ACT US Tour to Open 2010 Asphalt Season at Albany Saratoga Speedway
The American Canadian Tour (ACT) will open up the 2010 season at the 4/10-mile Albany-Saratoga Speedway in Malta, New York (A/S) in April.
Albany-Saratoga Promoter Bruce Richards contacted the ACT office several months ago and discussed the possibility that there might be a change from the clay surface to the asphalt. “Part of our plan is to pull up the clay this Fall and open the first several events in the Spring with the asphalt. We have considered this for a number of years, but now it is time to make the move. The ACT has grown throughout the Northeast and Canada over the past several years, and our long-standing relationship with Tom Curley and Ken Squier made this a natural for us to hook up again for what will be a very exciting change for Albany-Saratoga Speedway’’, said Richards.
‘Malta”, as the track was know for many years in the 60’s and 70’s, used to be one of the regular asphalt tracks for weekly Modified racing. Part of the race for NASCAR National Point Championships would see some of the Northeast’s greatest stars make “Malta” a regular stop. On a weekly basis the best of New England stars like Rene Charland, Ed Flemke, Don MacTavish, Bugsy Stevens, and dozens of other New England ‘shoes’ would take on the great drivers from New York , including Jerry Cook and multi-time NASCAR National Champion, Rome, New York’s Richie Evans.
A new era on the asphalt at A/S will take place when the Late Model full-bodied cars of the American Canadian Tour compete at the historic New York oval. The American Canadian Tour has been sanctioning major short track stock car events throughout New England and Canada since 1986. It will now add Albany Saratoga Speedway to its only other New York track, Airborne Speedway in Plattsburgh.
“I can’t wait to visit Albany Saratoga. My dad (legendary driver Beaver Dragon) has told me about all the racing that went on there in the 60’s. Our team always enjoys the challenges of a new track”, said ACT veteran racer Brent Dragon from Milton, VT. Dragon will join race teams from every corner of New England and two provinces of Canada to make racing history at the Albany Saratoga Speedway in April, 2010.
“This is going to be a lot of fun for our race teams”, Tom Curley, director of the American Canadian Tour said. “They all like going to new tracks and ‘Malta’ is a special place for me personally. I spent nearly every Friday night for a couple of summers at A/S with my friend Don MacTavish, back in the mid-sixties. Without his great finishes at “Malta”, he never would have won his NASCAR National Championship. I also raced my ‘36 coupe with a 427 big block there, although I doubt it will show up in many record books, but it was always a fun place to be on a Friday night back then”, Curley said with a laugh.
The opening date is slated for April, 2010. The day and particulars will be forthcoming as soon as the 2010 American Canadian Tour schedule is completed sometime around mid-November.
Sources: ACT PR