All About Racing

Lebanon Valley Pro Stock champion, Zach Sorrentino of Lee, Mass., poses with his dad, Pete and daughter, Addilyn at the second annual Lebanon Valley Race Car Shoe this past weekend. Biittig photo

By Ed & Betty Biittig

With the weather becoming unpredictable we knew it was time for the racing season to begin and time for us to come back to give you the racing news that is popping up all around the Capital District.

Lance and Jill Sharpe did it again this year, with a much bigger turn out for the Lebanon Valley’s race car show at Colonie Center this past weekend. There were more cars this year and much more entertainment and raffle giveaways for those in attendance. The race cars filled the mall.

The next car show scheduled for our area is the annual Fonda Speedway Racecar Show on Friday-Sunday March 21-23 at the ViaPort Rotterdam. The show takes place during mall hours.

For the first time ever, Utica-Rome Speedway will hold a Racecar Show at Sangertown Square Mall in New Hartford, NY. The show is set for Friday-Sunday March 28-30. Jamie Page is overseeing registration of both shows via e-mail at jpage15@stny.rr.com.

Tidbits from the off season:

Fonda Speedway 2024 Modified Track Champion became the first Pennsylvania driver to win the DIRTcar Nationals Big Gator at Volusia Speedway in February at the Florida track during SpeedWeeks. On the same night, Erick Rudolph of Ransomville, NY broke his 11-year drought at the DIRTcar Nationals with a win on the final night of the competition. Rudolph will also follow the SDS this season for a shot at the title.

After two seasons with the SDS, Canadian, Flex Roy wants to improve so he’s decided to come south every Friday night to race at the Great Race Place, Albany-Saratoga Speedway. For the past three season Roy has raced the 358-Mods at Autodrome Granby. The move is to afford Roy more seat time in a big block Modified.

Briefly spoke with Alton Palmer at the Lebanon Valley show and the Palmer race team plans for 2025 looks to include three drivers, JaMike Sowle at Fonda, Chip Constantino in the 358 Mod Series at Fonda and Billy Pauch, Jr., at Orange County at few times and Albany-Saratoga.

We spoke with Demetrios Drellos on Monday after we saw on Facebook that he had picked up a new Rocket xr1.2 Super Late Model from Ed Carley Motorsports in Freedom, NY and he said his plans this season include racing Friday night at Albany-Saratoga in his Modified and he run the Late Model whenever his schedule allows.

Racing Around the Region:

This weekend, March 14 & 15, the Modified racing season will begin for the Northeast at Port Royal Speedway in Pennsylvania with the Short Track Super Series (STSS) at the Speed Showcase. It will be the opening round of the South Region for Modifieds with a 60-lap event paying $12,000 to win, $4500 for fifth, $2000 for tenth and $1000 to take the green. The Sportsman will also be on the card with a 40-lap paying $4000 to the winner. Pro Stocks will also compete in a 25-lap race for $1250 to win.

On Saturday, March 29, the Super DIRTcar Series (SDS) will kick off their season with they return to New Egypt Speedway in New Jersy for a 75-lap event paying $7500. For many years the SDS tour was on the New Jersey track from 1998-2014 before a hiatus until last season when it returned to start their season.

As we close, we remind our readers that the STSS event at Port Royal will be streamed on FloRacing and the SDS at New Egypt will stream on DIRTVision.

Until next week send all news and/or comments to biittig@yahoo.com