Roger Clark Planning Return To Supermodified Competition For First Time Since 2000 Season

Story By: CAMDEN PROUD / OSWEGO SPEEDWAY – OSWEGO, NY – Oswego Speedway has been an important part of Roger Clark’s weekends for the past several decades.

He made his Supermodified racing debut in 1990 with his self-built blue No. 55 and competed in the big block ranks for some ten years. Out of the action since 2000, but still at the track as a crew member for Tim Snyder for just about every race since, Clark is looking forward to a return to the driver’s seat in 2018.

Registered for the commitment program for the speedway’s 68th season of racing, the car Clark will have on the track each week this season was built many years earlier. Some modifications and updates have been made to this particular chassis which has sat in Clark’s race shop for the past 18 years. It’s now just about ready to go for action.

“I decided to come back for the 2018 season because I was able to get my motor rebuilt and it is now done,” Clark said. “We’ve been working on this project for awhile now. The car I will be bringing out is a 1994 Snyder and Snyder wide body. It has had some slight modifications made by myself.”

Clark, a division veteran, has had an up and down career at Oswego. In his second year of racing, Clark qualified for his first Budweiser International Classic 200 in 1992, but was sidelined early with a 27th place finish.

One year later, after putting together what had so far appeared to be his best season yet in 1993, a scary turn three crash with Dave McKnight crumbled Clark’s No. 55 and put that car out of commission permanently. Roger was forced to finish the season with his brother Ralph’s No. 65 Graves car and he competed with that ride on and off from 1993 to 1997.

By 1997, Clark’s same Snyder and Snyder wide body car that he will bring to the track this season was finally readied for action and Roger again ran part time for four straight seasons between the years of 1997 and 2000 although he was never able to best his career best 11th place finish in 1993. That will certainly be one of his goal this year.

“I’d say my biggest career accomplishments would be qualifying for the Classic and then finishing top ten in points with the Empire Super Series,” mentioned Clark. “My plans this year are to hopefully run all of the Oswego shows. I want to run consistently and just finish all of the races we enter.”

Clark’s extensive crew experience with Snyder Racing began after his driving days came to a temporary close in 2000. He was a part of Snyder’s popular victory in the 2001 Budweiser International Classic 200, plus nine additional wins and over seventy top five finishes over the course of Snyder’s career. Clark will now compete alongside the ‘Zero Hero’ full-time in 2018.

Oswego Speedway kicks off its 68th consecutive season of action on Saturday, May 26 when the first ever running of the Jim Shampine Memorial Twin 50’s for the Novelis Supermodifieds take place alongside the Tony White Memorial 35 for the Pathfinder Bank SBS. The track’s annual Open Practice session will be held a week earlier on Saturday, May 19.