The 4th Turn: July 17, 2025
~ By Tom Boggie
Everyone knows how volcanos work. Pressure builds up under the ground, out of sight, until, suddenly and sometimes without warning, the volcano erupts in spectacular fashion.
The pressure finally got to Jack Lehner last Friday night at Albany-Saratoga Speedway.
Lehner is without a doubt one of the best young drivers in the Northeast. He’ll race anywhere, anytime, from Friday nights at Albany-Saratoga to Saturdays at Fonda for car owner Billy Nelson to just about any series race in the Northeast.
But all that work and all that travel in what has been a sweltering summer can take a toll on both driver and crew.
Going into last Friday night’s modified feature at Albany-Saratoga, Lehner was winless in 37 starts in 2025. He also finished the 2024 season on a 0-for-30 drought. You don’t need a calculator to know that adds up to 0-for-67. The last time he sat in victory lane was one year ago this weekend, on July 19 at Albany-Saratoga.
It all looked like it was going to come to an end last Friday. He wound up on the pole for the modified feature when Tommy D’Angelo, who was scheduled to start on the pole, opted to start at the rear. Lehner was sitting in a rocket ship, and caught the tail end of the field after just 14 laps.
Then his night ended. Coming out of the second turn, Lehner came up on the slower car driven by Kris Vernold, which was running in the middle of the track coming out of the second turn. When Lehner ducked to the inside, so did Vernold, and the cars made heavy contact, with something breaking in the front end of Lehner’s car, bringing him to a stop in the middle of the backstretch.
Lehner quickly got out of the car, yanked off his helmet, then his HANS device, then his head sock. He headed toward Vernold’s car, with his arms outstretched in a “WTF” pose, stuck his head through the window and may have gotten in a little slap before walking back to his car, collecting his gear and walking across the infield.
After the race, his crew had the car on jackstands, inspecting the damage, and Lehner discussed the incident.
“When you’re getting lapped, and trust me, I’ve been lapped a lot of times, you’re not supposed to do anything,” he said. “You don’t go to the inside, you don’t go to the outside. You just stay where you are and let the faster car go by. He just should have stayed where he was.”
If it’s any consolation, Lehner’s 22nd place finish last weekend will have him starting near the front again this week.
MORE FROM MALTA
Matt DeLorenzo joined a very short list when he won both the modified and 358 features at Malta last Friday. Although many drivers have won double features, only two of them won in different divisions. In 1981, Billy Pauch won one of the Triple 50s in Shootout ’81, and also won the sportsman feature in a different car. In 1991, Jack Johnson won the big block modified feature in his own car and won the feature for Champlain Valley Racing Association modifieds in the B&H Racing 64, owned by the late Mike Budka.
DeLorenzo admitted that starting up front in both features last weekend was a big advantage. He then explained that he didn’t draw the pole for the DiCarlo Auto Body 358 Series race. “That was the only number that was left,” he said. “They left it for me. What was I going to do? Say no?”
After Marc Johnson finished second to DeLorenzo in the modified feature, I knew I had to get a quote or two from him. But talking to Johnson after he finishes second is like poking at a hornet’s nest. Even as I was walking into his trailer, his crew chief, John “Apples” Albanese, laughed and said, “You know what he’s going to say.”
Predictably, Johnson said, “I was rolling up on him (DeLorenzo) and then the yellows came out. I’m pissed off. I don’t come here to run for second.”
Like Lehner, Johnson is also is in a frustrating slump. So far this year, he is 0-for-28, and that’s after posting a career-high seven wins during the 2024 season.
The track crew at Albany-Saratoga had to do some scrambling last Friday, after discovering that there were no lights on the backstretch. While the heats were being run, portable lights were hauled into the infield, positioned and fired up.
Tim Hartman Jr. drove to his second win of the year in the sportsman feature, and took a minute in victory lane to applaud the track crew. “Thanks to the track crew. It was their quick thinking that allowed us to race tonight,” he said.
“I got lucky early,” added Hartman Jr. “A lot of holes opened up for me and I could get to the front quickly. It’s been an up and down year for us. If I could have finished some more races, I’d have more wins by now.”
Prior to the modified feature, word was sent up to the control tower that Ronnie Johnson was going to scratch from the feature because of engine problems. But when the field came out, Johnson was in line and ran the entire feature, finishing 14th.
I ran into him in the pits just before he left, and he explained. “We had a short in the wiring system, but then we found out what it was and fixed it just before the feature.”
Demetrios Drellos was back at Albany-Saratoga last Friday, serving as a substitute driver for Robert Bublak. Drellos finished seventh in the modified feature, giving Bublak the most points he’s earned in a race this season. Obviously, Drellos is no longer concerned about his own standing in the modified points race.
Drellos talked about his week away, when he was running his late model in West Virginia.
“We ripped the nose off it the first night and we had to recover from that,” he said. “The second night, it still wasn’t right. We finally figured it out and on the way home, decided to race one more night (at Muskingum Speedway in Dresden, Ohio) and finished second. Some nights, you’re good, and some nights, you’re bad. That (running the RUSH late model series) is a tough deal.”
Oddly enough, after his modified win, DeLorenzo said one of the drivers he was most worried about was Drellos. “The outside was so dirty and I knew that the only one who would go up there and try to blow it off was Demetrios,” he said.
Jarron Maguire drove a heck of a race to get his first career limited sportsman win last Friday. Maguire lost the lead to Alex Smith midway through the 20-lap feature, but never backed off. When Bodie Marks brought out a caution on the final lap, Maguire put his foot to the floorboard, pulled even with Alex Smith going down the backstretch and then beat Smith by inches to the finish line. Heck of a job. Maguire is the son of former limited sportsman driver Walter Cook.
The Empire Super Sprints will join the racing card at Albany-Saratoga on Friday.
AROUND THE TRACKS
In honor of track owner Howie Commander’s 81st birthday, Lebanon Valley ran twin 20-lap features for modifieds last Saturday, with each race paying $4,050 to win. Andy Bachetti and Kyle Sheldon took home the top payoffs.
Congratulations to A.J. Munger, the son of Gene “The Flying Farmer” Munger, for picking up his second career sportsman/modified win at Devil’s Bowl last Saturday.
In the midst of another sweltering week, there was no shortage of racing. On Tuesday, Stewart Friesen won the Richie Evans Remembered race at Utica-Rome, pocketing a check for $4,000.
On Wednesday, Tim Fuller won the 100-lap Summer Showdown for 358s at Cornwall Speedway, with Mike Mahaney second and Peter Britten sixth.
Also on Wednesday, Matt Sheppard started on the pole and won the Short Track Super Series race at Afton, outrunning Alex Yankowski and Friesen, who started 17th. The sportsman were also on the card, with Michael Ballestero making the haul down I-88 and finishing eighth.
I saw on Hartman Jr.’s Facebook page that his father, Tim Sr. won one of Saturday morning’s go-kart features at Lebanon Valley. The caption said that it was Tim Sr.’s first go-kart win in 20 years. Is that accurate? Twenty years ago, Tim Sr. was one of the top sportsman drivers on the CVRA circuit.
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