RICK @ the RACES (3 May 2014)
3 May Airborne Speedway , Plattsburgh NY (RAINED OUT)
On the lead up to this past weekend, I had many possibilities for my choice of racing, but in the end, my options got narrowed down by the dastardly deeds of Mother Nature.
I had thought of heading to the Thunder Mountain Speedway at Lisle NY, which would of been a ‘new’ track (for me) , but with a forecast of wet weather I began to think of things more local.
I would of been quite happy staying close to home and attending the Brockville Ontario Speedway Practice day on Saturday and the rescheduled Late Model and Sportsman show at the Mohawk International Raceway (Hogansburg NY), but it wasn’t to be.
As the weekend approached , rain storms all over the North East caused a flood (pun) of cancellations. Nearly every dirt track in the area became ‘toast’, so started looking for paved track possibilities. For obvious reasons, a paved track stands more chance of surviving wet weather than a dirt track.
Two of my local asphalt tracks were still running on Saturday morning, when it was time to make a decision. I had to choose between the Evans Mills Speedway NY or the Airborne Speedway at Plattsburgh NY. ‘Dirt’ Style 358 Mods were running at Airborne as opposed to a program of ‘Street Stox’ type racing at Evans Mills, so the choice was easy.
I set off from home at about 1-00 pm and after crossing the border in to the USA , located just a couple of miles from house in Cornwall , (Ont), I was soon heading towards Plattsburgh. It was dry when I went through the USA Customs, but by the time I’d reached the small town of Constable , on the outskirts of Malone NY , it was ‘persisting’ with rain. The sky looked dark in the direction of Plattsburgh, but I continued on, regardless.
I was in the city by 3-00 pm and before going to the track, I visited the Panera Bread shop for the use of their WiFi and some of their delicious Mac and Cheese. The internet told me the racing was still on, with the passing rain shower expected to quickly blow over.
Sure enough , by the time I drove over to the track, the rain had stopped and things were on hold until it had dried out.
For 2014 , there are new owners at the track, and instead of my friend Mike Perrotte, as track manager, another former Modified driver, Mike Bruno , is now holding the post. Also missing from the ‘usual crowd’ were the Watts family, who have been associated with photography at the track for many years. I linked up with another photographer friend, Dave Brown, who will be taking over from Andy Watt’s this year. We sat in his truck and waited for the racing to begin at the expected 5-00 pm start.
Spot on 5-00 pm another rain shower blew over, and although it didn’t last for too long, it put another rain delay on the nights proceedings. I chatted with Dave for about another hour, while we waited for the track to dry. At around 6-30 pm things looked all set to go, the Mini Mods got lined up for their first heat, and Dave drove us out on to the middle.
A new camera body, that I’d picked up from Ottawa during the week was taken out of my bag, and I was ready for some action.
Just as the first race was about to take the green, another black cloud arrived on the scene, it started to drizzle, and then within minutes, it was ‘chucking’ it down again. This killed it completely , and wasn’t long before the night was declared over, and I was on my way home.
I found out later that Evans Mills, got their show in, and one of my Thunder Car friends from Ottawa’s Capital City Speedway, Todd Musker won the Feature