7/18/2024
Fonda Speedway
FONDA SPEEDWAY HOSTS THE EMPIRE SUPER SPRINTS THIS SATURDAY, JULY 20 FOR THEIR ONLY APPEARANCE AT THE “TRACK OF CHAMPIONS” THIS SEASON
By: Ron Szczerba
Fonda, NY – This Saturday, July 20 the “Track of Champions” will have a jam packed racing program in all regular divisions including the Amsterdam Truck Center Modifieds, the Swagger Factory Apparel Crate 602 Sportsman, the Leatherstocking Credit Union Pro Stocks, the Montgomery County Office for Aging Inc. Limited Sportsman, and the Fonda Fair Four Cylinders. Mirabito Energy is the evenings race event sponsor.
Along with all regular divisions, the Empire Super Sprints (ESS) will be in action with the 20th running of the 25-lap $2,000 to win “Earl Halaquist Memorial”. Add that to the 19th running of the “Hondo Classic” and the 3rd running of the “Bobco Memorial Dash for Cash” it promises to be a great night of racing at the Fonda Speedway. Gates on Saturday, July 20 will open at 4:00 p.m. with hot laps at 6:00 p.m. and racing at 7:00 p.m.
The day will begin at 3:10 p.m. this Saturday at Fonda with the “Junior Flagger Class.” Now you can have your children learn from the best, the one and only Fonda Speedway and STSS head flagger Joe Kriss who got his start by flagging in the grandstands as a kid. Junior Flaggers will meet at the Fonda Speedway Kids Club, located under the covered grandstand at gate two, at 3:10 p.m. on Saturday and please remember to bring flags & water!
The 2024 racing season is the 41st year of competition for the ESS Sprint cars with ten events out of the 16 scheduled being run so far this season after six rain outs. Jason Barney (Fulton and Brewerton), Danny Varin (Brewerton and Weedsport), Davie Franek (Freedom and Fulton), Dalton Rombough (Evans Mills), Stewart Friesen (Utica Rome), and Dylan Westbrook (two non-point event wins at Ohsweken) are the drivers who have won events so far in 2024 leading the way into the event at Fonda this Saturday.
The current point standings according to the ESS website www.empiresupersprints.com following the ESS event at Weedsport back on July 8 shows Jordan Poirier leading the way with 746 points followed in the top five by Jason Barney (725), Davie Franek (702), Matt Tanner (598), and Fonda Speedway favorite Danny Varin (593).
There have been a total of 27 ESS Sprint car events held at Fonda from 1987 through 2023 with 15 different drivers winning those events led by Danny Varin with seven victories followed by Justin Barger with five wins, Lance Yonge and Steve Poirier both with two wins apiece. John Brutcher, Bobby Parrow, Tom Taber, Craig Lane, Doug Emery, Jessica Zemken-Friesen, Jeff Cook, Chuck Hebing, Stewart Friesen, Davie Franek, and Shawn Donath all with one victory apiece.
Last year in 2023, Shawn Donath and Danny Varin won the two ESS Sprint events held at Fonda, with the win for Donath being his first career ESS win at the “Track of Champions”.
The Earl Halaquist Memorial has been held at three different racetracks in it’s 19 year history including Dundee, NY; Fonda, NY; and Afton, NY with a total of 12 different drivers winning those events. Justin Barger (2007, 2008, 2010, 2011) and Danny Varin (2017, 2018, 2022, 2023) lead the way in Earl Halaquist Memorial victories with four apiece followed by Chuck Hebing with two wins back in 2006 and 2014.
Single event wins in the prestigious event have gone to Blake Breen (2004), George Suprick (2005), Doug Emery (2009), Jessica Zemken-Friesen (2012), Jeff Cook (2013), Matt Tanner (2015), Steve Poirier (2016), Jordan Poirier (2019), and Paulie Colagiovanni (2021).
20th ANNUAL EARL HALAQUIST MEMORIAL
Mike Emhof gave me permission years ago to share the following story of Earl Halaquist as Remembered by Michael Monnat so I will share it again this year in 2024.
By the ?rst time I saw Earl Halaquist race a sprint car for the United Racing Club (URC) in 1960 at the Five Mile Point Speedway in Kirkwood, New York, he was already half-way through his career. Yet, at that point, he hadn’t even begun to receive national notoriety. That all changed with the dawn of the Sixties and his prodigious and overwhelmingly spectacular use of George Nesler’s sprint car racing equipment.
Halaquist had been around the sprint car game since arriving home after serving in the U.S. Navy in World War II, making his debut in 1946 in Little Valley, N.Y. From that point forward through the Fifties, he raced with sanctions like the Eastern States Racing Association (ESRA), the Big Car Racing Association (BCRA), and URC.
Back to that July night at Five Mile Point, Halaquist didn’t win the feature, but he was impressive getting a second place ?nish behind Hal Rettberg. That was only the beginning as the decade that changed the country belonged to the Earl Halaquist/George Nesler duo.
Six URC titles (1962, ’64, ’66, ’67, ’68, ’69) impressed the hell out of me and, during that time; I caught every local show and went to a few regional shows, as well. Halaquist won on dirt and asphalt. He won on the big tracks and the bullrings. In short, he won on everything and everywhere; he won 14 features in 1967 alone. Along the way, he garnered 52 URC main events; most coming at a time when ‘having a roof over your head’ meant living at home.
The quiet, unassuming family man from Sidney, N.Y., had a full-time job with Bendix, in addition to running up and down the East Coast chasing feature wins and point titles. He retired after spending 1970 driving midget cars with the American Race Drivers Club (ARDC). I didn’t meet Earl Halaquist in person until 1992 when he was inducted in the We-Go Racing Fan Club Hall of Fame. In 1996, he was inducted into the Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Hall of Fame and, in 2000; he was inducted into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame (NSCHoF).
In 2010, he was posthumously inducted into the URC Hall of Fame. His many skills spoke for themselves and everything about him read ‘class act.’ Earl Satch Halaquist, who was born on September 7, 1925, in Rock Rift, N.Y., died on January 12, 2001, at the age of seventy-?ve. Great driver, great man. Nothing else needs to be said!
If you are a race fan that gets to the track early, be sure to check out the Fonda Speedway Museum & Hall of Fame which is located on the Fonda Fairgrounds at the rear of the parking area going down towards turn four. The museum is open from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. on race days and admission is free!
All races at Fonda Speedway – will be broadcast live on FloRacing (www.floracing.tv) as part of the $150 annual subscription.
Since 1953, the “Track of Champions” Fonda Speedway has hosted the best in stock car racing. Under the management of BD Motorsports Media LLC, the speedway will operate weekly on Saturday nights from April through August plus several special events. Fonda Speedway is located on the Montgomery County Fairgrounds off New York State Thruway Exit No. 28 at 21 S. Bridge Street Fonda, NY 12068.
Fonda Speedway is on the web at www.thefondaspeedway.com. To learn more, call the office at 518.915.4395, like Fonda Speedway on Facebook or follow the speedway on Twitter and Instagram: @thefondaspdwy.
Submitted By: Brett Deyo