“My” Fonda Speedway Modified Top 10 Drivers of All-Time: Part 1

Column By: TOBY LAGRANGE / RPW – FONDA, NY – It’s a debate that has been raging through inner circles of family and friends since the dawn of time. Regardless of the sport, the question is always asked – who is number one. The answer usually depends on who you ask.

In main stream sports, some say Wayne Gretzky is best that the National Hockey League has ever seen, others may say Gordy Howe. In football, the hot ticket currently is to say Tom Brady is the best yet just as many or more feel Joe Montana is light years ahead. On the diamond you hear Babe Ruth often mentioned as the best slugger but others say DiMaggio, Mantle or another of those enshrined in Cooperstown.

Our great sport of short track racing is no different, every track or division seems to have fans that sit around a camp fire, with a beverage in hand debating who was the best that they ever saw.

If you were to look on paper, the Fonda Speedway is no different than any other of the hundreds of tracks that make up short track racing in the Northeastern United States and Eastern Canada. It is a clay surfaced track that holds events during the Spring, Summer and Fall months and has for more than six decades. However, to those that know their history, know that the half-mile track at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds has a history matched by very few and surpassed by much fewer.

The same holds true for the drivers that have called the plot of land along side the mighty Mohawk River home. With those drivers and all that history comes the same debate – who is the best or as I like to say, the best of the best.

I say the following with almost 35 years of seeing the best of the best battle around the odd shaped speedway but there really is no debate on who is number one or number two. If you are doing a top ten list like I am, then only positions three through ten are up for debate. Anyone who thinks that Jumpin Jack or The Monk are not one-two either has no sense of history or has no real interest in the Track of Champions.

If Yankee Stadium was The House That Ruth Built, then the Fonda Speedway is The House That Johnson and Lazzaro built.

After all Jack Johnson sits on top of the Fonda Speedway All-Time Modified Feature Winners list with 149 and the All-Time Modified Track Championships list with 11. His 152 total wins at Fonda (2-320, 1-358) is a total that no one will likely ever touch. In Johnson’s 34 winning seasons between 1971 and 2009 he won on average between four and five races per season.

Lazzaro likewise has a feature win total over the century mark. His 113 career trips to victory lane at Fonda have only been matched by Johnson. I was lucky enough to be one of the Fonda Faithful on hand the night that Jumpin Jack tied Lazzaro on the feature winners and again when he surpassed him. The Monk also has four track championships and came in a time when it was not uncommon for an entire heat race to be made up of future hall of famers. The same was said for a big chunk of Johnsons career at Fonda.

In a statistical twist both Johnson and Lazzaro had the same number of years between their first and last feature wins at Fonda – 39. This is one of the statistics that I used to help me arrange positions three through ten. I divided their total feature wins by the number of seasons from their first win to their last. For example, Johnson had 149 feature wins and as I said, 39 years between his first and last win. His total would be 4.14. While this is not a full proof statistic, it did help me break ties. There is however one tie that I could not break.

I will be the first to admit, comparing drivers from one era to another is tough. Even if you were lucky enough to see driver from each era compete, being able to compare them based on equipment, rules, distances and other circumstances makes it impossible to be spot on accurate. With that said, this is an opinion piece which means it is no more right or wrong than those who will not compare eras.

So, now I give you positions 10-3.

10 (tie) – Stewart Friesen / Harry Peek
My top ten starts with a tie between two drivers from vastly different eras. If there were all-decade drivers at Fonda then Stewart Friesen would be that of the current decade. Since his first win in 2010, Friesen has won a total of 47 Modified (and two 360 Sprint Car) events. He also has dominated in track championships with four – all of which are consecutive (2012-2015) – only Jack Johnson has as many consecutive titles (1993-1996). Friesen has the best wins per year (between first and last win) of anyone in my top ten (5.88).

Harry Peek is the only driver to make my Support Division and Modified Top 10. He also has 21 career Modified feature wins and four track championships (1972, 1973, 1974, 1976). Peek was an all-time great no matter which division he was in and earned his place in my top ten due to his four track titles and raw talent behind the wheel.

9 – Mike Romano
Johnstown’s Mike Romano joins my top ten in the ninth position. Romano visited victory lane 53 times at Fonda in the Modified and 358 Modified divisions. His 48 Modified feature wins rank him 7th on the all-time feature winners list. In all Romano has four track titles between the two divisions (Modified (3) – 1989, 1990, 1997/358 Modified (1) – 2000). He is tied for 6th with his brother A.J. for the most winning seasons in the Modified division (16). Romano averaged 1.62 wins per season between his first and last feature win.

