~ By Tom Boggie

If at first you don’t succeed, keep digging.

At first, I was going to give Brian Gleason an oh-fer. After Gleason’s second-place finish in last Friday night’s NAPA Modified feature at Albany-Saratoga Speedway, I began to wonder if Gleason had ever won a race.

I knew that his runner-up performance last week matched his best modified finish ever at Albany-Saratoga (he had finished second to Ken Tremont Jr. on “Stan Da Man Night” in 2018). But he’s also been a regular at other tracks from time to time, and I was sure I could remember him winning a race.

But when I consulted the nemodfacts.com web site, which tracks such things, they have the 28-year-old Gleason as 0-for-235 in his modified career, which dates back to 2013.

Maybe he had won at Glen Ridge? Nope. Then it began to bug me. Was I really going to write that Gleason had never won a race?

Out came the spiral notebooks, and digging I went. And finally, I found it. On July 27, 2012, Gleason, driving a TEO Pro car, held off Jeremy Pitts to win the 25-lap Albany-Saratoga/Lebanon Valley Budget Sportsman Challenge at Malta. That was one of four top-five finishes that year for Gleason, who had graduated from high school a month earlier.

“We needed this, big time,” said Gleason in victory lane after the race. “I knew Pitts was catching me because of the lapped traffic and it meant racing side-by-side with the lapped traffic to hold my position.”

Gleason started racing in the modified division at Albany-Saratoga in 2013, and recorded five top-10 finishes that year, with his best finish being a third in one of the Triple 20s held on Aug. 23. He ran full time at Malta from 2012-2018 before switching his Friday night home in 2019.

He looked good last Friday, battling with Jessey Mueller for the win. But the lapped car of Bill August broke Gleason’s momentum with two to go, and he had to settle for second.

“This is the best the car has been in a night race,” said Gleason, explaining that his second to Tremont in 2018 had come earlier in the evening, as the first of twin features. “It feels good to run that well.”

Despite his success last Friday, Gleason isn’t committed to running a full schedule at Albany-Saratoga.

“It’s going to be hit and miss,” he said. “We want to keep our options open.”

IT’S MUELLER TIME

After holding off Gleason to record his sixth career win at Malta last week, Mueller was his usual exuberant self in victory lane, posing for pictures, shaking hands and doling out praise.

Two of the people on his list were Brandon and Dale Planck of Dig Race Products.

“I wouldn’t be here tonight if it wasn’t for them,” said Mueller. “They’ve given me a lot of help getting the right setup with these shocks.”

And finding the right setup was all Mueller needed.

“It all comes down to having a good car,” he said. “When the car is right, I can run like this and put on a show.”

Mueller, who turned 27 in January, was one of the hottest things in racing 10 years ago, winning his first feature on the asphalt at Devil’s Bowl in 2011.

Back then, Mueller was all about racing. Now, he’s all about family.
“Things have changed in my life,” he said after his win. “I’ve got a family now, and I’m running two businesses. The car is not my top priority anymore. We come here on Friday night as a family, to have fun.”

Ironically, two members of his usual Friday night entourage weren’t on hand to see the win.

“My parents are watching from Florida,” he said in an interview on the track after the win. “This is for them.”

NICE GESTURE

Veteran pro stock driver Kim Duell put up a $500 bonus for the winner of last Friday’s pro stock feature. But Duell, who campaigns a Twister chassis of his own design, picked up his first win of the season. Rather than keep his own money, he split the $500 equally between the second and sixth-place finishers.

The win was Duell’s 26th career pro stock victory, which pulls him into a tie for second place on the all-time win list with “Hollywood” Joe Santoro. Rob Yetman moved ahead of Santoro with two consecutive wins to begin the 2022 season, but it looks like Duell wants to take that top spot away from Yetman.

MALTA NOTES

Last Friday night was not a good night for drivers seeking back-to-back wins.

In the sportsman division, Scott Duell, who picked up the win on April 22, didn’t qualify for the feature. Taylor Wason was involved in a big wreck with Drew Cormie, Scott Bennett and Jim Van Zandt on lap 11 in the limited sportsman feature and Yetman was involved in an early wreck in the pro stock feature. He did come back to finish third, despite a lot of body damage.

Mike Arnold didn’t waste any time getting his first limited sportsman victory. Arnold, who won two features in the street stock division last year, only needed three races to put his name on the limited sportsman winners’ list.

“This is amazing,” he said after his win in the Roberts Towing and Recovery-sponsored DKM chassis. “I didn’t think it would come this soon.”

Arnold got an assist from Steve Burch. Arnold’s car didn’t refire after the feature was red-flagged for the big wreck, and was waiting for a push truck, but Burch rolled up behind him and gave Arnold a shove to get him rolling again.

Tremont’s bad luck continued, as he lost a wheel on lap three of the modified feature, putting him 27th in the official order of finish. In three starts, he’s finished 13th, 12th and 27th.

AROUND THE TRACKS

Ray Hall Jr. was involved in a freak accident at Lebanon Valley last Saturday and is out of commission for a while. During warmups, the driveshaft in Hall’s sportsman exploded and went through the transmission cover, breaking Hall’s leg. He had surgery on Sunday.

Published reports this week said that Brett Hearn is no longer the Director of Motorsports at Orange County. Does that mean he’ll get back behind the wheel?

Airborne Speedway in Plattsburgh opened its season last Saturday, but had to postpone the modified feature “due to poor visibility with dry track conditions.” Translation: too dusty. The DIRTcar 358s will be running at Airborne this Saturday, and one of the drivers who will be in attendance is 2020 Albany-Saratoga modified champion Mike Mahaney. Mahaney will be handing out gift bags to any spectators who travel over 100 miles to attend Saturday’s race.

The Super DIRTcar Series ran at Bridgeport Tuesday night, with Ryan Godown winning the top prize of $7,500 in the 75-lap feature. That was his first career SDS victory. He was followed by Stewart Friesen, Billy Pauch Jr., Mat Williamson and Mike McLaughlin. The Albany-Saratoga regulars on hand were Peter Britten (seventh), Jack Lehner (11th), Anthony Perrego (13th), Marc Johnson (14th), Mahaney (20th) and Adam Pierson (21st).

Glen Ridge Motorsports Park kicked off its season last Sunday, with Brian Calabrese winning the sportsman feature.

Andy Bachetti showed he’s going to be the man to beat at the Valley this year, recording his second straight big block victory last Saturday. The only caution of the 30-lap feature came with one lap to go, and Bachetti rocketed from third to the lead, passing Kolby Schroeder and Tremont, to get the win.

Ronnie Johnson won’t be at Albany-Saratoga Friday night. Instead, he’ll be at Darlington for the NASCAR Truck Series race as a guest of Stewart Friesen. Friesen’s HFR Racing truck will be sporting a throwback Day-Glo orange paint scheme as a tribute to Jack Johnson during Darlington’s throwback weekend.