By Jim Balentine

After the final issue of the last RPM racing news was printed in the late 2010s a void occurred in the Rich history of the tri-state area of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York as no local paper or website was covering the area focusing primarily on the many local race tracks some of which have been around since the 1950s. The history of tri-state auto racing news goes back to the late 1960s as Greensburg Pennsylvania’s Vern and Vi Spencer began publishing a weekly newspaper, which focused on the local racing contingent from the three nearby states, a vast difference from the national racing papers of Speed sport, Speedway illustrated, and area auto racing news. Experienced writers along with weekly columnists and professional photographs from all the track photographers made the local drivers regionally known week in and week out. Throughout the glory days of the 1970s and 1980s Tri state auto racing news would become an essential part of the region as it would be one of the few newspapers to cover racing from Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. The Spencer’s would eventually sell the paper due to health issues to local racing announcer and PR man Dave Kittey, and Dr David Horne Experienced columnists would write about their weekend adventures at the local tracks, which would provide more in-depth information than the regular press releases. Rich Berry; Dave Kittey; D.J. Cline; Dave Dragovich; and current writers Walt Wimer and Chuck Bollinger would entertain everyone with their creative writing skills which would paint a picture of what they witnessed in person each week. Even current floracing announcer Dustin Jarrett got his start with Tri state auto racing news in his teenage years. The photographers who would contribute to the paper is a Hall of Fame list with names such as Al and Bob Spekis; Jim Smith; Dan and Linda Fennell; Karl Kammerer; Jay Pees; Bill Truby; Brian Underwood; and current photographers Jim Balentine; Derek Bobik; Tommy Hein; and Howie Balis all put a face to the names of the drivers. Dave Kittey and Dr. David Horne would eventually sell the paper to the Sammons family and area auto racing news based out of Trenton New Jersey, which has left a void of in-depth local racing coverage for many years in the local press. This spring of 2025 a group of local racing media came together to try to bring back major coverage of the three state area, and after careful consideration, have decided to bring back ”tri-state auto racing news” as an prominent online presence. The website will consist of news, results, columnists, and will feature photographs of the talented group of photographers around the area. It will cover both dirt and asphalt primarily local with a little bit of national coverage all to promote the local drivers from this rich area of racing. The website URL will be www.tristateautoracingnews.com and there will also be a Facebook page as well. More information regarding track and sanction body submissions And advertising potential will be forthcoming. Please stay tuned for the return of Tri state auto racing news.