WEEDSPORT, N.Y. Pennsylvania powerhouse and 34-time titleholder Duane Howard, the late New York pro Dale Planck, a multi-time NASCAR and DIRTcar Series champion and Twin Tier titan Billy Van Pelt, who rewrote every record at Woodhull Raceway, will officially be inducted into the Northeast Dirt Modified Hall of Fame in July.

These three racing legends add their names to a stellar list of Modified standouts that was started in 1992 when the Hall of Fame was established on the Cayuga County Fairgrounds.

The 33rd annual induction ceremonies honoring the Class of 2025 will take place on July 24 at 7 p.m. in the Northeast Dirt Modified Museum and Hall of Fame, on the grounds of the state-of-the-art Weedsport Speedway.

Two days later, Weedsport Speedway will kick off a blockbuster weekend featuring the Super DIRTcar Series Hall of Fame 100 and World of Outlaws Sprint Cars.

Duane Howard

For anyone from Central Pa., it always starts at Reading. Howards family had box seats at the old Fairgrounds Speedway so he got to see Hall of Famers named Chamberlain, Brightbill and Tobias mix it up each week as a kid.

At 18 he started racing Go-Karts, with help from Alan Finch who worked alongside Duane at the Howard family farm. In 1983, the pair procured a Late Modeland promptly won at Grandview. They made the move to the headlining small-block Modifieds in 1985 and found out fast just how big a jump that was. Putting finances together, learning the ropes, the team went winless for almost three seasons. But once Howard scored that first one, at Big Diamond in 87, there was no stopping him.

Local car owners took notice: by 1989, first Dick then Buddy Biever hired both Howard and Finch. Through 1993, Howard won 25 races and five championships for Buddy, including a Penn National 100 and his first Freedom 76 at Grandview. Exhausted, Howard sat out 1994, returning in 95 driving for Craig Hirthler, then Cary Duncan before landing a pro-level ride with Hall of Fame car owner Glenn Hyneman in late 1997.  Hyneman wanted to race big-blocks so Howard became a regular at Bridgeport Speedway, notching three Modified titles in the No. 126. When Glenn stepped back after the 2005 season, Howard smoothly switched to another high-profile ridethe Chad Sinon No. 4, with his old friend Al Finch as crew chief.

They won right away and kept on winning through 2013. Rides with the Petruska team, Norm Hansell and Hyneman again followed. Since 2021, Howard drives for Butch Getz on a more limited basis. Known as The Diamond Cutter for his mastery of Big Diamond, Howard pulled seven Coalcracker victories and nine championships out of that track.  Hes won the Freedom 76 five times, as well as six titles at Grandview, one at Penn National and four at Bridgeport. Howard is a four-time champion in both the PA Tri-Track/Dual-Track Series and American Racer Cup Modified Series.

He was named NASCAR PA State Champion five times and was third in the country in 2010. His career win list stands at 277 at 14 tracks in Pa., N.J., Del. and N.Y.

Dale Planck

Scheduled for Hall of Fame induction in the Class of 2025, Cortland, N.Y.s Dale Planck tragically didnt make it: at the age of 53, he died suddenly on his way home from Brewerton Speedway on June 22, 2024. Prior to his passing, he made his mark.

A second-generation driver, Dale watched his dad Denny wheel to small-block championships at Weedsport, Brewerton and Skyline in the 1970s. He was born into ita natural, as they say, earning that fitting nickname. Planck started young, a little kid running Karts against the adults in the four-stroke classand winning regularly.

At 14, he graduated to a 4-cylinder Mini-Mod; the following year, 1985, he was standing in victory lane at Five Mile Point and Dundee. The move up to small-block Modifieds, in 86, didnt produce results right away. For two years, Dale didnt even qualify for a feature event. It wasnt until the team towed into Fulton in 1989 that things began to click. And Planck found his home: on the Fulton high-banks he took down 61 victories in his career, four track championships and the 1994 Victoria 200.

