Watson Family Celebrate Big Friday At Lebanon Valley Banquet

Column By: BOBBY CHALMERS / RACE PRO WEEKLY – WEST LEBANON, NY – Friday was the first night of Lebanon Valley Speedway’s two-evening Awards Banquets. It was a time to celebrate the year’s best from 2016…a year that saw Jeff Watson capture his fifth-career Sportsman track title. However, the Watson family came away with way more than they bargained for.

Not only was Jeff honored with the title, but he also became the second driver in Speedway history to win the Jeff Yasinsac Mr. Excitement Award three times. This award, given out by Jeff’s widow and renowned motorsports columnist Robin Yasinsac-Gillespie, is named for the late competitor who was extremely exciting to watch on the track. Each year, a Sportsman driver is honored who exemplified the same type of ability. This year, it was Jeff.

“It’s truly an honor winning this award for the third time,” Watson said on stage. “This actually means more to me than winning the championship because of who it represents and the names that are on the list.”

Wayne Jelley is the other three-time winner of the award.

Watson, as stated in the opening paragraph, was also honored for capturing the 2016 Sportsman track championship. On the strength of two wins and eight top 5 finishes, the Sheffield, MA driver was able to hold back the likes of John Virgilio, Chris Lynch, Kevin Ward and the rest of the field to grab the crown.

“To win my fifth title is just amazing, but it’s because of the support that we have with this team,” Watson said. “All I’ve ever wanted was to win races, do our best and see where things shake out. This is truly amazing”.

However, those weren’t the only awards given out to the Watson family Friday evening. To the surprise of many, including Jeff and his family, Watson’s father, legendary Small Block racer Danny, was inducted into the speedway’s Hall of Fame. Danny ranks fifth on the all-time Small Block Mod win list and was the first driver to win both a Big Block and Small Block event at the track on the same evening.

“I use to hitchhike to this place when I was 10-years-old to see races,” the elder Watson said with a laugh. “I can’t thank the Shuman’s and my family enough for their support over the years and Howard Commander for giving us a great place to race. This is such a surprise and I thank you all.”

For Pro Stock Champion Rob Yetman, 2016 was home-coming of sorts. He held three titles at the West Lebanon, NY oval from 2004-2006 before leaving the facility to chase other things. But, he came back full-time a few years back and with the help of some great partners, he was able to put together a championship season that saw him visit victory lane on two occasions.

“I really didn’t think about what we had accomplished until this morning,” Yetman said. “We left here after winning three-straight titles to try some other stuff, but Lebanon is home. This is where I started and it’s where I’ll finish.”

Yetman was quick to thank all of his supporters for the season gone past, but through it all, there’s been one person who’s been a part of his team from the beginning.

“If you look back at all the pictures, look back 15-20 years, there may be some different faces and what not, but there’s one guy who’s been with this team through it all, and that’s Glenn (Ames),” he said. I wouldn’t be here without him. I love you buddy.”

Young Jason Meltz was able to take home his second-consecutive Pure Stock championship in 2016 and did so in dominating fashion. He may not have led the division with wins (Gary O’Brien did with seven), but he did pick up two wins, had 16 top 5 runs and finished no worse than eighth the entire season.

“This was just a great season for us,” Meltz said. “I have to thank my parents, my entire family, all of my sponsors and all who supported this team.”

Last season, Meltz entered a Pro Stock at Super DIRT Week in Oswego and came away with an eighth place finish while also winning the Pro Stock Futures event. This season, he will move up full-time to the class at the Valley, running a brand-new EMS chassis.

The four-cylinder champions from last season were Jim Williams in Single Cam and Kenny Stager in Dual Cam.

Outstanding Performance Awards were handed out on Friday as well for both the Pro Stock and Pure Stock classes, and the winners have an interesting connection. Rick Duzlak took home the award in the Pro Stocks with Gary O’Brien winning for the Pure Stocks. The connection? Duzlak is sponsored by O’Brien’s Property Services company. Not only that, he works for the company as well.

Other News & Notes…
Looks as those the 358-Modified class will have a new competitor at the track next season as Sportsman racer Michael Sabia stated his team has purchased one of the Spec W16 motors to run at the Valley. The cost of the engine and the 50lb. weight break enticed the Easton, CT driver to get one and see how it would do on the high banks.

Three-time LVS Pro Stock Champion Jay Corbin will be hitting the road in 2017, chasing the DIRTcar Series title. Corbin hasn’t ventured away from the Valley much in his career, and knows there may be a learning curve. He and his team have put together a second car to travel, outfitted with the crate motor that he ran at Lebanon last year.

Albany-Saratoga & King of Dirt Pro Stock Series Champion Robbie Speed is close to having his cars ready to go for 2017. Speed and his team spent a lot of the off-season building a brand-new race shop which put them a little behind. However, they’ve been working overtime and are just about caught up.

Speed stated that he did some chassis work for this season to fix his Albany-Saratoga car, but decided against putting a new front end on the machine. That’s because, while not official, DIRTcar officials may allow fabricated front ends on Pro Stocks very soon and he is waiting for that.

Chuck Towslee, who finished sixth in points last year, has been working hard this off-season to get ready. He sent his chassis out to be updated, clipping the front end while making some updates to the rear. The car has since been powdercoated and is being assembled in the teams shop. Towslee states he has about six weeks worth of work to complete in about four, but will be at the track’s open practice on April 15th and will be ready to go for the opener.

One bit of news that Jeff Watson made while on stage is that he plans to follow the King of Dirt Tour in 2017, trying to capture the series crown.

Veteran Modified campaigner Mike King is very happy with the progress of the car show he is putting together for at the new Stewart’s Shops in Nassau, NY on April 2nd from 10am-3pm. This is the first time such an event will take place in the town and Mike is looking for everyone to join.

One thing Mike said he’s wanting to do is have all of the drivers to wear their uniforms during the time so that fans know exactly who the drivers of the cars are. We’ll see if this comes to fruition.

For more information on the show, or to have your vehicle included, email Mike at kingfishracing@aol.com.