Bruce Aldrich Jr. is enjoying the finest season of his driving career.
With the five winners he reined at Monticello Raceway on Monday, November 25, he now has 563 wins and has moved into third place in front of Tim Tetrick’s 559 races won in North America this year. It was the third five-bagger that Aldrich has had in the past two weeks.
After 15 years of operating a public stable, Aldrich decided this season to go another route and give up training and concentrate on driving.
“I was thinking seriously about giving up my stable for a few years now, but I could foresee problems if it didn’t work out.” Aldrich said. “I made a move to Saratoga a couple of years ago and did pretty well racing there, but this year when Monticello opened I decided to at least spend the winter here before Saratoga began racing in the spring.
“But as it worked out I began winning a lot of races at Monticello in January and February, so when Saratoga did finally open I thought this was the year to try just driving and to do my best to race at both tracks.
“Let me tell you it hasn’t been easy, it’s a two-and-a-half-hour drive (140 miles) from one track to the other and I spend a lot of time in the car. But, luckily, their race dates don’t conflict on a regular basis.”
A week or so ago, Ronnie Wrenn Jr. was to come and drive in a specialty race at Monticello, but things didn’t work out as planned. Still, Wrenn, whose 631 victories lead all other drivers in North America in races won, may be back here after all.
Via a phone conversation, Wrenn was asked if he’d participate in a drive-off with Bruce Aldrich Jr. where they would have a mount in every race on the card.
“I’m certainly interested and would love to do it, but I’d like to know how the drives are selected,’ Wrenn said.
He was told that details will have to be worked out, but the driving competition is in the works and tentatively scheduled for a Wednesday in December.
“I believe it would be a very interesting competition and it would give our loyal fans a glimpse of the talents of Ronnie Wrenn Jr., who has been racing mostly in the mid-west,” said Eric Warner, the track’s director of Racing. “There are a few things we have to take care of before it’s a go, but I don’t think there will be any roadblocks.”
(Monticello)