~ By Tom Boggie

I’m having a little bit of a dilemma today.

How do I describe the significance of Ron Proctor’s sportsman win at Albany-Saratoga Speedway last Friday night?

There are just so many twists and turns that I could take; if I started at the beginning and wound up at last Friday, I would have to write a novel. Even if I stick to the bare essentials, it’s hard to find a starting spot.

OK, here we go.

Proctor won his first modified race at Albany-Saratoga Speedway on May 24, 1985, so his victory last Friday gave him wins in five different decades (1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s and 2020s). As far as I can tell, only five other modified drivers have ever reached that milestone – Billy Pauch Sr., brothers Alan and Danny Johnson and Brett Hearn have all won races in six decades ((Danny snuck in by winning one race in 1979; Hearn got his sixth-decade win last season at Charlotte), and Ken Tremont Jr. is on the list with five.

Proctor celebrated his 69th birthday last Thursday (trust me, there were a lot of sweet treats in his hauler after the races on Friday), so he gave himself a pretty nice birthday present.

His victory last Friday was his first since 2011, when he won NASCAR Whelen Modified championships at both Albany-Saratoga and Devil’s Bowl, when both tracks had asphalt surfaces.

The firesuit he was wearing last Friday was one of the bonuses he received for winning the Vermont State Championship in 2011. Normally, he just wears a plain, old black firesuit. But the zipper on that one broke last week, and he had to resort to the championship suit as a backup. “And it still fit,” he said with a smile.

How does one sum up what Ron Proctor has accomplished in his career without delving into the whole Proctor Racing mystique, which started with his father George Sr. racing at places like Victoria Speedway, Pine Bowl and the old Fairmont Fairgrounds in Vermont in the 1960s? About the team’s low-budget, home-built race cars? About a family that loves to race, whether it’s cars or motorcycles? I can’t even name all of the Proctors who have raced and won; not just the brothers, but all the cousins, grandchildren and even great grandchildren (remember Isaac Walker, who won a limited sportsman feature at Glen Ridge Motorsports Park in 2019?). No matter how many things I mention, I’ll be leaving out dozens more.

There’s just so much.

Racing is in the family’s blood, and nothing is going to change it.

“I still like coming here,” said Ron last Friday. “I enjoy the whole atmosphere here. This is what we do on Friday nights, come here as a family to have fun.”

But really, Ron, 11 years between victories?

“You start to think about it sometimes,” he admitted. “If I had a Bicknell, I might say it was me. But with a car that hasn’t had much success here lately (he’s campaigning a 2019 TEO Pro car), we just keep making adjustments and try to make it better. We’re still doing all our own stuff, and it feels good when we have nights like this.”

Ron Proctor is one of those people who thinks of age as just a number, not an obstacle.

“I still feel good,” he said. “I had COVID in the winter and spent 20 days in the ICU. That wasn’t much fun, but I feel really good now.”

I would be remiss if I didn’t make mention of Proctor’s best two years at Devil’s Bowl, 2011 and 2012. During those two seasons, he finished every lap of every feature on the asphalt at Devil’s Bowl, and never finished lower then seventh. In 2011, he made eight starts, finishing with two wins, four seconds, a third and a fifth. The next season, when he won his second straight track championship, he added three more wins to his overall total, which now sits at 24.

In those days, he was using the number 27 on his modified, but for the 2019 season, he switched back to the “family” number of 52. And on Friday night, the 52 was back in victory lane, evoking a rush of Proctor Racing memories, from George Sr.’s big yellow Plymouth sedan that got the whole thing started, to Ron’s late cousin John’s No. 352 “Narrow Camaro,” to Crump’s Diesel Services on the quarterpanel of a Proctor race car, to the dedication of Ron’s longtime sponsors, Timco Transportation and Charlton Oil.

“There are a lot of people behind me,” Ron said in victory lane after his win. “So many people have helped me through the years. I just want to thank them all.”

MORE FROM MALTA

Proctor became the seventh different sportsman winner in eight events this season, and defending track champion Tim Hartman Jr. still isn’t on that winners’ list. But he has opened up a 57-point lead over Chris Johnson in the points race. He may be winless at Malta, but he did record his second win of the season at Lebanon Valley last Saturday.

Former sportsman champion Derrick McGrew Sr. returned to action last Friday, acting as a substitute driver for Darryl Nutting. McGrew, the sportsman champion in 2015, brought the car back in one piece, finishing 17th and completing all 25 laps of the feature.

Tommy D’Angelo, who had been competing in the limited sportsman division, moved up to the regular sportsman class last week.

Promoter Lyle DeVore should start giving Matt DeLorenzo a little more money every week for the show he puts on. During the second modified heat last week, he was sitting third on a restart, worked his way around Rich Ronca on the bottom and then swept to the top to catch Keith Flach. Then, in the Four States Enterprises Dash for Cash, he put on a show with Marc Johnson before walking off with the $200 bonus.

With his second place finish to Flach in last Friday’s NAPA Modified feature, DeLorenzo has opened up a 17-point lead over Demetrios Drellos, who continued his consistent runs with a fourth last Friday.

Flach used a second-row starting spot to record his first modified win, but he said later that he wants to be more consistent. “I think we’re getting a good program together,” he said. “We’ve had good speed lots of nights, but we can’t seem to put it all together. Hopefully, this will give us some momentum.”

Friday is the annual Fathers’ Day “Hoosier Your Daddy” celebration, with the modifieds running for $3,000 to win.

The Super DIRTcar Series will resume on Friday, June 24 at Albany-Saratoga. The feature will be 71 laps, paying $7,500 to win. I’m anxious to see how a Friday night date affects some of the series drivers, who compete at rival tracks on Friday nights. I do know that Stewart Friesen won’t be there, because he’ll be competing in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Nashville Speedway. Friesen wrecked at Sonoma last weekend and finished 31st.

AROUND THE TRACKS

Jimmy Davis, who has been one of my favorite drivers since his street stock days, shook off his slow start and picked up his first sportsman/modified win of the season in the Larry Gallipo-owned No. 24 last Saturday in one of the Twin 20s at Devil’s Bowl. Don Mattison won the second 20-lapper.

It looks like Brett Hearn is coming out of retirement, and he plans to make his first appearance of the season on Saturday, July 2, at the Bryan Goewey Memorial at Lebanon Valley. On a Facebook post, Hearn said, “I want you to know this is not just an appearance. If we go, it’s to compete with everything we have.”

Olden Dwyer recorded his first career big block win at the Valley last Saturday, while Chad Jeseo chalked up his fifth win of the season in the pro stock feature.

I’d like to extend my condolences to the Quinn family following the death of Carole Quinn on June 7. Carole was the mother of former modified drivers Matt and Mark Quinn, and also drove the pace car at the Valley for a lot of years.

Tommy Corellis, one of the most popular drivers in the history of Lebanon Valley, has confirmed he’ll be at the speedway for the 70th anniversary celebration on Saturday, June 25.