RPW Exclusive: Rain May Have Hurt OCFS’ Racing Sunday, But Didn’t Dampen Nostalgia Night
Column By: JOSEPH PHILLIPS / RPW – MIDDLETOWN, NY – The Orange County Fair Speedway roared to life in 2025 for the 19th Annual Doug Dulgarian’s Nostalgia night.
A full program of DIRTcar Modifieds (40), Sportsman (47) and Street Stocks (33). Sadly, after the Modifed heats, the skies opened up.
With rain forecasted through the evening and into Monday, the decision was made to cancel the remainder of the program. Fans can use their wristbands as rain tickets for any of the remaining Big Series races, not including Eastern States.
After the rainout Doug Dulgarian told fans they will have to check the calendar and see if they have dates to reschedule to.
The next race is the Joey Falanga Memorial, sponsored by M. Falanga Trucking, which is set for June 22nd. Fans will remember that is date is a reschedule from early May!
Fortunately, the Nostalgia portion was completed before the rains came. Many drivers from the 50’s up to the early 2000’s were on hand. Russ Meyer, 98 years young, was on hand happily chatting with fans. Buzzie and David Reutimann had issues with connecting flights and were unable to attend and Gary Balough had a family reunion to attend. Anthony Ferraiuolo IV was on hand and he stated that Gary had his hip surgery and is recovering nicely.
Newer generation drivers such as Tim Hindley, Danny Creeden, Jerry Higbie, Steve Dodd, Carol Birchwale, and Donnie Elliot were all present. Cars on display were a Will Cagle’s Coupe, Frankie Schneider’s red and white #2 coach, The Ferraiuolo Brothers #73 Grant King car, the Statewide #3 Weld chassis car, and the Marinelli #M1 Gremlin bodied car.
The best part for fans of mechanical design is the fact that one can see the evolution of Modifieds from the 50’s to today. Prime examples are the Cagle and Schneider cars. Early modified cars had a transverse mounted leaf spring supporting the solid front axle, with a shock absorber mounted for each wheel. Weight jacking bolts were added to the leaf spring on each side of the frame mount. It is a simple, yet brilliant design from the days when drivers would experiment and reason out problems.
Flash forward to the 70’s fans can see something more akin to modern cars. The Grant King car has front coil over shocks and Torsion bar rear. The Weld car has a similar design but the coil overs are inboard and use Cantilever arms to actuate the shocks.
It was around this time when race car shops like Tobias and Grant King started to provide custom-built chassis and cars got standardized to what we see now.
A plus from the brief racing action is the track surface looked pretty darn good. It was tacky and fast.
“Track was different for sure,” Sportsman racer Bryan Traver stated after Thursday’s open practice. “It had a little character to it!”
The Modified heat races ran off fast with cars going two and three wide in spots. A cushion was forming in the turns and no ruts were forming. Brett Hearn and his track crew deserve several round of applause for their efforts.
The Next race for the Big Series 2, bought to us by Brett Hearn and Doug Dulgarian is on June 22nd, which is the make up for the May race. There is also a race on July 13th, which is the Full Fender Nostalgia night. Races in August and September follow and culminate with the annual Eastern States Weekend in October.
Nostalgia night 2025 was a success. Yes, it rained out but Orange County Speedway folks are an extended family. No matter where people may roam, there’s always fans of the Hard Clay. People may not see friends all winter and having a chance to sit in the favorite spot in the grandstand and laughing with friends is worth the price of admission.
Longtime Orange County Fair Speedway super fan Robert Wasnorowicz said it best.
“My friends, We Are HOME,” he said.
He’s right!