The Outlaw Circuitconsisting of Fulton, Brewerton and Utica-Rome in the 80s and 90swas Dales playground. He was a 42-time winner and five-time champion at Utica-Rome. Competing under NASCAR sanction at Fulton and U-R, Planck was regional champion in NASCARs Winston Racing Series three years running, from 199496. Later on, he stormed the rival DIRTcar ranks with equal success, claiming Mr. DIRTcar 358 Series titles in both 2009 and 2012. Dale was a rare entity: with one foot on the Outlaw Circuit and the other planted on DIRT turf, he deftly straddled that deep divide. He showed well everywhere he went: across the Northern border, he was a star at Cornwall Speedway, a three-time track champ. At PAs Grandview Speedway, he outright stole a $6,000 special from the regulars.

Ultimately, Planck is credited with 203 certified wins at 21 tracks in three states and two Canadian provinces. He gave up the wheel to launch Dig Race Products in 2016 with his son Brandon, specializing in shock absorbers and suspension tuning for the Modified trade.

Billy Van Pelt

Following in his older brother Curts footsteps, Westfield, Pa.s Van Pelt got into a big car in 1987. Van Pelt had been racing three-wheelers and snowmobiles until then; Curt poised to win a Mr. DIRT 358 Series title for the Sherwood teamhad left the family car. So Dad Jim tapped the younger son for the seat. The venue was Woodhull Raceway. In the ensuing 35 years, Billy not only dominated at the little third-mile bullring straddling the N.Y.-Pa. border he trashed every track record for all time.

Driving for his father, Ted White, Kevin Chilson, Grant Hilfiger and finally for Chilson again, Van Pelt racked up 198 documented wins and an incredible 23 championships at Woodhull alone. He absolutely understood every nuance of the track: where it could get slickwhere there was bitethe color of the claythe shadows off the wallwhere the room was to complete a pass. No other driver came close.

Fans remember a Man or Mouse challenge instituted by former track promoter Vern Wasson in the mid 2000s: Van Pelt could choose to be a man and elect to start last; or be a mouse and draw for starting position. Billy opted to fall in at the tail of the featureand collected a publicized bonus for the win. But BVPs success wasnt confined to Woodhull. All total, he holds 30 championship titlesin addition to the 23 at Woodhull, Van Pelt won two titles at Black Rock (now Outlaw Speedway) in 1995 and 1997; one at Freedom Motorsports Park in 2018; and four championships in the T3 All-Star Series for 358 Modifieds which took him to eight tracks in Pa. and N.Y.

He has 242 confirmed career victories at eight raceways in N.Y. and Pa., with probably another dozen outliers still unverified. Following a big $5,500 win at Woodhull, his final for Chilson on August 6, 2022, Van Pelt retired on the spot. If I go out on top, then they never beat me, was his thinking. Billy still helps upcoming drivers with setups, which he loves doing, and took over as race director at Freedom Motorsports Park in 2024.

Also being honored at the July 24 induction ceremonies are Vinny Salerno (Gene DeWitt Car Owner Award), Tommy Conroy (Mechanic/Engineering Award), Charlie and Joyce Cathell (Leonard J. Sammons Jr. Award for Outstanding Contributions to Auto Racing), Fred Voorhees (Andrew S. Fusco Award for Media Excellence) and Jane Cella (Outstanding Woman in Racing Award).

Editors Note: In a nod to our 90 years of history, each week SPEED SPORT will look back at the top stories from 15, 30 and 60 years ago as told in the pages of National Speed Sport News.

15 Years Ago 2010

News: Fourteen-time NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series Funny Car champion John Force admitted he humiliated himself after competing in Septembers four-wide Funny Car exhibition during the NHRA Carolinas Nationals at zMAX Dragway.

I embarrassed myself at the press conference. We came right back in to talk about what had taken place. When I drove this four-lane race, I ran in here and I was like Tom Cruise on Oprah jumping up and down, screaming, Force said. Everyone said, He went nuts, because it was that exciting and thrilling.

