FONDA, N.Y. — A.J. Romano, Tim Clemons, Steve Welch and car owner Jeff McWalker will be inducted into the Fonda Speedway Hall of Fame & Museum on July 2.
The sixth annual Dedication to the Fonda Speedway Museum Award will be given to Alton and Carole Palmer and the Eagles Club 3846.
Romano followed in the footsteps of his grandfather Joe, his father Andy, and older brother Mike and began racing stock cars.
Romano won his first modified feature at Fulton Speedway in 1986. From there he went on to win at numerous New York tracks, including Fonda Speedway, where his biggest victory was the $10,000-to-win Rumble in 1995.
After a 34-year career, Romano retired in 2015. All total Romano has two career 320-Modified wins at Fonda along with one career 358-Modified win to go along with 34 Big Block Modified wins in 16 winning seasons.
Clemons raced in both the sportsman and modified divisions. He has one career win in each of the following divisions at Fonda — the 320-Modified, 358-Modified and Big Block Modified divisions. He was also the DIRT Sportsman champion at Fonda in 1990, ’91 and ’92. He had 39 victories in the DIRT Sportsman division and won the Mr. DIRT Sportsman Series title in 2003.
Steve Welch competed in the Pro Stock (formerly known as Street Stock) division at The Fonda Speedway from 1991 through 2005. He collected 15 feature event wins at Fonda. Welch was crowned the 1999 Fonda track champion and finished runner-up in points in both 1998 and 2003.
A longtime crew member on various cars, McWalker dreamt of fielding his own car with Kenny Shoemaker driving.
With a donated Ford engine and various other parts that McWalker collected along the way, which were all assembled by mechanic Tony Achzet, the No. 81a couple won its only race on June 6, 1970. It was the last modified victory by a Ford until the 1990s.
