Story By: RON SZCZERBA / NEW YORK STATE STOCK CAR ASSOCIATION – FULTONVILLE, NY – This Sunday, August 4 at the Glen Ridge Motorsports Park, four people will be inducted into the New York State Stock Car Association (NYSSCA) Hall of Fame.
The inductees include Jake Spraker, Tom Spencer, Bill & Erik Nelson.
The ceremony will be held at 4:30 P.M. in front of the bleachers at the track before the racing program begins.
NYSSCA will also be holding NYSSCA Night at the track on Sunday where the top two NYSSCA members finishing each feature event will receive $75 & $50 respectively along with a NYSSCA hat. The first driver who is a NYSSCA member in each of the SOHC & DOHC Mini-Stock classes will also receive $75 each along with a NYSSCA hat, and there will be a $50 wild card award given out by the organization along with a NYSSCA hat as well.
NYSSCA HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE TOM SPENCER
Tom Spencer caught the racing bug at age 12 when he used to go to the Fonda Speedway and watch the racing events from the turn one bleacher section. He then raced Go-Karts for awhile until buying out Tim Clemons’ Racing operation at the end of the 1984 season and putting Clemons in the car as his driver. Together they put together many wins and three straight Sportsman Track Championships at Fonda in 1990-1992.
Spencer added a Modified to his stable in 1990 after buying out Jake Spraker’s racing operation and placed Mike Romano in the car. Now Spencer had Rick Achzet in what was called a Street Stock back then that was sponsored by his business Adirondack Leather, along with Clemons and Romano in Sportsman and Modified cars owned by him. The result were Fonda Speedway Track Championships in 1990 by all three drivers in their respective divisions, a record that is still held by Spencer to this day.
Tom raced again back in 1992, but only because of a bet, when he was trying to instruct Clemons how to drive the race car. Clemons told Tom to get in the car himself and drive it, which he did, driving his own backup car six times. Spencer sold out his entire race team at the end of the 2004 racing season but got back into it in 2015, buying out AJ Romano’s racing operation when AJ moved south.
Chad Edwards got the call as Spencer’s driver in the sportsman division in 2016 and the two won many races together along with the Fonda Speedway Sportsman Track Championship in 2018. At that time after getting back into racing for a second time, Spencer gave himself five more years as a car owner before retiring for good.
After having many successful drivers in his cars over the years including Clemons, both AJ & Mike Romano, Floyd Billington, Ray Dalmatta, Jack Johnson, CD Coville, Jimmy Johnson Jr., Joe Geniti, and Edwards among others, Tom now goes to work every day and enjoys watching races on Flo Racing.
“Back in the 90’s I was in it (racing) with both hands and both feet,” Spencer said. “At one time back then I had 11 motors, four cars, and three trailers. I figure that I spent a total of two million dollars on racing. Now I still feel good enough at age 79 to go to work every day and enjoy watching the races from home on Flo Racing.”
NYSSCA HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE BILL NELSON
Bill Nelson started going to the races with neighbors from his home in Tribes Hill, lying about his age in order to get into the pit area because he was only 13 years old, and the age limit was 14. While he was in high school, Bill would hitchhike down route five to get to the Fonda Speedway and when he got his drivers license he started drag racing at Fonda. His first race in a stock car was at the Lebanon Valley Speedway in 1967.
When Fonda opened up a hobby division, Bill competed in that in a car bought from Jim Downing in Fort Hunter. He never thought that he would get the car together, but he did and raced it at Fonda. “They had race cars, I had field cars,” Nelson said. The car was #S33 when he started but when he ran NASCAR events there were too many other cars with the number three in competition, so NASCAR mandated the #85 to Bill with a NY after it (85NY) as a state distinction to differentiate the different states that the drivers lived in.
When Dick Pennock flipped his car at Fonda and it landed on Bill’s hobby stock, he decided to build a Modified. At the time Bill worked in the shop and pitted for Andy Romano, traveling all over with Andy wherever he raced. “Andy took in stray dogs and I was one of them,” Nelson joked. Bill has one feature win in his Vintage #85 coach at Fonda but considered it an accomplishment to just make the field when he raced.
“We competed with the likes of Ritchie Evans, Jerry Cook and others on the asphalt at Utica Rome and Albany Saratoga,” he said. “We were just there for fun but to qualify against the talent we raced against was an accomplishment for us. I bridged the gap between the old style modifieds and the new style cars.”
