RPW Exclusive: Future Hall Of Famers Added To The History Books Saturday At Fonda Speedway

Column By: RAY ROGERS / RPW – FONDA, NY – As the Fonda Speedway Hall of Fame closes its books for another year, future hall of famers Bobby Varin, Kenny Gates and Mark Mortensen added another page to the history books at “The Track of Champions” with their performances Saturday night.

Saturday, the Speedway Museum hosted the 2018 Hall of Fame Induction Ceremonies. A huge crown of family, friends and race fans gathered to help celebrate this year’s honorees. The committee did a fantastic job choosing the right people to share memories and stories of this year’s inductees.

I would like to congratulate all of this year’s inductees and would like to personally thank everyone involved in Saturday’s ceremonies. It was a real honor to be recognized for something I love to do.

One of the highlights of the ceremony was the touching stories of this year’s track personnel inductee, Terri Mohrman. Terri’s contributions to the speedway go far beyond that of any race fan, driver or track supporter. She is a true lifesaver.

In 2012, my good friend Clifford Montanye Sr. suffered a heart attack on his way to the scales after his driver, Brian Pessolano, picked up the Sportsman victory. Luckily, Terri was on hand to respond to Cliff’s side and administered first aid. Her actions that night saved his life and that is something I will be forever grateful for.

Former Midget driver Jamie Spalding was also on hand thanks to Terri’s actions. On June 16, 2015, Jamie was involved in a horrible Crash at the Glen Ridge Motorsports Park that left him with a broken c-2 vertebra, an injury that few survive from. That night Terri’s training and dedication to being the best EMT she could be made all the difference.

Today, both Jamie and Clifford are a testament to that dedication and hard work. They have made full recoveries thanks to Terri’s quick response and professionalism. These are just two examples of why Terri’s induction is so special. She truly is our Dirt Track Guarding Angel and we are truly blessed to have her as part of the racing community.

Once the ceremonies wrapped up at the Museum and everyone found a seat in the stands, it was time for the one thing that brought us all together on this fine summer day…an evening of stock car racing at the Track of Champions.

First to roll away on the historic half-mile for its Hall of Fame night was the Pro Stock qualifiers that Josh Coonradt, Randy Cosselman, and Justin Knight won. Modifieds rolled away next with Jeremy Wilder and Rocky Warner secured the wins. Sportsman took to the track for the final heat races of the night and Chad Edwards. Josh Demagistris and Mark Mortensen all took the checkers.

Saturday’s Street Stock Feature was once again claimed by Jason Samrov and he was followed to the line by Michael Arnold, Jonny Young, Cliff Haslun and Rob VanAernam.

Cory White took home the checkers in the Limited Sportsman feature. Second was Derrick McGrew Jr. with Bill Port, Dylan Eldred and Jarrid Leclair rounding out the top five.

The Mohawk Valley Vintage Dirt Modified Series had 21 Vintage race machines on hand including Steve Tanner who towed his #xx vintage hot rod all the way from Missouri to race at the Track of Champions…a place he always had a dream to race at.

Darryl Hulburt would be the night’s Vintage Modified winner with Bryon Seyfried winning the Sportsman and Bill Liese victorious in the Late Model.

The MVVDMS is always a great addition to the card anywhere they compete. Thanks to Laurie Fallis for her hard work with the Vintage Dirt Modified series. She do a fantastic job bringing the stars and cars of yesteryear back for the next generation to enjoy.

Kenny Gates, who earlier in the day inducted Todd Hoffman into the Hall of Fame, paid tribute to his friend with the 20-lap Pro Stock win. The feature was caution-plagued, but Gates, who snagged the lead on lap 2, pull away after each restart and easily pick up the win. Chuck Dumblewski, Josh Coonradt, Luke Horning, who suffered a flat tire early in the event, and Ivan Joslin would battle for second through fifth but at the end, it was Gates taking another win. Dumblewski, Horning, Coonradt and Joslin rounding out the top five.

The Big Blocks took to the well-groomed half-mile after that for their 30-lap main event. Shaun Pangman would lead the field to the green and grab the early race lead, but Rocky Warner would run him down and claim the lead on lap 12.

Around that time, Bobby Varin would kick in the afterburner and move his way into second from his eighth starting spot. A lap 24 caution for Pangman would slow the field and on the restart, Varin powered down and took the lead from Warner on the backstretch.

With only a handful of laps left on the counter, two late-race cautions, one that involved two front-runners Warner and Josh Hohenforst, dramatically shape the outcome of the top five. However, Varin went on to and score his 63rd career win at Fonda. Jeremy Wilder would have a solid run coming home second. Cody Bleau, who began the feature in the 14th starting spot, put on an impressive charge to the front, working his way to finish third. Scott Huber and Elmo Reckner rounded out the top five.

The Sportsman topped off a fantastic night of racing with 25 laps of excitement. Mark Mortensen would debut his new DKM Cyclone from the sixth starting spot and wasted no time putting it right out front in this one. He easily scored his 20th career Sportsman feature win.

This was the fourth straight win for the DKM Cyclone chassis in the Sportsman division at Fonda this season. Front row starter Josh DeMagistris would hang on to second while Tony Farone worked his way through the field to come home third. Brian Borst had another solid run finishing fourth and Cody Clark was fifth.

Once things wrapped up in victory lane, I headed for pit road where I met up with the night’s Modified feature winner Bobby Varin.

“The car worked Great tonight,” Varin said. “Alton (Palmer) made some changes pre-race that I was a little unsure about, but they worked out good for us.”

It was a great night for his car owners, Carole and Alton Palmer, as well.

“With the Jack Johnson tribute race this Wednesday, we wanted to try something new with hopes we can gain an edge for Wednesday,” Carole said. “Hopefully, we can win that race and secure the guaranteed starting spot for Super DIRT Week.”

The Palmer race team is looking forward to the year’s big event at Oswego in October. Varin has yet to race at “The Steele Palace” but has had seven top five’s and nine top ten’s at Super DIRT Week when it was held at the Fairgrounds in Syracuse.

As I was about to head out, I noticed a young fan standing next to Bobby’s car with his Dad. I asked him if he would like to meet the night’s Modified feature winner and his face lit right up…”Sure,” he said. I brought him into Varin”s hauler where Bobby gladly took the time to sign the young fan’s shirt and give him a high five. It’s always great to see a young fan meet his favorite driver.

What’s even better is when the driver enjoys the encounter as much as the fan. With Bobby, he always enjoys meeting young fans. This is just another example of what makes Bobby Varin a true champion and future Hall of Fame material.

Wednesday, “The Track of Champions” opens its gates for one of the year’s marquee events at the speedway, “The Jack,” a 100-lap Super DIRTcar Series event paying tribute to the great “Jumpin” Jack Johnson. All the stars and cars of the Super DIRTcar series will invade the Fonda Speedway hoping to pick up the win and secure the 12th place starting spot for the main event at this year’s Super DIRT Week.

Also on the card is the return of the King of DIRT Pro Stocks for the highly-anticipated 30-lap Hondo Classic. All the action is set to start at 6:45 with warm-ups and heats set to roll away at 7:15.

The Fonda Speedway Hall of Fame and Museum will be open on Wednesday as well. Special guest Gary “Hot Shoe” Balough will be on hand at the Museum for a book signing along with his famous Batmobile. Make sure you stop and say hello before heading into the speedway. As always, I hope to see you all this week at the races!