Post by bobsnyderphoto on Jun 26, 2009 2:46:44 GMT -5
For Immediate Release
Media Contact
Bob Snyder
bobsnyderphoto@enter.net
Flashback.
The sound of my alarm clock pierced the pre-dawn darkness awakening me from a restless sleep. A sleep I had hoped would clear my mind and help make some sense of the bizarre events of the day before.
The day started out as any typical day of video tapeing but that was about to change. Doing some filming for a documentary of the now defunct Gilbert Speedway I headed to the area of the third and fourth turns at the east end of the strip mall that was located on the former racetrack site. The bank and the tree line were still there so I had a good idea of the area of where the half mile dirt track had been. After filming the area a cool, late October wind started to blow. As I retreated to warmth of my car a strange dense fog started to roll in. Out of the dense fog came the unmistakenable sound of racing engines. Engines that had been silent for 50 years.
As the fog lifted I found myself in the infield of a racetrack that no longer existed. The time period had to be the early 1950’s as the coupes and sedans roared around the dirt oval. This could not be happening but it was. As I taped what was happening I noticed a young man with a 16mm movie camera wearing 1950’s clothing filming me as I was filming him. The look on his face showed as much bewilderment as had to be the look on mine. After a few minutes of this the fog once again rolled in and I found myself back in my car. I figured I must of fallen asleep and had one wild dream. What I could not figure out was the strange brown dust that covered my video camera with the smell of calcium.
Still not believing what I had just witnessed I drove to the home of a friend that had worked at the former speedway. Relating my story and describing the man I had seen my friend made a phone call and sent me to the home of the man he felt I had seen.
I felt quite foolish knocking on the man’s door but when the door opened I could not believe what I saw. Here was this white haired man in his eighty’s, the same man I had seen 55 years younger earlier that day. It was an erie feeling because the man did not seem to be surprised to see me.
As I explained to him what had occured a smile came to his face with a look of closure. He said, “son I remember that day well and now it all makes sense.” “Come here, let me show you something.” As he set up the old 16mm movie projector he said he had filmed at the old Gilbert Speedway for years. As the film started to roll chills ran up my spine. I was looking at the same racing scene that I had filmed earlier that day. As he panned the camera there was a figure of a man also filming the same race. The old man chuckled and said. “I could not figure out at the time what that new fangled camera was that guy in the strange looking clothes was using, but now it all makes sense.” As he zoomed in closer I got the biggest shock of my life. The man he was filming was holding a video camera and the man was me.
The Gilbert Speedway was a half mile dirt track located in Gilbert, Pa about 2 miles from the West End Fairgrounds. The track operated in the 1940’s and 50’s and ran stock cars, midgets, and what was called the Big Cars in it’s day. The track no longer exists but one can still see the outline of the turns in the fields.
Of course the Flashback is a fantasy but what is happening at the West End Fairgrounds on August 27 is very real. After 50 years of silence the sound of dirt slinging, high powered racing machines will once again return to Gilbert, Pa. The biggest names in 270 and 600 Micro-Sprints, Slingshots, and Stage One Modifieds will broadslide through the turns in wheel to wheel action at the West End Fair Nationals.
With the background of one of the oldest and biggest Fairs in the United States the 3500 seat covered grandstand will be packed with screaming race fans who will witness what many drivers feel could be their premier event of the 2009 racing season. . This race could very well be the biggest exposure event of it’s kind the world of Micro-Sprint, Slingshot, and Stage One Modified racing has ever seen.
In the words of the Kenny Chesney song “You can hear the cries from the carnival rides, the pinball bells and the skee ball slides. Watching the summer sun fall out of sight.” This will be the athmosphere of the West End Fair Nationals. Plan to come early, spend the afternoon at the Fair and then get ready to be a part of “History in the making.”
For further information and entry lists go to www.westendfairnationals.com
Media Contact
Bob Snyder
bobsnyderphoto@enter.net
Media Contact
Bob Snyder
bobsnyderphoto@enter.net
Flashback.
The sound of my alarm clock pierced the pre-dawn darkness awakening me from a restless sleep. A sleep I had hoped would clear my mind and help make some sense of the bizarre events of the day before.
The day started out as any typical day of video tapeing but that was about to change. Doing some filming for a documentary of the now defunct Gilbert Speedway I headed to the area of the third and fourth turns at the east end of the strip mall that was located on the former racetrack site. The bank and the tree line were still there so I had a good idea of the area of where the half mile dirt track had been. After filming the area a cool, late October wind started to blow. As I retreated to warmth of my car a strange dense fog started to roll in. Out of the dense fog came the unmistakenable sound of racing engines. Engines that had been silent for 50 years.
As the fog lifted I found myself in the infield of a racetrack that no longer existed. The time period had to be the early 1950’s as the coupes and sedans roared around the dirt oval. This could not be happening but it was. As I taped what was happening I noticed a young man with a 16mm movie camera wearing 1950’s clothing filming me as I was filming him. The look on his face showed as much bewilderment as had to be the look on mine. After a few minutes of this the fog once again rolled in and I found myself back in my car. I figured I must of fallen asleep and had one wild dream. What I could not figure out was the strange brown dust that covered my video camera with the smell of calcium.
Still not believing what I had just witnessed I drove to the home of a friend that had worked at the former speedway. Relating my story and describing the man I had seen my friend made a phone call and sent me to the home of the man he felt I had seen.
I felt quite foolish knocking on the man’s door but when the door opened I could not believe what I saw. Here was this white haired man in his eighty’s, the same man I had seen 55 years younger earlier that day. It was an erie feeling because the man did not seem to be surprised to see me.
As I explained to him what had occured a smile came to his face with a look of closure. He said, “son I remember that day well and now it all makes sense.” “Come here, let me show you something.” As he set up the old 16mm movie projector he said he had filmed at the old Gilbert Speedway for years. As the film started to roll chills ran up my spine. I was looking at the same racing scene that I had filmed earlier that day. As he panned the camera there was a figure of a man also filming the same race. The old man chuckled and said. “I could not figure out at the time what that new fangled camera was that guy in the strange looking clothes was using, but now it all makes sense.” As he zoomed in closer I got the biggest shock of my life. The man he was filming was holding a video camera and the man was me.
The Gilbert Speedway was a half mile dirt track located in Gilbert, Pa about 2 miles from the West End Fairgrounds. The track operated in the 1940’s and 50’s and ran stock cars, midgets, and what was called the Big Cars in it’s day. The track no longer exists but one can still see the outline of the turns in the fields.
Of course the Flashback is a fantasy but what is happening at the West End Fairgrounds on August 27 is very real. After 50 years of silence the sound of dirt slinging, high powered racing machines will once again return to Gilbert, Pa. The biggest names in 270 and 600 Micro-Sprints, Slingshots, and Stage One Modifieds will broadslide through the turns in wheel to wheel action at the West End Fair Nationals.
With the background of one of the oldest and biggest Fairs in the United States the 3500 seat covered grandstand will be packed with screaming race fans who will witness what many drivers feel could be their premier event of the 2009 racing season. . This race could very well be the biggest exposure event of it’s kind the world of Micro-Sprint, Slingshot, and Stage One Modified racing has ever seen.
In the words of the Kenny Chesney song “You can hear the cries from the carnival rides, the pinball bells and the skee ball slides. Watching the summer sun fall out of sight.” This will be the athmosphere of the West End Fair Nationals. Plan to come early, spend the afternoon at the Fair and then get ready to be a part of “History in the making.”
For further information and entry lists go to www.westendfairnationals.com
Media Contact
Bob Snyder
bobsnyderphoto@enter.net