Being creatures of habit, ehem…, we stopped for the second year in a row at the Frederick Duesenberg roadside memorial. Duesenberg was critically wounded along this roadway, when he crashed his Model J into the hillside on 2 July 1932. He died 24 days later.
We also stopped at Jennerstown Speedway for the second year in a row. The historic track is suppose to see racing once again this year after a hiatus of several years.
Erin Crocker’s #16 sprint car sits in the front window display area of the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame & Museum.
In 2002, Crocker had five A-feature wins in a 360 Sprint. In 2003, moving up to the 410 division, Crocker became the first woman in the World of Outlaws history to qualify for the Knoxville Nationals. She was the 2003 Nationals’ Rookie of the Year.
Notice the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute sponsorship.
Erin Crocker with #16
This 1956 VW Bug, is said to have ran La Carrera Panamerican in 1996. It is now for sale in Mansfield, OH for $5600.
The original Carrera Panamericana, introduced when the Pan-American Highway in Mexico was completed in 1950, was a border-to-border, open road race, that ran between 1950 and 1954. It was considered at the time, to be the most dangerous race of any kind in the world. The first winner of the race was Hershel McGriff who drove an Oldsmobile 88. The car cost McGriff $1900, and the race prize was $17,000.
The race was revived in 1988, allowing 100 cars to line up in Southern Mexico to race the 2000 miles north. La Carrera Panamericana lasts a week, with both experienced and novice racers running on public highways at top speeds, with the Mexican Highway Patrol clearing the roads ahead.
A video of a VW Beetle racing in Mexico in 1996. There’s a great moment at about 1:20 where the Bug is passed by an old Studebaker
The 27th Annual Pan-Am Race will run October 17-23, 2014.
An odd year here for the “Last Great Race”.
The Iditarod started this past weekend, as mushers and dog teams left Willow, AK on Sunday. Due to the lack of snow, there had been talk of changing the start of the race to Fairbanks, which is actually closer to the historical serum run that the race commemorates, but race officials decided to stick with the southern Willow Run.
Maybe, they should have come north:
With treacherous, snowless trail conditions, eleven of the sixty-nine mushers who started the race have already scratched. Another, has been withdrawn by race officials after an injury.
Scott Janssen, a 52 year old musher/undertaker from Anchorage , broke his ankle on a section of trail between Rohn and Nikolai. Known as the Mushing Mortician, Janssen said, “There’s a lot of heaven to be seen along the Iditarod route, but that part of the trail was all hell.”
Photos courtesy of AP/Anchorage Daily News
The 9th Annual “Tired Iron” snowmachine race was held on the Chena River in downtown Fairbanks today. It’s quite the event, although I always come home smelling like 2-cycle gas/oil mix exhaust.
“Tired Iron” is a series of events, with only 1979 or older model snowmachines. There are trophies for the most obnoxious sled, the oldest sled, the oldest driver, as well as races for both air and water cooled machines, and one race for sleds with a max speed of 25mph. There is also “moose nugget bowling”, which I really do not want to get into here.
Every year, the races draw quite the crowd, and this year was no exception. It was an absolutely beautiful day out on the Chena, with totally clear skies, and a high near 12 above.
A 1963 Pontiac Le Mans Super Duty racing at the Detroit Dragway with John DeLorean behind the wheel.
The Detroit Dragway was a 1/4 Mile Drag Strip, sanctioned by the National Hot Rod Association, which opened in 1959. It was the home of the US Nationals in 1959 and 1960, before they were moved to Indianapolis Raceway. Up until the late 1970’s, the typical weekend crowd was around 30,000 spectators. By the mid 1980’s, however, crowds had dropped down to a 500 turnout.
The “Dirty D” closed in 1998.
A few years ago, one of Pontiac’s original 1963 Tempest Le Mans Super Duty was spotted on ebay. The owner, not knowing he had his hands on an extremely rare factory race car, opened the bidding at $500. The car, needing a complete restoration and without an engine, eventually sold for over $226,000. The auctioned Pontiac, turned out to be the missing Stan Antlocer Super Duty Tempest Le Mans Coupe.
The Stan Antlocer ebay Super Duty
The start of the Yukon Quest Dog Sled Race took place in downtown Fairbanks on Saturday. The race takes place between Fairbanks, AK and Whitehorse YT, with the two cities alternating start years. Normally, the race starts on the Chena River when it takes off from Fairbanks, but poor ice conditions led to a start on 2nd Avenue this year.
Eight mushers made it to the first check point at Two Rivers, which is a 73 mile leg, in 8 hours or less. The trail is fast and icey from all reports.
Photos courtesy of the Daily News-Miner
As the sprint car season comes to a close, I thought some folks in Iowa might like this photo from Fairbanks.
That’s not to take away from the World’s Ugliest Push Truck. Afterall, these folks are professionals. Too bad it’s been retired, it was definitely my favorite.
For the love of all that is creamy and fattening, is nothing sacred anymore?
The Butter Cow at the Iowa State Fair was vandalized over the weekend. An animal rights group, Iowans for Animal Liberation, hid in the 1904 Agricultural Building until after the fair closed, broke into the Butter Cow’s refrigerated crypt, and poured red paint over the 600 pound cow, which has been a part of the fair since 1911. “Freedom for all” was left painted in large red letters on the glass to the tomb.
Rumor has it that the butter statue of Abe Lincoln had its beard shaved off, and the butter road map of the Lincoln Highway was rerouted from Lubbuck, Texas to Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, but Fair officials refused to comment any further. An unidentified source within the Iowa State Troopers office stated that it is believed that the culprits have “spread across the border to Moose Jaw”, and the map is an obvious “taunt at the police”.
Oddly enough, the Crisco Pig, which was also in the crypt with Butter Abe & Butter Cow, was left untouched by IAL.
The butter for the cow is reused for 10 years, at which time it is believed that officials of the Cracker Barrel and Perkins Restaurant chains arm wrestle for it on the Midway. Tickets for this prestigious, once in a decade show are $10 per person.
Sadly, Betsy the Real Cow from Fairfield, Iowa, passed away after giving the milk that went into the making of the additional 100 pounds of butter that Fair crews used to repair the Butter Cow. Representatives of Iowans for Animal Liberation called Betsy’s demise “Unfortunate. But we always knew that collateral damage was inevitable.”
When asked where the Butter Cow’s security detail was on Saturday night, Iowa State Fair officials sheepishly admitted that “they were in Knoxville watching Donny Schatz come back from the 21st slot to win his seventh Knoxville Nationals”.
Photo surprisingly enough, is courtesy of Iowans for Animal Liberation.
The Macallans were kind enough to contribute to the story.
