Weekend at the Races

And then there was the rental car deal...

I like to to fly from Oregon to Chicago and then drive to Peoria. The road trip is about 175 miles each way and the countryside is pretty. I choose routes that are off the freeway. When I picked up my rental car at O'Hare airport, they were all out of the compact rigs that I normally order. The lady handed me the key to this new Dodge Challenger and said "have fun." Well, it took me about two minutes to find the 0-60 timer on the trip meter and I was off and running. I have never seen anything like this on a car before.

The best that I could achieve was six seconds flat. I tried all sorts of things to break into the fives, but no such luck. Still, 6.0 isn't bad for a 4,000 +/- pound car with 6 cylinder engine. Good clean fun, and all within the posted speed limit. :thumbsup::laugh:



 
This year was the 100th running of the Springfield Mile, an iconic event held at the Illinois State Fairgrounds. This is one of my favorite events. It's a homecoming of sorts, the one race each year that old racers and longtime fans make every effort to attend. There are parties, a charity golf tournament, racing on two different tracks at the fairgrounds, and a big campout on site.

The weekend starts on Friday with a golf outing that benefits the AMA Pro Rookies Class of '79 and Friends charity for injured riders. This group was started by several riders who had their pro dirt track rookie season back in 1979 and became lifelong friends. Some went on to great fame. Wayne Rainey is a three-time world road racing champion. Scott Parker is a nine-time pro dirt track champion. All are still involved in racing in different ways and a couple of them run the charity. It has helped many injured racers.

The golf outing raises money for the charity by pairing invited racers and paying fans in a just-for-fun scramble. I played with two hilarious racers from Wisconsin, Jesse Jannisch and Morgen Mischler. Both are race winners. Jesse's team owner, Jerry Stinchfield, filled out our foursome. Jerry owns a commercial roofing company in Dallas. He supports several riders. When it was over the whole group moved to a street party in downtown Springfield where prizes were awarded. We did not win, but it was still loads of fun.

In the first photo below, we are (L-R), Jesse, Morgen, Red (Jesse's fiancée), Jerry, and me. The second photo shows Morgen and Jesse as they consider trying a trick shot. They finally decided against doing it. The third photo shows those two again, plus (from center, L-R) racers Sam Halbert, Tanner Dean, and Oliver Brindley. Sam and Tanner are from Washington State and I've known them for a long time. Sam is an accomplished twins class racer. Tanner has won three pro races. Oliver came here from England a year ago to race the pro flat track series. He's been on the podium but is still looking for his first win. Those last two guys are only 18 and 19 years old, BTW.

The mile track at this fairground is big. The corners are really broad and you don't let off the gas much at all. The organizers decided a few years ago that the single cylinder bikes just can't take the stress, so their race is run on Saturday in a small arena next to the bigger track. The Springfield Short Track is one of my favorite places to take photos. I love the color of the soil and the backgrounds, and the racing surface is elevated a bit from the surrounding apron so the camera shots look very low. The race was won by Dan Bromley (62), a rider from Pennsylvania. He let his girlfriend take the driver's seat on his victory lap. Second place went to my golf partner, Jesse (132). My other golf partner, Morgen (69), finished sixth after a heat race crash made him start from the rear. Morgen was one of the top qualifiers. Oliver (24) finished fifth. Tanner (38) had a bad night and ended up in 13th place.

In the last pic, riders fly through turn one during a qualifying race.

















 
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Sunday of Labor Day weekend means mile dirt track racing in Springfield, Illinois. As I mentioned above, this was the 100th running of the event. This race is the oldest in the series. It runs entirely in daylight hours, which is unusual. Most of these events start around 1:00pm and finish around 10, but this track has no lights. It's also unusual in that the shape of the track, with four distinct corners, makes it much faster than most other mile tracks. Riders barely let off the gas in the turns. It's no exaggeration when they say the bikes hit 130mph+ on the straights here.

This race was important because it was likely that current champ Jared Mees would clinch his fifth season championship, even if he didn't win. He only needed to place well. In a photo finish, Mees (1) crossed the finish line just 0.013 seconds (less than a bike length) behind Bryan Smith (4), his Indian factory team mate, to take second place in the race and lock up the championship. Springfield is famous for the draft passes enabled by the high speeds here. Smith, Mees and the other front runners ducked in and out of the draft, causing multiple lead changes each lap. It's really something to see. Jeffrey Carver Jr. (23) finished third. All three were on Indian Scout FTR 750s.

