MALTA, N.Y. — DIRTcar modified veteran Ronnie Johnson benefitted from good luck at both ends of Friday night’s 32-lap “Stan da Man” feature at the Albany-Saratoga Speedway.
First, Johnson, who started in the fourth row, escaped unscathed when outside front row starter Brendan Darrah went around all by himself as the field hit turn four on the first lap, sending cars everywhere and leaving an even dozen in a track-blocking heap.
Some cars drove away, a few went to the pits and returned after quick repairs while a pair were done for the night.
Third-starting Jack Speshock then moved to the front row for the restart and within two laps took a lead that he seemed destined to hold to the checkers.
But on the white flag lap, he slid high in turn two and let Johnson scoot underneath him for the $3,200 win honoring promoter Lyle Devore’s late father Stan, a big fan of ’32 Fords and thus the numerical theme of the evening.
While a second yellow on lap six brought Speshock back to the field, he soon built up a full turn lead over Don Ronca, Matt Depew and Marc Johnson as the trio dueled behind him.
By the final caution on lap 19, Marc Johnson had moved to second ahead of Ronca and Ronnie Johnson, who was getting stronger lap by lap.
Ronnie Johnson shot to third on the restart, then got even with Marc when he slid high with 12 to go. It took him two laps to finally put Marc away but Ronnie took second and began closing steadily on Speshock, who was edging ever higher in his beloved outside groove.
Then, with the win almost in hand, Speshock caught the cushion wrong in turn two and Johnson shot by.
At the stripe, it was Ronnie Johnson, Speshock, Marc Johnson, 18th-starting Demetrious Drellos and Jack Lehner in the top five.
Neil Stratton, Mike Mahaney, Felix Roy, Matt DeLorenzo and David Schilling trailed.
“I screwed up!” offered the chagrined runner-up. “I could blame it on hot tires but it could have been a loss of concentration on my part too. It helps starting up front but I hit a couple of holes and just lost it.”
“I don’t think he even knew I was there until that last lap,” added Ronnie Johnson. “I was skating too so I slowed down and caught the bottom on the last lap. It was a tough race. For a long time, Depew was covering my shield with oil and it was hard to see.
“We’ve got a strong, dedicated team and this will help keep their enthusiasm up. We haven’t won here in a while but this is what we do. I’ve been doing this a long time and every night, I think of my father, who taught me how to do this!”
Johnson’s late father was the DIRT legend “Jumpin’ Jack” Johnson, who held the speedway’s win record for a number of years before eventually yielding to Brett Hearn.
The “other” Johnson, Marc, thought he had a shot at the win as well until “I screwed up and got sideways. That sealed my tire up and I was all done.”
Other winners on the night included 13-year old Bodie Marks in the Limited Sportsman, division kingpin Tim Hartman Jr in the Sportsman division and Rich Crane in the Pro Stock finale.
