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Old 01-07-2013
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dalyduo dalyduo is offline
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Re: Bring SBRS Home!

Great history and report Roger... Thanks!

First time I got to start a Crossle FF from the drivers seat and drive it a few feet was in the pits at Thompson in the late 60's. Was the young teen helper of my older brothers friend Jack Elwell who raced his Crossle in SCCA events. Never saw more of the track than what could be seen from the paddock, with cars entering and exiting the small banked oval on their way to more conventional parts of the road course. It was oddly memorable. Skip hadn't started the school yet and Bruce MacInnes and Bob Ziegel were in their SCCA Formula Ford hay days. Lots of history there too.

Quote:
Originally Posted by rcote View Post
Piece of cake for the hearty Hoenig family. Certainly alot easier than when grandpop John ran the saw mill, rock crusher, and bulldozer all by himself to build the oval before 1940. Looks like they are mostly redoing the old roadcourse anyway. Most of it is still there. Some of it access road, parking areas, cold pits etc. Some of it running through the woods where local kids used to throw keg parties until finally, decades after its shutdown, a proper gate was put up. Until then even a fwd economy car could climb the rounded over piles of sand that blocked that section out by Quaddick pond.

A huge thank you to the family for making this happen again! Im sure just like the oval and the golf course theyll do a great job at putting it together AND running it.

Even though Thompson is basically my hometown, (I went to Killingly High School) LRP, over two hours away on the other side of the state was my intro to auto road racing since the roadcourse here was shutdown by the time I was of crawling age. I grew up being pretty dedicated to motorcycle racing and not interested in car racing at all since the only racing around me for "cages" was the "boring" roundy round. Back then I didnt know about the history and the treasure hidden in the woods.

Alot of people wouldnt know the skippy cars have turned laps at the Thompson oval. I believe it was Snyder and Holehouse that tested the "RT"s there a few years ago. I ran into one them on the way to the 19th hole after my round of golf. This was back when I still lived out there and commuted to LRP.Pretty damn ballsy. Its a FAST, highbanked oval thats bitten quite a few talented drivers, including taking the life of Tommy Balwin Sr.

More places for all of us overgrown kids to play. Thanks again Hoenigs!
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