Story By: CURTIS BERLEUE / EMPIRE SUPER SPRINTS – MALTA, NY – Following another successful CNY Speedweek, the Empire Super Sprints are ready to roar back to action this weekend.
An eastern NY doubleheader will see the tour make their only stops of 2024 at the Albany-Saratoga Speedway this Friday night, followed by the Fonda Speedway on Saturday.
Friday’s action at Albany-Saratoga will be the 34th visit in tour history to the 4/10 mile oval located in Malta, NY. Last season, it was Matt Tanner in victory lane at ‘The Great Race Place’. In 33 previous events run, Craig Keel and Dan Kaszubinski are tied for a tour record four wins each. No currently active driver, however, has been able to repeat success at Albany Saratoga, with Tanner, Jordan Poirier and Jason Barney scoring the three most recent victories.
Saturday’s stop at the Fonda Speedway will be the annual Earl Halaquist Memorial. Each year, the Earl Halaquist Memorial is held in honor of one of the most accomplished sprint car drivers in the Northeast, Earl Halaquist. Competing across NY, NJ, PA, VA, NC, MD VT, Canada and more, Halaquist amassed 53 URC wins and six championships. Halaquist, a World War II veteran, was inducted into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in Knoxville, IA in 2000 before his passing in 2001.
Last season’s Earl Halaquist Memorial winner was Danny Varin, who has amassed an impressive 7 wins in his last 8 ESS starts at the Fonda Speedway. Varin is also coming off a win in the most recent ESS event – Sunday July 7th’s visit to the Weedsport Speedway – his second win thus far in 2024.
Additional support on the weekend will come from We Know Tools – Paul Wehnau’s Snap-on on Friday night as the presenting sponsor of the Cobra Coaches Dash, and One Zee Tees on Saturday as the dash presenting sponsor.