8 – Kenny Shoemaker
An author and a Hall of Famer, The Shoe enters my list as the only driver with one Modified track championship at Fonda. He earns his place at number eight due to his 54 career feature wins in a span of 21 seasons, 14 of them winning seasons. While his lone Modified track championship came in 1958, he did earn the Sportsman (they ran with the Modifieds) title in 1965. Shoemaker averaged 2.57 wins per season between his first and last feature wins.

7 – Pete Corey
The Crescent Hillbilly ranks number seven on my list. Corey picked up 50 feature wins at Fonda which ranks him sixth on the all-time feature winners list with many of those coming after he lost a leg competing at the Track of Champions. Those wins came in 12 seasons between 1953 and 1970, which gives him an average of 2.78 wins per season between his first and last visits to victory lane. Corey also holds three track championships at Fonda (1957, 1965, 1966).

6 – Steve Danish
The first Modern Era Track Champion at Fonda, Danish added two more of those titles before his career was through. That first title came in 1953 with the next a year later. His final came in 1962. In all Danish, the Corporate Jet of his day, picked up 32 feature wins at Fonda and was one of the drivers that helped cement the Track of Champions moniker on the Fonda Speedway. His 32 feature wins came in 11 seasons with seven of them winning ones. His average wins per season between his first and last season is 2.91, the best so far on the countdown.

5 – Bill Wimble
The second author in my top ten, Bill Wimble was a force each and every time he made his way through the gates of the Fonda Speedway. If there was a Mr. 1960’s that would be Bill Wimble. He claimed a total of five track championships at Fonda all in the decade of the 1960’s. Four of those titles came in the Modified division (1960, 1961, 1963, 1967) and one in the then Sportsman division (1966 – raced with the Modifieds). Wimble has an average of 4.30 wins per season between his first win in 1958 and last in 1967.

4 – Bobby Varin
Mr. Six-Time, Bobby Varin ranks fourth in my top ten. To be more accurate, Varin should be known as Mr. 2000’s. Much like Hall of Famer Bill Wimble, Varin dominated a decade at the Track of Champions. Varin has six career track championships at Fonda under his belt (2000, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010) which ranks him third on the all-time list behind Jack Johnson (11) and Dave Lape (7).

Since his first feature win in 1994, Varin has visited victory lane 60 times at the Track of Champions. He ranks fourth on the coveted Fonda Speedway Modified All-Time Feature Winners List. In the 24 seasons since that first win Varin has an average of 2.50 wins per season. He also has one career 358 Modified feature win, which brings his total to 61.

In my eyes Varin is very close to moving into third on my list. I respect both Varin and Lape equally however I feel Varin is much closer to Lape than many give him credit. While the numbers say Lape, Varin did dominate a decade like Lape hadn’t. I chose Varin for the fourth position for two main reasons – first, the average wins I spoke about earlier are slightly less than Lapes and secondly Lape did face tougher weekly competition earlier in his career.

3 – Dave Lape
Since I was a kid Dave Lape has always been talked about as third driver on the Fonda Speedway Mount Rushmore, just behind Jack Johnson and Lou Lazzaro. While others have come and gone, Lape still remained. Varin will likely pass Lape someday on my list but not just yet.

A former promoter along with fellow Fonda Speedway Hall of Famer Andy Fusco, Lape is a 99-time feature winner at the Track of Champions. Those 99 wins came between 1969 and 2004 and place him solidly in third on the all-time feature winners list. In all Lape picked up feature wins during 32 of those seasons giving him an average of 2.75. Late in his career I do not think that there was a person in the Fonda grandstands that didn’t want him to pick up that elusive 100th feature win.

In addition to cementing his place in victory lane, Lape earned seven track championships. Only Jack Johnson has more. He did so in three different decades, a feat that he shares with only Johnson. His track championships came in 1983, 1986, 1987, 1991, 1992, 2003 and 2004.

I hope you enjoyed both of my Fonda Speedway Top Driver countdowns. In the coming weeks I will tackle a couple of issues that are hurting short track racing, do a similar countdown for the Glen Ridge Motorsports Park and crown my Fonda Speedway drivers of each decade in all divisions.