Horton and Tomkins Selected to NE Dirt Modified Hall of Fame for 2024
Special Awards to Spraker, Hoffman, DeVore, Logan, Pauch Mahaney and Sova
By Buffy Swanson
Weedsport, NY (January 31, 2024) —Two-time Super DIRT Week winner Jimmy Horton and 2004 Mr. DIRT Series titlist Gary Tomkins will officially be inducted into the Northeast Dirt Modified Hall of Fame in July. The pair of racing legends are added to a stellar list of Modified standouts that was started in 1992 when the Hall of Fame was established on the Cayuga County Fairgrounds in Weedsport, NY.
The 32nd annual induction ceremonies honoring the Class of 2024 will take place Wednesday, July 10 at 7 pm in the Northeast Dirt Modified Museum and Hall of Fame, on the grounds of the state-of-the-art Weedsport Speedway. The event is free and open to the public, and will feature pre- and post-program festivities sponsored by the track. The following Sunday, Weedsport Speedway will present its Super DIRTcar Series Hall of Fame 100 for the big-block Modifieds.
New Jersey superstar Jimmy Horton always knew he was destined to race. His father fielded Modifieds from the 1950s forward, and before the kid was old enough to drive he was itching to prove himself, pushing Hall of Famer Sammy Beavers out of the seat in 1975, the year after he took Sportsman titles at both Nazareth and Orange County. He was a phenom right out of the box: barely out of high school, Horton was showing titans like the Reutimann brothers and Carl Van Horn the fast way around Middletown. In his rookie year, he finished second in the Modified point chase at that “Big Six” track; in 1976, he won the trophy outright. Young and cocky, Horton hounded top car owners like Rich Marinelli and Tony Ferraiuolo for a shot. The door finally opened for him at George Smith’s Statewide Racing stable. From 1977 through 1990, Jimmy helped build Statewide into the team to beat. And not only in Modified stock cars: Smith’s desire to crack the NASCAR code sent Horton down south, working with Cup greats like Bobby Allison and Ken Schrader to advance to racing’s highest level. They made their mark in ARCA, winning five times in 1990—but Horton’s true heart was back home, on the Northeast’s dirt short tracks. He returned to the Modified scene in a big way by ’94, driving for Dan Madsen, then Bob Faust and a succession of teams until he landed in Chris Larsen’s Halmar car at the end of 2015. Still not ready to retire at age 67, Horton will partner with Mike Sena this season to continue his legacy. “The Sensational One” is a fitting nickname: In addition to Jimmy’s two Sportsman titles, he’s won nine Modified championships at Bridgeport, five at East Windsor, three at Orange County, a pair at New Egypt and is a two-time titleholder on the DIRT Florida tour. He won “the big one” at Syracuse in 1987 and again in 1994, and is a two-time winner of the Eastern States 200. Horton’s career record currently stands at 465 wins at 37 tracks in eight states and two Canadian provinces.
Like Horton, Central New Yorker Gary Tomkins knew he always wanted to race, from the time his parents took him to Waterloo as a tot. When he was 15, Tomkins gutted a Dodge Challenger and entered it in the affordable Street Stock class at Canandaigua. The next two years, he tore up the track, winning 26 times until the car was plain worn out and he was out of high school. Unable to afford the jump to Modified equipment, Gary spent the next years attending college and working for chassis builder John Birosh, trying to figure his next step. When Birosh was hired by Maynard Troyer in late ’86, Tomkins tagged along, building bodies at the Rochester shop until 1996. In the meantime, he pieced together a Sportsman car, racing to Canandaigua’s division title in 1989. He was still trying to get his foot in the door, helping Troyer star Danny Johnson, and gained some attention as Danny’s relief driver for one race in 1990. The following year, he replaced Curt Van Pelt in Darrell Simmons’ No. 32 and scored his first Modified victory in 1992. The end of ’96, Tomkins replaced Alan Johnson in the Bill Trout Modified, with Stu Sheppard turning wrenches and Honeoye sponsor Doug Dulen, who bought out Trout in 2000. Tomkins hit the jackpot in late 2003 when Jim Beachy picked him to drive the high-profile Pillsbury No. 1, again succeeding Alan Johnson, with Hall of Fame crew chief Randy Kisacky calling the shots. Tomkins won the first time out for the team, a 100-lap Super DIRT Series event at Hagerstown. Seven more SDS wins and—more importantly—the 2004 Mr. DIRT Series championship were claimed before the Beachy operation dissolved in 2006. Since then, Gary has enjoyed success with Doug Dulen, taking five more SDS victories, and winning the Victoria 200 at Utica-Rome for Mike Payne in 2009. All told, Tomkins has accrued 146 career wins at 14 tracks in the U.S., Canada and Australia. He took the Brewerton Mod title in 2004, and was the Rolling Wheels Modified champion in 2004 and 2005.
