bridgehampton video Formula Fords 1979

[Christopher Crowe]

One day, archeologists will be digging around at the sites of old race tracks and a great academic study will be launched to answer the question: What suddenly happened to put a stop to those huge fields of racing cars?

And they'll probably figure it was something like the astroid that ended the reign of the dinasaurs.

It was simply wonderful back then, it truly was.

Chris Crowe

[Frank Del Vecchio]

[FONT=Monaco]Bridgehampton: among some of my favorite stories like missing my sister's wedding to make my first drivers school and winning my first race there in a Lotus 61FF - June 1969 was one that had a Florida connection.[/FONT]
I was behind the pits at a Sebring 12 Hour race waiting for my final stint in the Kryderacing Nissan GT and struck up a conversation with another driver in the next pit. He looked at my name on the drivers suit, his eyes glazed over and he started shouting ' Honey Honey - come here' Grabs me by the shoulders and says to his wife - 'This is the guy that saved my life'. Had no idea who he was. Turns out several decades before at at test day at The Bridge I was coming down the hill when I saw a FF roll to the outside big time. Since there were almost no safety people around, I got my FF stopped on the inside and ran across the track. His head was well burried in the sand so I dug out his helmet/head and cleared sand from his mouth. Eventually we got some guys and flipped the car right side up. Never thought much about it and never knew he was sufficating and could not breath. Still don't know who he is.

[Frank Del Vecchio]

I think the yellow #7 Van Diemen RF81 shown leaving the "grid" before the crash near the end of the video was being driven by R. Cusamano. I bought the car in Atlanta in '87 and it had the original log book, which listed an AFFA Pro Race 4/25/81 (where?), and races at Bridgehampton 6/27-28/81 and 9/11/81. I think Frank Del Vecchio in CT has the car. I only got to Bridgehampton to watch the CanAm race in 1968. Quite a track! From the video, it doesn't look much safer in '81 than it was in '68.
- Frank Chambers
Doug Carter's nice picture of Frank Del Vecchio in the RF81 at the FF40th in 2009. What were you driving in '81, Frank?

Doug: I sold my 1979 PRS after winning the NARRC Runoffs (Mistake - Glenn Taylor has the car now) and drove for the Riffle Brothers who built several Gemini FF's out of Pittsburg. We built one at Summit Point from a truck load of parts in the paddock before a National. The Riffle's are still building race cars that are OMG gorgeous. And me - got older and fatter but just drove my 114 different race car at the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona this past January - Acumen Motorsport Porsche GT3 Cup car.

[Drivers Services]

As requested..

It's old, it's grainy, though it does clear up a bit after 10-15 seconds, it's done with a rather large camcorder that quite honestly I can't believe survived....

This in the muffled era of Bridgehampton, 85 db limit was ridiculous, I was asked to do an out lap and in in between races so they could get a video of a checkered flag from the "last" ever race at Bridgehampton. "Don't hit the bumps so the camera doesn't break" Yeah right...don't hit the bumps at Bridgehampton.. impossible.

I had many good times at the Bridge, a favorite was in it's actual last year when Dennis M decided to let us run unmuffled at a test day and pay the fine. I never went faster around that place than that day in both a FF and an FA. I had several people tell me the unmuffled FA's sound brought back memories....

https://vimeo.com/3034415

Yours for the Sport,
Jim Little
Drivers Services

[LolaT440]

Not to send anything off track here, but I am not sure if it is mentioned on Apex but Thompson Speedway, CT, is investigating the return of it's long since closed down road course.

I don't know if FF ever raced there or not. Apparently there were three different versions of the track. The favorite can't be built because the land is gone. But the plans are a 1.5 mile track using part of the oval.

So this would be one of the very rare occasions where a closed race track returns.

fingers are crossed on this one.

[Frank Del Vecchio]

The original Thompson sports car track is long gone and did not include the oval - different owner on adjacent land and gone before the advent of FF's. We raced FF's and F. Atlantics on the 2nd version using the oval and a track that went into the swamplands and woods. That was 1969 - 1972+.

[DaveW]

As requested..

It's old, it's grainy, though it does clear up a bit after 10-15 seconds, it's done with a rather large camcorder that quite honestly I can't believe survived........

https://vimeo.com/3034415

Yours for the Sport,
Jim Little
Drivers Services

Thanks! That was much more like I remembered it, as compared to the sedan in-car, which seemed VERY slow in comparison.

[Terry Hanushek]

This was one of my few visits to Bridgehampton. I was an SOM that day and was watching the Ford race from the outside of the track.

The race was definitely the 1981 Bridgehampton National - The Vanderbilt Cup Nationals plus Professional Formula Ford (AFFA - Bill Claren).

