RPW Column: RJ Sherman Ready To Race OCFS’s New Track Victory Speedway

Column By: MIKE TRAVERSE / RPW – MIDDLETOWN, NY – Many longtime fans of the Orange County Fair Speedway will certainly remember Stan Sherman.

Stan was a successful racer for many years at the speedway. Now for 2021, another generation of the Sherman family will be racing at the historic fairgrounds property in Middletown. Stan’s grandson, RJ Sherman is preparing to race at the new Victory Speedway in his #22R Slingshot in the upcoming season.

“We are looking forward to racing at the new track this year. We may race at some other tracks this season as well. Our plan is to move up to Sportsman next year,” RJ said.

RJ is a 13 year old racer who already has quite a few years of experience. He started in go karts but by age 9, he was already racing slingshots at Oakland Valley and Hamlin Speedway. He has had top point finishes of 2nd at both Oakland Valley and Hamlin and he has scored victories at both tracks. He has also raced at Glen Ridge Speedway.

His racing highlight thus far is winning an All Star race at Oakland Valley 2 years ago.

When asked what driver he admires or would like to pattern himself after, RJ responded with Timmy Hindley, a very good choice.

A look back at Stan’s career highlights are that he was the 1967 OCFS Limited Sportsman Champion. He accumulated 8 Limited Sportsman win and later added 2 Small Block wins during the D.I.R.T. era. The last win he had at OCFS was a memorable dead heat finish with OCFS’s all time leading winner Brett Hearn. It was the most recent dead heat finish in OCFS history and one of only 3 open wheel dead heat feature finishes in it’s long history.

Sponsors on the #22R are Hammer Down Customs, Floyd Storms Painting, Hooked Up Custom Baits and Extreme Property Maintenance.

In addition to his dad, Rich Sherman, RJ has Rob Lybolt and Marlon Presley helping him out. And he always has his mom Danielle and his grandfather Stan cheering for him on race nights.

It’s always great to see another generation of racing take to the track. It will ne a most interesting year to see how things progress at the Victory Speedway. RJ Sherman wants to be right in the mix for wins and he has shown that he can get the job done. Good luck to the Sherman group in 2021.