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Historic Ice Racing On Lake George!


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Sounds good moosens. :)

 

Here's some more fun for you all....

 

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The father and son team of Daniel and Richard Dobbins came ready for battle this year with a freshly installed "Twin Traction" differential in their V8 4 barrel equipped '62 Studebaker Lark. Hailing from Long Island, they drove this baby to and from the races this again this year. "Trailer's are for sissys"! says Dan.

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First stop was at my house on Friday morning, where we restudded the two rear tires from last year's event. Richard had lost every single stud from his then new Winterforce tires last year. We upped the size of the studs this year and then mounted them onto the car for the drive up to the Lake. Putting street miles on studded tires allows the studs to properly seat themselves into the rubber.

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Richard takes the inside line through turn 4 with Bruce Turk using the outside groove.

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Casey Creamer brought out the very first Italian car to the Historic Ice races. His RWD 1969 Alpha Romeo Berlina was quite an advanced car for it's day. It's two liter engine sports an alloy hemispherical twin cam cylinder head, with mechanical fuel injection, and four wheel disc brakes! Casey ran on studded Hakka 2's.

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Here he is side by side with Bill Lass' Saab on the backstretch.

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Eric Nelson's #34 V4 powered Saab 96 is an actual survivor car from A.M.E.C.'s glory days of ice racing back in the seventies. Formerly owned and raced by Dave Miller from NJ, this car was running on the very same long stud winter tires that it did back then. Talk about originality!

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A last minute surprise entry was Mike "Fuzzy" Space from Bethelehem, PA. He is seen here with his "long distance award" trophy from Saturday night's awards banquet. It was a pleasure meeting Mike. Wow what a character this guy is! Fun to be around is an understatement. Take a look at his unique front license plate....

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Here's an under hood pic of Mike's 544. Hmmm, the paint on the engine looks better than the outside of the car!

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What a nice gesture: Steve and Kris Garrett offered me to take a spin in their '60 Austin Healy Sprite on the course after the races. I'm a big fan of nimble, lightweight automobiles. Wow RWD is exciting on the ice!

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Hotted-up 1275 cc engine in the Garrett's Sprite.

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We didn't have a hard luck award, but if we did it would have had to gone to High Falls, New York's RiK Rydant. RiK's '66 Saab 96 two-stroker had chronic problems with loading up and stalling. I learned from the Saab experts this weekend that early two stroke cars need their exhaust systems replaced [or cleaned out] occasionally because they get clogged with carbon and burned oil deposits. We're pretty sure RiK's tiny exhaust system is almost totally clogged. RiK designed and produced our excellent event T-shirts and tech stickers. No one supports our event to the extent that RiK does! We love ya Rik!

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A shot from the pits. Historic cars were displayed front and center on Saturday. The Saab 99 is owned and driven by Eric's son Matt Nelson. This car ran on Blizzaks and won one of the heat races outright!

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There is always so much to see and do at the Lake George Winter Carnival. If you could find a place to park, this was the place to be on Saturday!

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Mike,can you post a list of results by class and explain each class a little just so we can see where we'd be?

 

How'd that P1800?? Volvo do? Love those cars,especially the wagons.

Hello moosens,

 

The classes are described fully in the 16th post of this thread. There are three and they are based on what tires you are using, studless, studded, or screw tires. Keep in mind that in the best interest of no contact racing, we grid the fastest cars up front.

 

The scorers have the actual results sheets, but I can tell you that Vintage Saab Club of North America [V.S.C.N.A.] President Bruce Turk's light blue Saab 96 rally car won 2 of three screw tire heats. Steve Garrett's beautiful white Austin Healy Sprite was runner up.

 

The street Stud class was won by Bill Lass's '68 V4 powered Saab 96. Tom Baird's 1973 Volvo P1800ES came in fifth I think. That was the prettiest car out there, so I don't think he was racing very hard!

 

Rubber to ice class was won by Matt Nelson's 1974 Saab 99.

 

Here are some much better quality pics than those I took with my camcorder above.

Courtesy of ace motorsports photographer Jeff Nicol. beers.gif

 

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  • 10 months later...

Hi all, here's the update for 2008....

 

This year's event will move to central New York aimed at Waneta Lake, just outside of the famous Watkins Glen area. 2008 marks the 60th Anniversary of the very first road races held in scenic village of Watkins Glen.

