Easter Trip to Glen Ridge and Skyline (22/23 April 2011)

04262011kRICK @ the RACES (EASTER 2011)

NEW YORK EASTER ROAD TRIP

22 April      Glen Ridge Motorsports Park, Fultonville NY

23 April      Skyline Raceway, Blodgett Mills, NY

This past winter seemed to drag on much longer than normal and I was glad to finally get my dirt racing season into gear over the Easter Holiday. Easter used to be one of the busiest times of the year for me , as far as racing is concerned , but not these days ! . If it were possible to turn the clock back 30 years, It wouldn’t be unusual to find me at the race tracks four times in as many days. I was living in England at that time, and I could of been at Long Eaton ( Nottingham) on Good Friday, Harringay ( London) on Saturday, Brafield (Northampton) on Easter Sunday then Belle Vue (Manchester) on the Holiday Monday.

Things are now different for me since I relocated to North America, with most of the holiday events confined to just Good Friday and Easter Saturday. I find it frustrating, but I’m getting used to it ! I guess the reasons are partly due to the uncertain weather at this time of year ( they race whether it’s rain or shine in England)  and partly the need to keep it as a ‘time for the family’

My plans for the weekend were for a road trip, with and the hope of visiting two new tracks.

In previous years, I’ve made trips as far south as Pennsylvania at Easter, but with fuel prices currently at an all time high I kept this years trip local, by confining myself to nearby New York State. My main objective was to visit tracks I’d never been to before, and with this in mind, my choice for Good Friday was an easy one. The Glen Ridge Motorsports Park was running that night and the weather forecast was good. As for Saturday night, there were plenty of places to choose from, but the imminent threat of rain meant I’d have to decide later.

With my HHR loaded, and a bed made up in the back, I set off from Cornwall, Ontario at 9-00 am on Good Friday. With the current high value of the Canadian Dollar ( compared to the US dollar) and the fact that it was a holiday weekend, meant the border crossings would be busy, so I decided to use my local Cornwall customs point and travel across country through NY State.

The Glen Ridge track is located at Fultonville, close to the Fonda Speedway in the heart of the Mohawk River Valley. I’ve been to Fonda plenty of times before, but have never used the same route twice as there are so many options to choose from. This time, I’d got all day to get there so went yet another route.

Once I’d crossed the border in to the USA , I traveled via Gouverneur down to Utica, where I picked up I 90 ( the NY Thruway) to the Fultonville exit. The Fonda Speedway is on one side of the Mohawk River and the Glen Ridge Motorsports Park sits high up on a ridge the other side.

 

04262011bThey are only about ten minutes away from each and sensibly run on different nights.04262011e

04262011aGlen Ridge is a former go kart track that over the years has been enlarged to cater for car racing. From humble beginnings with grass roots street stocks and budget divisions it’s now DIRTCAR sanctioned and runs top class DIRT Modified races.

I was there early and was able to have a good look around and watch as the racers arrived.

04262011d 04262011gMany of the competitors were unfamiliar to me but it was good to see two of my local driver friends Lance Willix of Theresa (NY) and Billy Dunn of Watertown (NY). Lance had raced at the Glen Ridge opener and told me this was going to be his regular home on a Friday night. On the other hand it was Billy’s first time visit and he was eager to try the place out. Whilst walking around the pits I also met Tracy Nelson, one of the 50/50 girls, who was also involved in a Breast Cancer Awareness drive. Billy was one of the drivers to be photographed with the campaign mascot.

04262011cI also met up with my photographer friends Derek Covey, George Smith and Mike Petrucci, but with my Pentax SLR still away for maintenance, I chose not to join them on the center with my tiny Fugi ‘digicam’.

04262011h 04262011iI found a seat in the stands and became a ‘regular’ race fan for the night.04262011f

As you’d expect, there were various divisions on the program, but the Big Block Modifieds were the head liners.

