“Them damned people don’t know what the hell they are doin’!  If  you can get a press pass for that place…I will give you room for a weekly column.” claimed Lou Okenica…editor of the Lambertville, NJ small town weekly newspaper, The Beacon.  Okenica was speaking of his attempts to secure a press pass for the Flemington Speedway to occasionally visit and take pictures for use in the paper. 

  I was sixteen…a sophomore in high school and had been attending Flemington with my Grandfather Jim Voorhees for eleven years already and got to know some of the officials and Bill Singer the announcer.  I went to the office of The Beacon on Bridge Street in my hometown and asked about the possibility of writing for them covering Flemington?  I got that “Them damned people” response noted above.

  Well, I got the press pass and thus, began my hobby of auto racing journalism two years prior to my high school graduation.  “One thing!”  Okenica, who I affectionately called “Scoop” said, “You have to keep it locally interesting!”, he ordered.

  Well, just so happens that this was 1975…the year that Billy Pauch was starting his racing career in the Flemington Speedway Rookie division.  I told Okenica, “Well you know, there is this kid up in Stockton, (Stockton was two miles North up the Delaware River) that is starting at Flemington named Billy Pauch.  “Great” he said…”Lets hope he makes some noise!  Cover him!” 

  Um…the rest as they say…..is history!  It was easy to become a fan of Billy’s with his immediate success behind the wheel.  The only driver to ever sweep the seasons Rookie events (8 in all) Pauch went on that year to win some Sportsman features and the following year, terrorized the New Jersey Sportsman division, winning an unheard of 28 main event victories. 

  June 4^th, 1978 at the East Windsor Speedway, Billy began a journey that would lead him to a total of 744 modified division feature event wins, when he claimed the nights thirty lap feature in his own #15.  The following week, he turned the trick in a thirty lapper at the Flemington Speedway and just a few weeks later, took his first extra distance event – a 100 lapper at Flemington, aboard the famous Sonny Dornberger #99. 

  The die was cast.  He was headed for stardom!  April 9^, 2022, just last week, saw Billy engage in an exciting battle for the modified win at the Bridgeport Speedway, edging his own Son, Billy Jr. to take the checkered flag.  Win #744 was in the books and became the swansong on his illustrious career that exhibited so much success in such a wide variety of racing divisions!

  A few years ago, I came up with the idea of preparing a tribute video to Billy, to have it ready whenever he retired.  Seems as if that time has come.  Confirmation came from a crew member and his own Daughter Mandee…Billy “The Kid” has taken his last competitive ride!  It has truly been my pleasure to have followed his career!  I hope you all enjoy this tribute to one of the best to ever get behind the wheel!  I hope you all enjoy this effort!

https://youtu.be/NqBuy3axPAk

....744 total career wins...not modified division wins.  My bad :)

Well done.  Impressive effort on your part and a nice tribute to Billy Pauch.

So it's true!  Sad, but what an amzing career for an amazing person. Go out on his own terms a winner. Proud to say I'm a huge fan and friend of Billy. Good luck my friend and more time to sit back and enjoy your son's career and the future career of BP3.

Great video. Definitely redefines a picture is worth a thousand words. 

Congratulations on a great career and getting out on your own terms. Now relax a bit and enjoy the next chapter. 

Great job Fred! Thank you Billy for all the amazing racing memories through the decades, witnessed so so many of your wins, I'll never forget the battles with you Jimmy, Doug, Kenny at East Windsor Speedway! Watching your career at countless tracks, many decades was just so amazing. '' THANK YOU BILLY PAUCH ".........

Great tribute to one of the best to ever strap in!  It's hard to believe there won't be a race track somewhere any  more without Billy competing and hauling ass!

Awesome tribute Fred!!!

NO ONE had more of a fire in his gut to win than Billy Pauch. Congratulations on a great career.  Now sit back, relax and watch your son and than his son try to match that win total.

Fred, that was a really well put together tribute video !! Very well done, most people either loved him or hated him ! But thank you for putting this together !!

Damn. I was hoping to catch him in a Mod one more time this year.

Only driver I know of to win in a Big Block and Small Block Mod, Winged and Wingless Sprint and a ground pounding pavement Mod all in the same year.

One of the best and most versatile of all time!

Frank A Jr.

Good video Fred.  Billy will go down as one of the best drivers ever on the short tracks. Great way to leave the weekly Modified grind, racing his son to the Checkered Flag in the final race.  Just curious if he is going to run the Speedster from time to time in the future ? 

Boy did I make a mistake last Saturday night (4/16).  Was going to go to Bridgeport but went to New Egypt instead because NES is half the distance from home and I was getting up early Easter morning.  So it looks like I missed out on Billy's last win and, in the process, ate about 5 lbs. of dust at NES!  Of the racers I've seen on a frequent basis in my life, I would rank them Billy The Kid, Frankie S. and Wiley Will as my top 3 talents.  No disrespect to Brett The Corporate Jet as I didn't get to see him that much.  My favorite story about Billywas  after he had established himself as a frequent winner, Billy would give the winner's trophy to a young fan but always kept the check!  Billy became th guy who filled the void of someone for me to root for after Pee Wee Griffin decided to go into "product distribution" rather than make a living racing hot rods!  Billy did it the right way, and for a hell of a long time!  Always asking my Mom "who won?"when she got home home from Windsor or Flemington.  Her answer, more time than not, 'PAUCHY"!  Scott Ely

Great job Fred - Thanks for posting the link.

Like most of you reading this, I'm glad to say that I saw him early in his career, running the Rookie Division at Flemington in 1975, and have seen him race  just about every year since.  We all knew we were witnessing something special, and for years to come, the story line would become "Pauch!"

How do you say "thanks" for all the years of excitement and thrills provided by Billy Pauch?

I'll start by saying, it's been an amazing ride, and thanks for every lap of it!

Speaking of different cars that Pauch has piloted over the years, here's something that we put together with the help of you guys who provided images from your collections:

https://3widespicturevault.com/3wides_Billy_Pauch_Page_1.htm

Thanks Fred and thanks Billy for so many years of great racing.  Will never forget your outside sweep in turns 3 and 4 at Flemiington.  For what it's worth (Buffalo Springfield 1966), as an old timer who has seen them all, I have Biily ranked third (behind Brett and Frankie) as the best modified drivers of all time.

ED-  You mentioning the Buffalo Springfield song, "For What Its Worth", reminded me that title is never mentioned in the song.  As far as songs with lyics go, I believe thats the only one doesn't mention the title.  Scott Ely

P.S.  I thought it was fitting that, in this week's AARN article about him "retiring from the modifieds", the day after he made that decision he went fishing and caught 6 trout (the 1 day limit)!   Whether driving a modified or casting a fishing pole, Billy's still a winner!  

As John mentioned, we think Billy ran Wally Marks coupe on at least one occassion.  (We have a picture of him in Wally's Gremlin'ish car, but never saw a picture of Billy in the coupe.)

This info came up during our 4/6/7 Trivia Challenge (geez... can you believe that was 15 years ago?), where we asked at that time if there were any drivers still running then (2007) that at any point in their career drove a coupe or a sedan.

Here's the link:  http://www.3widespicturevault.com/3wides_trivia/3wide_trivia_answers_d2007_1st_HLF_.htm

(Then scroll down a little until you see Frank Cozze in the little white #44 coupe.)

Two of the best ever