News Director 
Story By: RON SZCZERBA / FONDA SPEEDWAY – FONDA, NY – The Hard Charger Award is one that may often be overlooked if it is offered at all at your local speedways.
It is a special award to receive however, because it shows not only the talent of the race car driver to come through the field in the feature event after a poor qualifying effort, but also the talent and knowledge of the driver, car owner, and pit crew who adjust the race car before feature time to make it competitive.
For the last three years at the “Track of Champions” Fonda Speedway, Frank & Jason Greco of Greco’s NAPA Auto & Truck Parts, which is located at 6014 NY Rt. 5 in Palantine Bridge NY, have presented the Greco’s NAPA Hard Charger Award to the driver who advances the most positions in the Swagger Factory Apparel Crate 602 Sportsman division feature event on a weekly basis.
“I know it’s not much, but every little bit counts especially for the smaller Sportsman teams who really seem to appreciate it,” Jason Greco recently said.
The award, which consists of $100 gift certificate to their store, is contingent on the Greco’s NAPA sticker being displayed on the race car with the recipients of the award in 2021 including the following drivers:
Kurtis Hohensheldt won the award three times this year after advancing nine positions on 4/24 (26th to 17th), eighteen positions on 5/29 (25th to seventh), and fifteen positions on 7/31 (30th to 15th).
Tony Farone, Tim Hartman Jr., and Brian Calabrese were all two-time winners of the award this year. Farone advanced eleven positions on 4/17 (16th to fifth), and thirteen positions on 6/12 (27th to 14th) while Hartman Jr. advanced eleven positions on 5/1 (22nd to 11th) and eighteen positions on 5/29 (22nd to fourth) to tie with Hohensheldt for the award on 5/29. Calabrese advanced eighteen positions on 6/5 (28th to 10th) and twenty-two positions on 7/4 (30th to eighth).
Single time winners of the award in 2021 were presented to the following drivers:
- Brian Borst who advanced ten positions on 5/8 (20th to 10th).
- Chad Edwards who advanced eight positions on 5/15 (16th to eighth).
- Addison Bowman who advanced twenty-one positions on 5/22 (27th to sixth).
- Tucker O’Connor who advanced sixteen positions on 6/19 (22nd to sixth).
- Michael Ballestero who advanced eleven positions on 6/26 (25th to 14th).
- Troy Zilles who advanced fifteen positions on 7/10 (26th to 11th).
- Michael McCallion who advanced eight positions on 7/24 (23rd to 15th).
- Tanner Warner who advanced thirteen positions on 8/14 (18th to fifth).
- Jeremiah Munson who advanced twenty-three positions on 9/18 (29th to sixth).
Without the benefit of sponsorship, racing events at your local speedways would not be possible so Fonda Speedway management would like to thank the following Marketing Partners for the 2021 season who are listed on the track website including American Racer, Lias Tire Racing Division, American Racer Cup, Sunoco Race Fuels, Bob Hilbert Sportswear Short Track Super Series, BD Brett Deyo Motorsports Media, Southside Beverage, A-Verdi Storage Containers, Recovery Sports Grill, and BBL Companies.
WEEKLY DIVISION SPONSORS
For 2021 the weekly division sponsors included Sunoco Race Fuels distributed by Insinger Performance for the Modifieds, Swagger Factory Apparel for the Crate 602 Sportsman, Montgomery County Office for Aging Inc. for the Limited Sportsman, the Algonkin Motel for the Pro Stocks, and the Fonda Fair for the Four Cylinder/Cruiser division.
Fonda Speedway management would like to thank all the weekly division sponsors mentioned above for their support of the speedway.
