Knowing he can win outside of Albany-Saratoga Speedway with the Super DIRTcar Series, Mahaney looks to bring to confidence to the three-day SummerFAST event
Mike Mahaney jumped and cheered on top of his Big Block Modified in Autodrome Drummond’s Victory Lane, celebrating like he’d won his first race. While it was his first Super DIRTcar Series win of the season, but third of his career, it marked a special milestone for the King Ferry, NY driver.
Previously, Mahaney had only recorded Series victories at his home track – Albany-Saratoga Speedway. Now, back full-time with the Series, the win comes as a breakthrough moment.
“Those (Series) races are really hard to win anywhere,” Mahaney said. “We’ve had good runs at other tracks, but the ones I go to the most seem to be where I run the best. The tracks in Canada are different. It seemed a little tackier and the dirt was different. It fell into what works for me.”
The win was his first since June 24, 2022, when he won for the second time at Albany-Saratoga Speedway. The finish bumped him into fifth in Series points as The Beasts of the Northeast get ready for the second annual SummerFAST – three races in three days at Brewerton Speedway (Aug. 14), Fulton Speedway (Aug. 15), Land of Legends Raceway (Aug. 16).
The 34-year-old has considerable experience at the Central New York tracks, with at least one full season of weekly races under his belt at each of the three stops, and victories at all three. He’s ready to ride the momentum from his win in Canada to three days of racing at familiar tracks.
“It’s a confidence booster to win at other places beyond tracks we’ve already won at,” Mahaney said. “We’re going into SummerFAST here and we’re going to some other tracks that I feel like I can win at. We could do it at any of the three tracks. We just have to hit it right.”
Beyond having top notch equipment, Mahaney aims to continue refining his ability to hit his marks consistently and react to how the track develops throughout the race, as he contributes that to his steady climb on the leaderboard throughout the season. He and his team are working hard in the shop to try to make that a reality, preparing the car to run strong for three straight nights.
“I’m definitely proud of how our team has climbed up the rankings,” Mahaney said. “It definitely put us in contention to be in the top three. And that would be really cool, from where we started to now. There’s a long way to go but we’ve come a long way from where we’ve started, as well, and I like that.”
UP NEXT: The Super DIRTcar Series Big Blocks will kick off the second annual SummerFAST at Brewerton Speedway on Monday, Aug. 14. They’ll then travel to Fulton Speedway on Aug. 15, and finish at Land of Legends Raceway on Aug. 16.
If you can’t make it to the track, you can watch every Super DIRTcar Series race live on DIRTVision – either at DIRTVision.com or by downloading the DIRTVision App.
