DAN'S PAPERS, October 2, 2009 Page 20 www.danshamptons.com (continued from page 14)
Barney Corrigan and friend at the track, 1953
era of the farmers from the generation before. Many of these cars will be those still owned by men in the same family of farmers going back to 1916. On this day, they will be hauled out from the barn, fired up and brought to the Historical Society lawn. At 10 a.m., they will head out, one at a time, into the traffic of Bridgehampton, follow the old Bridgehampton route through the old farm roads in town, and continue on to Southampton, Noyac, Shinnecock, Water Mill, East Hampton and even Montauk. You will see one or another of
WINNER
Best of The Best Winners will be announced in our Oct. 23rd Issue
them every once in a while on the roads. There will be old Stanley Steamers, early Packards, Austin Healeys from 1950 and Porsches from 1960. The owners of these cars, for the most part, will drive. They will sport helmets and goggles, gloves and boots. They will wear dusters, which are capes that were worn back in 1910 to keep the dust off. Alongside each of them will be someone in the passenger’s seat with a stopwatch acting as navigator. Racers will go around the course, stopping at various places for refreshments or rest, but keeping to a schedule lasting about four hours. The idea is to arrive at each of the various rest places, including the final stop at the Historical Society lawn later in the afternoon, at exactly pre-determined certain times. The person to do this most accurately will be the winner. They call it a rally. It was invented, I believe, by Bridgehampton farmers back in 1916, when cars were cars and men were men and nobody could go very fast. And that is the history of racing in Bridgehampton, and the story of how what goes around comes around. I might note that in 2003, the old Bridgehampton Race Circuit, all falling down, was purchased by a developer who tore out everything (or almost everything) and turned it into The Bridge golf course. Initiation into the club is about a quarter of a million dollars. It thrives. The clubhouse is an architectural gem made to look a little like a racing car’s spoiler wing. A piece of the grandstand remains. So does some of the straightaway. Find a member who might take you up there for a round of golf or a drink at the clubhouse. And meet him there in your Lola T70racing car circa 1967. Wear a fire-retardant suit. They may not let you in, but hey, it’s worth a try.
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around the Bridgehampton Race Circuit. The noise could be heard in the center of town four miles away, and if the wind was right, you could even smell the race. The environmental movement in the late 1960s slowly put pressure on the town to pass more and more restrictive noise ordinances on the racing circuit. The town obliged. Decibel levels were monitored. Limits were enforced. The CanAm—which featured cars with 1500horsepower engines driving at over 200 miles an hour—was the biggest offender and soon, after trying mufflers, moved elsewhere. After that, the course was used for an ever-decreasing number of club races featuring an ever-decreasing number of cars with small engines. A racing school came and went. Finally, around 1990, the track became derelict. Nothing went on there anymore. In 1999, a new generation of young men decided to reinvent the Bridgehampton Cup Races. They have run it every year since, and it will take place again this year on Saturday, October 3, beginning at 10 a.m. on the lawn of the Bridgehampton Historical Society across from the Candy Kitchen. You ought to go over there, particularly with your children. The race is no longer a race by any common definition. But in some ways it is a throwback to the very first races in Bridgehampton 100 years ago. Cars will travel at 25 and 30 miles an hour. Some of them will be from the era just after World War II, and others will be from the
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Car Racing