RPW Exclusive: Syracuse Motorsports Expo: Not Just A Car Show: Something For Everyone

Column By: JOSEPH PHILLIPS / RPW – SYRACUSE, NY – The early weeks of March bring some foreshadowing of Spring’s arrival.

Last Saturday & Sunday weren’t playing nice, though.

That didn’t keep the fans away from the New York State Fairgrounds, however.  While fans were greeted with high winds and bitter temps, fortunately for them, the atmosphere was warm and welcoming inside the Fairgrounds’ Center of Progress Building for the 2025 edition of the Syracuse Motorsports Expo.

Annually, fans and drivers are giving the chance to come out and make new friends, see new cars, meet up with track officials, possibly purchase needed equipment for the year’s campaign or just get the blood pumping for the new season.  Vendors on hand ran the gamete of the auto racing spectrum.

Cortland NY’s DIG Race Products was at the Expo, showing off the latest in shock technology. DIG was founded by a true racing legend known as the Natural, Dale Planck, and his son, Brandon.  Sadly, the elder Planck passed away last year but DIG is continuing on as a family-owned business, providing the best in suspension components for all types of open wheel Modifieds.

Velocita USA was in attendance showcasing their line of safety equipment, catering to everyone, from kart racers to stock cars.  They had shoes, firesuits, helmets, gloves and more, all on sale.

The best part was that Velocita reps were on hand to help drivers with suit and helmet sizing. That’s very important as most people are not built to the same dimensions.  Not everyone fits a “size chart.”

JC Race Parts also had fire suits, helmets as well as seats and various types of race car parts in their booth.  They even got down to the ‘nitty gritty’ as you could find things like throttle linkages, fuel cells and motor mounts.

Told ya you could find all sorts of stuff at this show!

Not to be outdone, radio communications.  Yup, I said. it, and Waddell Communications and Repair, an authorized dealer for Racing Electronics (who is a great partner of RPW by the way), was on site all weekend.  Waddell was offering racing transponders, one-way radios, batteries and repairs on existing equipment.  One thing they offered was custom-fit ear buds that could be made right at their booth in the show.  How’s that for service?

As always with shows like this, the race series were well represented.  DIRTcar Northeast, the Short Track Super Series, ISMA / MSS, Hustling the Highway 600 Mods, CRSA Sprints and Empire Super Sprints were all on hand, many with cars in their booths.

Schedules, merchandise and great conversations are a plus and some, like DIRTcar, had stations for younger kids, featuring the ‘fun side’ of racing, including a coloring or other novelties.

There was also remote control car tracks set up to help folks get the competitive juice’s flowing.

In regards to tracks that were on display, DIRTcar NE had great representation with Thunder Mountain, Weedsport, Brewerton, Fulton, Can-Am, Land of Legends and Ransomville all handing out schedules and discussing rules or just answering general questions.

If the dirt tracks weren’t you thing, Oswego Speedway was handing out schedules and had a Supermodified along with their two-seat Super on display. Okay, okay…I know it’s a ‘dirt’ track for at least one week a year.  Does that make Oswego a ‘Super’ ‘DIRT’ ‘Week’ track for those days? (See what I did there?)

Diecast collectors had a LOT of choices for where to buy that special piece to add to the collection.  This show surely had what someone could have been looking for.

07 Racing Collectables of Endwell, NY was on hand with diecasts, models (including Lenny Boehler’s Ole’ Blue), racing t-shirts and even several periodicals for purchase.  Many popular titles for your reading pleasure included Hot Shoe, The Gary Balough Story” as well as The Last Cowboy, The Life & Times Of Billy Pauch.

After pausing for a quick burger (the food at this show was excellent) I couldn’t help notice many who were in line to try out the Gear Box Driving Experience racing simulator, developed by Weedsport Productions.  This simulator is top notch and gives the racer the true feeling of being behind the wheel of a Dirt Modified, including sitting in the cockpit of an actual racecar chassis with a Modified body.

Large computer monitors wrapped around the driver’s viewing area with surround sound giving you the ‘full effect’ as racers toured around the Weedsport Speedway, virtually, through iRacing.

This was another part of the show that did not disappoint!

Then, you have the drivers.  Many were with their cars that may be in the show while some were just there to speak with fans and sign autographs.

Ransomville Speedway Sportsman campaigner Mike Martin, along with his wife, had their red and yellow #99 Bicknell on display.   Jimmy Zacharias had both a Dirt & Asphalt Modified on display. Their Dirt #71 was a real eye catcher, featuring metallic blues and chrome.  To many, it was the best in show.

Owen Mossow and Doug Windhausen had their 600cc Modifieds on display for Thunder Mountain and the Hustle the Highway Series booth. Both readily answered questions for the fans and explaining the finer points of their rides.

If horsepower wasn’t your thing, maybe another sport was up your alley.  Mad River Cornhole had their March Regional Tournament on the back side of the building. This event had professional brackets and events for singles and teams.  A large amount of boards were set up and the competition was run off very quickly.

Many folks lament the fact that the Syracuse Mile is no longer in operation. Many great memories and race records were achieved on that hallowed one-mile dirt oval.  Though the track is just a memory now,  the city of Syracuse has proven that it still has a strong connection to Motorsports, and this year’s Expo was no exception.

The 2025 edition was a great family fun event and gave everyone a chance to steal a sneak peek into the upcoming summer racing season, and who can beat that?