RPW Column: Joe Judge Looking For Late 2019 Momentum To Continue Into 2020 Season

RPW Column By: MIKE TRAVERSE / RPW – ACCORD, NY – Since the year he started racing in the year 2000, Joe Judge has been one of the most loyal competitors at the Accord Speedway. He got on a roll towards the end of the 2019 season and is looking to keep that going into 2020.

“We were experimenting a lot with the car setup,” the always upbeat Judge said. “We finally decided to go back to what we had for setup in the past and the car was great down the final stretch of the season. And we were also able to upgrade our engine”

In the final point race of the season at Accord, Judge finish a strong second to Dan Creeden. Jasen Brewer had Joe drive his sportsman car in the $5,000 to win race and Judge finished 2nd to Steve Davis. And in Accord’s final event of the season, The Gobbler, Judge brought home the 3J in 3rd place behind Andy Bachetti and Creeden.

“It was nice to have that strong of a finish to the season,” he said. “It was awesome to run Jasen Brewer’s #25 in the 5G race and we had a a great run with his car.”

The 2nd generation driver got interested in the sport at an early age. His father, Bill Judge, raced Late Models at Accord in the 70’s.

“We used to go to watch my Dad race at Accord and we would head to OCFS to watch the next day,” he said. “My Dad, my brother and I would have friendly bets on who’s car would win and talk about who had the best looking car.”

Joe had wanted to race since an early age, but his mother was reluctant to allow it. But it was apparent that eventually, he would be taking to the track.

“We started racing in the Pure Stock class in 2000. We stayed with that division for many years and were track champions in 2007-08,” Judge said.

Joe was leading the division point standings in 2009 when his racing career almost came to an end.

“In 2009, I had a serious on the job traffic accident,” he said. “I had to be extracted out of the car by the Jaws of Life. I wasn’t sure if I would ever race again.”

But Joe recovered and sold the Pure Stock and bought a Sportsman car. He raced through 2012 with the Sportsman with some wins and a 2nd point standing finish before the team moved up to the Modified Division for 2013.

“We ran an open sportsman engine when we started,” he said. “We knew we were under powered, but it was fun racing with the Modifieds.”

Since racing in the Modified Division, Joe has had many great finishes and a best point finish of 4th in 2019. That first Modified win has so far eluded him. But in a sport where greatness is often defined by the height of one’s win total, Judge, his team and his family shows that it doesn’t always have to be the case. It’s what Joe and his team does off the track that shows the greatness that he and his team bring to the sport.

Joe decided that in 2019 that he wanted to give back to the community, not only through his association in racing, but as his occupation as a New Paltz Police Detective.

“It was just something that I wanted to do. I see people on the job that could use some help and we wanted to contribute something back to the community,” he said. “So we combined the fundraising and the racing and went to work.”

Judge decided that the Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital was going to be the recipient of their fundraising effort. It was something that happened years ago that Joe remembered that made him come to that decision.

“I had a friend that had a son who had his arm severed at the elbow,” Joe said. “This was in the years before it was called Maria Fareri. They reattached his arm and now years later, he’s fully functional and doing well. The treatment he received there was so great and I always remembered that.”

And as Judge was organizing his fundraising, he received good news from one of his sponsors.

“In a very generous move RYCOR HVAC of New Paltz agreed to match our total up to $5,000. Our goal was set at $5,000 as well ,” he said.

Joe and his team worked very hard on the fundraising. All proceeds from his merchandise sales went directly to the fundraising total. And is also appreciative to the people at Accord Speedway who were so cooperative in 2019.

“I owe a big thank you to Donna and Gary Palmer, owners of Accord Speedway,” Judge said. “They allowed us to sell our merchandise at the track. And we also want to thank Accord track photographer Kevin Berryman who let us sell items at the Monsters In The Catskills event that he promoted”

Joe coincided his fundraiser to end in time for a big event at Maria Fareri’s, the Going The Distance walk. He was so dedicated to that event that the team put a new body on the car for it.

“My team worked very hard for us to reach our goal,” he said. “It was a proud day for my family, my team, RYCOR HVAC and myself to present them with the $10,000 check. We wanted to make the car look as good as possible for the event. Afterwards, we put the old body back on to finish the racing season.”

And Judge also does little things that go unnoticed, but this one was witnessed by an RPW staff member. Joe learned that a young fan with special needs was a super fan of law enforcement. He reached out to other nearby departments and to his friend and fellow officer from Kingston, Ryan Shuman, and they put together a real nice package of police items. When presented with this package, the young man was so happy and appreciative.

Judge also worked hard in 2019 to promote his team with videos and a Youtube channel. Freeflight Productions and videographer Kevin Paige covered the events for the team and produced great, professional videos for most of Joe’s events in 2019.

“It was a fun thing to do and Kevin is so good at what he does,” Judge said. “We are looking at ways to do it again in 2020.”

Joe’s racing plans for 2020 are weekly at Accord and all of the Short Track Series North Division races.

“I have already put in for time off for all the STSS North races,” he said. “Our goal will be to qualify for as many of them as we can.”

The Judge Racing Team is currently in the rebuild process of his 2016 Bicknell Chassis car. But there’s some truth to the old saying that says ‘good things happen to good people’. Joe will have a new 2020 Bicknell to use in the STSS.

“Two members of my team, Jody and Garry Thomsen, said to me, ‘Joe, you do so much good for others, it’s time someone did something good for you’. They are supplying our team with a new Bicknell that we are picking up on March 28th,” Judge said. “That is such an awesome thing for them to do. Our plan is to use that new car for the STSS races.”

And look for Joe to be involved in more fundraising in 2020. Those plans will be taking shape throughout the early months of 2020

Joe’s sponsor list for 2020 includes RYCOR HVAC, United Pump and Tank, Jansen Lawn Maintenance, Solid Waste Disposal Service, Vieira Trucking, Black Mamba Rifle Company, Tow Riffic, Absolutely Automotive, Royal Cleaners, Mike Kavanagh, Freeflight Productions, Burgess Concrete Stamping and Matthew Keller Esq. Workman’s Compensation Attorney.

Judge’s crew consists of Joe’s dad Bill, Eric Wiley, Ryan Shuman, Tom Hausmann, Jasen Brewer, Mark Vieira, Garry and Jody Thomsen and Liz Markle.

It won’t be surprising to see the 3J pull into Accord’s Victory Lane in 2020. And it’s going to be a very popular win when it occurs.