WHAT DID YOU DO AFTER THE TRACK CLOSED.TODAY MAY 30 IN 1976 WAS THE FIRST WEEKEND THE HILLS OF WINGDALE WERE WITHOUT THE SOUNDS WE ALL LOVE. IF YOU DID SHOW UP TO RACE ALL YOU FOUND WAS A LOCKED GATE. WAS THERE ANY NOTICE EXCEPT AT THE TRACK THAT IT HAD CLOSED ? WHERE DID EVERYONE GO . VALLEY. E-TOWN , ISLAND. CONN ? . I MYSELF PARKED MY CAR IN THE GARAGE RAISED A FAMILY AND THEN STARTED RUNNING AT VALLEY AGAIN IN 1988 AND STILL HAVE THE CAR TODAY. HAD THE CAR AT ISLAND LAST NOV AND HAD FUN RUNNING IT.
I ran E-Town, and Island, with an occasional trip to New England Dragway in Epping, New Hampshire. Only went to the Valley once, and didn’t like it, it broke my car. 😥 Last time down the track was May of 77, at E-Town. Got into Circle track after that, raced mostly N.Y, N.j. and PA. Moved to Florida in 1990, and kept racing occasionally until 2007. Now I’ve got the Willys Coupe, and I’ll be making noise with it real soon. …………..Mikey 😆
Got job at Custom Vans Inc in Danbury and joined pit crew of Davis-Turino #32 at Danbury Racearena. Not much Drag action except for lettering jobs.Did more Stock cars than Drag.
i went to ct. dragway the next week. it was run by marrata then and also closed that year i think? it just shut down and did not open up until 1980. that was not the most fun place to race.had to wait for the state cop to show up to start.if there was an accident or big emergency he left and the racing stopped.i could go on +on.dover was the best…
I never went back to Dover the last 4 final years…If I knew it was going away that soon I would have gone back….I ran mostly NY National and Raceway Park and did not have to deal with A/Stock with A/Gas motors….Hey Mikey, your Willys would probably run N/Stock at Dover, oh wait, you weren’t from Eastchester or Speed parts Center so you would follow NHRA rules 😆 😆 😆 ….But it would be VERY cool to have it back now!!!!!!!!!!! 😀
Hey that would be cool …The opening dates of Conn.-Lebanon./South Glens Falls/N.Y. National /Sanford and all the other, “New England Tracks’ to Put Dover in the ‘time line” ..And When did the closed ones Close ?
I never went back to Dover the last 4 final years…If I knew it was going away that soon I would have gone back….I ran mostly NY National and Raceway Park and did not have to deal with A/Stock with A/Gas motors….Hey Mikey, your Willys would probably run N/Stock at Dover, oh wait, you weren’t from Eastchester or Speed parts Center so you would follow NHRA rules 😆 😆 😆 ….But it would be VERY cool to have it back now!!!!!!!!!!! 😀
Don, I think it would have been U/Stock with the V-Ws. I could have told Joe T that I left it out in the rain and it grew up to be a “Bigger Bug”!! 😮 😯 😆 😆 😆 😆
Dino,that was the last year I ran a drag ( bracket) car. I had some good ’roundy-round’ friends that I got my hands dirty with as a pit crew member. They ran Accord Speedway, a 1/4 mile track on Friday nights,and the “Valley’ on Saturday nights.I only went to the Valley Dragstrip after that,for ‘special’ events,and ‘swap’ meets.I kinda lost interest,until they started running ‘nostalgia’ racing events,besides classic car shows.I don’t think I ever missed the Rhinebeck Show since it opened in the late ’60’s’. Unfortunately,I’m an ole ‘fart at heart’,and have no interest in the ‘modern’ day drags today,with either big $ race cars,or ‘rice’ grinders taking over the sport. No matter how you slice it,you can’t stop progress,and hope the torch stays lit for a long time when it comes to nostalgia drag racing!
In the summer of 77 I went back and drove right in, very surreal, not much had changed. Drove right out onto the starting line, I think the tower and signage were all still there. I got out and walked the track, there was a row of dirt every 50 feet or so to prevent making a pass, I found old u-joints,bent driveshafts etc. along the side. They had dug quite a hole about 3/4 of the way down. Wish I’d had a camera.
What I thought about was if they were good businessmen, yes dig the surrounding hills up, but leave the TRACK alone! With any foresight wasn’t it just POSSIBLE drag racing would become popular again??? The pavement was in good shape, it certainly got popular again. That’s my opinion.. Happy Memorial Day guys . Over and out.
john-sachs-sr.
dino