Also being honored at the July 10 induction ceremonies are Jake Spraker, Davey Hoffman, Lyle DeVore, Doug Logan, Mandee Pauch Mahaney and Roy Sova.
The 2024 Gene DeWitt Car Owner Award goes to Jake Spraker of Gloversville, NY, who has fielded rides for some the sport’s biggest names for close to four decades. It started when C.D. Coville crashed the Barcomb No. 11 beyond repair in 1983. Spraker was quick to offer assistance: he raffled off the Mini-Mod he’d been racing himself, bought a Modified, and put Coville in the seat. Although the pair never won a race, it was the beginning of Spraker’s star-studded run as one of the Capital District’s most successful car owners. After Coville, he won a half-dozen races at Fonda and grabbed outside pole at Syracuse with Ray Dalmata, before taking a brief hiatus. But nothing could keep Spraker away from the sport for too long. In the years that followed, pretty much everyone who was anyone drove for Jake. Mike Romano won both the Fonda 200 and the track title for him in 1989. Bobby Varin added another three Fonda titles, in 2005, 2006 and 2008. With Alan Johnson in the seat, Spraker won a slew of the big ones around the region, including Fulton’s Victoria 200 and Orange County’s Eastern States SBM 150 in 2003, DIRT 358 series races at Weedsport, Canandaigua, Rolling Wheels, Frogtown, Merrittville and Ransomville, and a rain-shortened Rolling Wheels 200 in ’08. Stewart Friesen brought in three wins at Albany-Saratoga; Ronnie Johnson was good for seven scores and the 2016 Fonda championship. Tim Clemons grabbed a couple of Sportsman crowns at Rolling Wheels and Utica-Rome, while Steve Welch was the 1999 Fonda Pro Stock champ in one of Jake’s machines. In 2015, Spraker furthered full-fendered standout Rocky Warner, first in Sportsman, then Modified. Warner and Spraker connected for close to 100 wins and a dozen championship titles at Fonda, Glen Ridge, Utica-Rome, Albany-Saratoga and on the GRIT Series.
Davey Hoffman, the recipient of this year’s Mechanic/Engineering Award, was a farm kid from Allentown, PA, with no knowledge of racing until his brothers and buddies pooled together a couple hundred bucks to buy a Late Model for Dorney Park in 1977. They all put their names in a hat to see who would drive—and Doug’s name got pulled. He won his fifth time out—and the Hoffmans were hooked. But there were limited opportunities on pavement in that area, so the boys ventured out. A casual visit to Budd Olsen Speed Supply in 1981 put them on dirt: seeing promise, the Olsens took Doug under their wing and taught Davey all they knew about fine-tuning and maintaining a race car. He was a fast study and not afraid of hard work. By 1984, with Davey as crew chief, the team had taken a half-dozen titles at Bridgeport, East Windsor and Penn National, and Doug was winning everywhere—29 wins in 1982, 40 in ’83 and again in ’84, at places like Nazareth National, Orange County, Weedsport, Can-Am, Rolling Wheels and the NY State Fairgrounds. Davey came off the road in ’85 to start Hoffman Bros. Speed Supply, selling hard parts, tires and servicing Big Diamond Raceway. But his innate ability to interpret what a race car needed—particularly in regard to tire management—kept Davey in demand as a crew chief. In addition to helping his brother, he received job offers from both Brett Hearn and Bicknell’s Randy Williamson, worked for Billy Pauch in 1995-6, and wound up in Frank Cozze’s camp more than a few times, between breaks to return to farming life in Montana, where his wife’s family resided. He was in Cozze’s pit at Syracuse, planning tire strategy, both times Frank was in position to win that classic event—in 1989, when Cozze had the lead until seven to go and tangled with Danny Johnson; and in 2008, when he finally won it.
Albany-Saratoga Speedway promoter Lyle DeVore will receive the prestigious Leonard J. Sammons Jr. Award for Outstanding Contributions to Auto Racing. Growing up six miles away, DeVore has worked at the track since he was eight years old, picking up trash for then-promoter C.J. Richards in exchange for a grandstand ticket. When he was 13, he was on the water truck, helping Richards with track prep at both Albany and Devil’s Bowl. While still in school, Lyle was schooled by C.J. in the basics of operating a race track—and knew that’s what he wanted to do in life. In 1993, he took it upon himself to attend the RPM Promoters Workshops in Reno, hoping to get his name out there and make industry connections. He met NY promoter Alex Friesen, who hired DeVore to work with him at Lancaster. When Friesen partnered to buy Fulton and Utica-Rome speedways in the winter of ’95-6, Lyle relocated to Syracuse to manage those tracks for him. After Friesen was killed in a snowmobile accident in December 1996, Lyle returned to Malta until Lebanon Valley’s Howard Commander hired him in 2000. When Commander took control of Albany-Saratoga in 2012, DeVore was back home. Bringing back the clay surface from the glory years, Albany now hosts some of the best racing in the Northeast, averaging 140-150 cars on a typical Friday night. But Lyle’s had more than his share of challenges: during the COVID pandemic, all racing was in jeopardy or shut down. Then in 2021, DeVore was diagnosed with Stage IV cancer. Yet he has courageously persevered. Taking a risk, he kept the track open and racing, with full purses and closed grandstands, through the pandemic. For that, he was named ARPY’s 2020 National Auto Racing Promoter of the Year (without fans); he received full Promoter of the Year honors in 2023. Despite 25 rounds of chemotherapy, DeVore is up on that grader every week, making sure Albany-Saratoga is the best it can be.
