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Team History: Towards the
end of 1981,
Ken Hermance Jr. started his racing journey.
The first car was a used 1967 Camaro Street
Stock which was purchased for running at Orange
County Fair Speedway in Middletown, NY.
Ken ran this car for a couple of years before
building a new car from scratch. In
1985 the
new car was debuted in the Expert Street Stock
division at OCFS. Ken raced off and on
for many years in Street Stocks in the Novice
and Expert classes, on a shoe-string budget
with limited success (he finished in every position
but first).
In
1991, Ken
teamed up with future brother-in-law Steve Birchwale
with a Sportsman car bought from Gary
Huff, a 1987 Olsen Eagle. In
1992 Steve
drove the car to 5 feature wins (including 3
in a row) and the OCFS DIRT Sportsman championship.
Ken
took over driving the car in the Sportsman class
in 1993
through 1994.
In his very first race, Ken started from the
back and worked his way to a 5th place finish.
His best finish in the car would be a 2nd, still
unable to secure his first feature win as a
driver. Ken then sold the car and took
a break from racing to buy a house.
In 2002,
Ken returned to racing by buying a 2002 PMC
and an Enders Big Block motor. Steve Birchwale
took the wheel again, this time in the Big Block
Modified class at Orange County Fair Speedway.
The
team struggled to get a handle of the high horsepower
motor and PMC 1st generation chassis.
In mid 2003,
Ken purchased a Bicknell chassis to try.
After a couple of good runs, the car was damaged
in a wreck which ended the season for them.
2004 was
a rebuilding year. The team sat out to
regroup and reorganize. Ken did take the
repaired Bicknell out once, for his first try
behind the wheel of a big block. He came
close to qualifying, but a flat tire sidelined
him from the consi.
2005
brought a new dimension to the team. A
small block motor was purchased from RGP Performance
and put into the Bicknell chassis. Sportsman
driver Alan Sturhann was tapped to drive the
car in the OCFS 358 Modified division.
Alan took to the Small Block car quickly,
he won 1 race and
finished 6th in points.
He
was later named the 2005 OCFS 358 Modified Rookie
of the Year. The original PMC chassis
was reassembled with the Big Block motor for
Steve to continue driving in the Big Block class.
Again the team struggled with the Big Block
car, only managing a 6th place finish.
2006
was a season without much success. The
small block was sideline due to engine rule
changes.
A new 2006 Bicknell chassis was purchased for
the big block, but it experienced some problems
which forced it to sit out for a few weeks.
Ken returned behind the wheel in the small block
car, with a sportsman motor. He ran a
few weeks until the big block was ready again.
The highlight of the season was at Eastern States
in October, where Steve time trialed the big
block 11th fastest, locking him into the 200
mile race. But the race ended early as
a first turn pile up took him out of contention.
2007
brought a renewed focus. We've decide
to concentrate on the 358 division, and brought
in Craig "Hollywood" Mitchell to drive the primary
car. We stuck with the older 2003 Bicknell,
as it's been a proven winner. It took
us a little while to catch up with the new 358
engine rules. We had a decent season with
4 top 5s (including two 2nds), and a 4th place
finish in the final point standings. Ken
got back into the car for the season ending
"Topless" night. He had a good showing
by making the feature, but got caught up in
a wreck which finished off the 2003 frame.
We switched Hollywood over to the 2006 Bicknell
for Eastern States. He had a respectable
run, but an overly tight chassis limited him
to a 12th place finish.
2008
continued to build from 2007. A new
PMC chassis was bought to replace the
crashed 2003 Bicknell. Also a new RGP
Performance 358 motor was built for the new
PMC. Hollywood drove the car to 1
feature win and another solid 4th place
finish in points. The 2006 Bicknell
was used a few times with Steve Birchwale
and Ken taking it out with the 358's.
Sportsman driver John Lieto was brought in
to drive the Bicknell at Eastern States.
2009
started with a lot of unknowns. More
rule changes for the 358's and a reduction
of the schedule to 5 races caused some
re-thinking of the season's plans.
Craig Mitchell continued to run the 2008 PMC
car, in which he again got a feature win and
a 4th place finish in points. John
Lieto was brought back to run the 2006
Bicknell with the 358's and the Big Blocks,
as we started thinking about the possibility
of moving away from the 358's . John
held a top 5 points position up until the
final night when his engine expired. A
used 2009 Bicknell was purchased late in the
year and the old big block motor was put
back together for it. John ran the car
a few times including Eastern States, as we
continue to test the waters for potentially
going back to big blocks.
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