Harrington Half Mile

Here are some pics I took in the pits at Harrington. Sandy and I had been going to lots of races during the early '80s, IMSA, F1, SCCA, AMA Roadrace, Indy Car, even Nascar. We saw races all over the Northeast, Pocono, Trenton Speedway, Montreal, Lime Rock, Watkins Glen. I'd never seen any national event that seemed so homespun as this. But the racing was incredible. Somehow it didn't compute.

The weapon of choice for most..


A sweet Honda framer


A well sorted SR500 framer


Privateer Honda's


For some of the racing shots, go back to my earliest posts. I took photos of some slides and posted them. The slides were taken with my Minolta SG, I don't know what camera I used for these photos, maybe my Voitlander?

Englishtown New Jersey, Raceway Park!

I took these photos sometime in the early '80s. I think this might have been a Spring National event. I'll add some photos later. This was just before the track got a major overhaul to keep it's National status. New grandstands, timing and scoring tower, pit walls, all came shortly after.

This is the staging area before the water box. You can see a blue '55 Chevy sedan just coming off the line with the wheels off the ground. This guy was dialed all weekend!



Pro-Stock multi time champion Bob Glidden, in his hideously ugly/fast Ford Fairmont.



Classic match-up, Camaro vs. 'Cuda



Another hotrod Pinto.
And I just noticed, we have an Elvis sighting!



Here's a B/A "Altered" dragster. I never knew how they stuctured these classes. Blown/Alcohol maybe?



Love the Opel GT...

Watkins Glen

There was a time when Formula One was much more accessible to the average race fan. I'm sure we paid more than $5 to get in, but the camping ticket seems pretty reasonable.





Here's Jody Scheckter driving a Ferrari 312 T5 up the "boot" on the back side of the track.



After the race, they put these transport wheels on.



Souvenir

Wrack & Ruin

We had another strong windstorm blow through this week, gusts over 60mph were predicted. Came home to a substantial Oak tree blown down across the driveway. Got that cleaned up and cut for firewood for Seamus.

Then I took a walk in the woods today, and found that most of my single track motorcycle trail is now blocked by more trees. With any luck, the neighbor/landowner will take a lot of the damaged trees this winter when he logs the lot.

(Racing) Year In Review

This was a tough season of racing. I had some fun, for sure, but it was also just one tough break after another. It's hard to categorize even a single event as being good or bad, (with the exception of the last race of the season...bad) 'cause it seemed there was a little of both every time. Examples;
Ice Racing, got a 3rd place trophy, but blew up the engine doing it.
Hare Scramble, mangled my thumb, but I finished the race, and I think I'll try it again.
Mini Motard, struggled with jetting all season, but got some decent results.
Flattrack, still had some minor brake issues, didn't win any races this year other than a heat race. Got a 2nd and a 3rd though.
Broken bones. I broke my ankle mid season, which took me out for two months. Scott broke his clavicle, and wrecked his new race bike through no fault of his own. That was the last race of the year for us, and aside from having a couple great practice sessions, it sucked.

Scott never turned a race lap on the bike, it blew the top end in his first practice sesh.




Catra Harescramble




Flattrack at JRM.


Vintage competition


Jim Durkee's superb SL350


Sorry, don't know the rider, but it's a cool Maico


Racin' Mini-motards in VT




TT race under the lights at WVR.


Electric City Riders Memorial Cup




You just don't see many of these. This is entered in the TT class at EC.

On Guard

I was delivering a new car to a customer in Morrisville VT yesterday, and saw this great Army Tank standing guard for the The Vermont National Guard’s 3rd Battalion, 172nd Infantry, Echo Company, Distribution Platoon. They are currently deployed at Forward Operating Base Lightning, Paktya province, Afghanistan.

I believe it's an M60 Patton MBT (main battle tank).

Montessa Impala

I saw these in Barcelona a few years ago, and thought they were cool. I don't think they were ever imported here. Obviously they'd look better with wire spoke wheels, rather than mags.