RICK @ the RACES (15 / 16 Nov 2008)
At last, after two weeks of it not working, my satellite TV was up and running this past weekend. It allowed me to catch the final race of the NASCAR Sprint Cup from Homestead , Florida. As they went into the last race, Jimmie Johnson looked all set to win another Championship with just a slight chance of Carl Edwards causing an upset. Although Edwards took the checkers Johnson’s fifteenth place was still good enough to clinch the title. His remarkable third consecutive Championship has equaled Cale Yarborough’s ‘three in a row’ record set in the 1970’s.
www.rickattheraces.com
A week-end at home gave me the opportunity to get another ‘RETRO’ Report completed for the website. Episode # 3 which covers 1969 has now been up-loaded. As well my ‘local’ tracks of Brafield and Harringay, I visited three new tracks that year, the Coventry Stadium, Long Eaton Stadium and the Brands Hatch Circuit. For the 1969 swction, I found one of my earliest action pics featuring the famous ‘Dirty’ Dennis Burdett-Coutts # 380.
New photos have been added to each section, with a topical one of Jimmie Johnson and his crew in action added to RICKS FAVORITES.
My mail box has also been busy this week with my first message coming from Bob Boddington of Haddenham, Bucks in the UK. Bob was trying to confirm if the people standing in the background of the Stuart Smith # 391 photo in last weeks report were Stuart Smith, Doug Cronshaw and his father. I’m pretty certain It’s them, If anyone out there knows different, drop me a line. I’ve known Bob Boddington for many years, as he used to race BriSCA F1 ( # 196) and F2 (# 596). In fact my first BriSCA F2 stock car once belonged to him.
When I sold my BriSCA F2, it went to a guy called Tony Butterfield from Coventry. He raced it a couple of times before ‘totaling it’ at the Odsal Stadium , Bradford.
He then went on to race BriSCA F1 as # 12 in an ex Danny Clarke car. I met up with Tony, who now spends much of his time in Australia, during my visit to the UK in September of this year. Tony has recently signed the www.rickattheraces.com Guest Book. Thanks Tony
Also signing the Guest Book was Steve Gateley, a former Hot Rod, BriSCA F1 and F2 driver.
Steve was once on the F2 BSCDA committee ( British Stock Car Drivers Association) and was newsletter editor. Since retiring from the sport he moved to the Spanish Island of Tenerife where he’s now lived for 16 years. Thanks for you comments Steve.
Keeping with the ‘International’ theme of this report I must mention a message I got from Jerry Fisher, a fellow Short Circuit Magazine contributor currently touring South America.
He sent me a photo of some Midgets he discovered at a race track in Argentina. Jerry is from the South Coast of the UK and has covered racing at his local Matchams Park Raceway at Ringwood ( Hampshire) for many years. Back in the 1980’s he published a 30 year history of the track entitled ‘Rendezvous Ringwood’ which I still have in my collection to this day.
Whilst talking about ‘collectible’ publications, it conveniently brings me on to the next message I received. It was from Short Circuit Magazine Asst Editor Paul Huggett who wrote the ‘now sought after’, ‘The Complete Book Of Short Circuit Racing’. It was in the DRIVE IT series published by Haynes, the people responsible for workshop manuals.
Paul from Hastings in Sussex, (UK) who is a regular visitor to the North American Speedways sent me some photos from the Angmerring track , close to his home.
That’s one track in the UK I’ve never been to, and he’s urging me to give it a try next time I’m over there. We’ll have to wait and see.
Finally, I must mention some interesting photos recently posted on www.quebecdirt.com relating to one of my local tracks. The Mohawk International Raceway. NY (FKA The Frogtown International Speedway) located just five minutes from the Canadian /USA border is undergoing major refurbishment. The old grandstands, race control and sponsors booths have been demolished, and the photos seam to indicate, that all that’s left is the brand new washroom’s that were built earlier this year. I’ll have to take a drive over and check it out.