Modified Racing In River Head, Long Island

Mention Long Island to most of today’s race fans and you can bet it will not conjure up the image Daytona or Charlotte might. Believe it or not, the Island once had stock cars racing all over it, six nights a week, mainly on three short tracks--Freeport, Islip, and Riverhead. The Island was home to 40 tracks through the years of 1906-1984. After that, only Riverhead remained. Freeport, which opened in 1933, ran stocks from 1949-1983. Islip opened in 1948 and fell silent in 1984.

In Islip’s heyday, you could see great Modified action with drivers coming from all over the East Coast to tangle with local stars like Jimmy Hendrickson, Fred Harbach, Axel Anderson, Charlie Jarzombek, and others. In the 1960s, Bobby Allison used to tow up from Florida. Later, he ran there in Grand Nationals, along with Petty, Jarrett, Johnson, and more. Figure 8 racing was essentially raised there, too. Yes, it’s true, Virginia, Long Island definitely has a racing heritage. Spring ahead to late August, 1999. The pits of Riverhead became a time capsule for a day as dozens of drivers, mechanics, car owners, and lots of fans, young and old, came to look, touch, and hear the cars of yesteryear once again. It was truly a runningboard reminiscence.

Cars like Geoff Bodine’s Pinto Mod from the 1970s were there. You found Axel Anderson’s legendary 590, a 1937 Plymouth with a Chrysler Spitfire engine. It’s possibly the oldest running example of what stocks were like in 1950. There were also several incredible restorations in the pits--Charlie Jarzombek’s coupe and Vega, Mousey Kempster’s coach, and the Junior Ambrose No. 7-11. One of the most recognizable cars to appear was Al DeAngelo’s Ace of Spades. The Ace appeared for years in various body styles. As a coupe in 1960, it flew down the straight at Daytona with a fuel-injected T-Bird lifting its front wheels off the ground as it hit 140 miles per hour. Though many contributed much time and effort to putting the day together, one man’s efforts stand out. Marty Himes of the Himes Racing Museum supplied seven of the vintage cars and did a stellar job with contacting people and coordinating. Ex-drivers and racing folks showed up from as far west as California and as far south as Florida.

Trackside activities included a memorial dedication to Riverhead’s chief steward Walt Edsall, who had passed away a few weeks previous after suffering injuries at the track. His old 1941 Chevy took a solo ride one last time. On the brighter side, Himes was totally surprised when presented with a freshly-restored Good Humor ice cream bike from car lettering specialist Harold Seaman. It was pedaled into the pits by 1994 NASCAR Featherlite Modified Tour champion Wayne Anderson, who acted like Santa Claus, giving away ice cream along the way. Then, the 15 cars took to the asphalt to strut their stuff. The list of notable drivers who showed up is too long to include, but included Johnny Coy, Russ Klar, Johnny Mann, Ed Brunnhoelzl, Red Raynor, Yolanda Barndl, and stellar mechanics like Bob Punzi (X-3) and Rick Jarzombek.

The National Plymouth Club lined up a group of Freeport drivers who ran the popular "Non-Ford" class of coupes and sedans. Old war stories were told and retold. For this author, the personal highlight came in driving Nippy Commerdinger’s 1937 Chevy coupe No. 50, the original Rainbow Warrior. It’s the kind of machine I could only dream about wheeling when I drove my real jalopy on the track back in 1965. It left me with a feeling I think all in attendance experienced--"I can’t wait ’til next year."