Auto Racing News

By Tom Couglin

Starting off the New Year, Indoor racing will be taking place at the PPL Center in Allentown, Pennsylvania tonight and Saturday, January 3 & 4. Midget and T.Q. (three quarter) midget racing will take place both nights. Friday's events start at 7:30 pm. and Saturday at 7:00 pm. The TQ midgets will compete in a 30-lap A-main on Friday and a 40-lap A-main on Saturday. Slingshots and Champ Karts will also participate on both nights. For tickets, hotels, and racer information go to www.indoorautoracing.com. Brett Putnam is one of a number of local drivers that will be heading down to Allentown to compete.

Utica-Rome Speedway was scheduled to hold their 100-lap Enduro on New Year's Day. However, I do not have any results at this time.

Saturday, January 25-The Ranch at Carlisle located at 442 Lykers Road, Central Bridge will present AMA NYS Ice Racing Championship motorcycle racing. Up to 22 classes of racing will take place, providing there are at least 5 riders per class. There is bleacher seating available, heating stations and concessions with hot food and drinks.

Sunday, January 26 at the same location there will be the NYS Snow Drags Championships. For more information call 845-554-8717.

2024 Fonda Speedway modified track champion Kid Rocket/ Alex Yankowski was racing down at the Millbridge Speedway in Salisbury, North Carolina on December 21. The young gun from Pennsylvania scored the win driving a non-wing midget.

Continuing with news about Yankowski, Ferris Commercial Mowers in partnership with Keith Kunz Motorsports (KKM) will support Yankowski in his debut at the Chili Bowl Nationals in Tulsa, Oklahoma January 12 through January 18. The Chili Bowl is one of the most prestigious and challenging races in the world, attracting drivers from around the globe to compete.

Currently in Oklahoma the 40th. annual Tulsa Shootout is taking place. This is a prelude to the Chili Bowl. Racing began on Tuesday, December 31 with practice for the six divisions competing. That evening there were 28 heat races for the WFO Outlaw Micro division were held. Racing will continue through Saturday, January 4. As of Tuesday evening, there were officially 1,885 entries, which surpasses the record set in 2024 of 1752 entries. Modified driver Anthony Perrego is out there competing with others such as NASCAR Cup Series driver Kyle Larson. Perrego will compete in the Non-wing Outlaw and Stock Non-wing divisions. Qualifying heat races will continue through Saturday morning when B-mains will take place. A-mains will take place on Saturday evening when everyone anticipates the chance of winning The Driller award.

Fonda Speedway and Utica-Rome Speedway have given racers notice that there will be a total of six 358 modified division races held between the two tracks. Fonda will schedule two events and Utica-Rome will have four events on their tentative schedule. Plans are to conduct these races on dates that are non-conflicting with other area tracks.

The events will be run under the rules package in line with Can-Am Motorsports in LaFargeville,N.Y., with DIRTcar 358, W-16 and the CT 525 engines eligible to compete. Glen Ridge Motorsports Park currently runs this division weekly on Sunday’s. With U-R racing on Friday and Fonda on Saturday hopefully this will turn into a positive experiment.

Mark your calendar on March 8, 2025, for the next Elmo’s Speed & Supply Racing Seminar. More information will be released shortly.

Another tease of the Fonda Schedule has the annual Bill Ag Memorial Modified Elimination Race taking place on Saturday, June 28. For those of you that would like to renew your sponsorship of this entertaining match race or become a first-time sponsor. Please contact the Bill Ag Memorial Modified Elimination Race Facebook page or Shelly Shaffer.

The Empire Super Sprints (E.S.S.) have released their 2025 schedule. There are 34 events on the schedule, with the Saturday, July 26 location to be announced at a later date. During the 42nd. year of the E.S.S. tour there will be four races of the 360-winged sprint cars within our general area. First up will be Thursday, July 3rd. at the Utica-Rome Speedway as part of the Central New York Speedweek. The next E.S.S. event in our area will be on Friday, July 18 at the Albany-Saratoga Speedway, Then the Earl Halaquist Memorial will take place on Saturday, July 19 at the Track of Champions/ Fonda Speedway, and then return back to Utica-Rome for Labor Day weekend on Sunday, August 31st.

Happy New Year.