RPW Column: Duell, Fitzgerald & Charbonneau Looking To Put ‘Fun’ Back In Racing With New Three-Car Team

Column By: MIKE WARREN / RPW – BALLSTON SPA, NY – In recent years, the DIRTcar Pro Stock division in New York’s Capital Region has taken numerous steps forward, sporting one of the most competitive classes you’ll see night in and night out.

For 2021, those nights of competition are going to look a little different for three drivers.

Kim Duell, Dean Charbonneau and Jay Fitzgerald will be teaming up next season. This will be in an effort to make gains on track. However, and more importantly, the three are looking to bring the fun back into it.

The idea got started toward the end of the 2020 season. That’s when Duell and Fitzgerald started sharing some notes. Once the season was over, the two learned Charbonneau may not be racing during the upcoming year. It was then that the idea of teaming up came together…families and all.

Anyone who’s been around the racing game knows how important family support can be for a race team. You don’t need to look any further than these three drivers in the pit area to see that.

Now, they’re becoming one big family.

“We’ve had a couple get-together’s already with all the team members,” Fitzgerald said. “Everyone’s really excited about this.”

Charbonneau has a pretty good reason to be happy every time he goes to the track, and now that’ll continue for ’21.

“I have my grandson that loves to come with me,” Charbonneau said. “That alone puts a smile on my face.”

While fun is the main goal for the upcoming season, each driver also wants to step up their competition. Use Albany-Saratoga Speedway, for example. There’s usually at least ten guys in the field that can win on a nightly basis. However, there was about three that were dominating.

“You’re never too old to learn new things, Charbonneau added. “Now we’ll be able to feed off of each other.”

For Duell, he feels momentum is on this new group’s side going into 2021.

“It was obvious that a few guys were doing something…actually, a lot different…than everyone else was,” Duell said. “However, towards the end of the season, we figured out a couple of things that will put us all back in better competition with them.”

According to Fitzgerald, the information shared will certainly help. In a class so competitive, one decision can be the difference between a top 5 or a top 10.

“We’ll have feedback from three cars,” Fitzgerald said. “I feel like the competition gets better by the week so having data from three cars a night is a big deal.”

At some point in the season, this three-car conglomerate will turn into four. Towards the end of 2020, Fitzgerald bought former DIRTcar Pro Stock Champion CD Beauchamp’s-winning machine. When the fourth car is ready, the driver will be Fitzgerald’s step-daughter, Aubrey.

“She’s taken my car out and did very well in her first laps,” Fitzgerald said. “We’ll be working with her during practices and some track rentals. That’s until we think she’s ready to pick up at the tail of the field in some events.”

Duell, Fitzgerald and Charbonneau will all be returning to Albany-Saratoga in 2021 with Fitzgerald planning to compete on the entire DIRTcar Pro Stock tour. His experience running the Pro Stock tour in the past has made him more versatile and open-minded with his racing program. He expects that to help the team.

When the long off-season is over, Kim Duell, Jay Fitzgerald and Dean Charbonneau along with their race teams and families all believe they can stronger together. Their on-track goal is winning, but their priority, and this can’t be stated enough, is fun.