FONDA, N.Y. — With the turn of the calendar to 2023, excitement for the 72nd consecutive season of racing at the Fonda Speedway is in the air.
This will be the fifth season that Brett Deyo and his staff at BD Motorsports Media LLC have promoted motorsports events at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds track.
MEMORIAL EVENTS
The season at Fonda will start open on Saturday, April 22, with the Jack Johnson Memorial Montgomery County Open.
The night will feature the Amsterdam Truck Center Modifieds with sail panels competing in a 40-lap, $12,000-to-win event. All other regular divisions will also be in action with points beginning in all classes. Previous winners of Jack Johnson Tribute/Memorial events at Fonda include Mike Mahaney (2012, 2017), Stewart Friesen (2015, 2022), Matt Sheppard (2016) and Rocky Warner (2021).
On Saturday, May 27, the first Dave Lape Memorial event will take place. The event is also the first of three “Thunder on the Thruway Series” events at Fonda for the Amsterdam Truck Center Modifieds, the Swagger Factory Apparel Crate 602 Sportsman and the Below Zero Ice Cream Pro Stocks. All other regular divisions will also be in action, along with the Mohawk Valley Vintage Dirt Modified Series (MVVDMS).
July 8 will feature the Eighth annual “Bill Ag Memorial” Modified Elimination races along with all other regular divisions in action. Previous winners of the event honoring the late Bill Anagnostopoulos include Ronnie Johnson (2016, 2017, 2021), Bobby Varin (2014), Tim Fuller (2018), Friesen (2019) and Demetrious Drellos (2022).
The 18th annual “Hondo Classic” honoring the late Hondo Carpenter will be run for the Below Zero Ice Cream Pro Stocks on Saturday, July 22. Previous winners of the “Hondo Classic” include Nick Stone (2007, 2008, 2016, 2017, 2020), Kenny Gates (2009, 2015, 2018), Pete Broderson (2012, 2014), Jim Burton (2006), Chip Smith (2010), Rob Yetman (2011), Kenny Martin Jr. (2013), Josh Coonradt (2019), Luke Horning (2021) and Beau Ballard (2022).
The 19th annual “Earl Halaquist Memorial” sprint car event will be held under the Empire Super Sprint (ESS) banner on Saturday, Aug. 5. This event was held at different tracks over the years, but the 2023 event will be the 13th time the event was held at Fonda. Previous winners of the “Earl Halaquist Memorial” event include Justin Barger (2007, 2008, 2010, 2011), Danny Varin (2017, 2018, 2022), Chuck Hebing (2006, 2014), Blake Breen (2004), George Suprick (2005), Doug Emery (2009), Jessica Zemken-Friesen (2012), Jeff Cook (2013), Matt Tanner (2015), Steve Poirier (2016), Jordan Poirier (2019) and Paulie Colagiovanni (2021).
SERIES EVENTS
The Short Track Super Series (STSS) will celebrate their 10th anniversary in 2023 with Bob Hilbert Sportswear as the title sponsor. There will be two series events this season at Fonda. The first will be the $10,000-to-win “Firecracker 50” for the STSS Modifieds along with a $2,000-to-win, 25-lap STSS Crate 602 Sportsman event on Sunday, July 2.
The second STSS event at Fonda will be the prestigious, $53,000-to-win “Fonda 200” for the STSS Modifieds along with an event for the STSS Sportsman on Saturday, Sept. 16.
The previous four “Firecracker 50” events for the STSS Modifieds at Fonda have all been won by Friesen.
The “Thunder on the Thruway Series” for the Amsterdam Truck Center Modifieds, the Swagger Factory Apparel Crate 602 Sportsman and the Below Zero Ice Cream Pro Stocks will have three events at Fonda this season on May 27, July 1 and July 15. The “Thunder on the Thruway Series is a six-race series between Fonda and the “Home of Heroes” Utica Rome Speedway.
Three events are set to be held at Utica Rome on June 16, June 29 and August 19.
SPRINT CARS
There will be three different groups of sprint cars competing at Fonda this season, including the Empire Super Sprints (ESS) on May 6 and August 5, the Tezos All Star Circuit of Champions (ASCoC) on May 20, and the CRSA Sprint Cars on June 3, July 29 and Sept. 15.
The visit by the ASCoC marks the ninth time in Fonda Speedway history that 410 sprint cars have competed at the “Track of Champions.”
Shane Stewart, Daryn Pitman, Craig Keel and Danny Lasoski won the first four 410 sprint events ever held at Fonda while the last four events, all sanctioned by ASCoC, were won by Daryn Pittman (2010), Tim Shaffer (2011 & 2012) and Danny Dietrich (2013).
The Empire Super Sprints (ESS) have competed at Fonda a total of 25 times from 1987 to 2022 with a total of 14 different winning drivers.
Local favorite Danny Varin leads the way with six ESS wins at Fonda followed by Justin Barger with five, while Lance Yonge and Steve Poirier both with two wins apiece. Ten different drivers have one single ESS feature win at Fonda including John Brutcher, Bobby Parrow, Tom Taber, Craig Lane, Emery, Zemken-Friesen, Jeff Cook, Hebing, Friesen and Davie Franek.
There are 13 different winning drivers in a total of 27 CRSA Sprint events at Fonda from 2009 to 2022.
Mike Kiser leads the way with five feature wins while Danny Varin has four. Josh Pieniazek and Cory Sparks are next with three wins apiece while Kyle Smith, Jeff Trombley, and Jordan Hutton have two wins apiece. Dylan Swiernik, John Matrafailo, Tyler Rice, Jordan Thomas, Brett Jaycox and Josh Flint complete the list with one win apiece.