Force will have another opportunity to compete four wide as NHRA and drag strip officials announced Thursday competitors will race four wide during Marchs inaugural stop at the four-lane all-concrete facility adjacent to Charlotte Motor Speedway. The race. set for March 25-28 has been appropriately named the NHRA 4-Wide Nationals.

The four professional categories Top Fuel, Funny Car. Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle will compete in the four-wide format in both qualifying and elimination rounds. The first two drivers to cross the finish line in the first and second rounds will advance to the third round. and the driver to cross the line first in the third round will be the event winner.

This is going to take a driver of drivers to figure out, said force. who was on hand for the announcement along with Speedway Motorsports Inc. President 0. Bruton Smith and NHRA President Tom Compton.

Bruton and Speedway Motorsports have done more for NHRA in the last 10 years than any entity I can think of. Theyve built the palaces we now enjoy during the Full Throttle season. Were very appreciative, Compton said. This is the crown jewel of all of them. Why not come twice? Why not run four lanes? Theyre there and were gonna do it.

When I first saw the renderings of the facility and took a tour when it was under construction, it was fun to imagine four cars running side by side. Now we will get to see it and Im for it, said four-time Pro Stock champion Jeg Coughlin. I am sure it will he some of the most exciting drag racing we have ever experienced. This is exactly why Bruton built zMax Dragway.

Winners: William Thomas took the lead on lap 5 and went on to win the 40-lap NeSmith Chevrolet Dirt Late Model National Touring season opener at Columbus (Miss.) Speedway.

The victory was the fourth series career win for the third-generation driver. 

Thomas started on the outside of the front row and battled for most of the event with early race leader polesitter Ronnie Johnson.

Johnson held the bottom groove of the third-mile clay oval to keep the point for the first 34 laps of the race, while Thomas cruised the high side.

A lap-34 restart saw Thomas get a run on Johnson, and lead pair raced side by side for a lap until Thomas took the lead going down the backstretch on lap 35.

I went a little soft on tires tonight. and I thought I had worn it out by the halfway point, Thomas said. I dropped back to the third spot, but the caution flags we had in the second half of the race cooled off my right-rear tire and brought it back to life.

Johnson had to settle for second in his quest for his second-straight and fourth Winter Classic win with the series at Columbus Speedway. Even with a runner-up finish, the National Dirt Late

Model Hall of Fame inductee was still upbeat after the race.

Weve won a lot of Winter Classics here at Columbus Speedway. and we won here last November. but we got outrun tonight and finished second, Johnson said. William drove a

good, clean race, so finishing second isnt the end of the world, and it was still a good night.

Justin McRee, Chris Ragan and defending series champion Eric Cooley rounded out the top five.

30 Years Ago 1995

News: According to annual statistics compiled by The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., a record number of spectators made their way to auto races across North America last year.

More than 14 million watched auto races last year, an increase of more than a half million spectators, or 4.5 percent.

Goodyear monitors 16 professional racing series and results are published annually as a barometer of motorsports popularity. Attendance figures are compiled from official sanctioning body statistics, track information and Goodyear racing reports.

All figures represent weekend totals.

Each year I am amazed by the increased popularity of motorsports, said Leo Mehl, General Manager of Goodyear racing worldwide. If you look at the last 5 years alone, attendance figures have gone up 16 percent. I doubt there are many other sports out there that can compare.

Topping the list, NASCAR Winston Cup boasted the largest number of spectators. More than 4.8 million fans watched Dale Earnhardt race to his seventh Winston Cup title during the 31-race season an increase of 18 percent. Much of the increase was due to the addition of the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Twenty-four NASCAR tracks had attendance increased with several tracks breaking attendance records every time they opened the gates.

The PPG Indy Car World Series, including the USAC-sanctioned Indianapolis 500, also witnessed a record year 3.1 million fans came out in 1994, a three percent increase over the previous

season.

An estimated 1.7 million fans were on hand for more quarter-mile breaking runs on the NHRA drag circuit. An amazing 111 of 130 possible event elapsed time and speed records fell in pro categories at 18 national events.

