NORWICH CAR SHOW 5/27/06
“Boy, this is something after my heart right here, we started
with a car just like this one at Rhinebeck. It had an 85
horse flathead with mechanical brakes, and we ran it in the
sedan class. My brother took it out and won the heat and
the feature, first time out. Ahahaha, that was 50 years ago
now and we’ve been in racing ever since.” We were standing
in front of Don Valentine’s Model A ratrod listening to Rich
Ricci at the time but similar yards were being spun all day
around our car display at the Norwich Car Show. “I
remember racing here” related Suicide Al Sanders. “There
was this fellow off the second turn taking 8mm film and so I
thought I’d give him something to shoot. I came around the
corner and did a little hot dogging, I guess I got to close and
scared him because he fell over backward. I shouldn’t have
done that.” I can’t help but notice that he’s got a devilish
grin on his face as he’s talking. “We only ran here a few
times, it tore the track up pretty good and the horse people
didn’t like it” sounds familiar. I always wondered if there
had been stock car races held at Norwich, and now we know
there was.
The Midstate Antique Stock Car Club held its first event of
the spring at the show with eight nicely restored racers in
attendance. The display garnered much attention
throughout the day and offers from other show promoters to
do even more events; it will most likely be a busy summer
for the club. Proudly displayed were: Bud Hinman’s #5
Hillegas Sprintcar, John and Barb Clark’s ‘Old Nelle’ #3X,
the Seamon built coupe that was piloted by Ben Stephens,
Alan and Roxanne Weaver’s freshly restored Seamon built
pinto #77 driven by Chip Lanz, an absolutely beautiful car,
Richard and Susan Ackerman’s Mouseville Monster #43
driven by Moose Cary at Midstate, mine and Nikki’s #24
driven by Don Elliot at Penn Can, Sharon and Richard
Parry’s #37 Jack Johnson Falcon from Fonda, Mike Newell’s
Model A coupe #40, Chuck Akulis mount and Mel Ogden’s
#103, a ’36 Ford three window coupe campaigned by
George Gallup at Fonda. It was a really nice display that
showed not only the diversity in racing but also the
evolution of the cars through the years covering an era from
the early 1950’s through the late 1970’s, there was
something for everyone. We ran into member Ernie Cawley
who related he had hooked up a battery to his Henry J
racer from Fonda (1953, see page 311 of the FONDA! Book)
and that the engine turned over. Pretty amazing. John
Mason found a running flathead for one of his restorations,
and the price was right to boot. Friends John Button, Tom
Witter, and Jim Banks were milling around shooting the
breeze and offering future support, John has some really
nice sprinters and midgets he’ll be bringing to some of our
upcoming shows and Jim, well, Jim’s always got something
cooking. It’s easy to find new projects with friends like Jim
and they don’t eat anything. Ray Bunzy hands me a book
‘Roaring Roadster’ by Dan Radbruch, “there’s a guy in
there that made a flathead run backwards, maybe you can
learn something from it.” Maybe I will. Howdy Witter and
Sue Lowe were selling racing parts, it was a full day.
It was a very successful show, relaxing and fun. Similar
happenings such as this will be taking place throughout
the spring and summer for our club with our first racing
date set for this coming Saturday, 6-3-06 at Thunder
Mountain. We've also recently added the Turning Stone
Casino Motorsports Expo and have plans to display six cars
at the event. Check our Schedule for updates.
Lastly, I want to congratulate all of the recent inductees to
the DIRT Hall of Fame, no one I can think of being more
deserving than the likes of Bob McCreadie, Kenny
Brightbill, Glen Reiners, Kim Jennejohn, Joan and Harvey
Fink, Joe Pitkavish, Sonny Dornberger, Barb Anderson and
Nancy Bicknell. Their contributions to racing speaks for
itself and it’s nice to see them all recognized for their
dedication to the sport.
Back to the garage – projects don’t eat anything (unless of
course the project in question is a 185 lb Saint Bernard)
but time and that’s limited these days. See you at the races.
