December 23, 2004

                My Dad      “Keeping The Old Alive"        photo by Lewis Brubaker

 

By Bonnie Nibblett

 

Delmar, DE…..Keeping the old alive is exactly what the Delmar Vintage Racing Club intends to do.  In 1992, the club formed to preserve the old vintage racing cars thriving so that the past does not become forgotten.  To keep the backbone of what has established the form of racing that we have today. 

 

If you are not that familiar with what a Vintage Race Car means listen up and I will try to enlighten you.  I cannot say exactly when stock car racing started, but the era of these vintage cars stems from the 1948 through 1970’s.  Back in the day these cars were old coupes with the likes of 1938’s Fords for example.  Using old coupes like the ’38 Ford, racers would drive their cars to the track, pop off the muffler and be competing in the feature that night.  Things were so much more lacks then and times have changed today. 

 

Today just to find an old vintage car and turn it into a Vintage Stock Car can be a challenge.  For modern day vintage racers the first challenge is to find a vintage stock car and restore it to race ready.  The second challenge is finding parts for them. It takes a lot of work and a lot of luck but for Vintage Car racers half the fun is in that challenge, the other is in racing them.
 

In their day these cars were the main events with three divisions such as Hobby- with a stock motors, 6 cylinders, Sportsman-usually V-8 Flatheads or other, and the Modified-.358 V-8’s.  I am sure there are other motors and carburetor issues if 2 barrel or 4 barrel that go along but you get the understanding of the cars.  Today most the Vintage cars are mostly original bodies on the car.  But at the same time some have been cut to make another design or souped up style compared to the original body.   While not many flatheads run today current vintage racers compete in similar divisions.  The Delmar Vintage Racing Club has 3 classes that are run today.  Division I-would be like a hobby, Division II- the Sportsman, and Modified- still the modified and most powerful.   

 

Club President, Jerry Carr said, “We want to show how the racing used to be and to bring it back to life.  We are trying to get the racing back to what it was then, to be fun and economical.   We are racing about 4 events a year and we could race 7 or 8 if we traveled.  Then we also take our cars to shows maybe about 8 times a year.  People just seem to love looking over the cars, and remembering going to a race sometime in their childhood.  We just entered the Delmar Christmas Parade for the first time this year and won ‘2004 Best Appearing Club’ and plan to return next year.”

 

Carr added, “We are always looking for new members to join no matter what the age is, young or old?  A lot of us are old racers that don’t race and this gives us a chance to relive, when we were, the Saturday night action.” 

Well, how do you become a member?  A member has to have an old car, abide by the rules, and not participate in another class; also you can own the car but have another driver drive the car for you.  Carr adds, we have about 25 members in the club and it is only $25 to join for a year.  We give out trophies, decal, and other little goodies when you win.  We also sell hats, jackets, and calendars. The club is a non-profit organization as well.  A set of rules of our club for the car specs can be seen at www.redbud69racing.com.   

 

Not only is Carr the President of this club, he has made it almost a life long project in collecting information on tracks in Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and even New York or every where.   Carr says he started as a very young man collecting programs, newspaper clippings, photos, track documents, tapes, tracks that have closed and you just name it.  Carr said, “Something inside me just told me to start keeping race nostalgia into a very, very large collection today.  I collect all history of racing and many people find something and give it to me.” 

 

On January, 14-16 a couple of the cars will be at the 2005 Sunoco Motorsports Show presented by Lenny Sammons and Area Auto Racing News at the Fort Washington Expo Center in Fort Washington, PA.  Come on out for that show and relive the era as well as seeing many new cars of today’s racing.

 

Also February 10-13, the 15th Annual Motorsports Mania at the Centre of Salisbury will be a chance for everyone to see a small portion of Jerry’s collection.  Just look for one of the biggest displays surrounding this guy.   Anyone interested in contacting Jerry can reach him at 302.846.9601. 

 

This year’s show will be a big celebration of 15 years since the first car show.  I have been informed some of the highlights this year are an IRL simulator which features 2 IRL cars with plasma screen TV’s in front where you can compete in a real racing format. It is the first time ever in the area. There will also be a huge sand sculpture in the J C Penny’s court showing some racing action as well as other 15th anniversary things to see from the Centre. The proceeds collected and donated are contributed to a charity.  Last years show supported “Ben’s Red Swing.”  Anyone interested in information of the Motorsports Show can contact David Brown at 302-875-4209 or email to: david@sussexirrigation.com.  See you at the track!