Bloviating about racing
So, the opening race of the Silver Crown season, the Rich Vogler Memorial, was supposed to run today at Winchester. They called it Friday on account of the forecast, and moved it to July 22nd, although they probably could have gotten it in today, as things developed. Still, USAC's heart was in the right place. Very disappointing, especially for people who've had to travel some distance, to sit all day at the cold, wet racetrack, then have to go home. Winchester has open-top stands, as well.
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The Carbeuration Night Classic (aka The Race Before the 500, which used to be The Night Before the 500), is Friday night before the 500 at Raceway Park. I may go. They've got USAC Sprints and Silver Crown cars, as well as Formula Ford and the next series up (the one below Lights). From 1946 until 1959, it used to be The Night Before the 500, at the 16th Street Speedrome, just across the street from the Speedway. They'd start qualifying at dusk, race three complete Midget cards with heats and A and B mains, and finish up somewhere around 5 in the morning, just before the Speedway grounds opened. An absolutely packed house, always, due to the 500 fans.
I was always sad that I was born too late to see this. A lot of the 500 drivers would race at least part of the night. Then you had absolute racing monsters like Shorty Templeman, who'd race all night, drag his sorry self into his garage when the Speedway opened, and try to get a few hours sleep before the 500. He actually won all three features in 1958(?), and apparently took home quite a pile of money for doing so. Raceway Park revived it, and carried on a few years, but it eventually faded away before I was really old enough to go.
I'm pleased to see it return, even if only a shadow of what it was. Silver Crown cars fascinate me anyway. Had development taken a slightly different path in the early 50s, these are the cars that perhaps would have been contesting the 500 for several decades. It's like looking into an alternate world.
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NASCAR had their "throwback weekend" today at Darlington, emphasizing the history of NASCAR with reproduction paint schemes and the like. They mean well. As always, though, emphasizing the glories of the past, while pushing the diminished realities of the present, doesn't entirely cut it. ***** Original posted at https://rain-gryphon.dreamwidth.org/216314.html
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The Carbeuration Night Classic (aka The Race Before the 500, which used to be The Night Before the 500), is Friday night before the 500 at Raceway Park. I may go. They've got USAC Sprints and Silver Crown cars, as well as Formula Ford and the next series up (the one below Lights). From 1946 until 1959, it used to be The Night Before the 500, at the 16th Street Speedrome, just across the street from the Speedway. They'd start qualifying at dusk, race three complete Midget cards with heats and A and B mains, and finish up somewhere around 5 in the morning, just before the Speedway grounds opened. An absolutely packed house, always, due to the 500 fans.
I was always sad that I was born too late to see this. A lot of the 500 drivers would race at least part of the night. Then you had absolute racing monsters like Shorty Templeman, who'd race all night, drag his sorry self into his garage when the Speedway opened, and try to get a few hours sleep before the 500. He actually won all three features in 1958(?), and apparently took home quite a pile of money for doing so. Raceway Park revived it, and carried on a few years, but it eventually faded away before I was really old enough to go.
I'm pleased to see it return, even if only a shadow of what it was. Silver Crown cars fascinate me anyway. Had development taken a slightly different path in the early 50s, these are the cars that perhaps would have been contesting the 500 for several decades. It's like looking into an alternate world.
*****
NASCAR had their "throwback weekend" today at Darlington, emphasizing the history of NASCAR with reproduction paint schemes and the like. They mean well. As always, though, emphasizing the glories of the past, while pushing the diminished realities of the present, doesn't entirely cut it. ***** Original posted at https://rain-gryphon.dreamwidth.org/216314.html