The Great Race Place Finished Golden Anniversary Season With Annual Awards Banquet
Story By:Toby LaGrange/Albany Saratoga Speedway Photos By:Mark Brown/Kustomkeepsakes Photo
SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY – The Albany-Saratoga Speedway closed the curtain on their 50th season of racing Saturday night with the annual Awards Banquet. The event was held at the Saratoga/Wilton Elks Lodge in Saratoga Springs and was catered by Waterford Banquets. Well over 300 drivers, crews, fans and officials attended the night’s activities.
Track Promoter Lyle DeVore kicked off the festivities by addressing the large crowd. DeVore started by offering a special thanks and then looked back at the 2015 season at the Great Race Place.
“Racing is a difficult game,” DeVore said. “Whether it is from your standpoint or our standpoint it is hard to get through an entire season. I want to thank Marcy and Mia, they live with me, and they deal with me with two race tracks. They are brainstorming through the night, they are working on different kids promotions throughout the season, and they have great ideas. These two are part of the driving force for me in executing what we do each and every Friday night.”
DeVore would continue, “The 2015 season was Albany-Saratoga Speedways 50th year. We tried a lot of different promotions and brought in a lot of drivers. The 2015 season was a good one. I truly appreciate the opportunity to be a part of the gang every Friday night.”
As his speech closed Devore spoke about the upcoming 2016 season at the Great Race Place. “We are moving full steam ahead in 2016. We have new billboards on the backstretch, new hospitality suits, some more paving and more. We will start with a warm up session on April 17th with gates opening at 9:00 am so we can get everyone inspected. We will open the next Friday night. If the weather doesn’t cooperate we will run on that Sunday at 4:00 pm. We do not want to miss a week.”
The top ten in each of the four weekly divisions were honored at the banquet and called to the stage by track announcers Danny Martin and Mike Warren.
In the Upstate GMC Dealers DIRTcar Modified division Kenny Tremont, Jr. picked up his record 13th track championship. The Sand Lake Slingshot did so with six feature wins, 16 top five finishes and 18 top ten’s.
“It (lucky number 13) was the day that I was born on, I think it is a great number,” Tremont said. I really appreciate being able to win this championship. I want to say a special thank you to my father (Ken Tremont, Sr.). He is 77 y ears old and still does the motors for us. He impresses me and has more drive than anyone I know. We have a really good, rock solid team and hopefully next tear will be just as good.”
Finishing in positions two through ten were Brett Hearn, Marc Johnson, Peter Britten, Ronnie Johnson, Keith Flach, Matt Delorenzo, Mark Kislowski, Elmo Reckner and Neil Stratton. Matt DePew finished 11th in points and won the divisions Most Memorable Moment Award. Asphalt turned DIRTcar Modified driver Jesse Mueller was awarded the Rookie of the Year award.
Derrick McGrew claimed his first Sportsman division track title. McGrew piloted the Parillo Services car to two feature wins, six top five finishes and 16 top ten’s.
“I want to thank everyone who has helped me get to this point,” McGrew said. “Hopefully we can do it again one day. Over the years we have gotten a lot of wins and matured. We used some of that wisdom we have learned and put some wins together and won the championship.”
Finishing in positions two through ten were Rocky Warner, Jeremy Pitts, Hunter Bates, Tim Hartman, Jr., Jon Miller, Robert Bublak, Connor Cleveland, Nick Anatriello and Joey Scarborough. McGrew also won the Memorable Moments Award.
Another first time champion at the track brought home the big hardware. Kenny Martin won the 2015 DIRTcar Pro Stock title at the Great Race Place. Martin did so on the heels of three feature wins, ten top five finishes and 16 top ten’s.
“I appreciate everyone who has helped us out, to get me up here today,” Martin said. I couldn’t do it without my crew.” Martin also thanked his family, friends and dedicated sponsors.
Completing the top ten in the final standings were Byron Wescott, Brandon Emigh, Kim Duell, Robbie Speed, Daniel Sanchez, Dan Older, Sr., Bernie Companion, Dave DePaulo and Chuck Dumblewski. Speed won the Most Memorable Moments Award.
After years of trying, the Wheelman Randy Miller won his first career Street Stock division track title. Miller visited victory lane 11 times during the season and finished in the top five 13 times.
“It’s a real honor to receive the championship trophy,” Miller said. “I need to thank my sponsors and everyone who helps me out. I want to thank my dad because without him I couldn’t do this.”
Finishing behind Miller were Bill Duprey, Josh Coonradt, Hunter Sanchez, Frank Monroe, Damon Anderson, Nathan Dahoda, Fred Harris, Matt Mosher and Jon Hayes. Anderson won the Most Memorable Moments Award.
The track champions in the Greg’s Towing and Repair Four Cylinder divisions were honored. Taking top honors were Steve Ryan (Dual Cam) and Mike Parodi (Single Cam). While points are not kept in the Limited Sportsman division, three drivers earned the maximum three feature wins and made the move up to the regular Sportsman division. Those three drivers – Andrew Buff, Mike Coffey and Chris Ronca all earned the Outstanding Performance Award. Ronca was also awarded with the Most Memorable Moments Award.
Each season the Albany-Saratoga Speedway awards one person with the Spirit Award. This award goes to someone who makes a difference at the track each week. This year’s award was given to Dan Archer. Archer is a track employee who started working at the facility back in the 1980’s and continues to do just about everything today. The previous two winners of the award were Colin Bokus and Shannon Donnelly.
The 2016 season schedule was also released at the banquet. A detailed release about the schedule will be forthcoming in the next few weeks. As stated earlier the season will open with warm ups on April 17th followed by the season opener a week later. Numerous special events dot the calendar including the return of Ron Mensing’s Featherfoot Warrior Series for the Sportsman division. This season it will be a series again with a point fund.
The Lucas Oil Empire Super Sprints and Patriot Sprint Tour each make stops at the track in 2016 as well as the CRSA RaceSaver Sprints and Electric City Riders. Brett Hearn’s Big Show number eight will be presented on June 28th, again apart of the Super DIRTcar Series for Big Block Modifieds. The season will come to a close on September 24th with an event for the Electric City Riders.
For more information about Albany-Saratoga Speedway including the final point standings please log on to www.albany-saratogaspeedway.com.
