GREAT BIO ABOUT HOF CHAIRMAN RON HEDGER

In a recent issue of the Daily Gazette Ron Hedger, the NYSSCA Hall of Fame Committee Chairman was spotlighted. This article is reprinted for your enjoyment with their permission. A Racer’s Eraser Note: This week, we’re featuring our head writer and national automotive journalist Ron Hedger for “The Winners’ Circle, so we tapped John Snyder to give you an insight into Ron’s racing life. Ron Hedger knows cars. He’s spent a lifetime around them, in them, under them, working on them, talking about them, teaching students about them, and writing about them. The retired Lansingburgh Central School District automotive technology (and other subjects) teacher is the coordinator of the Racing in New York gallery of the Saratoga Automobile Museum. But that’s not all. Hedger, a Ballston Spa resident, is also a reporter and columnist for the National Speed Sport News, a contributor to Speedway Illustrated magazine and before that Stock Car Racing and Open Wheel magazines, former motorsports reporter for the Daily Gazette, an officer of the Eastern Motorsports Press Association, Chairman of the Hall of Fame Committee of the New York State Stock Car Association, devoted husband, proud father, doting grandfather, and all-around good guy. Most of all, Hedger is a racer. Growing up in Morrisville, he spent his formative years with his brothers Ray and Randy and their late father Hugh Hedger building, maintaining, and racing Modified stock cars throughout Central New York. When Hugh gave up driving, the Hedger family team put notable drivers Pepper Eastman and Dick Clark in their Modifieds. Even after their father’s passing, all three Hedger boys continued their racing involvement. Ray now builds limited supermodifieds for Oswego Speedway competitors, while Randy, a noted asphalt Modified driver, is currently a NASCAR official assigned to the sanctioning body’s research and development center in North Carolina. Ron’s background also served him well when he put down the wrenches and took up his pen, becoming an award-winning motorsports journalist. Hardly a year passes that Hedger doesn’t take home a motorsports journalism prize for his informative and often humorous writing. He is also the recipient of the Frank Blunk Memorial Award for outstanding journalistic efforts and support of the sport of auto racing. This award, presented by the Eastern Motorsports Press Association, is one of the most coveted in the field of motorsports journalism. Hedger has covered and written about all forms of auto racing from tractor pulls to Indy cars to NASCAR Nextel Cup, but his life-long passion are the dirt track Modifieds prevalent in New York and neighboring states and Canadian provinces. Most weeks he can be found prowling the pits at Albany-Saratoga Speedway, Lebanon Valley Speedway, or Fonda Speedway, where he seemingly knows and talks to everyone. This results in a steady stream of race reports, personality profiles, technical articles, and commentaries on the general state of racing for the weekly National Speed Sport News trade paper and Speedway Illustrated monthly magazine. “Ron understands the nuances of the sport. He speaks the same language as the drivers and mechanics. So they know and trust him to report their stories honestly and accurately,” says John Snyder, Hedger’s longtime friend and fellow auto racing journalist. “I marvel at the way Ron cuts through the baloney and gets to the important aspects of a story. He has a great way of telling his readers what’s happening in a clear, concise way.” Modest to a fault, Hedger is most proud of the Racing in New York gallery at the Saratoga Automobile Museum. This past year, he was instrumental in bringing the permanent New York State Stock Car Association Hall of Fame to the museum. Many of the historic race cars and related memorabilia on the display in the racing gallery are due to Hedger’s tireless effort to commemorate important aspects of the sport. His latest project to honor long gone racetracks and forgotten racers titled “Lost Speedways” debuted in April and will have its second public program on Saturday, November 24. A number of speakers will make presentations and share memorabilia recalling their glory days. When not working on museum projects, Hedger throws off his racing helmet, and discards his reporter’s notebook to take his wife Lynne out to enjoy traveling, particularly to Ireland, and spoiling their grandchildren. Sometimes the racer in all of us slows down to enjoy the world around him.