Albany-Saratoga Speedway Launches 60th Season

MALTA — The Albany-Saratoga Speedway is celebrating its 60th anniversary with a season-opening Super DIRTcar Series event on Friday, April 18.

Drivers will duke it out over 60 laps with $7,500 to win. Pits open at 3 p.m., the grandstands open at 5, hot laps start at 6 p.m., and the race itself will follow soon after.

“The best drivers in the Northeast will meet a stout group of Albany-Saratoga regulars for a battle that will likely take all 60 laps to decide,” said Super DIRTcar Series Announcer Mike Warren in a Q&A on the series’ website. “There is no place in the Capital Region where you’ll see better racing, and it’s normal to see a driver win from outside the top 10 every week.”

In addition to celebrating 60 years in business, this season is an especially notable one for the speedway. Late last year, plans to replace the racetrack with a 700-unit residential development were derailed by the Malta Town Board. The speedway’s current owner, Howard Commander, said via a real estate agent who spoke at a December town board meeting on his behalf, that he “fully” supported the proposed project. Commander decided to try to sell the speedway due, in part, to the financial challenges of maintaining and operating the track.

The speedway sits on valuable real estate: a 50-acre parcel along Route 9 North. The track originally opened in 1965 and features racing on Friday nights from April through September. The track’s future after the 2025 season is uncertain.