Fonda! We were pleased to
receive the invite from Pete
Lazarro to join in the festivities
at Fonda on the night
honoring his father Lou. Pete's
sister Mimi and Matt Noles set
up the entinre event and did a
great job. There were at least
14 vintage race cars on hand
from various clubs, ranging
from a midget to a
mid-eighties modified. Ed
Moyzan and his buddy Barry
Davis met up with me at my
place and I hitched a ride to
New Berlin where we picked
up Dad. He had just finished
prepping the S33 for the night
and replaced the 'willpops'
with 'maypops' up front. "They
got good tubes in 'em" he
related, fingers crossed. Off we
go to Fonda, one of my favorite
tracks. The ride itself is an
adventure, one you get off Rte.
20 at East Springfield it's hill
and dale, winding roads that I
know none of the names. I call
the stop sign at one
intersection Dicky's Pass in
honor of Dick Sweet, who as I
recall, never stopped...
Through Canajahorie (sp?) and
down 5S, getting close and I
get the same feelings as we
cross over the Mohawk, there
it is - sweet jewel of a track -
flat, D-shaped, fast. We unload
and Benny pulls Ed's #44
Tasnady Sedan alongside the
S33 off of turn 4. Nice spot,
best place to watch a race at
Fonda is high off of turn 4 in
my mind. We take a look at
the other cars in attendance,
John Mason has the wimble
version of the 33 on hand and
his very nice display. Frank
Blanchard has the Lazzaro #4
Gremlin tube car and the
Buck Holliday C-38 as well.
Ray Demolin has made the
trip with his sedan. John
Walsh with his coupe, the #37
Vilano coupe is real nice,
hadn't seen that one before.
There's a nice #2 sedan, Ray
Dalmata's #643 Modified, later
some open wheel cars join us.
But the star, hands down is
Pete's #4 coupe, it'd be the
star at many shows beleive me,
just a really nicely done car.
John Grady is on hand, and
busy for now. I'll catch him
later. Danny Ody and I
introduce ourselves, he's got
some nice films n the works,
catch you at Utica-Rome. Otto
Graham and I get a few
seconds to exchange hello's,
everybodies busy at the
beginning of the night. John's
free so I chat with him for a
few. Warmups are nearly done
and Frank Blanchard asks if
we want to try the track out,
"Sure!" We borught helmets
just in case... I grab my
camera, don my '68 Snell and
jump in with Dad.
The S33 fires right up and we
find our way around the
grandstand as Lew Boyd waves
and Marty Berbewick smiles.
Through the pits and off of
turn 4, we're on the track and
I start snapping shots, hope
they come out... The car runs
great, the track is pretty tacky
and smooth.. but we still could
use some better shocks. As the
overheads buzz by the old
stock Merc. Flatty, we realize
we could use a little more poop
too... maybe we'll get a Y-block
for it someday. Regardless, the
car runs great, good oil
pressure and never over 160
degrees, and Dad is running it
pretty good in 2nd gear. It's
fun, you forget how much fun
it is just to get around a track
like Fonda, challenging and
fast, a real race track. We
must've done 20 laps and even
at that it was over way too
soon. The 'maypops' made
it..Back to the grandstand and
one fellow tells us we were
losing water - need to cut
those pumps if we're going to
run it like that...
Off tothe concessions, the
chicken fingers and fries are
pretty good, the dust was
pretty good to, nice texture as
well as taste. I'm joking of
course, the dust was minimal
and the track was nice. Later
Bobby Varin related it was
slippery, he'd know better
than I but it didn't appear to
break up much and wasn't
dusty. The racing was great,
like I remember it there, 4
wide a few times off of four, it
doesn't get any better. Matt
Delorenzo won the 44 lap
modified feature with a super,
calculated run. Everything
about the night was nearly
perfect but as it got colder, we
decided to load up. The trip
home was fine as well, as I
hopped out of Dad's truck and
into Ed's, I was glad to be done
driving. And got to listen to
some good country music on
the way home, didn't realize
they were using wah wah
pedals in country music now,
Hendrix would be proud. And I
finally got to hear "I'm not as
good as I once was but I'm as
good once as I ever was" -
which by the way, they stole
from me, that's my line... allin
all, a very interesting night.
