Racers drive fast and furious during Doug’s Pool & Spa Sales and Service’s Thunder on the Thruway Series hosted by the Fonda Speedway on Saturday in Fonda.

Racers drive fast and furious during Doug’s Pool & Spa Sales and Service’s Thunder on the Thruway Series hosted by the Fonda Speedway on Saturday, August 9, 2025, in Fonda.

Racers drive fast and furious during Doug's Pool & Spa Sales and Service's Thunder on the Thruway Series hosted by the Fonda Speedway on Saturday, August 9, 2025, in Fonda.

Racers drive fast and furious during Doug's Pool & Spa Sales and Service's Thunder on the Thruway Series hosted by the Fonda Speedway on Saturday, August 9, 2025, in Fonda.

Racers drive fast and furious during Doug's Pool & Spa Sales and Service's Thunder on the Thruway Series hosted by the Fonda Speedway on Saturday, August 9, 2025, in Fonda.

The Fonda Speedway's museum, with free admission, gives racing fans a chance to immerse themselves in almost 75 years of local history.

Racers drive fast and furious during Doug's Pool & Spa Sales and Service's Thunder on the Thruway Series hosted by the Fonda Speedway on Saturday, August 9, 2025, in Fonda.

Racers drive fast and furious during Doug's Pool & Spa Sales and Service's Thunder on the Thruway Series hosted by the Fonda Speedway on Saturday, August 9, 2025, in Fonda.

The Fonda Speedway's museum, with free admission, gives racing fans a chance to immerse themselves in almost 75 years of local history.

Racers drive fast and furious during Doug's Pool & Spa Sales and Service's Thunder on the Thruway Series hosted by the Fonda Speedway on Saturday, August 9, 2025, in Fonda.

Racers drive fast and furious during Doug's Pool & Spa Sales and Service's Thunder on the Thruway Series hosted by the Fonda Speedway on Saturday, August 9, 2025, in Fonda.

The Fonda Speedway's museum, with free admission, gives racing fans a chance to immerse themselves in almost 75 years of local history.

Racers drive fast and furious during Doug's Pool & Spa Sales and Service's Thunder on the Thruway Series hosted by the Fonda Speedway on Saturday, August 9, 2025, in Fonda.

The Fonda Speedway's museum, with free admission, gives racing fans a chance to immerse themselves in almost 75 years of local history.

Racers drive fast and furious during Doug's Pool & Spa Sales and Service's Thunder on the Thruway Series hosted by the Fonda Speedway on Saturday, August 9, 2025, in Fonda.

Racers drive fast and furious during Doug's Pool & Spa Sales and Service's Thunder on the Thruway Series hosted by the Fonda Speedway on Saturday, August 9, 2025, in Fonda.

The Fonda Speedway's museum, with free admission, gives racing fans a chance to immerse themselves in almost 75 years of local history.

Racers drive fast and furious during Doug's Pool & Spa Sales and Service's Thunder on the Thruway Series hosted by the Fonda Speedway on Saturday, August 9, 2025, in Fonda.

The Fonda Speedway's museum, with free admission, gives racing fans a chance to immerse themselves in almost 75 years of local history.

Racers drive fast and furious during Doug’s Pool & Spa Sales and Service’s Thunder on the Thruway Series hosted by the Fonda Speedway on Saturday in Fonda.

Fonda Speedway — 8/9/2025

One trip to Fonda Speedway isn’t enough.

One evening at the track will just leave you ready to come back for more.

More racing. More stunning finishes and heart-pounding turns. More chances to chat because you’ve gone hoarse within the first few hours talking over the roar of each ear-numbing engine. You’ll want more earplugs and Advil, too.

More ice water to pour down the back of your neck, or to quench your thirst. More chicken spiedies (pronounced ‘speedy’ — get it right or you’ll be quickly corrected). More nachos and that oh-so-familiar fake cheese sauce. More napkins.

The speedway has been a regional summer staple for the last 72 years, and it’s easy to see why. The appeal is loud and clear.

But at 24 years young, and growing up not too far away in Burnt Hills, I’d never been to this so-called ‘Track of Champions.’ I probably made that abundantly clear upon my arrival, when I purchased both a general admission ticket as well as a pit pass, for my party of one.

My first stop upon entrance at quarter-after-four, ironically, was the free-to-enter Fonda Speedway Racing Museum. You don’t need to know the names before you go. After all, it’s “The place where history comes to life.” (Just hopefully not the old cemetery that used to sit off of turn 3).

Inside the quaint, refurbished barn, I was introduced to icons of the oblong clay track, who — on this stretch of the Mohawk River — have the reputations of Hollywood movie stars.

There’s Rene Charland, “Jumpin’” Jack Johnson, Spence Parkhurst, Lou Lazzaro, Dave & Jackie Lape, “Jeep” Herbert, Buck Holiday, Steve Danish, and of course, the premier couple of them all, Stewart and Jessica Friesen.

The museum houses the memories of the speedway. The names inside are its pulse. The fans are the heartbeat.

“My father brought me when I was a kid,” said Fred Hendricks, 75, who’s been a regular at Fonda Speedway for 70 years. “Once it gets in your blood, you can’t get rid of it.”

However, the reverberations have changed over the years. Since the addition of Flo Racing as a national broadcast partner, some fans have been more inclined to try to take in the experience from the comforts of home, with access to volume control, and no apparent need for protective eyewear.

But that doesn’t give you the chance to meet Rose, the passionate 50-50 saleswoman who trades in conversation, as much as in paper raffle tickets (the pot was $2,393 on Saturday, with a crowd of only........

© The Leader Herald