Jeff Ackerman
with a car just like this one at Rhinebeck. It had an 85
horse flathead with mechanical brakes, and we ran it in the
sedan class. My brother took it out and won the heat and
the feature, first time out. Ahahaha, that was 50 years ago
now and we’ve been in racing ever since.” We were standing
in front of Don Valentine’s Model A ratrod listening to Rich
Ricci at the time but similar yards were being spun all day
around our car display at the Norwich Car Show. “I
remember racing here” related Suicide Al Sanders. “There
was this fellow off the second turn taking 8mm film and so I
thought I’d give him something to shoot. I came around the
corner and did a little hot dogging, I guess I got to close and
scared him because he fell over backward. I shouldn’t have
done that.” I can’t help but notice that he’s got a devilish
grin on his face as he’s talking. “We only ran here a few
times, it tore the track up pretty good and the horse people
didn’t like it” sounds familiar. I always wondered if there
had been stock car races held at Norwich, and now we know
there was.
The Midstate Antique Stock Car Club held its first event of
the spring at the show with eight nicely restored racers in
attendance. The display garnered much attention
throughout the day and offers from other show promoters to
do even more events; it will most likely be a busy summer
for the club. Proudly displayed were: Bud Hinman’s #5
Hillegas Sprintcar, John and Barb Clark’s ‘Old Nelle’ #3X,
the Seamon built coupe that was piloted by Ben Stephens,
Alan and Roxanne Weaver’s freshly restored Seamon built
pinto #77 driven by Chip Lanz, an absolutely beautiful car,
Richard and Susan Ackerman’s Mouseville Monster #43
driven by Moose Cary at Midstate, mine and Nikki’s #24
driven by Don Elliot at Penn Can, Sharon and Richard
Parry’s #37 Jack Johnson Falcon from Fonda, Mike Newell’s
Model A coupe #40, Chuck Akulis mount and Mel Ogden’s
#103, a ’36 Ford three window coupe campaigned by
George Gallup at Fonda. It was a really nice display that
showed not only the diversity in racing but also the
evolution of the cars through the years covering an era from
the early 1950’s through the late 1970’s, there was
something for everyone. We ran into member Ernie Cawley
who related he had hooked up a battery to his Henry J
racer from Fonda (1953, see page 311 of the FONDA! Book)
and that the engine turned over. Pretty amazing. John
Mason found a running flathead for one of his restorations,
and the price was right to boot. Friends John Button, Tom
Witter, and Jim Banks were milling around shooting the
breeze and offering future support, John has some really
nice sprinters and midgets he’ll be bringing to some of our
upcoming shows and Jim, well, Jim’s always got something
cooking. It’s easy to find new projects with friends like Jim
and they don’t eat anything. Ray Bunzy hands me a book
‘Roaring Roadster’ by Dan Radbruch, “there’s a guy in
there that made a flathead run backwards, maybe you can
learn something from it.” Maybe I will. Howdy Witter and
Sue Lowe were selling racing parts, it was a full day.
It was a very successful show, relaxing and fun. Similar
happenings such as this will be taking place throughout
the spring and summer for our club with our first racing
date set for this coming Saturday, 6-3-06 at Thunder
Mountain. We've also recently added the Turning Stone
Casino Motorsports Expo and have plans to display six cars
at the event. Check our Schedule for updates.
Lastly, I want to congratulate all of the recent inductees to
the DIRT Hall of Fame, no one I can think of being more
deserving than the likes of Bob McCreadie, Kenny
Brightbill, Glen Reiners, Kim Jennejohn, Joan and Harvey
Fink, Joe Pitkavish, Sonny Dornberger, Barb Anderson and
Nancy Bicknell. Their contributions to racing speaks for
itself and it’s nice to see them all recognized for their
dedication to the sport.
Back to the garage – projects don’t eat anything (unless of
course the project in question is a 185 lb Saint Bernard)
but time and that’s limited these days. See you at the races.
Jeff Ackerman
