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Kenny Tremont, assistant professor in the Applied Technologies Department, discusses his racing career in the following Troy Record article, published Sept. 20.<\/p>\n
MALTA, N.Y. \u2014 When Kenny Tremont steps into his racecar on Saturday at Albany-Saratoga Speedway, it\u2019ll be a history-making moment in a career filled with memories. Earlier this season, the West Sand Lake driver announced he\u2019d hang up his helmet at the end of the season. That means when the Super DIRTcar Series battles at Malta Massive Weekend on Saturday, Sept. 23, it\u2019s the final race for the Northeast Dirt Modified Hall of Famer.<\/p>\n
Throughout his career, Tremont was a mainstay at Albany-Saratoga and Devil\u2019s Bowl Speedway in Vermont. But he\u2019s best known for his success at Lebanon Valley, where he scored 144 victories at the 5\/8-mile track and 14-track championships.<\/p>\n
His rise to stardom began in 1977 when he ran a few laps to keep the family\u2019s backup car fresh for its primary driver, Chuck Ely. From there, the rest was history.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first time I ever sat in a car was 1977,\u201d Tremont said. \u201cI didn\u2019t know really what to expect. I just did it and took it day by day. I had no expectations at all. But I knew I liked racing. I spent a lot of time helping Dad with his cars. He had a lot of hired drivers through the years, and I just started warming cars up and got a little bit better over time. Then, we started to Qualify and compete in the Features.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tremont rose through the ranks at the famed high-banked oval, battling weekly against names like Tommy Corellis, Maynard Forrette, and Dickie Larkin. It wasn\u2019t long before he grabbed the first of his 14 championships, besting Larkin for the 1982 track title.<\/p>\n
While winning at home was fun, he knew it was time to go on the road with the Super DIRTcar Series in 1985. Tremont won 15 times with the Series, including nine at Lebanon Valley. Those 20 years on the road helped him become one of the top drivers in the northeast.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just a ton more work,\u201d Tremont explained. \u201cYou needed more equipment and more people. I believe it was 1985 was the first time we ran the tour full-time. We had done the championship trail races at the end of the year like the Fonda 200, and Eastern States 200 at [Orange County Fair Speedway] in October, and then went to Super DIRT Week at the [New York State Fairgrounds] in 1981. We didn\u2019t Qualify, we missed the Feature by a couple, and the first year we actually qualified was 1982.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had been exposed to running with the guys who had been running the Series, and then by 1985, we ran full-time for about 20 years. It was good for my experience, so when I came back home to Lebanon Valley and Albany-Saratoga and Devil\u2019s Bowl, it helped me tune the car and become a better driver.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tremont\u2019s best year came in 1999 when he dominated at Lebanon Valley and scored his most significant win. He outlasted 43 other drivers at Super DIRT Week at the New York State Fairgrounds to win the Eckerd 300\u2014his only Big Block triumph at \u201cRacing\u2019s Biggest Party.\u201d<\/p>\n
When reflecting on that massive win, he described it in one word.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s everything,\u201d Tremont remarked. \u201cYou can look back now and say I was able to win that race. I know a lot of people have come close, and a lot of people deserved to win that race that didn\u2019t. I just feel lucky to be able to complete it and get it done.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Tremont\u2019s career winds down this weekend, his dad Ken Sr., better known as Abe, has been beside him for every race. Plus despite having other opportunities, he enjoyed staying close to home.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m glad I stuck with our team at home and gave us a chance to build our team up and add sponsorship, so we really had a competitive team for a lot of years,\u201d Tremont noted. \u201cI was glad to be able to do it with my dad. It meant quite a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
The No. 115 driven by Tremont will take his final ride this weekend as part of Albany-Saratoga\u2019s Malta Massive weekend\u2014where the veteran driver will be the guest of honor. Earlier this month, the Super DIRTcar Series and track promoter Lyle Devore announced the race would be 115 laps and pay $ 11,500 to win.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s Devore\u2019s way of honoring the driver who\u2019s third on the track\u2019s all-time wins list with 81 victories and 13 track championships.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe right thing to do is to honor him, being it is his last race ever and it\u2019s taking place at one of his main tracks he\u2019s raced his entire career at,\u201d Lyle DeVore, who runs and promotes Albany-Saratoga Speedway, commented.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got thinking, we\u2019re going 100 laps, why don\u2019t we go another 15 and make it 115 laps and make it $11,500 to win,\u201d DeVore continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s part of what we\u2019re going to do in recognition of his history and success at Albany-Saratoga Speedway. He\u2019s been a big part of our fanbase. He\u2019s just such a great sportsman and a great person. As much as we\u2019re proud that he\u2019s raced here all these years, it is sad that this chapter is closing,\u201d DeVore added.<\/p>\n
Tremont said he\u2019s excited about the race named in his honor.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s pretty neat; I was actually kind of surprised,\u201d Tremont remarked. \u201cI didn\u2019t think much of any of it, but of course, as it gets closer to the end of the season, I have a lot of people coming up and talking to me, talking about my career and how I started and all this stuff. It\u2019s actually a really nice way to wind up a career. I think it is great.\u201d<\/p>\n
When the checkered flag falls after 115 laps on Saturday night, it\u2019ll be the end of the road for the Hall of Famer. But for fans, they\u2019ll always have memories to look back on. Tremont explained he\u2019s happy to have a place in Big Block Modified history.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust to be remembered at all is pretty good,\u201d Tremont noted.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur record is good, but it\u2019s not the best, but we\u2019re certainly not the worst. Just to be remembered that we were a part of it, and we had a good time with it, and maybe encourage others to become races would be enough,\u201d Tremont added.<\/p>\n
Tremont will battle for the final time with the Super DIRTcar Series in the 115-lap, $11,500-to-win Malta Massive Weekend finale at Albany-Saratoga Speedway on Saturday, Sept. 23. For more on the Super DIRTcar Series and this weekend\u2019s race, visit superdirtcarseries.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n Photo: Super DIRTcar Series<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Published:<\/strong>\u00a0Thu, 21 Sep 2023 12:10:23 +0000 by\u00a0d.gardner<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Kenny Tremont, assistant professor in the Applied Technologies Department, discusses his racing career in the following Troy Record article,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2086,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[133],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-in-the-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chronicle.hvcc.edu\/wpdev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chronicle.hvcc.edu\/wpdev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chronicle.hvcc.edu\/wpdev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chronicle.hvcc.edu\/wpdev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2086"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chronicle.hvcc.edu\/wpdev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20683"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chronicle.hvcc.edu\/wpdev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20683\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chronicle.hvcc.edu\/wpdev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chronicle.hvcc.edu\/wpdev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chronicle.hvcc.edu\/wpdev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}