis Night on July 15.

Lebanon Valley officials cracked down following an incident in the pits involving a number of street stock drivers last week. As a result, the entire street stock division has been suspended for one race, and two drivers received DQs from last week’s finish.

In a release, Valley officials stated, “In addressing the incident regarding last Saturday July 1 and in an effort to provide a safe environment for officials, racers and teams … the entire street stock division will not be running the next official event as we are continuing to review videos and take statements from all sides.”

Congratulations to Otto Sitterly for his second win of the year in last weekend’s ISMA/MSS supermodified series race at Oswego. Sitterly picked up $6,000 for the win, which was his 47^th career victory on the asphalt at Oswego.

Also congratulations go out to Laurie Fallis, the director of the Mohawk Valley Vintage DIRT Modifieds. She’ll be inducted into the Northeast Modified Hall of Fame next Thursday in Weedsport in the “Women In Racing” category.