04262011jThe feature race was a really exciting affair with Paul Kinney holding off star drivers Bobby Varin and Kenny Tremont to take the checkers.

Once the racing was over it was time to retire to the parking lot and my bed for the night in the Chevy. The weather forecast had called for overnight rain, and sure enough as I laid there, I could here the ‘pitter patter’ on the roof. I awoke about 5-30 am to find it was still pouring with raining and a thin layer of snow was laying on the front of the car.

My first port of call was the McDonalds in Fultonville for a ‘wake up’ cup of tea and a check of my e-mail. I’m now the owner of a lap top computer and with the help of their free Wireless Internet I could decide where my evenings racing would be. It was a bit early in the day for track cancellations to be available, but as I looked over the Mohawk River, it was pretty obvious Fonda would not be running that night. That was OK by me as I’d been there before, and as mentioned earlier, the main point of this trip was to visit some new tracks.

The two possible tracks I had in mind for Saturday were either the Thunder Mountain Speedway or the Skyline Raceway which are located between Syracuse and Binghamton. The rain was still coming down and the weather outlook didn’t look good at all, as I began to think I may go home empty handed. I decided that the safest thing to do, was to drive to Syracuse (about 80 miles away)  and wait there until lunch time when most tracks make their rain out calls.

After doing some shopping in Syracuse I found myself another McDonalds for a snack and the use of their internet link up. Luckily my buddy  and www.rickattheraces.com web master Craig Revelle was on line back at his home in Gananoque, Ontario and had already got a list of cancellations for me. By 12-30 , I’d got confirmation that Lebanon Valley, Fonda, Can Am and Canandaigua had all succumbed to Mother Nature. There was no news, positive or negative relating toThunder Mountain or Skyline and the only ‘do able’ place that looked like they were definitely running was Merrittville , back in Ontario, just across the border from Niagara Falls.

I now had the dilemma, should I drive nearly 4 hours to Merrittville ( where I’ve been many times before) or take a gamble and head back into southern New York and hope that at least one my two original targets would still be running.

I decided to ‘roll the dice’ and set off down I-81 in the direction of Binghamton. About 45 minutes after leaving McDonalds in North Syracuse, I’d arrived in Cortland where I consulted my National Speedway Directory for directions. I’m from the ‘old school’ and prefer maps to those new fangled GPS ‘gizmos’ . According to the book, the track was located near to the small town of Blodgett Mills, which indeed it is, It’s out in the ‘boonies’ and at the top of a very steep hill.

The sun was starting to peep through the clouds when I found the place at about 2-00 pm . There were people milling about and at least some form of activity going on. I drove onto the grounds and asked the first person I saw , if the racing was still taking place. The friendly guy I picked, just happened to be the track promoter Frank Payne, who very confidently told me that the show would go on, and in fact , he thought the track was in really great shape.

04262011mNo more rain was expected and he looked forward to a great night of racing.

The show was not scheduled to begin until 6-00 pm so I drove back into Cortland to kill a bit time before the start . Once back at the track, I sat in the car and took the opportunity of having a snooze as the race cars started turning up.

04262011oThe weekly racing divisions here include IMCA Modifieds, Sportsman Mods, Late Models and the usual 4 cylinder street stock class.

04262011p04262011n04262011l

04262011q04262011r 04262011sFor the second night running , I became a spectator in the grandstands to watch the show.04262011u 04262011t

Frank was right, the track was in good shape and the feature races were all quality stuff.

04262011vIMCA Mod winner was Mike Smith,

04262011wLate Model winner was Rich Green

04262011xwhile Randy Brokaw took the checkers for the Sportsman Mods.

Racing was over by 9-30 pm and after taking a few Victory Lane photos, I was on my way north up I-81. I was back in Canada soon after midnight and by 1-30 am on Easter Sunday morning. I was at my home in Cornwall. My weekend in New York State netted me two new tracks for my TRACKCHASING Totals. Glen Ridge was # 194 and Skyline was # 195.