Story By: CHRIS MOORE / SHORT TRACK SUPER SERIES – FONDA, NY – Firecracker. The Bob Hilbert Sportswear Short Track Super Series (STSS) Fueled By Sunoco makes its first of two stops at the historic Fonda Speedway to kick off a bustling month of July.
The ‘Track of Champions’ hosts the sixth annual ‘Firecracker 50,’ a 50-lap, $10,000-to-win feature event for the STSS big-block/small-block Modifieds.
This year’s ‘Firecracker 50’ will play the part of Round No. 4 of the River Valley Builders North Region and Round No. 9 of the Ollie’s Overall title fight.
The event began in 2019, when BD Motorsports Media LLC took the reigns of the uniquely shaped half-mile oval in Central New York.
The 2019 event is still the most memorable one to date, as Sprakers, N.Y.’s Stewart Friesen passed Savannah, N.Y.’s Matt Sheppard coming out of the final corner to take the victory. Friesen rebounded from a flat tire 18 laps into the event, coming from the rear to take the victory.
Friesen, the modern-day kingpin at the Track of Champions, went on to rattle off the first four ‘Firecracker 50’ events.
The Sprakers, N.Y., native topped the likes of Larry Wight (2020), Billy Decker (2021), and Sheppard (2022) again on his way to the four consecutive victories.
Sheppard flipped the script in 2023 however, upending Friesen on his way to the $10,000 triumph.
The STSS heads back to Fonda Speedway in September for the biggest payday of the calendar year for the STSS Modifieds.
The ‘Fonda 200’ takes place Thurs.-Sat. Sept. 12-14 for the annual 200-lap, $53,000-to-win feature in the historic event.