“My” Top 10 Glen Ridge Motorsports Park Drivers Of All-Time

Column By: TOBY LAGRANGE / RPW – FULTONVILLE, NY – The old saying that time flies when your having fun has been around for ages and has never been truer than when describing the Glen Ridge Motorsports Park. Whether you call it by its full name or just simply The Ridge, the little track on the hill is drawing ever so closer to its 20th anniversary.

The track started out as a home for karts, slingshots, quads and anything else that would fit on the fast surface. It wasn’t just a track, to many in the karting realm it was the Daytona of kart tracks. I remember those early years of karting. The Saturday night programs would draw 150 plus entries and the Wednesday night slingshot/kart specials would have full pit areas and bleachers.

At the very end of the 2003 season the track would host its first stock car event. During the Thunder on the Mountain Weekend, the Four Cylinder division took to the track for the first official big car race. I was there for that race and let me tell you, those stock car fans on hand were loving it. This included me. The next season the track would be in action every Sunday night with a program of Street Stocks, Four Cylinders (American and Foreign), Six Cylinders, Slingshots and a very early form of Budget Sportsman and then again on Saturdays with a full sleight of karting action.

While the night of racing has changed from Sundays, to Fridays and back again a few times and the divisions and track have changed to what they are today, the close, fast paced and exciting racing has remained the same.

The Fastest Quarter Mile on Dirt holds a special place in my heart. I started attending the track as a fan that first karting season, covered it as a reporter for many years and even had the chance to serve as Race Director for a while and serve as PR Person on more than one occasion. While the Fonda Speedway is my home and always will bewhether I choose to be there in person or not, The Ridge is my second home, my getaway or simply my happy place.

With the tracks history book becoming thicker and thicker, it is time to start talking about who is the best of all-time and in the process bring some recognition to the drivers that built The Ridge one lap at a time. I also feel it is time for the track to start their own Hall of Fame. If that happens I beg the powers that be to keep it an exclusive club and not overload it with some 10-12 inductees per year. All this does is water down and diminish what should be an exclusive club.

What follows is my list of the Top 10 Driver of All-Time at The Ridge. I used the tracks official records (thank you Butch Hazzard, Jr.), the eye test and what they meant to and did for the track. In the end this is based on my opinion and experience, having seen and/or covered the action since that first event back in 2003.

Honorable Mentions

Jeff Brownell, Jr. – 2008, 2009 Modified Track Champion – 9 Feature Wins
David Constantino – 15 Sportsman Feature Wins, 42 Sportsman Top 5 Finishes
Bodie Bellinger – 2010, 2011 Sportsman Track Champion – 6 Feature Wins
Luke Horning – 2017 Pro Stock Track Champion – 13 Feature Wins

#10 – Ken & Kerrie Hollenbeck

When I ranked the support division drivers at the Fonda Speedway I did not include the Cruiser/Four Cylinder division. They were left out for many reasons but mainly because of their short history at the track and lack of entries. That is not the case at Glen Ridge where no stock car division has a longer history than the Cruiser division.

When talking about the Cruiser division at The Ridge you have to start with the brother tandem that sits one-two on the all-time feature winners list. Kerrie (1st) and Ken (2nd) Hollenbeck have a combined 120 feature wins between them at Glen Ridge. The duo are ranked together because they often both won on the same night and I cannot rank one in front of the other.

The duo sits tenth on my list because the division was often split into two or three different sub divisions with the highest placing driver in each being credited with a feature win. The remaining divisions never did that (on a regular basis) and therefore, their win totals are artificially higher. Regardless, both are more than deserving of being on my list.

#9 – Nick Stone

The man my mentor Jim King dubbed The Manimal comes in at number nine on my list. The Pro Stock racer has earned 24 checkered flags at the quarter mile and the 2014 Pro Stock Track Championship. Stone picked up his first win at the track on September 1st, 2007 and over the next decade add 23 more. His 24 feature wins earns him the top spot on the tracks all-time Pro Stock feature winners list. He has 13 more than second place Luke Horning.

Stone has 24 top five finishes at Glen Ridge, which ranks second on the overall division list. He also holds the one-lap track record, a record he set this past October (14th, 2017). His lap of 14.812 seconds earns him another place in the track record book. Stone could move up on my list in coming seasons as he enters the Sportsman division. A win or two in a different division goes along way with me when determining my best of all-time lists.

#8 – Jeremy Wilder

The rocket out of Fort Plain is one of those drivers who started his career in the karting ranks and has turned some laps at the original Glen Ridge Motorsports Park. In stock car action Wilder has 12 feature wins at the track with 11 of them occurring in the Modiifed division where he sit third on the all-time feature winners list. He also has one Sportsman division win (8/30/2008).

Wilder has two career Modified division track championships at Glen Ridge (ranked 2nd all-time). The first came in the heavily competitive Jake Spraker/Mike Romano promoted era (2012) and the second in 2016. Wilder has 51 top five finishes in the Modified division and was the 2008 King of the Budget’s (Sportsman) winner. When the Small Block Modifieds make their return to The Ridge for specials this season, watch out for Wilder to improve that win total and move up on my list.

#7 – Brian Pessolano

Brian Pessolano enters my list at number seven. The Montgomery County driver has been a staple at the quarter mile for nearly a decade. In all he has 13 career feature wins at Glen Ridge with ten of those checkered flags coming in the Sportsman division. He sits sixth on the divisions all-time feature winners list, one win behind Harry Shaffer, two behind Chad Edwards and three behind Jeremiah Munson. Pessolano also has three Limited Sportsman feature wins, all coming in the 2009 season.

