~ By Tom Boggie

You know what? It’s been a while since I opened with obscure music lyrics, so here goes.

Courtesy of Led Zeppelin, we start with “Good times, bad times, you know I’ve had my share.”
Yes, Tim Hartman Jr. I’m talking about you. (Don’t feel bad, Tim. I could also be talking about Marc Johnson, but I’ll get to that later.)

Since opening the 2023 season with two consecutive third-place finishes, nothing has gone right for the four-time sportsman champion at Albany-Saratoga Speedway. He hasn’t finished in the top-five since April 21, and in recent weeks, has been getting bounced around like a pinball.

Three weeks ago, Hartman Jr. made it as far as the first turn on the first lap of the second of two sportsman features, when he was involved in a 12-car chain reaction pileup. He took a hard hit from Jon Miller, rejoined the field after a red flag period and worked his way back to 9th, which really wasn’t much of an accomplishment, because only 11 cars took the checkered flag.

Two weeks ago, it looked like things might be looking up, because Hartman Jr. started 10th. But he quickly fell of the pace, the victim of a flat left rear tire. He went to the hot pit for a new tire and as the field was coming out of the third turn to take the green flag, Hartman Jr. came racing out of the pits, a half-a-track behind.

After going by starter Rich Peterson, Hartman Jr. went into the first turn and spun around, bringing out a caution. He claims he had an issue with his brakes. Regardless, the caution put him at the rear of the field, no longer a half-a-track behind.

Hartman Jr. gradually worked his way back forward, and even ran the last couple of laps with a left front flat, after clipping the inside Jersey barrier. My notes show he finished eighth.

But the official timing and scoring had Hartman Jr. 17th, one lap down.

Let’s move on. Last Friday, he lined up eighth for the first sportsman feature. But again, that first turn bit him. Hartman and Mike Ballestero made hard contact and Hartman bounced to the outside. He hit hard on the right side tires, the left side of the car began to lift up and just when the car got to the point of no return, it bounced back down on its wheels. Another trip to the rear, another battle through traffic and a sixth-place finish.

“I thought I was going over,” Hartman Jr. said after the race.

Although he’s still winless, Hartman Jr. is now fifth in the sportsman point standings, so I’m going to assume track officials changed that 17th-place finish to an eighth because he gained 62 points in one week.

Now, let’s move on to Marc Johnson. Johnson started third last Friday night, took the lead on lap five and led 20 laps before Ronnie Johnson moved out front for good on lap 25, forcing “The Dark Knight” to settle for second.

Marc Johnson, who treats finishing second like he’s getting a root canal, wasn’t pulling any punches after the race. “We’ve been struggling with this motor all year,” he said. “It just doesn’t go.

“All my engines run fine except this one. I put the pedal to the floor and it doesn’t go. I’ve never had that before with a big block.”

MORE FROM MALTA

After winning last Friday night’s modified feature at Albany-Saratoga, Ronnie Johnson picked up another win Saturday at Fonda, marking the first time in his career that he’s won at Albany-Saratoga and Fonda on back-to-back nights. For the record, his famous father, Jumpin’ Jack, pulled off the Friday-Saturday back-to-back deal 16 times during his career. Ronnie did pull off a Friday/Saturday double in 2010, winning at Accord on Friday and Fonda on Saturday.

Although Ronnie was perfect last Friday, winning his heat, the modified dash for cash and the feature, he knows he’s still got work to do.

“We’ve been good so far, but we’re not consistent,” he said after his Friday night win. “But to win two here by the first of June, it’s good to be back.”

Derrick McGrew Jr. made a long-awaited return to victory lane last Friday, chalking up the first sportsman win of his career. The last time he was in victory lane at Malta was Sept. 7, 2018, when he was running with the limited sportsman.

“It’s been a great start to the season,” McGrew Jr. said. “We’ve been super consistent and we’ve been working 24/7 to get this thing to victory lane.”

It’s been announced that McGrew Jr. will make the second ARCA Menards East Series start on his career in the Rise Motorsports Chevrolet on June 17 at Berlin Speedway outside of Grand Rapids, Mich. Berlin is a 7/16th-mile paved oval (it’s really a circle, looking at it from an aerial view) and has been hosting ARCA races since 1958. Some of the past ARCA winners at Berlin include Daniel Dye, Todd Gilliland, Grant Enfinger, Erik Jones and Chris Buescher.

McGrew Jr. should feel right at home at Berlin, which has a backstretch that resembles Albany-Saratoga. There is no backstretch wall and if a car gets out of shape, it can slide off into the grass and the nearby woods.

Albany-Saratoga has a busy week scheduled. Weather permitting, there will be a regular Friday night card, with the modifieds competing for a $3,000 payday, and the Super DIRTcar Series Summer Starter is scheduled for Tuesday. That 71-lap feature will pay $7,500 to win. The sportsman will also be in action on Tuesday.

AROUND THE TRACKS

Ray Sefrin had a packed house and packed pits for his DIRTcar 358 Modified Series race at Glen Ridge Motorsports Park last Sunday. Billy Dunn won the 50-lapper, which drew a field of 47 358 modifieds, with former Albany-Saratoga champion Mike Mahaney second.

I’m a little confused by some of Dunn’s comments in victory land and to DIRTcar officials after the race. In the DIRTcar press release, he said, “I’ve raced here a lot and gotten a few wins.” In another report, he was quoted as saying, “I raced here on an almost weekly basis about 15 years ago …”

In the last couple of days, I’ve been wading through my own notebooks, through results on the Glen Ridge web site and through other very credible sources. As far as I can tell, that win was Dunn’s first ever at Glen Ridge, and the only other time I can even find him running at the Ridge was for two weeks in 2011, when he finished fourth on April 22 and 16th on April 29. After that, he raced at his home track of Can-Am on Friday nights. He did show up for the Ridge’s opener on May 7 this year, but that event was rained out.

Here’s a blast from the past. Otto Sitterly notched his 46th career win at Oswego Speedway last Saturday by winning the ISMA Supermodified/Modified Midwest Series feature, which paid $6,000 to win. The 55-year-old Sitterly is a nine-time champion at Oswego and is one of the few drivers with 50 career victories combining Oswego, ISMA and MSS wins. I was one of a handful of people who were at Albany-Saratoga Speedway when Sitterly brought in his supermodified for some testing on the asphalt surface, and I’ll tell you, that thing was flying.

Stewart Friesen put himself back into the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship race with a third-place finish at World Wide Technology Raceway outside of St. Louis last Saturday. He also picked up his first stage win of the season.

Brett Haas won last Saturday’s JC Flach Memorial at Lebanon Valley, with Marc Johnson second and Andy Bachetti third.

Albany-Saratoga regular Michael Wagner Fitzgerald came away with his first career sportsman/modified win at Devil’s Bowl last Saturday in the caution-free 30-lap feature. As far as I can tell, that was Wagner Fitzgerald’s first win at the Bowl since July 15, 2018, when he was racing a limited sportsman.

From one old geezer to another, Happy Birthday, Ron Proctor. He turns 70 on Friday.