They just keep doing a better job every year, Mehl said. The speeds, the competition at improved facilities they know how to put on a show. With records being shattered year after year, it is no wonder their attendance figures have skyrocketed over the last several years.

Emerging as one of racings big draws is the NASCAR Busch Series Grand National Division. Attendance was up 12 percent to 1.3 million spectators.

Another series that grows in popularity each year is the World of Outlaws. The exhausting

schedule of 67 sprint car events over 93 datesbrought more than 1.5 million spectators representing a one-percent increase.

Winners: Stevie Reeves came full circle with his racing career.

The determined open wheel competitor-turned-stock car driver was back at his racing roots in the RCA Dome and became the ninth different driver in 11 years to win Saturday nights Thunder in the Dome.

Reeves, whose roots go back to quarter-midget racing in the city, zoomed into big leads on every restart to capture the 100-lap USAC Midget Invitational Thunder in the Dome XI. His return to midget car racing after a season on the NASCAR Busch Grand National Series was complete with victory.

Reeves, a two-time USAC national midget driving champion, was right at home in Ralph Potters V -6-engined midget. Potter is the 1994 champion car owner with driver Tony Stewart, one of 10

driving champions among the 48 competitors including UMARA Sportsman Midget champion Sue Spencer.

We might have cost Ralph more than we won, Reeves said after his $5,010 victory drive In the Ralphs Mutner & Brake Shops Potter. We lost oil pressure, so we might have really hurt the motor.

Nevertheless, Potter praised, Stevies never done a better job than he did tonight.

Reeves represented Team USA because he now resides in North Carolina but it was Team Indiana that regained the team championship bonus with six Hoosier-based drivers finishing among the top 10. The final count was Team Indiana 162, Team USA 138.

Team USA won in 1994 to end a nine-year Team Indiana streak. Reeves won $7,137 for his 100-lap triumph Saturday from a $32,975 purse.

Tony Elliott, who led the first 13 laps, was second and trailed by Ryan Newman, John Warren and Chuck Leary.

60 Years Ago 1965

News: Elzie (Buck) Baker, at 45 the dean of NASCAR Grand National drivers, became the first big-name driver to enter a General Motors product in the Feb. 14 Daytona 500.

Baker entered the car, a 1965 Oldsmobile Dynamic 88 Holiday Coupe with a 425 cubic inch engine. The car is sponsored by Hubert Hoff or Norfolk, Va., owner of Hoff Cadillac Oldsmobile agency there.

Baker said in a telephone interview that we are putting roll bars in the car now and safety hubs for the front end are being made. We are in the process of putting the car together and will be at Daytona a few days late, but expect to get in a few days or practice.

When asked about the chances of the new and untried car, he replied, Getting the car late is a real handicap, but we expect to run with them at Daytona and shortly afterwards expect to outrun em real good. 

Baker advised that he is going completely through the engine and reworking everything in it. Different pistons, clearances, carburetor and ignition will go in and a precision balance job should deliver 500 horsepower.

The wheelbase is 123 inches, a little long, but good for Daytona, he said. Its only six inches longer than a Plymouth and thats no handicap on a big track. If we get within 40 horses of our competition, we can run with them at Daytona due to the excellent aerodynamic characteristics of the car.

Baker reported his crew chief will be Bill Hohman and assisting on the crew will be Bob Schuyler, Jimmy Helms and Buck Brigance on gas and tires with another crewman yet to be named.

Horr, contacted by phone, advised that the Daytona challenge would cost about $8,000. When asked about a second and third car, one for Bakers son Buddy and another for short tracks, he

said, Well see how things go at Daytona.

Hoff got his first taste or racing when with a Chevy dealer in Arlington, Va., they sponsored SCCA driver Dick Thompson.

Hoff said that Thompsons Sting Ray successes made the dealer, Bob Rosenthal, Chevy, the biggest Corvette dealer in the nation. Hoff is obviously looking for sales traffic in his showrooms.