Thanks to all at Fonda and the
Lazzaro's, we'll be back.
receive the invite from Pete
Lazarro to join in the festivities
at Fonda on the night
honoring his father Lou. Pete's
sister Mimi and Matt Noles set
up the entinre event and did a
great job. There were at least
14 vintage race cars on hand
from various clubs, ranging
from a midget to a
mid-eighties modified. Ed
Moyzan and his buddy Barry
Davis met up with me at my
place and I hitched a ride to
New Berlin where we picked
up Dad. He had just finished
prepping the S33 for the night
and replaced the 'willpops'
with 'maypops' up front. "They
got good tubes in 'em" he
related, fingers crossed. Off we
go to Fonda, one of my favorite
tracks. The ride itself is an
adventure, one you get off Rte.
20 at East Springfield it's hill
and dale, winding roads that I
know none of the names. I call
the stop sign at one
intersection Dicky's Pass in
honor of Dick Sweet, who as I
recall, never stopped...
Through Canajahorie (sp?) and
down 5S, getting close and I
get the same feelings as we
cross over the Mohawk, there
it is - sweet jewel of a track -
flat, D-shaped, fast. We unload
and Benny pulls Ed's #44
Tasnady Sedan alongside the
S33 off of turn 4. Nice spot,
best place to watch a race at
Fonda is high off of turn 4 in
my mind. We take a look at
the other cars in attendance,
John Mason has the wimble
version of the 33 on hand and
his very nice display. Frank
Blanchard has the Lazzaro #4
Gremlin tube car and the
Buck Holliday C-38 as well.
Ray Demolin has made the
trip with his sedan. John
Walsh with his coupe, the #37
Vilano coupe is real nice,
hadn't seen that one before.
There's a nice #2 sedan, Ray
Dalmata's #643 Modified, later
some open wheel cars join us.
But the star, hands down is
Pete's #4 coupe, it'd be the
star at many shows beleive me,
just a really nicely done car.
John Grady is on hand, and
busy for now. I'll catch him
later. Danny Ody and I
introduce ourselves, he's got
some nice films n the works,
catch you at Utica-Rome. Otto
Graham and I get a few
seconds to exchange hello's,
everybodies busy at the
beginning of the night. John's
free so I chat with him for a
few. Warmups are nearly done
and Frank Blanchard asks if
we want to try the track out,
"Sure!" We borught helmets
just in case... I grab my
camera, don my '68 Snell and
jump in with Dad.
The S33 fires right up and we
find our way around the
grandstand as Lew Boyd waves
and Marty Berbewick smiles.
Through the pits and off of
turn 4, we're on the track and
I start snapping shots, hope
they come out... The car runs
great, the track is pretty tacky
and smooth.. but we still could
use some better shocks. As the
overheads buzz by the old
stock Merc. Flatty, we realize
we could use a little more poop
too... maybe we'll get a Y-block
for it someday. Regardless, the
car runs great, good oil
pressure and never over 160
degrees, and Dad is running it
pretty good in 2nd gear. It's
fun, you forget how much fun
it is just to get around a track
like Fonda, challenging and
fast, a real race track. We
must've done 20 laps and even
at that it was over way too
soon. The 'maypops' made
it..Back to the grandstand and
one fellow tells us we were
losing water - need to cut
those pumps if we're going to
run it like that...
Off tothe concessions, the
chicken fingers and fries are
pretty good, the dust was
pretty good to, nice texture as
well as taste. I'm joking of
course, the dust was minimal
and the track was nice. Later
Bobby Varin related it was
slippery, he'd know better
than I but it didn't appear to
break up much and wasn't
dusty. The racing was great,
like I remember it there, 4
wide a few times off of four, it
doesn't get any better. Matt
Delorenzo won the 44 lap
modified feature with a super,
calculated run. Everything
about the night was nearly
perfect but as it got colder, we
decided to load up. The trip
home was fine as well, as I
hopped out of Dad's truck and
into Ed's, I was glad to be done
driving. And got to listen to
some good country music on
the way home, didn't realize
they were using wah wah
pedals in country music now,
Hendrix would be proud. And I
finally got to hear "I'm not as
good as I once was but I'm as
good once as I ever was" -
which by the way, they stole
from me, that's my line... allin
all, a very interesting night.
Thanks to all at Fonda and the
Lazzaro's, we'll be back.
Thanks to Everyone at
Fonda, it was a blast!
Fonda, it was a blast!