He has 63 Sportsman division top five finishes with another six in the Limited Sportsman ranks. He also holds the fastest recorded lap for the Sportsman division at Glen Ridge. He turned the track in 13.166 seconds on June 2nd, 2015. If Pessolano can over take Shaffer, Edwards and Munson on the all-time feature winners list then there is a good chance he would move up into my top five.

#6 – Justin Knight

The Canajoharie driver has been a staple at The Ridge for quite a few years. In all Knight has claimed 24 checkered flags at the quarter mile, earned one track championship and two special series championships. While Knight doesn’t sit on top of any all-time feature winners list, he does sit inside the top five in two of them.

Knight’s 24 feature wins have come in the Street Stock and Pro Stock divisions. His 19 career Street Stock feature wins ranks him fourth all-time and his five Pro Stock wins ranks him fifth. Between the two divisions Knight has 76 top five finishes (47 – Street Stock, 29 – Pro Stock) and one track championship (2009 – Street Stock). He also holds two of the coveted Harry’s Auto Street Stock Series Championships (2009, 2011).

#5 – Chuck McSpirit

My top five drivers kick off with the first of two Street Stock drivers to be ranked in the upper half of my list. Chuck McSpirit is one of those drivers whose name goes hand in hand with Glen Ridge. McSpirit was one of the original Street Stock regulars at the track. McSpirit picked up his first of what would be 27 Street Stock division feature wins on May 8th, 2005 and his final to date in 2012. Those 27 wins rank him second on the all-time feature winners list with one of those coming in the Harry’s Auto Street Stock Series.

McSpirit was also the 2008 division champion. He also has 69 top five finishes at Glen Ridge, with 68 of those coming in the Street Stock ranks (ranked 2nd). McSpirit’s dedication to the track helped him make it into my top five.

#4 – Craig Hanson

A second-generation driver out of Tribes Hill, Craig Hanson enters my countdown in the fourth position. Hanson and family have been long time supporters of Modified and Sportsman (wife Angela) racing at Glen Ridge. The record book shows that Hanson has earned 22 feature wins at Glen Ridge with the first coming in 2007, the first true season of Modified racing. By this I mean the first season that the racing world took notice and considered The Ridge a Dirt Modified track. The 2005 and 2006 seasons saw a form of Modified compete.

Hanson has been a very popular regular throughout the tracks Modified racing history. With the division ending its weekly racing in 2017, Hanson ranks second on the all-time feature winners list and has one track championship on his resume (2007). He also has 103 top five finishes in Modified competition at the track, which ranks second all-time.

#3 – Rob Van Aernam

The top-ranking mainly Street Stock driver, Rob Van Aernam enters my list at number three. Van Aernam has 28 career feature wins at Glen Ridge, all in the Street Stock division. He is the divisions all-time leading feature winner. He also has four track championships at Glen Ridge (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013) and one Harry’s Auto Street Stock Series title (2012). Van Aernam also holds the single lap record of 15.021 seconds around the quarter mile. It was set on August 26th, 2011. He also has 76 career top five finishes in the Street Stock division.

The Van Aernam family has deep roots at the track up on the hill. When you consider these roots, what Rob and family have meant to and done for Glen Ridge and his very impressive resume it was a hard choice for me to rank him third. While he has more track championships than my number two, he has a dozen less feature wins. A few more feature wins in any division would move him into second.

#2 – Bobby Varin

Bobby Varin enters my list at number two. As I mentioned above, it was a hard choice between him and Rob Van Aernam for this second position. Varin’s 40 feature wins at the track in two vastly different divisions was what broke the almost tie.

Varin’s feature wins came in the Dirt Modified division (39) and 360 Sprint Car division (1 – Empire Super Sprint event on 7/15/11). Varin’s 39 career Dirt Modified feature wins places him on top of the divisions all-time feature winners list. He also has a division leading three track championships (2013, 2014, 2015) which is also tops in the division. His first win came on September 8th, 2007 and the final to date on August 27th, 2016.

When you break it down Varin has won 18 percent of the Dirt Modified races run at Glen Ridge 25 percent of the track championships. He also has 105 career top five finishes in the Modified ranks and holds the record for most feature wins in a season (seven in 2013).

#1 – Rocky Warner

My top ranked driver of all-time at the Glen Ridge Motorsports Park is Rocky Warner. It was not a hard decision who would be my number one, after all no other driver has more wins than the Johnstown native at the track or track championships. Nor have they shown the versatility.

Warner has a total of 44 feature wins at The Ridge. A total of 22 of them came in the Sportsman division with seven in the Pro Stock division, 12 in the Street Stock division, two in the Limited Sportsman division and one in the Modified division. Warner was the winner of the first Street Stock event at the track on May 2nd, 2004 and the tracks first Street Stock champion in the same year. His lone Modified feature win came on May 17th, 2013.

Prior to moving full time to the Sportsman division, Warner claimed the 2010 Pro Stock championship and racked up 31 top five finishes in the full fender ranks. The success continued in the Limited Sportsman and Sportsman ranks with 60 more top five finishes (three Limited Sportsman) and three divisional track championships (2012, 2014, 2016). He also holds the track record for most feature wins in a row at four, set in 2014. He also has seven Modified top five finishes. In all, Warner has 98 top five finishes at the track.

Warner is the only driver in the history of the track to show up on the feature winners list in five different divisions – Modified, Sportsman, Limited Sportsman, Pro Stock and Street Stock.

Please remember that ranking drivers such as this is simply an opinion. It cannot be wrong and it cannot be right. Feel free to send me your top five or top ten, I would be happy to share them in a future column.