I read on Facebook that Dick Emerson passed away today.
I posted on here about Dick Emerson passing away along with some other pictures of him and his Modifieds.
Gary Balough won the 1977 Orange County Eastern States Modified 200 in the Gremlin #73 after starting outside pole; he led all 200 laps. The victory was worth $2,750 as the first place prize plus $1,500 in lap money along with contingency awards. The rest of the top five finishers were Kevin Collins, Sammy Beavers, Don Kreitz and Jimmy Horton. Dave Leckonby finished tenth.
I was researching OLD auto racing photographs and came across one from the Albert Stone collection at the Rochester Museum and Science Center. Apparently there was a dirt track in Avon, NY, circa May 30, 1918.
I hope all of you racers and fans have a bit of reverence for the history of the sport which you all have inherited. Make more history friends, in 2011!
I'll follow with more info when I can provide it. Enjoy!
Here's one of HARRY VELTZ, behind the wheel of the CORBIN SPECIAL, circa May 30, 1918. Enjoy!
Not to steal your thunder, but I can help out a little with Avon. The track was known as the Avon Driving Park and just before the turn of the century, driving parks were Sunday meeting places for the wealthy to show off their best carriages, team of horses, dress clothes and general status. Doctors, lawyers, politicians and business owners would go to church, then to the driving park for a picnic lunch and to show off. As the automobile grew in popularity, driving parks at times were used to settle bets that a team of horses could beat the automobile. In many cases, driving parks became the nation's first speedways. Once the automobile steadily beat teams of horses, 2 car events were held. Most of the time these events were held against the clock. In some cases, they were staged head to head. By 1910, most driving parks had fallen to the automobile crowd.
The Avon Driving Park still exists, believe it or not. It's located at the end of Spring Street just outside of town on the south side. Thank you for sharing those pictures. I've been collecting images of relic race tracks for quite a while now, and these are the oldest I've seen from Avon.
If you ever run across images from Akron, PLEASE share. I've been to the Akron library and spent hours looking at microfiche of the Akron newspaper, I've been to Watkins Glen Motorsports Museum and Reference Center to research the track, and even interviewed neighbors surrounding the track and have yet to uncover a single image.
Thanks Bob! I enjoy researching the history of the sport and your information is very helpful!
Found an article from 1910 about a round trip race from Rochester to Syracuse. Interesting.
I looked from Google Earth, couldn't see Avon Driving Park though...
Do yoursellf a favor. Download Bing Maps and then run both Bing and Google simultaneously - where you are looking at the same images from both satellites. The first thing you'll see is that Google has nowhere near the resolution quality as Bing, but Google DOES have more viewable image areas (Bing is closing in fast). I think after using all of them (I use Bing, Google, Yahoo, Historic Aerials, NETR and a secret weapon), my favorite of all of them is Bing.
The Will Cagle, Dave Kneisel confrontation at Weedsport, 1975. After a couple of bumping matches under caution, I believe Cagle spun Kneisel. They both got ejected. Not sure of photographer. Russ Mills?
Here's one of HARRY VELTZ, behind the wheel of the CORBIN SPECIAL, circa May 30, 1918. Enjoy!
that is SOoooo AWESOME
THANKS for sharing...LOVIN all this stuff
LOOK at that big ole squeeze bulb horn LMAO "outa the way comin through HONK HONK !" Avon NY might have to swing by there & take a few pics thats just amazing...wondering what them cars weighed in at ? WOW look like tanks
Just wanted to mention the #19 in the Cagle-Kneisel tangle is Ed Thompson. I believe his car was a former Jim Shampine coupe. It had a pearl paint job and was very cool. I think I'll get one of them horns for the Modified if it makes my competittors give way!!! Dale. Here's another pic I snapped at the 77 Eastern States. If I remember right a car got up on top of the wall in front of me during one of the heats and almost came into the spectator area. He took out the light pole and this was their speedy repair job. Pic by me.
Just wanted to mention the #19 in the Cagle-Kneisel tangle is Ed Thompson. I believe his car was a former Jim Shampine coupe. It had a pearl paint job and was very cool. I think I'll get one of them horns for the Modified if it makes my competittors give way!!! Dale. Here's another pic I snapped at the 77 Eastern States. If I remember right a car got up on top of the wall in front of me during one of the heats and almost came into the spectator area. He took out the light pole and this was their speedy repair job. Pic by me.
That Ed Thompson car is still around - someone located it and restored it recently. I knew that the body looked like one of the former 8balls, but didn't know for sure if it was one or not. Pretty cool.
Is the blue car behind the broken pole Bill Brooking #43 ? He was a regular at Fonda Speedway.