“The Jeffer” Jeff Heotzler will be inducted into the Northeast Dirt Modified Hall of Fame this August as part of the class of 2016!

Story By: BUFFY SWANSON / NE DIRT MODIFIED HALL OF FAME
Published: April 28, 2016

WEEDSPORT, NY – Billy Pauch, one of the region’s winningest and most versatile modern-era drivers, longtime Orange County and Accord kingpin Jeff Heotzler and pioneer Southern Tier legend Don Diffendorf will officially be inducted into the Northeast Dirt Modified Hall of Fame in August. These three driving greats add their names to a stellar list of Modified standouts that was started in 1992 when the Hall of Fame was established on the Cayuga County Fairgrounds in Weedsport, New York.

The 25th annual induction ceremonies honoring the Class of 2016 will take place Monday, August 8 at 7 pm in the Northeast Dirt Modified Hall of Fame and Museum, on the grounds of the renovated Weedsport Speedway. The following evening, Weedsport Speedway will present its Super DIRTcar Series Hall of Fame 100 for the big-block Modifieds.

Although Jeff Heotzler’s 11 championship titles at Orange County Fair Speedway and Accord will always tie him to those tracks, the Wallkill, NY, driver stacked up some pretty impressive scores over the years outside his familiar home turf. Heotzler was named Mr. DIRT 320 Modified series champ in 1984; he won the inaugural Syracuse small-block race, the 2007 Eastern States 200 at Orange County, and back-to-back Eastern States small-block Mod 100s in 1988 and ’89. He owns a pair of wins in Lebanon Valley’s prestigious Mr. Dirt Track USA championship big-block event, and another deuce in the Valley’s Race of Kings for SBMs. Since 1978, when he first strapped into his brother’s coupe during a hot lap session at Orange County, “The Jeffer” has notched nearly 150 wins at 13 tracks from Florida to Quebec. The defending Accord Mod champ, age 58, is in his 39th year of competition.