~ By Tom Boggie

If you’ve come here for some wit, wisdom and wise-crackin’, you’ve come to the wrong place. The cupboard is getting pretty bare. Albany-Saratoga Speedway rained out last weekend, throwing a wet blanket over Autism Awareness Night, and there’s no racing Friday because of the Rocktoga music festival (doesn’t it figure; the forecast is for a nice, sunny Friday), so that well is pretty much dried up. There’s a big race at that track in Montgomery County this weekend, but we all know how Albany-Saratoga promoter Lyle DeVore feels about hyping anything up in that neck of the woods, so that’s out.

So we’re going to pull out the old Joe Friday line. For those who don’t know who Joe Friday is, he was a no-nonsense detective on the television series “Dragnet,” which aired in the late 1960s. When female witnesses he was interviewing started to get off track, he would say. “Just the facts, ma’am.”

So that’s where we’re headed today; just the facts. No wit, wisdom or wise-crackin’. If you want to be excused and go binge on “Temptation Island” or something, be my guest.

Because I haven’t heard anything to the contrary, I’m assuming that last Friday night’s rainout at Albany-Saratoga brought the points seasons for limited sportsman, street stocks and four-cylinders to an end. That would mean Dylan Grogan, Jimmy Duncan, Kyle Lanfear and David Frame have been added to the list of 2023 track champions.

Grogan finished with a 36-point advantage over rookie Connor Crane, who led the division with four wins. Grogan’s only win of the season came on April 21, but he had 12 other top-five finishes, including five second-place runs.

Duncan beat Jeff Meltz Sr., the 2020 champion, by 10 points in the tight street stock race. Both drivers had one win during the season; Duncan sat in victory lane on May 19, while Meltz Sr.’s only win came on April 21.

The point races in the four-cylinder divisions were really no contest. Lanfear finished with a 54-point lead over Daniel Joubert in the single-cam group, and Frame finished over 100 points ahead of Olivia Swinton in the dual-cam division. Lanfear had seven wins, including a string of six in a row, while Frame had four victories.

Although Lanfear won the Albany-Saratoga single-cam title, Joubert was named one of the 2023 DIRTcar Hoosier Racing Tires Weekly Series winners this week.

How you doin’ out there? Getting bored yet?

Three of the other DIRTcar Hoosier Racing Tires Weekly Series winners were also Albany-Saratoga regulars. Marc Johnson was the big block modified winner, Andrew Buff was the sportsman champion and Luke Horning won the pro stock crown.

Johnson trailed Peter Britten by 10 points going into racing on Sept. 1, which was the last night for points. Johnson came away with his first win of the season, while Britten was a no-show, still recovering from surgery to his injured hand. Johnson later told a member of the DIRTcar media staff, “I still know how to drive a race car. My guys still know how to work on cars. We were just spread a little thin this year.”

Buff, who won his first sportsman title at Albany-Saratoga this season, had 34 top-five finishes in 42 DIRTcar starts this year, including nine wins. Horning’s 10 wins included a string of six in a row to close out his season at Glen Ridge Motorsports Park.

Lebanon Valley Speedway completed its season last Saturday, with 2023 big block champion Andy Bachetti winning the small block modified finale. Bachetti came within six points of sweeping both divisions. LJ Lombardo finished second last Saturday to win the small block championship. Tim Hartman Jr. finished his outstanding season on the high banks with a second, to Whitey Slavin, in the sportsman feature. Hartman Jr. won his second straight championship, racking up six victories and six runner-up finishes. He never finished out of the top 10 in 15 starts.

Vince Quenneville Jr. won last weekend’s sportsman/modified feature at Devil’s Bowl, while “Fast” Freddie Little won the limited sportsman feature. That was Little’s first win at the Bowl since August 2009, when he was running a pro stock. Quenneville’s win was his 38^th career victory at the Bowl.

Hey, Lyle! Are you sure you don’t want me to put in something about that track in Montgomery County? This is getting pretty dry!

When I was taking to Ken Tremont Jr. at Albany-Saratoga a couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that it had to be frustrating just trying to get into the top five every week at Albany-Saratoga.

“Top five?” he groaned. “I’m having trouble getting to the top 10.”

Which leads us into a little preview of Malta Massive Weekend on Sept. 22-23. We all know that’s going to be Tremont’s final curtain, so to speak. One last bow, and off he goes. Did you know that Tremont has won 35 features that covered 100 laps or longer during his career? That includes four wins in 200-lap races. Tremont points to his 1999 victory in the Eckerd 300 (which was actually a 188-lap race) at Syracuse during Super DIRT Week in 1999 as his crowning achievement, but I’ll tell you, I was more impressed when he became the first Lebanon Valley regular to win the Fonda 200 in 2000.

Tremont’s last win in a 100-lapper at Albany-Saratoga came in the CVRA.com 100 in 2007.

Because of last weekend’s rainout, Autism Awareness Night has been added to the packed Friday night schedule at Albany-Saratoga for Sept. 22. That card now includes the $10,000 to win pro stock feature, as well as DIRTcar 358s, the DIRTcar Sportsman Championship Series, street stocks and four-cylinders. Flagger Rich Peterson is going to have a sore right arm on Saturday morning.

OK, that’s enough torture for one day. I doubt that even Dan Martin has made it this far.