Coldplugs - Racing at Thompson (I)

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The Pontiac powered Meyer Special. A page of the Haybale program from September of 1966 showed various specials built by Jack Meyer over the years.	There's no mistaking this car - the Rutherford Special driven by Stu Rutherford. I remember it being light blue, having incredible acceleration, and being louder than all the other cars combined.

Dick Thompson in Don Yenko's Corvette and John Caley in #99. I had the caption wrong on this for over a year. Loren L questioned it a while back and just recently Janet G wrote "...you have spelled Dominianni almost correctly - but that's not his car." I'm surprised I didn't have it upside down, too! [No - ThompsonRaceway wasn't named after Dick Thompson.	Phil Cade's 250F Maserati chassis # 2524. On the straight just before turn one.

Adams in his Lister Jag entering turn 11, the hairpin. Shortly afterwards, Don took up flying and was into Helicopters before moving on the off-road racing in Jeeps. There are more pictures of Adams on Thompson page 1. [Photo courtesy of Jim Shellington]	Adams again. This was taken on the hairpin at the end of the long straight. If it was in focus and the bushes weren't there it would have been a nice picture. [Stop laughing! I'm serious.]

"There's no substitute for cubic inches" - Anonymous	Labor Day, 1961. George Constantine in the Ferrari and Harry Heuer in the Scarab. I wish I had a movie of this race, or even a sound recording.

Malcolm Donaldson in the Zink Petite Mk II, probably in turn 1. There's a great shot of Malcolm here.	John Igleheart's beautiful 750cc OSCA on the straight. This is one of the later cars, with alloy wheels instead of wires. [This OSCA survives! Click here for current pictures.]

This is "Candy" Poole's PBX 750cc special. Candy was a true pioneer in American sports car racing. The car was largely Fiat based, with a Crosley engine and one-off Aluminum body. This was his first race after fitting a new tuned exhaust and he was able to hold off the OSCA's until part of the exhaust fell off and he lost some power. The exhaust pipe on the left indicates that the Bandini twin cam head was fitted when this picture was taken. He had his own shop with dyno and maintained race cars for many of the competitors. In earlier days, Poole was associated with Pallotti & Poole in Hartford. Click here for more on Candy Poole and the PBX. [The PBX is still around and currently fitted with a 750cc Climax engine. OSCA #3, with John Gordon driving, was the last 750 built and won the Index of Performance at Sebring in 1960.] [Jerry G. and Dan H - thank you for the additional information.]	Floyd Askov in his Lotus Eleven. Floyd worked at Auto Engineering in Lexington MA, where he found that Route 128 was a handy place to test the Lotus on occasion. He later returned to Maine. [Photo courtesy of Bob Russell, shown here in 1967 in his Formula V]

Beautiful shot of Tiny Anderegg, Maclane Tilton, and Bob Fuller. What could be more fun to drive than a Formula 3?	Frederick Becker looking relaxed in his Cooper. [Photo courtesy of Peter Becker]

*It's a Lotus 12!* This was a formula 2 car - 12 were built between 1957 and 1959. The 12 was the first Lotus entered into a Grand Prix race, with the usual 1475cc Climax replaced with a 1960cc unit. Amazing that one made it to the US this quickly. [Identified by Gil B. - Thanks. ]	Nice looking C modified special. Can anyone help me with details? [A "Lister Special" driven by Bob Colombosian, according to Sports Car of Oct 1961. Maybe the car on in the Thompson paddock rebodied, shown here?]

A picture of Gaston Andrey in a Type 61 "Birdcage" Maserati. It figures that my favorite pictures have deteriorated the most. 1963, I think, just after the pits. [Picture was cleaned up by someone who knows what he's doing in this area. Thanks to Ed H.]	A Maserati chasing a Lotus 23. This was the first time a saw a 23 race and I was amazed at how quick it seemed with so little apparent effort being expended.

A Morgan and an Abarth. (750??)	"Run what you brung" for rich folks.... [Actually, it had rained and the organizers asked people to drive whatever they had around the track for awhile to dry things off.]

Turn one - the girl is saying "Mom, was that a Corvair?" [Believe it or not, it was. Furthermore, it was being driven by Dick Thompson of Corvette and Stingray fame!]	Bob Russell, in the mid or late sixties, leading another car in his Autodynamics Formula V.

The Hairpin - Turns 10 and 11 at Thompson were challenging, to say the least. Turn 10 hooked left after a straight, and then whipped right into a tight hairpin leading to another straight. The following shots were all taken on 10 or 11. How's that for specialization?


Speaking of Corvairs, here it is exiting turn 11. Ralph Nader is driving, and making a mental note of the slight oversteer. [Just kidding, Ralph... It was really Dick Thompson.]	A Jag overcooks it, probably in turn 10. This would be directly across from the picture at the left. [Photo courtesy of Bob Russell]

This is David Fenton in his Lotus Eleven entering turn 11 (the hairpin). I'm assuming this was taken during a practice session. Looks like a Peerless back there. [Photo courtesy of David Fenton]	1959? Gullwing, Corvette, and a couple of XK-150's. The Lotus in the picture at the left is about where the second Jag is in this shot. [Photo courtesy of Bob Russell]

Malcolm Donaldson, probably headed into turn 10. Looks like heavy braking. [Photo courtesy of Hamilton Donaldson]	Great shot of Bob Bucher's RSK in turn 11, provided by Jim Shellington.

Formula Juniors in the hairpin. The Lotus 18 is being driven by Gaston Andrey (& carries number 25, naturally).	Steve Tosi sent some slides and I think we must have been standing next to each other since the vantage points are so similar. I need to do some research before I can come up with intelligent captions. If my memory is correct, open Ferraris like this one were seldom raced. Steve caught the racing bug at Thompson and went on to compete in SCCA, NASCAR, IMSA, and other events and only recently has hung up his helmet.. Photo courtesy of Steve Tosi

This was a common sight in the late fifties and early sixties - a bunch of Corvettes with a Porsche Carrera trying to get by on a tight corner. The Vettes would pull away on the straights but would lose ground in the corners. Photo courtesy of Steve Tosi	A corner full of Chevy smallblocks. Great sounds Photo courtesy of Steve Tosi

Bob Brown's Cobra on 2 September, 1963. David Meisner won a photo contest in high school with this shot. Bob Johnson won the race in his #33 Cobra.