Three Selected For NE Dirt Modified Hall Of Fame
Three Selected For NE Dirt Modified Hall Of Fame
Story By: DIRTcar Northeast Hall of Fame
Photos By: Dave Dalesandro/RacersGuide.com
WEEDSPORT, N.Y. — Longtime DIRTcar luminary and Lebanon Valley Speedway legend Ken Tremont Jr., consummate Western region champion Brian Swartzlander and pioneer driver and car builder Bob Rossell will be inducted into the Northeast Dirt Modified Hall of Fame in July.
These three driving greats add their names to a stellar list of modified standouts that was started in 1992 when the Hall of Fame was established on the Cayuga County Fairgrounds.
The 27th annual induction ceremonies honoring the class of 2018 will take place Thursday, July 26 at 7 p.m. in the Northeast Dirt Modified Hall of Fame and Museum.
The Tremont legacy began close to 60 years ago with the father, Ken Sr., fielding race cars for Chuck Ely and other Capital District drivers. Young Ken had to wait until he graduated high school before he was given a crack at the controls of his dad’s potent No. 115 racers.
Since 1982, Ken Jr. has won features at 20 tracks in New York, Vermont, Florida, New Hampshire and two Canadian provinces. He has 13 modified and four small-block championships at Lebanon Valley, where he is the winningest mod driver in the track’s history. Add in 13 point titles at Albany-Saratoga Speedway (one when the track was paved), eight at Devil’s Bowl, and one each at Rolling Wheels, Utica-Rome, Weedsport and Glen Ridge and the final number is 42, not counting the Mr. DIRT 358 series title in 1998 and two overall CVRA championships.
The Swartzlander name is synonymous with racing in the Westernmost reaches of big-block modified country. Watching his grandfather Neal, father Melvin and Uncle Dick stack the bricks of success to form the area’s racing foundation, “Flyin’ Brian” has cemented his own cornerstone onto the family reputation.
At the age of 58, Swartzlander has nailed down 170 feature wins at 14 tracks in Pennsylvania, Eastern Ohio and West Virginia. He is a seven-time track champion at Lernerville Speedway, where he stands atop the all-time big-block modified win list. In addition, Brian holds four point titles at Tri-City, a pair at Sportsman Speedway, and was track champion at Marion Center in 1992 and Sharon Speedway in 2006.
New Jersey native Bob Rossell began his stock car driving career in the late 1950s at Ft. Dix Speedway (now New Egypt), but was soon barnstorming up and down the Eastern seaboard, tagging along with the infamous “Eastern Bandits” — Ed Flemke, Dennis Zimmerman, Rene Charland, Red Foote and the like.
Rossell held his own with that take-no-prisoners posse, most notably winning the 200-lap Battle of Bull Run at Old Dominion in 1963. In addition to driving, Rossell was a sought-after builder and fabricator, constructing topflight cars for Will Cagle, Joe Leto and Ken Brenn, to name a few. Cagle ran Rossell cars almost exclusively from 1965-’72, arguably some of his best years racing in the Northeast. The dominant Leto No. 50, built by Rossell, was driven to two Lebanon Valley championships by Tommy Corellis.
The 2018 Gene DeWitt Car Owner Award goes to Ray Bramall.
Car builder Maynard Troyer is the recipient of this year’s Mechanic/Engineering Award.
Longtime DIRTcar official Gary Spaid will receive the Leonard J. Sammons Jr. Award for Outstanding Contributions to Auto Racing.
Journalists Don and Jo Ann Davies will be the recipients of the Andrew S. Fusco Award for Media Excellence in memory of Hall of Fame board member and legal counsel Andy Fusco, who passed away in 2015.
Linda Cosco, owner and promoter of Ontario’s Humberstone Speedway, will be honored with the Outstanding Woman in Racing Award.
