OK, I know most of you guys were following The Mitty, but some of us in the northeast USA were at The Jefferson 500 Vintage at Summit Point.
We wondered if The Mitty (and rain forecast) would reduce the turnout, but we got about 200 entrants, which was outstanding.
It was technically a four day event. I made three of those days. Had a ball!
This is a resurrected event that ran for some years and then stopped. It was started by Bill Scott (owner of Summit) and Brian Redman (both in attendance). The event also included a reunion of racers from the old Marboro Raceway (long closed now). These included Ray Stone (who raced his Bugeye), Randy Canfield, Joe Hauser and others.
~Click Here~ to see photos and videos of the event.
Below: Brian Redman likes retirement.
Below: Formula Ford carnage! The crank broke taking part of the block with it. The rear main bearing was still in place and you could spin the flywheel by hand.
Below: The "Ardent Alligator". '29 Riley with flathead Ford V8. Won the '49 Watkins Glen Grand Prix with Miles Collier driving.
I sent a letter to Mark Palmer this a.m., who organizes this event, and told him what our Mitty date was for 2010 and asked him not to run his event on top of ours. He agreed, but you can't always control track schedules.
Good idea.
Mark's a good guy and I'm sure he'll do what he can (within the constraints set down by Summit Point).
Mark's a member of the Vintage Motorsports Council (www.v-m-c.org/) and I think they do their best to reduce conflicts like this. I'm pretty sure they work on this stuff at their annual meeting.
Yep, we heard right back from Mark, and he explained that they did their best to schedule their event so as not to conflict with the Mitty this year. Unfortunately, at the time they chose their date, they based it on where the Mitty had been, and this year's date was a week later. We appreciated the effort, and will work with them to keep the two dates separate next year--partly because the Jefferson 500 looks like a wonderful event, and we'd like to be able to attend ourselves!
Margie
Excellent! As a former RaceChair, I always appreciate the work that goes into these types of cooperative efforts. I know all racers do.
Now I have to see if The Boss will let me go to both events next year. 
