RPW Exclusive: Stars Were Aligned, Seats Were Filled Saturday Night At Fonda Speedway

Column By: LAURIE FALLIS / RPW – FONDA, NY – Oh what a night! Fonda Speedway had Dollar night Saturday and what a success it was.

With the big news that Brett Deyo would be having only a dollar admission fee on May 18th, What a great opportunity it was to bring new people or get the fans of the past who has not been to the track in years. Thinking it was only a buck, why not come back and give it a shot.

Well! that’s exactly what they did, they came! On a beautiful warm day, all the pieces were falling into place to be something that would be talked about for a long time.

The place was buzzing with the excitement of going to see some great dirt track racing for only $1.

Pulling into the the Speedway, the parking lot was filling up already. At the Scott Hall building, there was a birthday party going on for Jeff Kollor. Jeff is one of the founding brothers who brought the notorious GHETTO to Syracuse, a fixture at the “Moody Mile.” Oh, and was paying everybody’s way in. What better way to celebrate your birthday than being with family and friends at Fonda Speedway. Hats off to the Kollor’s for putting on a great spread for all to enjoy.

As the parking lot became even more packed, I noticed that the volume of vehicles were backing up traffic out on the main road as cars had to come to a stop. So the question was asked how many people would be coming, Well! By the look of things, a lot!!

Campers were to be found, tailgating. People were talking racing. The talk of just having a fun time at Fonda again and enjoyed coming down and how amazing this year has been going.

The Speedway Museum was hopping as always with the prior week winners out front showing their cars for the fans to get up close and personal. Of course, it’s always great hanging out with the track’s greats, but I must say, I do miss CD Coville doing his Facebook live feed and just being there as he was last year.

It would be soon time to go into the stands and I was eager to to see this. I have been going to the races since 1984, and on Saturday, I had soak it all in. It was like the old days.

As I walked through the gates, the music was playing and the smell of Hamburgers cooking was in the air. The crowd was already filling up the track and you could feel the buzz.

As I sat down in the grandstands, I looked around in amazement of the people filling in and thought to myself , what magnitude a single dollar could do for Fonda Speedway? Could it bring the crowd back to its shape as it once was as seen in the pictures of yesteryear?

As I looked around and talked to people, I observed many of the older fans that came and had not seen the track in 20 years. It certainly brought a lot of kids to the track for the first time too, and as we know, children are the future of racing!

I was able to reach out to the promoter Brett Deyo to ask he expected and how dollar day would effect Fonda’s future.

“When this night was announced, and as it came closer, we didn’t know what to expect being this was our first time,” he said. “But we were prepared. Getting things in order throughout the week, we rented a food freezer to make sure they would not run out of food. We have extra people parking cars…extra law enforcement directing traffic. We took all the necessary action to be ready for anything.”

Was this the biggest crowd he has ever had at any one of his events?

“Orange County and races at Georgetown were pretty big, but I would have to say yes,” he said. “We calculated with paid admission and children that are free that went through the gates, it was around 4000 to 4100.”

With this great crowd, the 50/50 was over $4000. Even my seven-year-old grandson had a ticket, eager to win.

After the races, I asked Deyo if he realized the magnitude of the night?

“It was great seeing a lot of the older fans coming back,” he said. “They were happy to see the crowd like it used to be. I hope they keep coming back. I was talking to Stewart Friesen after the races and he said their was a line an hour long to get his autograph which was pretty great to hear.”

Friesen’s always been very gracious with his fans, young and old, no matter how his night went on the track. Saturday was a perfect example. He had the race well in hand, only to have the oil filter come loose and had oil all over and was forced to shut her down ending his night. Racers like that are what keep the young fans interested. Being able to see their favorite drivers after the races, looking for that autograph or picture, is special.

Is it feasible to do another show like this again this year?

“Thanks to sponsor St. Lawrence Radiology, we were able to this dollar night,” Deyo said. “We may try something down the road in the middle of summer when there are midweek shows. Maybe we’ll do a $5 show to try to save people a few bucks, so yes, it’s a possibility.”

One last question I asked was being that their has been four races at Fonda Speedway so far this year, how would you grade things so far?

“For the Concessions and food, I give an A,” he said. “Denise Page does an excellent job. For the track, I can now say an A. That wasn’t the case when we started. When we came to the track in the Spring, the water was just not getting off the bottom of the track and making for a bad situation. But, with a lot of hard work and time, we have fixed the drains too allow the water a place to go and things are a lot better.”

Certainly, on a night the fans where treated to some great racing on the track in all divisions, drivers definitely found a handle on the track. Rocky Warner has now claimed two wins in a row. Not too shabby after almost moving back to Sportsman. Tim Hartman in competing full-time at the track in the Parillo #22 and also has back-to-back wins. The always-exciting Pro Stocks have one man, Luke Horning, showing his dominance so far in 2019. Saturday, he captured his second win of the year, adding to his other consistent runs.

Also some great racing coming from the crafty veteran, Dave Horning Sr., in the Street Stocks, who has won every race this season with last lap passes in each.

Brett Deyo can be proud that on Dollar Night, every penny was golden, To have a fan that has been around racing for 50 years say it brought tears to his eyes to see the “Track Of Champions” packed with racing fan like the days gone by, is PRICELESS!!!