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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.