After Airborne Speedway announced they will no longer have modifieds on the schedule full-time this season, it left Mike Mahaney and car owners George and Julie Huttig, without a Saturday night home track.
“We didn’t know where we were going to race on Saturday nights so we’ve just been working hard on our big block program up here in Elizabethtown knowing that if the cars are ready, then we will be competitive no matter where we end up.”
It was a very tough decision for the No.35 team to decide where they will compete on Saturday nights but with a new sponsor coming on board, it made the decision much easier.
Mahaney is excited to welcome Tony Monaco Landscaping, based out of Orange County, NY, to the no.35 team.
With the sponsorship of Tony Monaco Landscaping and Adirondack Auto, the famed hard clay in Middletown, NY will have a new face in the lineup for the 2020 season. The driver out of King Ferry, NY will be calling Orange County Fair Speedway his new Saturday night home track.
“In racing it helps to have a lot of support to get ahead in competition,” he said. “I feel like this will improve our program a lot along with a tremendous amount of changes we have made throughout the off season.”
With Tony Monaco Landscaping coming on board and all of the improvements that have been made to the Hard Clay, it made the teams decision much easier to call Orange County Fair Speedway their new home.
“Orange County has always been a historic modified racetrack to me,” Mahaney said. “I’ve always enjoyed my time there in the big events, but I think with the recent improvements to the race surface will make the weekly racing a lot more worthwhile.”
Mahaney and Anthony Monaco met a few years back when Mahaney first attempted to qualify for Eastern States back in 2014.
“The group is a lot of fun and we’ve stayed in touch since. I think this is a great opportunity to get to work together on the same team.”
Mahaney and the team will be making their return to Albany Saratoga Speedway on Friday nights with Marcellas Appliance Center coming on board with the support of Bosch.
“Albany is the closest big block track to our shop,” Mahaney noted. “They have a phenomenal facility. Lyle and his team run a very professional operation. We made big improvements throughout last year racing there with seven heat race wins and two feature wins. Prior to last year, I struggled to even qualify there so to lead the heat race wins last season is something to really build on heading into this year. We hope to turn that into more feature wins this year with the extra support from Marcellas and Bosch.”
Mahaney and the Adirondack team will once again be following the Super DIRTcar Series full-time this season.
“The big block tour has been a real challenge for me to see any consistent success,” noted Mahaney. “I feel the only way to improve is to force ourselves to keep running it. It’s a challenge to travel to races and to not consistently have success, but in order to get there we have to keep going.”
With a busy schedule on tap for Mahaney, they still plan to run select Short Track Super Series events.
“We will run select shows this year that make sense for the equipment we have in our shop,” he said. “I feel that these races can be very lucrative, and I’ve enjoyed some of the success we’ve had running the series. I look forward to getting to as many STSS events as we can this season.”
Mahaney would like to give a special thanks to all of his supporters at Adirondack Auto, Adirondack Chevy, and Huttig Nissan as well as those who have continued with them into this season and to those who have joined in.
“It’s crazy to think how far we’ve come,” said George and Julie Huttig. “Last year at this time we were cleaning the shop, organizing nuts and bolts, and taking inventory of what we had and then we hit the road and started racing. Anyone who does this knows how hard it is, and Mike never let up once. We knew early on we made the right choice in partnering with Mike and his family and have never looked back. This year we have created a racing program we are very proud of and looking forward to the opportunities ahead.”
Mahaney and the team are looking forward to a great year and are eager to get started.
“I think we can create something to be proud of,” said Mahaney.