Discovered While Searching for Something Else

With apologies to readers for whom this is common knowledge, I share a recent discovery that proves twenty-four years of living in Hudson doesn't make you knowledgeable about everything going in Columbia County. Here's my discovery: JR Heffner, the mild mannered and affable vice president of operations for A. Colarusso & Sons, familiar to some of us as the guy who comes to planning board meetings in Greenport and Hudson and answers the questions about the proposed haul road that the engineer doesn't, is a professional dirt track and stock car racer.

Photo: Dirt Track Digest

He has a website, JR Heffner Racing, a Facebook page, and an entry in Wikipedia, where the account of his racing career begins with this paragraph:

Heffner's interest in racing started at the age of five, when he and his parents attended races at Lebanon Valley Speedway. In his teen years, he raced three-wheelers and eventually started racing in Lebanon Valley's Sportsman's Division, winning the championship in 1990. He moved up to the big block Modified division, winning his first race in the division in 1994. In 1997, he acquired sponsorship from A. Colarusso & Sons, a highway construction firm. Heffner and Colarusso would develop a longtime relationship, with Heffner joining the company in 2003 and becoming the Vice President of Operations.

Who knew? Well, I'm sure many people, since his racing career is a very successful one and his Facebook followers number in the thousands.
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