Because of the high speeds and the stress that places on equipment, the series' junior class for single cylinder bikes does not race on this track. Their race is held the day before on a smaller track located at the same fairgrounds. But because the organizers like to have two classes to fill out the day, at this venue they run a support class for singles riders on slightly de-tuned twin cylinder machines. This provides a younger rider the chance to try a big bike in a professional setting as he or she prepares to move up to the premier class. This year's race was won by Michael Inderbitzin (54), a young rider from California. Although other brands are allowed, everyone in the field was riding a Kawasaki.

My golfing partners from the day before, Morgen and Jesse, also rode in the support class. I think the shiny mag wheels on Morgen's bike (69) look cool in the photo below.







 
One week after the race in Illinois, the American Flat Track series moved to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, for the Williams Grove Half-Mile. This clay track mostly hosts car races, so there are lots of big fences and steel guard rails. The place has been in business for many years. Heavy rain the day before turned the place into a mud hole on race day. The organizers worked very hard to dry the track out, and cars and trucks ran what seemed like a thousand laps to pack down the surface. It worked, too. The rain stayed away all day and the event ran well and concluded minutes before another storm moved in.

Two brothers from California, Briar (14) and Bronson (37) Bauman, went 1-2 in the premier twin cylinder class, followed by new season champion Jared Mees (1). My friend Tanner Dean (38), from Tacoma, Wash., redeemed his poor showing at Springfield by winning the single cylinder class. Second place went to PA rider Shayna Texter (52), one of two female racers in the series, and the third spot was picked up by Morgen Mischler (69), my golfing partner from the prior weekend. Dan Bromley (62) another PA rider and last week's winner, finished seventh overall, which was good enough to claim the class season championship.

There is a break of two weekends before the circus moves to Minneapolis, Minn., and then on to Newark, N.J., for the final two races of the season.





















 
I hadn't been to Pennsylvania since I was about eleven years old, so I added a couple of days to the trip to look around a little. Friday before the race I drove up to Philadelphia to see Independence Hall and other sights, then on to Levittown, where I visited OldMiniBikes's world headquarters, but foolishly missed the chance to meet up with [MENTION=53484]manchester1.[/MENTION]

I also explored the Antique Automobile Club of America's museum in Hershey, and the Eastern Museum of Motor Racing, in Mechanicsburg.

The AACA museum has wonderful dioramas of period settings where the cars are displayed. The current focus is on Ford Mustangs and there were many well prepared and unusual examples. There is also a nice Tucker exhibit. Great story, but really unattractive cars, IMO. They even had a couple of minibikes on display.

The EMMR museum is close by the Willow Grove race track, where I attended the motorcycle race on Saturday. This museum focuses heavily on the history of that place, and more generally on racing all over the east coast. There are many deluxe cars. Most are in as-raced, and even as-crashed condition. There is stuff on every wall and in every corner. This is not a big museum, but it would take at least a couple of days to really see it all.



















 
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Hi Tom : I am tired just thinking about all you get done on your trips. But the pictures are always great we just need a sound track and that would just add to the great event that you show us.
 
Still kind of reeling about the loss pf pics I've posted to this forum and especially to this thread. Oh, well. Just move on, I guess.

It's been a very busy couple of weeks. I used the last of my vaca from work to travel to two events on consecutive weekends in Minnesota and New Jersey, which hasn't left time for much else.

Two weekends ago, Sept. 29, the race was at the Canterbury Downs mile-long horse track near Minneapolis. This a thoroughbred track, so the ground is quite fluffy. Thoroughbred horses race on cushion tracks, where trotters pulling sulkies race on tracks that are packed harder. A great quantity of the cushion was scraped to the inside of the oval to reveal a harder base for the motorcycles to ride on. You can see the big dirt berm in the first pic below.The track held up well, without getting ruts of holes or developing a single preferred line that would make passing hard.

It says something about the local climate when the grand stands are enclosed in glass. In moderate climates the stands are wide open. In Arizona, they're glassed in to keep out the heat. In Minnesota they're glassed in to keep out the cold. And it was cool, with temps in the 40s all day. This was the first race all year where I've worn long pants. Riders and crew were all bundled up in hats and coats and teams used special heated covers in the pits to keep their tires warm.

