Post by dalefeicke on Nov 22, 2009 17:42:32 GMT -5
As a native of Cincinnati, I spent many years going to all types of racing around the area, from oval to Gravelrama.
As a kid, I remember going to the old Race Bowl one time, I think in the early '50's. I would've sworn that old track was wood. Anybody remember, or are the cobwebs overcoming the backwoods of my feeble mind? The night I was there was when a midget driver was killed. He hit the wall, was thrown out of the car, and was hit by at least one other racer.
I was kinda shocked to read the post/see the video of the old Beechmont Drag Strip. The video showed mostly woods. As best I remember, the strip was shut down, because it was too close to homes and development. They were going to build some apartments/ offices in the area. In fact, several years later, when I drove by, there were, infact some office buildings along the levee, to where you couldn't even see where the track was. I was surprised to see all that gone now.
Lots of good old memories from back then. My first days of racing was at Edgewater drag strip. I remember going there when they still had a flagman. That was before I actually started racing a few years later. They had a primitive homemade set of starting lights then. But the track still had two individual lanes with grass in the middle.
That track was where I had a near miss with serious injury or worse. I was standing down close to the starting line on the spectator side, behind a post, like a cut-off telephone pole. A race car, an altered car that was very fast in his class, blew the clutch on the starting line. In those days, scatter shields or most types of safety equipment were non-existent. The explosion sent pieces flying all over,and toward me. The clutch disc, which is like a large metal SHARP disc came flying over, and stuck in the pole I was standing behind. If it hadn't been for that, someone else might be writing this.....
As a kid, I remember going to the old Race Bowl one time, I think in the early '50's. I would've sworn that old track was wood. Anybody remember, or are the cobwebs overcoming the backwoods of my feeble mind? The night I was there was when a midget driver was killed. He hit the wall, was thrown out of the car, and was hit by at least one other racer.
I was kinda shocked to read the post/see the video of the old Beechmont Drag Strip. The video showed mostly woods. As best I remember, the strip was shut down, because it was too close to homes and development. They were going to build some apartments/ offices in the area. In fact, several years later, when I drove by, there were, infact some office buildings along the levee, to where you couldn't even see where the track was. I was surprised to see all that gone now.
Lots of good old memories from back then. My first days of racing was at Edgewater drag strip. I remember going there when they still had a flagman. That was before I actually started racing a few years later. They had a primitive homemade set of starting lights then. But the track still had two individual lanes with grass in the middle.
That track was where I had a near miss with serious injury or worse. I was standing down close to the starting line on the spectator side, behind a post, like a cut-off telephone pole. A race car, an altered car that was very fast in his class, blew the clutch on the starting line. In those days, scatter shields or most types of safety equipment were non-existent. The explosion sent pieces flying all over,and toward me. The clutch disc, which is like a large metal SHARP disc came flying over, and stuck in the pole I was standing behind. If it hadn't been for that, someone else might be writing this.....