 

 

Tentative possible dates are as follows: First choice will be on the weekend of Feb. 9th and 10th. If ice conditions are not good that weekend, the event will be rescheduled for the weekend of March 1st and 2nd.

 

This year's vintage ice races will be hosted by the Central New York Ice Racing Association. The chairman is Casey Creamer. Casey has created a new google groups email list for the vintage ice racers and other interested parties. The link to view or join the group is at the bottom of their page at http://www.cnyira.com/ . Hope to see some of you there this February.

 

I hope we can get some Subarus out there this year!

 

Cheers,

 

Mike Kamm

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Awsome pics man!

I gotta get up there some time. Lake George was my first home, born in Glenn's Falls in 1969 when my parents lived and worked at "top of the World" resort in L.G.

I was last up there around 1998 visiting with sis and mom. This event looks like a good reason to drive across the country!

yaeh, talkin ************ i know! Dare me, moosens!

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  • 4 weeks later...

Latest Update for this year's Vintage Ice/snow racing event near Watkin's Glen, NY.

 

The C.N.Y.I.R.A. Vintage Ice Race along with the regular CNYIRA Ice Races are scheduled for Saturday, March 1st with the Vintage awards banquet on Saturday evening at the International Motor Racing Research Center in Watkins Glen, NY.

 

Lodging: We have a special deal at the historic Glen Motor Inn in Watkins Glen.

 

Any questions, fell free to contact Casey Creamer at 607-546-5887 or casey (at) senecasaw (dot) com.

 

My Datsun B210 is signed up and ready to go! A Subaru ot two might be nice to round out the field. :)

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I am happy to report that CNYIRA even has a backup plan if mother nature doesn't cooperate with enough ice on Waneta Lake. They have arranged this road course to be run at Black Rock Speedway in nearby Dundee, NY. This will be on a snow covered frozen ground. Nice! :clap:

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Recap from this past Saturday. The ice was not thick enough for this year's Vintage Ice races on Waneta Lake. So the back up plan was put into effect regarding running on a snow covered road course laid out in the pit area of Black Rock Speedway in Dundee, NY. But understandably, the vintage car people did not want to run their cars on this surface. Well all but one that is:

 

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The President of the Vintage Saab Club of North America, Bruce Turk was perfectly game and said he would run his car on any surface. Saabs are tough! ;)

 

In any case, instaed of scrapping this event, a poll was taken among the regular ice racing list and it was agreed to drop the "Vintage" title from this event and turn it into a wheel to wheel "European-Style" Rallycross.

 

So......how was the first ever Central New York Ice Racing Association winter Euro-Rallycross?

 

Outstanding!

 

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And are you ready for this?

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Yes there was a jump and it was awesome!!!!!

Marnie was there for a while taking pictures in the afternoon. Here is the link to the full gallery if you want to check out the photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/marnie/sets/72157604022960623/

 

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I was drivng my black '93 Sentra SE-R and had a great time. A trip to the self car wash afterwards and my shiny SE-R was all set for the A.M.E.C. ice races the very next day on Cossayuna Lake.

 

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Mike

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Oh,

 

I almost forgot, I did get my Datsun B210 out on the ice this winter anyway. Hemmings Sports and Exotic magazine's David Traver Adolphus has been after me to get together with him on the ice this year for a photo session with the B210, for a future article.

 

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Today was the day. The roads were dry so I drove it over there and David followed me with all of my tires and gear in his SUV.

 

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The weather was perfect, and beside about three ice fishermen, we had the place all to ourselves.

 

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There were several small ovals plowed there with connecting routes between them. This was the first time I actually got to drive a RWD car on the ice with Menard ice racing tires on it. What a hoot! It was about 40 degrees so the top surface was soft and chewy. Traction was outstanding. It was awesome to be powering through corners sideways with both side draft carbs wailing away.

 

And here's the "money shot". ;)

 

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Photo: David Traver Adolphus

 

 

I was so glad to get this session in, because the very next day we had a storm coming and the roads got all salted up again. The window of opportunity was small but we got it done!

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Too cool !!

 

 

and unfortunately a little too far,for me. Glad you had so much fun.

 

Well,maybe next year.

 

Will we see you at Carlisle,Mike?

I've never been to that event. When is it this year?

 

I'll be running in the Hershey Vintage Hillclimb in May. :)

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