CELEBRATING THE SECOND CENTURY OF MOTORSPORTS ON THE MIDDLETOWN! OVAL
FANS, COMPETITORS EAGERLY AWAITING OPENING NIGHT SATURDAY, APRIL 3 AT ORANGE COUNTY FAIR SPEEDWAY
This Year Marks the 72ND Consecutive Season of Weekly Stock Car Racing
MIDDLETOWN, NY (March 28)……..Following the on again, off again truncated 2020 racing season, fans and competitors alike are eagerly anticipating the resumption of weekly racing at the historic Orange County Fair Speedway in Middletown, New York on Saturday, April 3. The United Rental DIRTcar Big-Block Modifieds will headline a program of preliminary qualifying races leading to the Orange County Oval Kickoff 40-lap feature race paying the winner $4,000. This is the first of 12 nights of Big-Block Modified excitement that will culminate with the new elimination format Championship night in September. Sharing the program with the Big-Block Modifieds will be the unpredictable Sportsman division in their first point night of the season.
Best of all, fans will be back! The Drive-In section will be open, as will the stands. The number of fans permitted awaits final determination by the state and local governments. CDC protocols will be enforced.
Opening Night of weekly racing at Orange County Fair Speedway this year will continue a tradition that first began in 1950. While automobile racing traces its Orange County roots back 102 years to 1919, weekly stock car racing---the precursors of today’s Modifieds---began on April 16, 1950 and has continued uninterrupted since that memorable date.
The first weekly racing program was held on a small one-fifth-mile asphalt-surfaced track that was located inside the famed five-eighths-mile clay-surfaced speedway. Tex Enright, who later gained fame as a colorful race starter was the day’s winner, his only Orange County victory of record. Since then 42 other drivers have won season openers, led by all-time track record holder Brett Hearn, who has tasted first night victory champagne nine times.
Other multi-time Opening Night winners include Carl Van Horn, who captured four Modified features; three-time Opening Night victors Bobby Bottcher, Will Cagle, Rich Eurich, and Jeff Heotzler; with Frank Cozze, Danny Creeden, Bud Marl, Chuck McKee, Frankie Schneider, Al Tasnady, Bill Wimble, Anthony Perrego, and Stewart Friesen each winning two openers.
Drivers who have raced at Orange County on a weekly basis some or all of their careers have won the vast majority of Opening Night feature races. But that hasn’t always been the case. The first outside invader to take home the season opener top prize was Hartford, Connecticut driver Dick Fletcher back in 1954. Then in the 1960s, Flemington (New Jersey) Speedway great Al Tasnady won two Orange County openers, as did Fonda (New York) Speedway champion Bill Wimble.
In 1983, C.D. Coville, from Upstate New York, ushered in the DIRT Motorsports era by winning the first race under Glenn Donnelly’s reign. “Barefoot” Bob McCreadie, from Watertown, New York, took the local boys to task in 1985, while Jack Johnson, whose home track was also Fonda Speedway, won in 1995. The Opening Night winner the past two years, Stewart Friesen, is a frequent competitor at Orange County although he has never raced a full season in Middletown.
With bragging rights on the line, three-dozen or more top Modified drivers will be looking to start 2021 weekly racing with a victory. And who knows, there’s always the possibility an outside invader will pull into the Orange County pits and win on Opening Night, adding their name to the long list of great dirt track Modified winning drivers.
Fans and competitors are reminded to visit the speedway website often for the latest track news: www.orangecountyfairspeedway.net. Media members requesting credentials should contact Bobby Armbruster at barmbr6493@aol.com as soon as possible.
ORANGE COUNTY FAIR SPEEDWAY --- OPENING DAY WINNERS 1950-2020
1950 04/15 Tex Enright 1960 04/10 Ken Wismer Sr. 1970 04/18 Will Cagle*
1951 04/15 Frank Schneider 1961 04/08 Carl Van Horn 1971 04/17 R. Schwendernmann
1952 04/26 Joe Romer 1962 04/21 Al Tasnady 1972 04/29 Carl Van Horn
1953 04/26 Bud Marl 1963 04/13 Frank Schneider* 1973 04/14 Bobby Bottcher*
1954 04/16 Dick Fletcher 1964 04/05 Bill Wimble 1974 04/20 Carl Van Horn
1955 04/30 Pete Corey 1965 04/10 Al Tasnady 1975 04/12 Wayne Reutimann*
1956 04/21 Bud Marl* 1966 04/06 Bill Wimble 1976 04/10 Buzzie Reutimann
1957 04/14 Ray Brown* 1967 04/29 Will Cagle* 1977 04/16 Bobby Bottcher
1958 04/13 Sonny Strupp* 1968 04/20 Jackie Evans 1978 04/22 MeMe DSantis
1959 04/04 Carl Van Horn 1969 04/12 Will Cagle* 1979 04/21 Bobby Bottcher
1980 04/19 Billy Osmun 1990 04/14 Sammy Rogers 2000 04/15 Brett Hearn
1981 04/11 Harry Behrent 1991 04/20 Frank Cozze 2001 04/28 Brett Hearn
1982 05/01 Rich Eurich* 1992 05/02 Brett Hearn* 2002 04/20 Jeff Heotzler
1983 04/02 C.D. Coville 1993 04/17 Brett Hearn* 2003 04/19 Chuck McKee
1984 03/18 Larry Brolsma 1994 04/16 Jeff Heotzler 2004 04/17 Tommy Meier*
1985 04/06 Bob McCreadie 1995 04/15 Jack Johnson 2005 04/16 Chuck McKee
1986 04/12 Brett Hearn* 1996 04/13 Jeff Heotzler 2006 04/29 Craig Mitchele
1987 04/18 Brett Hearn* 1997 04/19 Frank Cozze 2007 04/21 Mike Kolka
1988 04/16 Carl Reynolds 1998 04/18 Rich Eurich 2008 04/19 Brett Hearn
1989 04/22 Brett Hearn* 1999 04/17 Rich Eurich 2009 04/18 Danny Creeden
2010 04/17 Brett Hearn 2014 04/12 Tim Hindley* 2018 04/21 Anthony Perrego*
2011 04/09 Danny Creeden 2015 04/18 Anthony Perrego 2019 04/13 Stewart Friesen
2012 04/14 Chris Shultz 2016 04/16 Bob McGannon 2020 06/06 Stewart Friesen
2013 04/13 Jerry Higbie 2017 04/29 Jimmy Horton*
*Won Opener and Track Modified Point Champion Same Year
43 Different Winners, 1950-2020
Multiple Winners Single Winners
Brett Hearn – 9 Harry Behrent Craig Mitchell
Carl Van Horn – 4 Larry Brolsma Billy Osmun
Bobby Bottcher – 3 Ray Brown Buzzie Reutimann
Will Cagle – 3 Pete Corey Carl Reynolds
Rich Eurich – 3 C.D. Coville Sammy Rogers
Jeff Heotzler – 3 MeMe DeSantis Joe Romer
Frank Cozze – 2 Tex Enright Wayne Reutimann
Bud Marl – 2 Jackie Evans Ron Schwendernmann
Chuck McKee – 2 Dick Fletcher Chris Shultz
Frankie Schneider -- 2 Jerry Higbie Sonny Strupp .
Bill Wimble – 2 Mike Kolka Tim Hindley
Danny Creeden – 2 Bob McCreadie Tommy Meier
Anthony Perrego – 2 Jack Johnson Ken Wismer Sr.
Stewart Friesen – 2
Al Tasnady – 2