~ By Tom Boggie

Time flies, whether you’re having fun or not.

I thought about that the other day when I started doing some background on Jessey Mueller, who chalked up his first modified win of the season last Friday night at Albany-Saratoga Speedway.

I was shocked when I realized that Mueller is only 28 years old. Come on, that can’t be true. It seems like I’ve been writing about Mueller forever.

Maybe that’s because I have been, ever since Mueller won his first modified feature on the asphalt at Devil’s Bowl on July 24, 2011, as a 16-year-old rookie; ever since he pulled off one of the biggest upsets ever when he won the C.J. Richards Memorial at the Bowl in 2014 to cap off a wild night in which he blew his motor during his heat race, bought another motor from a fellow competitor and dropped it into his car and was ready to roll by feature time; ever since he decided to switch from asphalt to dirt in 2015, and learned the hard way that racing on dirt was a whole different experience.

But there was Mueller, back in victory lane last Friday night, wearing that ear-to-ear smile that always accompanies a “Mueller Time” victory. Life has changed a lot in the last few years for Mueller. Racing is no longer his No. 1 priority. He operates two businesses, and is a husband and a father. But he still lights up like a Christmas tree when he wins a race.

“It’s good to be back here (in victory lane),” he said after the win. “We’ve had a lot of tough luck this year. I’ve been in the wrong spot at the wrong time and got caught up in a couple of wrecks, I had a couple of bad draws and even when I drove to the front, that hurt me because of the handicapping. The car has been good all year, and I’m glad we finally got a chance to show it.”

Mueller has always been known for show-stopping banzai moves, but he didn’t need any of that last Friday. Because he only had one top-five finish in the first five weeks of the season, he started on the outside of the front row and led all 35 laps. But things began to get a little dicey in the latter stages of the 35-lap feature.

“I saw the oil pressure dropping and the temperature rising and I got nervous,” he said. “I started backing off a little bit and prayed to God that it would make it to the end.”

It did, and Mueller now has seven career wins at Malta.

Since switching to dirt for the 2015 season, wins have been hard to come by for Mueller. For the first couple of seasons, he was competing at Albany-Saratoga on Friday and Fonda on Saturday. During his first full season on dirt, Mueller ran a 46-race schedule and only had two top-five finishes all season., and a couple of seasons later, switched his Saturday night venue to Airborne Park in Plattsburgh. He recorded his first modified win at Albany-Saratoga in 2018, as part of a five-win season. That victory ended a winless drought that began on Sept. 14, 2014, after he won one half of Twin 50 features on the asphalt at the Bowl.

Now, he just concentrates on Albany-Saratoga.

“Life changed, I’ve changed,” he said. “I still want to win every time I come to the track, but I’m running two businesses and have a family and now we do this for fun. We come here as a family every week and enjoy the time together.”

Mueller also gave a lot of credit for his win to his father-in-law, Baron Davis. “He’s the one who’s in the garage all week and does all the work on the car.”

But when I talked to Davis, who is a heavy equipment operator, he brushed aside the praise. “I just turn the wrenches,” he said with a smile.

MORE FROM MALTA

Speaking of bad luck, how about the run that defending sportsman champion Tim Hartman Jr. is mired in. Two weeks ago, he got caught up on a first-lap wreck, and mangled the race car but still came back with a top-10 finish.

Last Friday, he started 10th in the first sportsman feature, but suffered a flat tire early in the race and had to go to the pits. He came back out but only finished 17th, which dropped him into a tie for eighth place in the current point standings.

Hartman Jr. has been much better at Lebanon Valley, picking up back-to-back wins on Saturday and Monday nights last week. In four starts at the Valley, he has three wins and a second.

Kim Duell is on top of the all-time pro stock win list once again after picking up the 28th victory of his career last Friday night. He now shares the top spot with Rob Yetman. And how about that pro stock feature last Friday? Duell had a winning margin of 0.019 seconds over Kyle Hoard, and the top four cars were separated by a total of .241 seconds.

A black cloud has also been hanging over Neil Stratton at Albany-Saratoga. Two weeks ago, a flat tire ended what looked like a sure top-five finish, and last Friday, he had to pull out of the feature with motor problems while he was battling for a top-five position.

Keep on eye on Chase Zimmer, who posted his first career limited sportsman victory at Albany-Saratoga last week. This is Zimmer’s first season in a limited sportsman after moving up from slingshots. He won the Junior Slingshot World Championship in 2021, and was still in that division last year, competing mostly at Hamlin Speedway in Pennsylvania. Long-time Albany-Saratoga fans will remember Zimmer’s father, Pat, a former Accord pro stock champion who won a 50-lap pro stock open at Albany-Saratoga in 2005.

So far this season, there have been 12 different winners in 12 features in the sportsman division. Dylan Madsen and Pat Jones added their names to the list last week.

Albany-Saratoga will be hosting the Empire Super Sprints for the first time this season on Friday night. Fans should also mark their calendars for June 13, when the Super DIRTcar Series comes to Malta for the 71-lap Summer Starter.

AROUND THE TRACKS

Matt Sheppard added $13,500 to his bank account by winning Monday night’s King of Spring Super DIRTcar Series race at Lebanon Valley. Sheppard drew the pole and led all 100 laps, while Mike Mahaney started on the outside pole, and finished second.

Marc Johnson switched back to last year’s chassis and won the big block modified feature at the Valley on Saturday for his first win of 2023. He said after the race that the 2023 chassis that the Kevin Starchak-owned team has just wasn’t working the way he wanted. Johnson then came back and finished fourth in the King of Spring race.

Ageless wonder Floyd Billington, who is a regular in the sportsman division at Albany-Saratoga on Friday nights, finished second in the SCONE (Sprint Cars of New England) feature Sunday night at Devil’s Bowl. That race was run in conjunction with the Northeast Crate Nationals. Cody McPherson made a six-and-a-half-hour drive from St. Catherine’s, Ont., and wound up taking home the top prize of $5,000.