When the DIRTcar Pro Stock Series returns to Super DIRT Week 53 at Oswego Speedway in October, it’ll be the end of an era for one of its competitors.
Veteran Pro Stock driver Marc Lalonde will retire from full-time competition at the end of the 2025 season, meaning this year’s DIRTcar Pro Stock I Love New York 50 will be his final chance to win at “Racing’s Biggest Party.” And he’ll try to do so with his high school class.
Lalonde is an auto shop teacher at Plantagenet High School in Ontario, and, as a class project every year, his students help build the car and crew it.
“We built the first Street Stock car in 2005,” Lalonde said. “After that, we went into Pro Stock, and our car now is the third one. We built that in 2018. We did that at school. We do everything there, we weld, and do maintenance on the car, and everything.
“(The Kids) are really excited about working on the car. Maintenance, championships, and everything.”
After 20 years, this will be Lalonde’s last year teaching students the day-to-day operations of a race team. But that doesn’t mean he’ll stop traveling. He and his wife, Josee, are planning a memorable vacation next summer.
“We are retiring from school and working,” Lalonde said. “So, next year we are planning a big Canadian West Coast trip all summer.”
While Lalonde is excited for what’s to come, he still sees the potential accolades ahead of him.
It’ll be the first time he’s competed at Super DIRT Week since 2019, and he said he knows it’ll be tough racing against the best Pro Stock drivers in the Northeast.
“It’s pretty hard,” Lalonde said. “Racing during the day, it’s going to be pretty dry. And there’s some really good guys with good equipment and everything. So, it’s going to be really, really, hard.”
Not only is Lalonde aiming for Super DIRT Week glory, but he’s also searching for his first DIRTcar Pro Stock Series title. The Plantagenet, ON driver leads the standings entering this weekend’s doubleheader at Lebanon Valley Speedway and Glen Ridge Motorsports Park.
While the Series championship will be on his mind at Oswego, he said a Super DIRT Week title is an accomplishment he’d love to add to his resume in his last chance to do it.
“It will be a good, good, good, good, thing for the last trip I’m doing,” Lalonde said. “It would be fantastic for sure.”
Lalonde and the DIRTcar Pro Stocks will return to Super DIRT Week 53 at Oswego Speedway, Oct. 6-11, culminating in the I Love New York 50 on Friday, Oct. 10.
If you can’t make it to the event, watch all the action live on DIRTVision, either online or with the DIRTVision app.
