The Eagle had a chance to join the crew of Pittsfield's John Virgilio on race day at Lebanon Valley Speedway last weekend
WEST LEBANON, N.Y. — Lebanon Valley Speedway is gearing up for Saturday’s opening of the racetrack’s 72nd season.
The historic “Valley of Speed,” featuring a half-mile, high-banked clay track, plans a full slate of regular Saturday night race programs over the summer and early fall.
The 2024 season will feature seven racing divisions — big block modifieds, small block modifieds; sportsman, prostock, limited sportsman; super stocks, and four-cylinder competition.
On opening night, April 27, classes running will include big blocks, sportsman, prostocks and super stocks. The ticket booth opens at 5 p.m. and racing starts at 6 p.m.
Crowded schedule
Olden Dwyer gets ready to take his big block 88 car out on the Lebanon Valley Speedway track on Saturday, prepping for the season opener this weekend. Dwyer, of Pownal, Vt., races for his father, former driver Ron Dwyer, and the OD Auto Sales and Service-sponsored team.
In addition, the season schedule includes some mid-week events and several special races, such as the Mr. Dirt Track USA feature on Aug. 31, with a $15,000 prize for the winner.
What is likely to be an especially memorable event — the Commander 8000 big block feature — is set for July 13. It will mark the 80th birthday of longtime owner and track promoter Howard Commander.
“It is a lot of years, and a lot of fun,” Commander said of the track’s history and his own. “And for a lot of the families, this is what we do; we race cars, and at over a hundred miles an hour; and, knock on wood, it is usually pretty safe.”
Commander said he remembers helping out when family members built the racetrack and opened it 72 years ago.
“I’ve been running it a good 60 years,” he said.
Of the drivers, their families and crew members, and the racing fans, Commander added, “The loyalty in the region and area — the loyalty is beyond most people’s comprehension. Many, many families consider this the fun thing in their life.”
Fan favorites
Pittsfield's Jon Virgilio stands with his car at Lebanon Valley Speedway.
Popular events returning in 2024 include Military Appreciation Night, May 25; the annual Eve of Destruction show on June 25; Biker Night in the Valley, on June 29; the annual fireworks display, July 6; First responders night, July 27; “Monsters N Megas” with monster trucks, Aug. 2-3; and “Halloween in August,” Aug. 17.
“We’ve got a lot of big shows coming in,” Commander said. “Monster trucks, Eve of Destruction, fireworks.”
There also is “Topless Night” for the big block cars on June 1.
“That’s where they take the roof off the cars,” he said. “You get a better view of the drivers actually turning the wheel. It’s a fun night.”
Roll bars will still shield the driver should a car roll over on the track.
Also on the schedule are some familiar memorial races that honor racers who have died — often leaving behind children or grandchildren who now race at Lebanon Valley.
Those include the Andrew Sherman sportsman memorial feature on May 18; the JC Flach memorial big block feature on June 8, and the Old Buzzard memorial prostock feature on Aug. 24, honoring the late Pittsfield driver Jim Langenback.
It was a fun night on the track as fans were able to see some racing after two weeks off at the Lebanon Valley Speedway.
Warmup weekend
Lebanon Valley Speedway held a warmup session Saturday afternoon for drivers in anticipation of the 2024 racing season, which begins at the West Lebanon, N.Y., track this weekend.
On a windy afternoon this past Saturday, the annual warmup sessions gave drivers and crews a chance to work out mechanical kinks and speed issues and open it up on laps around the oval track.
Commander said more than 1,000 fans attended the free event, and many more are expected on Saturday for the first night of racing in 2024.
The raceway grandstands — located just off Route 20 about halfway between Pittsfield and Albany — can accommodate 10,000.
As for preparing the dirt track for the new season, Commander said, “It has been one of the hardest seasons in the history of the track to get open. The weather has been cold, damp and windy.”
But he said most drivers seemed to think the surface was okay during the season warmups Saturday afternoon.
In recent years, the region’s dirt tracks and the drivers have struggled through the COVID-19 pandemic, with restrictions on public events, and then the inflated costs of maintaining a car, “but so far this year,” Commander said, “it has looked pretty good; so I’m enthused.”
Drag racing season
3-peat for Sheffield's Andy Bachetti after third Mr. DIRT Track USA title at Lebanon Valley Speedway
Sheffield's Andy Bachetti makes it a 3-peat at MR. DIRT Track USA.
Commander said the Lebanon Valley Dragway quarter-mile track is also set to open for the 2024 season.
He said the strip was repaved in the fall and testing took place Sunday. The drag strip is located near the dirt track, also off Route 20 in West Lebanon.
That drag strip season will open on Friday, April 26, he said, and this year will include “drifting” events on several days on the drag racing season schedule.
Drifting is reminiscent of a TV or film car chase scene, with the cars drifting around turns, the rear end sliding out and sometimes doing a 180 or 360 spinout.
“It’s what the kids want to do, today,” Commander said. “They take their car out, and they slide around in the parking lot and have some fun.”
On Friday, track time on the drag strip can be rented during the afternoon, and drifting will be allowed in the main parking lot from 3 to 8 p.m.
Go-karts
Lebanon Valley Speedway is the place to be Saturdy night, writes sports columnist Howard Herman.
This season, Commander said, there will be an emphasis on getting more young people involved, such as by offering the scheduled times for drifting.
“The track also has a go-kart track for youth near the grandstand area, which runs on Saturdays,” he said. “And there is a new little car called a Juice Box, as in grapefruit juice. And two- and three-year-year-olds run in one class, and then four- and five-year-olds run in another class. It’s a little battery operated car, and the kids think they’re real race car drivers.”
Commander said there about 400 individual events in total planned this season on Lebanon Valley’s racing venues.
With his emphasis on reasonable ticket and refreshment prices, Commander added, “you can bring the family over with not a ton of money.”