Dave Lape Tribute Night On Tap this Saturday at Fonda
Story By: RON SZCZERBA / FONDA SPEEDWAY MEDIA Photos By: RACERSGUIDE.COM PHOTO STAFF
FONDA, NY- June 24, 2016- This Saturday, June 25 at the “Track of Champions” Fonda Speedway a tribute to legendary modified pilot Dave Lape is on the racing program with all divisions in action along with the Vintage race cars with a start time of 7:30 p.m. Police K-9’s will also be a part of the racing program on Saturday as well.
Lape’s record at Fonda speaks for itself, 99-career feature wins placing him third on the all-time win list along with a total of seven track championships coming in 1983, 1986, 1987, 1991, 1992, 2003, and 2004. On Saturday evening, Lape’s racing career will be celebrated with friends and family in the Fonda Speedway museum where one of the cars that he drove, the legendary #44B which has been fully restored, will also be on display. The museum is open from 3:00 p.m. up until race time.
MY DAVE LAPE STORY
At 10 years of age, my brother Jim had just gotten home after completing a four-year enlistment in the US Army. It was a Saturday night and we were having a traditional Italian dinner (even though we are Polish LOL) from Bottisti’s which is a pizzeria right around the corner from where I grew up, when my brother asked me if I wanted to go to the races at the Fonda Speedway for my very first time. It just so happens that I did go that Saturday night and I have been hooked on racing ever since.
When my brother came home from the service, he had to go out and buy a car. He decided to buy a 1969 Camaro and it was a beauty. Nothing spectacular performance wise with a V6 engine and a standard shift but it was a ’69 Camaro never the less. And he wishes that he still had it to this day but unfortunately, he doesn’t! LOL
As it turns out my brother had been to the races before and was, still is, and always will be a Jack Johnson fan as was my high school friend Ed Sajdak who attended the races with us many Saturday night’s I didn’t have a favorite driver so my first time ever at the races I had to choose one. But who would it be?
As I stated earlier my brother had just gotten that ’69 Camaro to drive and guess who had a ’69 Camaro look alike car at that time at the Fonda Speedway. It was none other than Dave Lape who instantly became my favorite driver from that point on. Even though he is now retired from racing, he still is and always will be my favorite driver.
At that time, Lape’s Camaro was painted red, white, and blue and every time he would come down the front stretch just out of turn four where we used to sit in the grandstands, I would yell at the top of my lungs “GO LAPE” while my brother and Ed would be yelling for Jack Johnson. So there I was standing on the top row of the bleachers, between my brother and Ed, and it was two Johnson fans against one Lape fan so they had the advantage on me! LOL
Friends of my brothers Jeff and Laurie Sargalis, who are now sponsors of Bobby Varin’s #00 car through their business Amsterdam Carburetor & Electric and also help Bobby out in the pit area, would sit in the row below us and would just look back at us and shake their heads! I even started a scrapbook of Lape’s accomplishments and would cut out any stories that I could find on Lape in the racing trade papers and put them in the scrapbook.
It was 1973 and Lape had just won what was back then the Schaffer Qualifier at Fonda, which guaranteed him a starting spot in Syracuse for Super DIRT Week that year. I had purchased a photo of his car which at the time was the Cadillac bodied coupe and I wanted to have him autograph it. But at my age back then I was very shy and couldn’t get myself to do it.
Finally, after a lot of coaxing from my brother I got up the nerve and walked up to Lape in victory lane after he had just won that race and he signed it for me. It is a picture that I believe I still have somewhere, but if I could only locate it that would be a major accomplishment along with locating that scrapbook!
As the years went on and I became a columnist for first the Amsterdam Recorder and then the Schenectady Gazette doing a weekly racing column along with race stories from both Albany Saratoga and Fonda I became friends with many of the drivers but I am still a bit shy to this day and have been through the years. But going up to get Dave to autograph that picture for me was a moment that I will never forget scared as I was.
Saturday night at Fonda being Dave Lape Tribute Night will be a special occasion for myself and many of Lape’s family and friends. And I absolutely cannot wait to see the #44B car which Lape restored that won him so many races through the years at Fonda and the entire DIRT Motorsports circuit during his racing career.
JESSICA LAPE’S FAN PLAN
According to Dave’s wife Jackie, their daughter Jessica has a “Fan Plan” in place for Saturday evening’s tribute to her father. It includes prizes for the fan wearing the oldest Dave Lape shirt, a prize for the oldest Dave Lape hat, a prize for a fan who brings a photo of themselves with Dave, and a prize for a fan who brings a racing picture of Dave with hair! There will be also be a coloring contest for the kids!
So please visit the Fonda Speedway Museum when it opens at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday to celebrate Dave Lape’s legendary racing career at the “Track of Champions” Fonda Speedway! For more information about the track you can go to their website www.fondaspeedway.com
