By Ralph Smith
Hawley’s Gary VanOrden earned yet another individual championship this season on the local racing circuit. VanOrden capped the Street Stock crown at Bethel Motor Speedway. Gary now has 32 race wins on his impressive career resume.
Bethel, NY -
When an early summer rumor that Sullivan County, New York’s only speedway, was set to re-open its gates...well, no one in Wayne County could have been more enthusiastic as Hawley’s Gary VanOrden.
The speedway had been shuttered for nearly a season and a half.
When new ownership of the property and former promoters David and Joanne Rocket took control, they re-opened and re-named the oval Bethel Motor Speedway in late summer and raced an abbreviated season into November.
VanOrden, a past champion and perennial feature winner at the quarter mile asphalt oval, had only a few cobwebs to knock off his race car, and he was back to business as usual.
With local sponsors Southerton Automotive, Teeple Auto Salvage, Shanty Hill Productions, and Saaf Speed, VanOrden became a threat for another championship right out of the box.
By season’s end Gary Van Orden won the Bethel Motor Speedway Street Stock Championship, three feature wins, and the big season ending crown as Bethel Motor Madness Weekend Street Stock Champion.
The season championship came down to the final race of the season, as he finished just nine points ahead of rival Jim Anzalone.
When the speedway was closed early in 2006, VanOrden felt he had some unfinished business in the feature win department.
“I had 29 feature wins and felt quite proud of that fact,” said VanOrden. “But, 30 seemed like a nice number. As most racers, I’m a little superstitious. I thought I’d never get the chance to improve on my personal record.”
Whether it was superstition or just sounding better to have 30 or more wins, VanOrden put the package together for a career 32 feature wins.
If the championship run wasn’t enough to worry about during the 2008 season, Van Orden had two more reasons for concern on Saturday nights.
Having grown up around their father’s racing, Gary Jr. and daughter Amber put in many years in the grandstand, pit area, and press box where their mother Tonya tapes the races as part of her Shanty Hill Productions.
In 2008, the pair of Wallenpaupack School District students both were old enough to ask mom and dad if they could drive in the Four Cylinder Junior Division at the speedway.
Sixteen-year-old Gary Jr. and 14-year-old Amber each had their own stock car in the junior division, after having a short stint in go-karts in the time between ownerships at Bethel. Both did quite well in their freshman season with Gary Jr. finishing in fourth place and Amber not far behind in eleventh when the final points were tallied at the end of the season.
“I really have to thank my pit crew Chuck Newell Jr., Chuck Newell Sr., Mike Southerton, Ralph Davis, Mike Avisatto, Shelby Benese, and my family - Tonya, Gary Jr. and Amber,” said VanOrden. “Without their help, none of this would have been possible..”
The 2009 racing season at Bethel Motor Speedway is set for an early spring start next year with a practice day in late April and racing beginning weekly the first Saturday in May. The VanOrden family is already making plans on a full racing season with three cars ready to go in 2009.