The definitive dating is the shots of the wrecked Formula Fords at the end of the video. The professional FF race was held at the end of the day after all of the national races. All the Fords which survived the National were entered. At the green flag, the field blossomed to four wide on the Pit Straight. When the straight significantly narrowed just past Pit Out, one of the leaders got squeezed and the resulting chain reaction involved about a dozen and a half cars. At this time it was about 5:30 PM and Bridgehampton had a hard 6:00 PM curfew - the clean-up would have taken the remaining race time. The stewards reluctantly canceled the event. When the dust settled, the majority of cars had traveled less than a 100 yards - the shortest known FF race.

There are several shots of Joe Stimola during the aftermath of the FF race.

The race immediately prior the the Fords was CP featuring Ken Slagle (1, TR8), PLN (33, 280Z), Randy Pollock (71, RX7) and Don Kearney (77, RX7).

The original schedule for this race had the AFFA pro race early in the day and the National Ford race (when FF had their own race group!) was the last race of the day. Maybe someone knew something when they requested the the Ford races be reversed.

In the race entry there were letters from Henryk Szamota and Guy Frost urging the track shareholders and the Friends of Bridgehampton to band together and save this historic racing venue. It worked for awhile but the track ultimately succumbed to a golf course.

Ah, the memories

Terry

[stonebridge20]

Thanks! That was much more like I remembered it, as compared to the sedan in-car, which seemed VERY slow in comparison.

And with the correct line through T1

[DaveW]

And with the correct line through T1

That was one of the challenges. From formula car seating positions, the track after turn 1 was not visible until you were in T1. That often led to a major screw-up in T2!

[R. Pare]

BTW : You guys that raced there were brave ... all that sand to roll a car ... nothing to keep a car out of the trees ... I guess I'm just soft

I love Lime Rock and the Glen, but when you pulled out of pit lane at Bridgehampton you knew you were on a racing track - I have never gotten that feeling anywhere else.

How times have changed - we really didn't know any better back then! But then, the cars were that much slower than now, so most incidents didn't have the sort of impact energy that we have to contend with today.

Lime Rock was fun, but the Bridge was a real test. Incredible track - insanely fast in spots, with almost zero room for error. The last thing you wanted to do was screw up 'cause with the sand banks and trees coming right up to the edge of the tarmac in places, and the soft sand to grab you everywhere else, the outcomes of "offs" most likely wasn't going to be pleasant! Insurance companies today would never underwrite a policy for a track as basic and crude as that.

And even if you didn't go off anywhere, you would always have to strip the car down afterwards to get the ever-elusive sand out of its hiding spots before it had a chance to wear holes through everything.

The only thing I did not like about the Bridge was getting back to Orient Point in time for the last ferry of the day - miss it, and you had to contend with the 70-mile parking lot they call the Long Island Expressway!

Bottom line is Andretti had hired Bertil Roos to look after Mike they had bought 3 different chassis, VD, PRS, Lola for different tracks and they got beat handily as P1 was down the road.

Mario did the same for Jeff a couple years later. Was at lime Rock shaking down my home-built FF on a test day, with Mario and Jeff there with cars from Lola, VD, and something else, and a Goodyear truck full of tires. Jeff was hopping from one car to the other for 10 lap stints, each time with a fresh set of tires, trying to decide which car to use for the upcoming weekend. Funny thing was, I was running about a half second faster than him on tires that god-only-knows how old they were! Jeff never had even 50% of Michael's ability, even in the lower ranks.

Got some nice 1 cycle tires at the end of that day very cheap, though! Thank you, Mario!

That was one of the challenges. From formula car seating positions, the track after turn 1 was not visible until you were in T1. That often led to a major screw-up in T2!

With all the advancements in our cars since then, can you imagine running a current FF or F1000 there? Holy S**t! Most guys today would do a few laps, pack up, and go home! "Too dangerous"

Last lap under the bridge andretti tries and gets door firmly slammed then coming down the hill Roe pushed him all the way to the drivers right to make sure Andretti couldnt get inside of turn 12. Back then all of this was just par for the course and fair game, basically what the rest of the paddock called FF racing and why they flocked to the fence lines to watch it.

Today, guys complain if you just move over once defending your line into a corner!

[Dennis Valet]

awesome video, thanks jim

[Tom Valet]

And with the correct line through T1

Which is why Jim has the honor of holding the never-to-be-broken FF lap record at the Bridge, 1:39 if you can believe it!

[Rick Kean]

I'd seen the video several weeks back. and had wanted to inquire about the FF carnage too!

Thanks for the info,

Rick Kean