The longtime host of “This Week on DIRT,” Doug Logan of Manlius, NY, will receive the Andrew S. Fusco Award for Media Excellence, in memory of Hall of Fame board member and legal counsel Andy Fusco. As an Indiana native, Logan had a home-state affinity for auto racing—but it was ball sports that brought him to New York in 1980. In the next 19 years, Doug rose to national fame as “The Voice of the Orange,” broadcasting Syracuse University football and basketball to collegiate fans across the country, during a time when the “Big East” was formed and S.U. teams were winning 70 percent of their games. When DIRT Motorsports promoter Glenn Donnelly brought Syracuse football coach Dick MacPherson and his assistant staff to Weedsport and put them in stock cars in the mid ’80s, Logan was quick to cover the promotion. That led to an offer to host DIRT’s fledgling television venture—which Doug immediately accepted. “This Week on DIRT”—a magazine-style recap of weekly racing at DIRT member tracks—became a hit, reaching 90 million households at its peak, in no small part to the chemistry of “mad-scientist” producer Tery Rumsey, racing historian Andy Fusco, camera wizard Patrick Donnelly, and the “face” of it all, Doug Logan. There is no question that Logan’s pre-established sportscasting reputation amongst a legion of the nation’s rabid college football and basketball fans injected Donnelly’s grassroots TV project with a rocket-boost of credibility. Although a newbie to dirt Modified racing when he started, Doug became an enthusiastic supporter of the sport and remained with DIRT-TV for two decades. In 2007, Logan was inducted into the Greater Syracuse Sports Hall of Fame.
Flemington, NJ’s Mandee Pauch Mahaney will be honored with this year’s Outstanding Woman in Racing Award. As the daughter of a famous driver, she grew up in the limelight—but the thing is, it wasn’t her limelight. Mandee’s dad is Billy Pauch, one of the greatest to ever grab a wheel. Her brother Billy Jr. has a driving resume boasting 125+ wins and 10 track titles. She lived in their shadow until she finally found her niche in the sport, shining brightly on her own. A marketing major in college, Pauch Mahaney always had a grasp of that end of the business, selling driver merch online and at the tracks and promoting her father’s driving schools. From there, she transitioned into freelance public relations, working with area speedways, manufacturers and race teams. And Mandee came to the realization that she had a voice, and could make a difference by educating and entertaining fans. In 2015, she began blogging on Dirt Track Digest, giving updates of her family’s racing experiences around the circuit. Her efforts were well-received, and she wound up on the pages of National Speed Sport News. Written blogs were elevated to vlogs in 2017 when Mandee grabbed a video camera and launched her YouTube channel, “Dirt Track Untold.” Completely self-taught, she has honed her craft over the years, adding multi-angle in-car camera footage, live Q&As, tech tips, behind-the-scenes stories from the shop and the road, all centered on her immediate family: her father, her brother and her husband, driver Mike Mahaney. Thanks to Mandee’s videos and online presence, more than 36,000 subscribers in 10 countries have gotten to experience racing, up-close and personal, at 35 different Modified tracks last year alone. The 902 episodes and 62 in-depth podcasts she’s produced to date have received over 12.3 million views.
The Jack Burgess Memorial Award, periodically bestowed on an announcer who has made a lasting impact on the sport, will be presented to Roy Sova, who’s been calling races for nigh on 58 years. A protégé of Burgess, Sova was second chair in the tower at Oswego Speedway from 1967 until the early ’80s, when Jack made the decision to spend his final years announcing on the DIRT circuit. Roy has served as Oswego’s lead announcer ever since—so dedicated that when his radio job took him to North Carolina in 1989, he’d fly back every Saturday, for more than 10 years, to call the action at Oswego. On the dirt side, Sova was tapped to announce at Rolling Wheels, Weedsport, Five Mile Point, Utica-Rome and a couple of tracks on the DIRT Florida tour. He worked the first Super DIRT Week at the NY State Fairgrounds, among others, with Jack Burgess, and was the voice of the Victoria 200 at Fulton Speedway in the 1980s and ’90s. This will be his fourth year as announcer at Penn-Can Speedway.
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