55 replies to this topic

[tonyp]

When the track was in Greenbelt at the time of the Bicentennial it was one of the best King tracks ever.

Nutley
Joel's
Buzzys
C&C

In that order.

[Bill from NH]

... and if you got bored with slot cars, you could always go bowling there or participate in archery.

[tonyp]

It was a hell of a race. Joel did a great job on promotion and basically everyone was there. Fun but crazy times.

[Phil Hackett]

Warm Up Race Final.
L. to R: Bob Crane, Rick Dodge (?),  then no. 4 of the drivers Steve Bogut, Then Thomas Hansson, Alan Payne, Chris Berlew of Outisight and Neil McCurdy(?)

 
I was there... I had Steve Bogut build me a roller for the race. While everyone else was heavily thrashing I was going into DC everyday doing the tourist thing: White House Tour, getting gallery tickets to the House of Represetitives, The Smithsonian, I was there on the opening day of the Air & Space Museum with President Ford giving the speech. At night I built the motors... a great time it was!
 
Correct... the two drivers on the right are Chris Berlew and Neil McCurdy... and it looks like Big Jim Greenameyer next to (purple) Bob Crane (on black)...

[Phil Hackett]

One of the Semis: Some familiar faces?

 
Skipping the two at the left, you have Big Jim, Ron Ellner, (Al Chuck is marshalling the straight), Art Tarver, and Ernie Provetti... and then the two on the far right I don't know... At the far left of the picture is Neal McCurdy above and behind the drivers (pink shirt).

[Egil Aksnes]

Finaly found the results from the race. Joel wrote samples to me (on purple paper of course). Thanks again, Joel!
 
First the Novice main.
 
Notice the driver starting on green lane...

[Egil Aksnes]

And here you have the amateur main, Phil!

[raisin27]

I was at that race, went there with Nelson Swanberg and A J Hoyt.

 

My highlight for the weekend was shooting a bow and arrow for the first time ever and actually hitting the target.

 

Nelson's claim to fame was managing to swap out one of the Joel's race place frisbees hanging on the wall for one of Rick Davis's 3D's bike and hobby frisbees without anyone seeing him. and AJ has no recollection of even being there.

[NY Nick]

Kenny came in second.

He is missed every day. Great racer and friend.

[S.O. Watt]

Well, having your car fall down to the machine shop area below was probably a lot better than trying to walk out to the bank on an American infield (not that they were launching in the mid '80s), just sayin'...
 
I don't know of any pics that I have but I have seen one somewhere.
 
Not sure how many people it took but I'm sure glad I wasn't one of them.
 
Oh, and it wasn't blue anymore by then.

I vaguely remember someone mentioning if you launched in the bank, you wound up on floor, a floor down.
 
I'd love to see a picture of that end of the track.
 
Any idea what it took (how many guys) to rig that up?

[Phil Hackett]

And here you have the amateur main, Phil!

 
This brings back some real pain... that third heat was a killer.

[NSwanberg]

I was at that race, went there with Nelson Swanberg and A J Hoyt. My highlight for the weekend was shooting a bow and arrow for the first time ever and actually hitting the target. Nelson's claim to fame was managing too swap out one of the Joel's race place frisbees hanging on the wall for one of Rick Davis's 3D bike and hobby frisbees without anyone seeing him. and AJ has no recollection of even being there.

 
I came up with the idea of the switch as a joke. AJ said do it. I distracted the lady behind the counter with a purchase (Joel's wife???) AJ actually dropped one of the frisbees and the lady looked right at him. I thought we were busted. He just continued on with the switch, She must have thought he was just putting one back and he swapped it out. I have always wondered how long the 3D Bike and Hobby frisbee stayed on the wall?

[A. J. Hoyt]

There's the proof that the deed was done! The frisbee Nelson is displaying has hung over his work space for all these decades!
 
And, no, I didn't recall going to that race but I'm sure it was a spontaneous decision - probably during the "turnover" shut-down of the Ford Wixom plant that summer. We used to do stuff spontaneously then, like Nelson and I deciding to go to the Buckeye Bash a couple of weekends ago at 11 PM the night before. I'm enjoying my second childhood more than the first - and recalling more of it, too! As I look at the pictures, I think it is coming back to me... nah!
 
Keep it in the slot - my pervasive mantra ... oooommmmm!

[S.O. Watt]

I've seen the frisbee at Joel's and heard what he remembered. But I don't remember the punch line on how long before he noticed. 

[tonyp]

Tom, when Joel moved the track it was just used for testing and not racing, correct?

[Egil Aksnes]

Here you have the Semi Pro main:

[S.O. Watt]

Correct, Tony. In '86 when I ran on it at the shop was the week before we all went to Valkenburg for the JPVR Worlds via NYC and Elmsford. And later, when he moved the family and shop further south, I believe it was set up again in a retail shop. Where it went to after that I haven't a clue.

Tom, when Joel moved the track it was just used for testing and not racing correct?

[MG Brown]

I tagged along with the West Michigan krewe for the Bicentennial. It was a low budget effort and none of us had been to Joel's Race Place prior to this event.
 
My travelling companions as I recall were Rick and Phil Sloan ("The Infamous Sloan Brothers"), Dick Brown (no relation), and I think that Jim Stevens met us there. There might have been one more Am racer but I can't recall.
 
I can't remember how I finished in Am G27- probably not well. I won't make excuses but I didn't have the experience or equipment to do much other than also ran status.
 
It was a long time ago and I can't remember much other than at the end of the weekend our hotel rooms were pretty trashed out- and that it was a fun experience to meet people that I had previously only read about in magazines.
 
I still have my participant plaque- on the slot box that I took with me to Greenbelt, MD.
 

 
I probably have the car that I ran also, albeit a bit updated for the Octoberfest race in Milwaukee.
 
Also somewhere around here I probably have a vintage copy of the "Thrash-O-Gram" with the coverage of the event. If I happen to find it, I will post scans.
 
There is more information in this thread: Prior Bicentennial Race Discussion Note: There are scans of the "Thrash-O-Gram" race report and other items of interest in this thread.

[mjsh]

I have no recollection of qualifying fourth in Semi-Pro. I do remember eating it early.

[Uncle Fred]

I have a theory about that loss of memory... alien abduction!!!

[Egil Aksnes]

Hello Michael! I only have the notes I wrote on the back of one of the result sheets. I don't remember more. It was 40 years ago...

 

But here are the Pro Main results.

It was quite a sensation that Bjarne Lilliendahl took second in qualifying. While the Americans put down a lot of glue, we wiped away as much as we could before Bjarne did his stint!

 

 

 

[bigdanbo]

Brings back memories. I was in the U.S. Army 

[Rooster]

Alan Payne qualifying: Jan Limpach watching. Anyone know the other guys? Bicentennial Race 1976 Alan Payne qualifying.jpg

On the left wearing a Michigan shirt I think that would be Rick Sloan. To the right of him with arms folded and a stash is Dennis Crosson a SemiPro from Connecticut. As much as I could identify.

[MG Brown]

On the left wearing a Michigan shirt I think that would be Rick Sloan. To the right of him with arms folded and a stash is Dennis Crosson a SemiPro from Connecticut. As much as I could identify.

 
Wearing the Green Michigan State shirt is Jim Stevens. Jim is still active in wing car racing.

Rick sloan was seldom seen without his "Piloti" baseball cap and did not wear glasses.

[Mr. M]

I was reading some old MRJs and see that Joel went by the name Monty in the late sixties early seventies. When was the transition and is there a backstory behind this?