299 replies to this topic

[backintheslot]

Purple Mile

I raced on the track pictured as a kid at Playland in S.F. I remember running out of time in the top of the bank while running red with one of the old top heavy cars of the day and having my car fall out of the slot, roll ove and slide down the bank!

By the way, the round things next to the controller panels are ashtrays!

[Mark Wampler]

I see gearing as a possible challenge. Do you run tall gears for the straight or short gears for the switchbacks?

Cars were going a lot slower in those days. Falcons/ PDs may be the best fit for this track.

[backintheslot]

No full punch on this one. You'll have to drive this track. All of the inside turns are very tight once outside the bank.

[Phil Irvin]

I lived in S. San Francisco in '64. I remember going there once and thinking O-MY-GOD... THIS THING IS HUGE... It just after buying a 'race ready' setup... It overwhelmed me.

I went back to El Paso, TX, and by '67 was building and rewinding and doing the TX circuit.

I raced with Doc Gibbs many times over the next six years; he was fast but better known for concours. He did some beautiful cars. A few that should have never seen a race.

I saw the Purple Mile just after he got it. He said where it had come from. Small world.

I'm sorry he never got it put up. I would have loved to try it the second time around. I'm glad it has found a home and will be put to good use.

PHIL I

[havlicek]

Hi Frank.

I would be surprised to find that bank is anything less than 65 degrees off the horizontal. I imported the picture of the bank into my CAD program, did some rough measuring, and came up with an angle of 81.2 degrees Even if I'm off by 10 degrees (not likely)... well... you get the picture!

A slower car at full tilt boogie would be dragging its tail around that thing.

-john

[Bill from NH]

I see gearing as a possible challenge. Do you run tall gears for the straight or short gears for the switchbacks?

The straight is long, but if you measured the lengths of the switchbacks and donut you'd find them to be longer. When the Sovereign was in Framingham, I would occasionally practice on it with King track gearing, but those were cars with open class arms and unlimited glue.

Mark, I saw, I think on OWH, the Yankee USRA group has a wing car race scheduled for this Sovereign.

[chaparrAL]

The Purple at G&G in Griffith, IN, had the bank jacked up an additional foot to fit in a sort of bay window. It was nearly vertical!

[Mark Wampler]

Also the lane spacing is true Retro. Nerf city

I can't imagine wing cars on this track. Maybe 1/32 hot rods. I hope a webcam will be set up for events in the future.

Something as classic as this to me seems polluted by SCM racing. It wasn't designed for it. The steep bank made sure you were going fast enough.

The donut with its sharp curve doesn't look punchable from this view.

[Dominator]

Yup, 4" lane spacing, let the rubbing begin!

[Jacob Shiplet]

So is the straight and bank basically the same length as an original blue King? Just trying to get some scale compared to a track I see on a regular basis.

All those switchbacks with that weird donut would be a killer on the motor.

[Rick]

Jacob,

There is an extra straight section, at least one. The fingers are the very similar to TT but the bank is very steep, prob 60 degrees. Anything less than a Group 7 is very tough to set up for. Gear for the straight or gear for the back half. Lots more back half. LOL.

The picture doesn't show it well, but the donut, has two elevation changes instead of a constant rise like a King or red, one on each side to get you back up to lead-on level.

Those things eat up a lot of real estate on the floor.

[Mark Wampler]

I have a disconnect. These tracks came out in the early-mid '60s. There were no Group 7s. The steep bank is OK because it is sharp as well as steep and a 25 mph car looks to negotiate the bank no prob.

I'd like to see some vintage race reports on this track.

[jimht]

Those things eat up a lot of real estate on the floor.

Really a problem if the floor is worth more than the track.

I really hope it all works out, though, it's been sitting here in Texas unused for way too long, and it's not the only one.

[Jacob Shiplet]

Rick,

What's the footprint on something like this?

[Mark Wampler]

I know American tracks. Pismo Beach had five of them. Originally, there was a Purple Mile, but when I got there in '67, it had already been removed. The entire upper floor was the track. The lower floor was a skating rink. The Pismo track in its heyday was a spectacle.

Our resident historian and beloved Dictator hasn't weighed in...

[John Stezelecki]

One of the biggest problems with a large track is the cost per square foot for the real estate. Thank goodness that this is not an issue for this track. This location will be its permanent home.

[Bill from NH]

I have a disconnect. These tracks came out in the early-mid '60s. There were no Group 7s. The steep bank is OK because it is sharp as well as steep and a 25 mph car looks to negotiate the bank no prob.

Mark,

I ran on the Framingham, MA, Sovereign from the fall of 1969 to 1976. During those years, I never saw a race on it that didn't involve wing cars running Grp 7 arms. Thorps ran particularly well on this track. When the interest in weekly Grp 7 races slowed down, 15-20 of us local racers established a Grp 7 club to keep them going.

At this time, I have no idea what Peter plans to race on his Sovereign. I don't believe this area still has a large interest in wing cars, but he has a couple other tracks for running scale and Retro cars on.

[MG Brown]

I'm thinking that Retro-style cars would be a blast to race on this track. That having been said, probably need to program the race director for a longer period of time between lane changes than normal.

[JohnnySlotcar]

Mike Swiss won the G7 Nats on a Purple Mile in Atlanta in '90 or '91. Ask him about the nuances of the track, as he had everyone covered in the race! I finished sixth in the 1/24 Euro on the black track after losing one mag in the last heat of the semi.

Back then, you didn't have an extra Euro motor, so you soldiered on! As long as I didn't come off, it was smooth! Unfortunately, I came off!

[Lenjet]

Hey everybody, first of all the bank is 65 degrees and the length is 63 feet. It looks like 23 feet wide.

It will reside in a space that is 7,500 sq. feet. Plenty of room.

More coming soon.

Rick, you mention that this is not the only one. John Ford and I would like to finally locate the others. Where are or were others that you know of so we can finish the list and compare.

Stay tuned for the rest of the story.

[Lenjet]

I just got an email from G&G in Griffith, IN, and they said that they never had a purple only a blue King. John Ford thinks that there were six to eight built so we are trying to locate where they were or are.

I know where mine from Framingham ended up unfortunately, and we know where Tim's from the 1990 Nats ended up.

Anybody with any information on where you saw one or raced on one would be great.

[chaparrAL]

Peter,

Who did you talk to at G&G? A blue King with two fingers? And a square donut? Hey, Dr Gamma, can you help out?

[Mike Patterson]

I remember running on a Sovereign in Columbus, OH, in the mid-'60s. The raceway was Tom Thumb East on Hamilton Road. IIRC, I was running a MPC Dodge Charger with the Dyn-O-Can motor. A loooooong walk to put your car back on.

I don't remember, does the Soverign have the "car catcher" on top of the bank like a King?

[Bill from NH]

I don't remember, does the Soverign have the "car catcher" on top of the bank like a King?

Mike,

The track that was in Framingham didn't. It had a 2' high piece of plexiglass at the top of the bank to keep cars on the track.

[spudboy]

In the mid to late '60s frequent racers at MVH got accustomed to hearing the "thwack!" of deslotted cars crashing in the Sovereign's big bank. Then the car would tumble to the infield and the racer would have to recover it using a long broomstick with a hook in the end of it. I seem to recall there was a box to stand on so you could reach over the clear Lexan wall on top of the bank.

Fifteen minutes of track time passed pretty quickly if your car was not set up properly and you had to keep walking to the big bank to recover it. Likewise if you deslotted on the back side of the track. I was a young duffer at the time and didn't really come to terms with the Sovereign.

There is a small Yankee USRA contingent that I understand is very eager to race their wing cars on this track.