JIM KING HONORED AT NYSSCA BANQUET
 

FONDA, NY – This past January at the annual awards banquet at the Polish Community Center in Albany NY, Fonda Speedway announcer Jim King was honored with the Lifetime Contribution to Racing Award In Memory of Ken Shoemaker by the New York State Stock Car Association (NYSSCA).

“I like the NYSSCA organization and what they do for racing,” King said. “For me to win the Lifetime Contribution to Racing Award In Memory of Ken Shoemaker means a lot to me because it is nice to be recognized by NYSSCA which is made up of many of your peers, promoters, and fans. My wife Joy deserves just as much credit as I do for winning this award. I’m sure that she would rather stay home on weekends to work in her flower garden but I keep dragging her along to a race somewhere.”

            From racing motorcycles to being an award winning photographer to announcing football, basketball, stock car, and snowmobile racing events, Jim King considers himself fortunate to be able to do what he does and to be able to make a living at something that he loves to do. “Who would have ever thought that a small town guy like me who grew up in Gloversville, NY would grow up and get a chance to do what he loves to do and get to travel all over doing it,” King said in an interview for Redline Motorsports Magazine a few years ago.

            Before he started announcing at the stock car races, King was doing basketball and football play by play for Johnstown High School. King was the track photographer at the Fonda Speedway in 1972, working for Jim Gage who was the promoter of the track at the time. While he was a photographer, King won an award from the Eastern Motorsports Press Association for a picture that he took of Billy Osmun at the Nazareth Speedway.

            Andy Andrews was the announcer at Fonda at the time and he was also a D.J. for WIZR/WSRD radio in Johnstown, NY. When Andrews got a better job offer in Virginia, he left both the radio station and Fonda Speedway at the same time. Gage then told King that he needed an announcer to which King said “what are you telling me for, I am the track photographer.”

            Pete Slovick who was the pit announcer at Fonda back then went up into the announcer’s tower for about an hour which was just about all that he could handle. Gage then went back to King who went up in the tower and started announcing. “I wish that I had the tapes of that first time announcing because it would have been fun to hear it now,” King said. “But unfortunately I don’t.”

            Jim’s father Bill King started taking race cars to Fonda as a car owner in 1955 while Todd King (Jim’s brother) once drove modifieds at Fonda. “When Todd got an opportunity to work for ESPN he took it and that was the end of his racing career,” Jim said. “I raced motorcycles myself until I got into the photography and announcing end of the sport which never allowed me the opportunity to try racing stock cars.”

            One ironic thing about Jim winning the award that is named after Ken Shoemaker is that Ken ran Jim’s father Bill’s car a few times during his career. “Kenny ran for my dad a few times when his own car was either broke or had been wrecked,” King said. “Kenny and Lou Lazzaro were both very good friends of mine.”

            As an announcer, King has announced at more than forty different speedways but when he was asked where his favorite track to announce at was he said “I keep coming back to Fonda so I guess that there is some kind of a magnet there.” King has been announcing races for over thirty years now and he has broken in a lot of announcers over that period of time including Fred Osmun, Shane Andrews, and Todd Smith among others.

            “To be a good announcer you have to do your homework,” King said. “Doing your homework means that you have to go through the pits before the racing event starts and research who drives the cars, especially the drivers and cars who are not regularly at the track every week. Another key to being a good announcer is finding another race if the leader has checked out or if everyone is just out there riding around.”

            Jim King has made a life out of doing something that he truly loves and his success came to be after he took a chance by trying the announcer’s job at Fonda when others had moved on. “All of a sudden things took off for me and now it comes easy to me where it might not come as easily for someone else,” he said. “Sometimes there comes a time to step up and take a chance. There are really a lot of opportunities out there for someone who wants to do it.”

            Jim is currently involved in a joint venture named Rock Maple Racing which is a snowmobile circuit that runs in many different states in the United States and Canada.
 

FONDA DRIVERS ALSO RECEIVE AWARDS FROM NYSSCA

            Many drivers from all divisions at Fonda also received awards for their achievements in 2004. Those drivers included:
 

DRIVER OF THE YEAR

MODIFIED – Dave Lape

358-MODIFIED – Matt DeLorenzo

SPORTSMAN – John McAuliffe

PRO STOCK – Kenny Gates

STREET STOCK – John Babcock

IMCA – Danny Ballard

 

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE

MODIFIED – Jeff Trombley

358-MODIFIED – Bobby Vedder

SPORTSMAN – David Towns

PRO STOCK – Nick Stone

STREET STOCK – Bob VanAernam

IMCA – Steve Bidwell

 

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR

MODIFIED – Billy Osta

358-MODIFIED – Josh Pieniazek

SPORTSMAN – Keith Flach

PRO STOCK – Chip Smith

STREET STOCK – D.T. Pickard
 

NYSSCA SPECIAL AWARDS AND HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES
 

            For 2004, four new people were inducted into the NYSSCA Hall of Fame including Donnie Wetmore, Brian Ross, Buck Holiday, and photographer John Grady. The special award recipients for 2004 were as follows:

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT – Jack Cottrell

CAR OWNER OF THE YEAR – Keith Barlow

DEDICATION TO RACING IN MEMORY OF HARRY PEEK – Pete Chuckta

LIFETIME CONTRIBUTION TO RACING IN MEMORY OF KENNY SHOEMAKER – Jim King

OVERALL OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE – Stewart Friesen