Bill and his son Erik owned a race car that Erik drove at Glen Ridge along with Willy Decker and Bobby Varin. Together the three drivers have a total of 40 wins at the Ridge along with two track championships there in 2013 & 2014 with Varin behind the wheel. “We were always in the hunt for championships at Glen Ridge,” Nelson said. “People ask me when I’m gonna retire from racing for good and I tell them when my age hits my car number.”
NYSSCA HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE ERIK NELSON
When Erik attended Morrisville College majoring in Auto Tech, he wanted to go drag racing. He found a Vega bodied car at Pat Madej’s house and wanted to buy it. That was until his father Bill talked him out of it. “My dad said why would you want to race all night going three seconds at a time,” Erik said.
Erik then found a Camaro Street Stock, bought the car, and raced it at Fonda. “I went to look at the car and left a note on the door that I was interested,” he said. “The guy called me back and I told him that I was interested so he said to come and pick it up. When I went to pick it up the guy wasn’t there again, so I left him another note and took the car.”
Erik stayed in the street stocks for four years until he was involved in a car accident, the day before he was to leave for Florida on vacation, resulting in injuries to his neck after a dump truck rear ended him. The doctor told him that his racing days were done at that point. “I was miserable not being able to race,” Erik said. “So, I bought a Pro Stock from Dave Bayes and went back to Fonda with it.”
Nelson raced that car for two years until one day when Mike Romano called him and asked if he would be interested in getting behind the wheel of the Sam & Linda Smith #72VT. He accepted the ride, running in the Sportsman division at Albany Saratoga and Devils Bowl. Erik bought his first Sportsman car on his own from Bobby Vedder, making payments to Bobby until the car was paid off. He brought the car home, a 1999 Bicknell downtube car, put his Pro Stock motor in it, and raced it at Fonda.
Mid-season 2002, Erik bought a Bicknell car from John Bellinger. “Tim Clemons was my mentor,” Nelson said. “We put the car together in Mike Parillo’s shop in three days.” At that point Erik ran wherever he could, resulting in one Modified victory at Afton, eight Modified victories at Glen Ridge, and one Sportsman win at Fonda. “For a guy that wasn’t supposed to get out of his own way we ran pretty well,” Erik said.
Together as car owners besides their victories at Glen Ridge, Bill & Erik Nelson, owners of Nelson Motorsports, also have three career Modified wins at Fonda, one with Demetrios Drellos and two with their current driver Jack Lehner.
NYSSCA HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE JAKE SPRAKER
Not only was Jake Spraker a race car driver and owner, but he also promoted races at the Glen Ridge Motorsports Park along with his partner Mike Romano. Spraker started going to the races at a very young age with his father who still goes to Fonda every Saturday even though he is in his 90’s as far as age goes. “At one time back in the day my father would save seats at Fonda for people as far away as Canada who used to come to the track every week,” Spraker said.
Jake started racing Mini-Mods at Albany Saratoga and Devils Bowl in 1982 & 1983. He had two Mini-Mods lettered up similar to the Cliff Barcomb #11 which back then was driven by CD Coville who was Jake’s favorite driver once Kenny Shoemaker retired. When Coville totaled a car, Jake raffled off one of his Mini-Mods and handed the money to CD to help him out. When he heard that Bob Sitterly had a Troyer car for sale, Spraker bought the car and went racing as a car owner with his favorite driver behind the wheel, CD Coville.
“It was a spur of the moment decision to buy the car,” Spraker said. “I bought it one day, Custom Bob lettered it one night, and we went racing.” After selling everything to Tom Spencer, Spraker got back into it in 1984 with Ray Dalmatta driving the car at the start of the 1985 season. “I missed owning something, so I bought a motor from Mike Romano who was my next driver,” Spraker said. “I had close to or just over 30 different drivers in my cars during my career as a car owner, I had records of them all and the number of wins we had together but when I closed my garage I just threw everything in boxes and those records are in one of those boxes.”
When Jerry Sampson had enough of promoting Glen Ridge, he asked Jake and Mike Romano to take it over. The duo promoted the track for five years until getting out in 2012. “We had no idea what we were getting in to,” Spraker said. “I liked doing it while Mike didn’t like it as much.” When asked if Jake would ever get back into promoting again he said that he wouldn’t mind it. In order to get back into racing as a car owner though, he said things would have to change. “I would have to hit the lottery to do that,” he said.
With 11 total Track Championships at Fonda alone in three different divisions, Jake just wants to be remembered as a car owner that always had winning race cars. “Funny thing is that the drivers who won the most during their careers weren’t able to do it in my cars,” he said.