Column By: MIKE TRAVERSE / RPW – MIDDLETOWN, NY – As the season of summer moves into it’s second half of 2022, there are some annual events taking place. Amongst those are county fairs. And the Orange County Fair is on schedule to open on Thursday, July 14th.
This will be the 119th time that the large fairgrounds facility will be hosting the fair. The site is located just beyond the city limits of Middletown, NY in the Town of Wallkill.
The first ever county fair in Orange County occurred in 1841. For many years, it moved around from location to location in different parts of the county. It wasn’t until 1897 when the current fairgrounds became the yearly host. Except for the years during World War 1, World War 2 and the Covid year of 2020, the fair has been continuously held.
There’s lots of entertainment during the fair. And one of the yearly traditions is the stock car racing that is held on the 5/8th mile track.
This year, there are 3 racing events scheduled during the fair. On Saturday, July 16th, the racing lineup includes the United Rentals DIRTcar Big Block Modifieds, the H.O. Penn 358 Small Block Modifieds, the Arkel Motors Sportsman and the North East Parts Group Street Stocks.
There is no racing on Saturday night, July 23rd as the always popular Monster Trucks will be entertaining fans that evening.
One of the racing events that has been held often during the fair has been an appearance by the Super DIRTcar Series. In it’s early years, it was known as the Schaefer Qualifier and it’s list of those early winners of the race is legendary. Buzzie Reutimann twice, Will Cagle, Gary Balough and Bobby Bottcher twice were the early winners of the fair week Schaefer race. Buzzie’s 1975 win was memorable as he won it using his brother Wayne’s Vega 00JR car which had won the previous night’s qualifier at Fonda Speedway. And Tighe Scott looked like he was well on his way to a win in the 1976 Schaefer Qualifier until he ran out of gas on the 91st lap with a big lead. Cagle went on to win that one. Some great memories for those of us who attended the early events.
Whether or not the series qualifier has been held during fair week, the winner’s names are legends of the sport. Harry Behrent, Brett Hearn, Danny and Alan Johnson, Dave Lape, Rich Eurich, Jeff Heotzler and Chuck McKee have been amongst those who have pulled into Victory Lane after those long distance races.
Matt Sheppard in 2019 and Stewart Friesen in 2021 are the most recent winners of the Super DIRTcar Series races at Orange County.
And the stars and cars of the Super DIRTcar Series will be returning to the Orange County Fair Speedway on Thursday, July 28th. The Battle of the Midway, as it has become known as, will this year be a 73 lap race.
The 73 honors the Ferraiuolo family who fielded the iconic #73. The Ferraiuolo 73 scored 32 victories at OCFS with some legendary drivers. Gary Balough won 17 times including 10 in 1975 alone. He also won the 1977 Eastern states 200, leading flag-to-flag. Billy Osmun won 9 times with the 73 in 1978 and was the Modified champion. Rags Carter was the first driver to win at OCFS in the 73, winning 4 times in 1979. Whip Mulligan and Anthony Ferraiuolo both had single wins in the 73.
And the penultimate day of the fair, July 30th, finds a huge event for the Sportsman that could have big implications with the point standings. It will be Twin 20’s for the Sportsman along with the Precision Hydraulic and Oil Rookie Sportsman and Street Stocks on the schedule. And the always popular One-On-One Spectator races will be held.
The Big Blocks are now into their playoff for the $30,000 championship. The final race before the field is trimmed to 8 is August 6th.
With his win this past Saturday, Matt Sheppard has locked himself into the Round of 8. A look at the points sees that Max McLaughlin and Sheppard are tied at the top with Mike Gular trailing by just 4 points. Danny Creeden is 4th, trailing by 9 and Tyler Boniface is 5th, 13 behind the leaders. Anthony Perrego, Dillon Steuer and Jimmy Horton complete the top 8 after Saturday, but the point spread through the top 12 is very tight.
The Sportsman championship hopefuls need to stay sharp, as the top two in the standings, Cody Higbie and Mike Sabia, are starting to pull some distance ahead. Higbie was able to stretch his lead just a bit with his 2nd place finish on Saturday. But the veteran driver, Sabia, stayed close with a 4th place finish. Travis Green is 3rd, 49 points behind Higbie and Drew Boniface is 4th, but trailing Cody by 90.
Perrego has a bit of a lead in the 358’s as he leads Billy VanInwegen by 36 points. Craig Mitchell, Horton and Creeden complete the top 5.
Bob Sleight Jr. has a 9 point lead over Dillion Gannon, the winner of the past two Street Stock races at OCFS. Defending champion, Mike Vigiletti, trails Sleight Jr, by 16 with Wayne Taylor 4th and Walt Henry 5th.
Here is pricing information for the speedway events during the fair.
- Saturday July 16th General Admission $20, Seniors & Military $16, Pits, $30 Members & $35 Non Members.
- Saturday July 23rd MONSTER TRUCKS No Racing.
- Thursday July 28th Reserved $40, General Admission $35, Seniors & Military $30, Pits, $40 Members & $45 Non Members.
- Saturday July 30th Grandstand FREE Drive In $15. Pits $25 all. Spectator race!!! Entry fee $20.
- July 16th….$10 Fair admission will be taken off the race ticket at Grandstands that night ONLY!
- Fair Admission will be FREE with advanced purchase of Battle of the Midway or Monster Truck tickets.