The race for big bikes was won by Indian Factory rider Bryan Smith (4), who is a former champion. He held a solid third place through most of the main event, but inherited the lead and the win then the leader ran out of fuel and and then the second place machine broke down. Everyone was quite surprised by that outcome.

The race for single cylinder bikes was won by Kolby Carlile (1), last year's champion, riding a Yamaha. Carlile is nicknamed The Flying Tomato because of his long, bright red hair, which you can see in the final photo







 
I stayed over an extra day in Minneapolis to look around a little. I hadn't been there in decades. Naturally I had to visit the house used for exterior shots in the old "Mary Tyler Moore" TV show. I also went downtown to see the actress's statue on the Nicollet Mall.





 
Last weekend I went to The Meadowlands, in New Jersey. This was the final race of the season and first national championship dirt track race ever held in New Jersey. Many said that this was the best race of the season.

The mile-long Meadowlands circuit is black and from a distance it looks like it's paved. That's because it's a cushion track made of crushed black gravel. The gravel was kept moist by a light drizzle on and off during the day, and it made for a track with lots of lines and passing opportunities. Visibility was difficult as face shields became muddy, even with plastic tear-off covers. It also really stings when you get hit by the roost from another bike.

The twin cylinder class was won by Bryan Smith (4), who had also won the week prior in Minnesota. He followed in second place Behind Jared Mees (1) for much of the race, but it was pretty apparent that he was faster than the leader. He bided his time, then moved into the lead with two turns left and won going away. Both riders were on Indians.

The single cylinder class was won by Shayna Texter (52), riding a Husqvarna. Shayna is one of the few women racing in this series and is a former class champion. Barely 5 feet tall and weighing little more than 100 pounds, she is very tough woman and a great racer. She had a very close race with Dan Bromley (1) on his KTM. Bromley is one of the biggest racers in the series, standing well over 6 feet. Texter's margin of victory was only 00.006 seconds, and the two were bumping against each other as they crossed the finish line side by side.














 
Young gun rode my Fimco mini to first place last night ahead of 16 other bikes at The One Pro flat track races in Salem, Oregon. The kid is an experienced racer and the bike was a rocket. After crashing during practice in his first moments on the bike, he came back to win his heat race and then he lapped half the field in the main event. The win paid $115 in prize money and a nice trophy. For comparison, the Open Pro motorcycle class winner took home $5,000, but a win is a win and he earned it. He got to keep the trophy and all of the money. I went home feeling very happy and basking in my Roger Penske moment as a team owner. :)



 
Last weekend I attended my first pro race of the year, the Atlanta Short Track. This was the second event on the series calendar. I missed the first race at Daytona Intl. Speedway. Anything smaller than about 3/8 mile is called a short track, and Dixie Speedway is right on that mark. This is a steeply banked red clay oval that is primarily a car track. And to call it an oval isn't really accurate. There is a break in the front straight, where it turns slightly left at the start/finish line, giving the appearance of a fifth corner. Traction on the clay was a little sketchy this year, leading to a few crashes. A couple of guys are still in the hospital nearly a week later.

As usual, there were two pro classes, one for purpose-built 750cc machines, and another class for younger riders on modified 450cc MX bikes, Indian FTR750s swept the top three spots, which is pretty normal these days. A factory-entered Harley-Davidson XG750 took fourth place - a good finish for that team. Pennsylvania racer Brandon Robinson (44) took the win, his first in a couple of years. He dispatched the leader, current series champ Jared Mees (1), with an outside pass in turn four near the end of the race. The Junior class win went to Dalton Gauthier (122) on a Honda CRF450R. Gauthier had a perfect day, setting the fast qualifying time, winning his heat race and semi, then leading every lap of the main event. Gauthier has been out of the series for two years because he failed a mandatory drug test. This was his second race back, and the first on an oval. He won here in 2017, his last race before being suspended.

This event also had a third, non-championship class, where all of the riders were on 70s vintage Bultaco Astro 360cc bikes. This is an invitational class, open only to racers who held a pro license back in the day. The win went to former pro racer Davey Durelle (58). He ran close with Jackie Mitchell (32) before pulling out a gap.

Here are some pics of the track, the pre-race track walk for racers, rider intros before the 450cc main event, and some of the bikes in all three classes. I tripped and fell between the main events, and damaged my camera. I did not get many photos of the 750cc main event. The series goes to Dallas on April 20. I'll miss that round, but will join back in at the next stop in Arizona on April 27.



















 
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