He said, Joe Weatherly made Norfolk race conscious. Its a great sports town, and I think my association with Baker and stock car racing will be a success.

Baker also reported that he is preparing a 1965 Plymouth and a 1964 Dodge for the Daytona 500.

As or Monday, there were 43 entrants in the 500, the latest being the new Ford of Freddy Lorenzen.

The 1965 coil spring Fords, based on their performance at Riverside, are favored in the 500 miler. The new Ford production 427-inch low-rise engine reportedly puts out more horsepower than last years high-rise engine, which, along with Chryslers hemi-head powerplant for Plymouth and Dodge was outlawed for 1965 events. The rules announcement by NASCAR led Chrysler to pull out of the NASCAR circuit.

Winners: Bill Vukovich took another big step forward in his short midget career Saturday night when he went wire to wire to win the wild and wreck-filled 30-Iap main event at the Oakland Exposition Building. 

A near capacity crowd watched Bill, driving the Britton Offy, jump into the lead on the start only to have the first of nine caution flags come out as Dick Atkins spun trying to beat Bill through the tum with Joe Leonard, Tommy Morrow, and Dee Hileman piling in.

When the green was thrown, everybody made the first lap with Bill leading followed by Atkins, Dick Deis, Leonard, Sherman Cleveland, and Ken Martin. 

The yellow came out on lap three when Tommy Morrow spun with Koster passing Copp for eighth at the yellow. The new rule of double file restarts keeps positions well juggled on every restart.

This time after the green it was Deis into second with Atkins holding third over Cleveland. Lap five brought out another yellow when DeJong, Koster, and Hileman tangled. Then McGreevy, Martin, and Koster wrecking on lap six with Koster out after his front end gave out.

The drivers ran the final five laps without passing with Vukovich taking the checkers with Deis in his own Offy, just inches behind with a gap back to DeJong, who was third in the Stryker Offy.

STATESVILLE, N.C. Garage 66 has signed Chandler Smith to attempt to make the 67th Daytona 500 at Daytona (Fla.) Intl Speedway, driving the No. 66 QuickTie Ford Mustang Dark Horse. 

The Talking Rock, Ga. native has ascended the NASCAR ranks and already picked up several race victories in his young career. After graduating from the ARCA Menards Series with 10 wins, Smith has earned five NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series wins and three NASCAR Xfinity Series wins, including two last season on his way to a Top-five finish in the championship.

This year, he will be racing full-time for Front Row Motorsports in the Craftsman Truck Series. 

Im very excited for the opportunity to race our way into the Daytona 500 with Garage 66, Smith said. Being in The Great American Race is such an honor, and I cant thank QuickTie and Carl Long enough for helping put this all together. 

The 22-year-old already has NextGen superspeedway race experience, finishing in the top 15 in the 2023 Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona. He has top-20 finishes in all three of his Cup Series starts to date. 

Carl Long, who operates Garage 66 with co-owners Rocky and Tom Smith as well as John Jackson, had a tumultuous few days after Mike Wallace was ruled ineligible to compete in the 500 and had to scramble to put another deal together. 

The last few days have been a whirlwind of phone calls and emails after Mike Wallace was not approved to be the driver of our Daytona 500 entry, Long said. After several days of non-stop communication with available drivers who could race a Ford, the pieces came together to place Chandler Smith in our car.

I am super pleased to have Chandler in our seat. He has friends behind the wheel of the other cars. At Daytona, we will need all the friends we can find to help race our way into the show! There are a lot of really quality cars attempting this race, which could easily make the most exciting part of the 2025 Daytona 500 the race to be in the race. With Roush-Yates power and Chandler behind the wheel, the odds of Garage 66 and our No. 66 team making the event just got stronger.

The hood of the MBM Cup entry during Speedweeks will carry QuickTie, a proprietary, patented hold-down system for high wind and seismic construction.

Coble Enterprises, which specializes in personalized property management for residential and commercial properties, remains committed to the No. 66 team in Daytona as an associate sponsor.