When you think of old school racing, you typically think of retro cars with officials saying, "Have at 'em, boys". But what ever happened to these classic hot rods?
New Hampshire Motor Speedway held its Vintage Racing Celebration Thursday and Friday for drivers to celebrate the roots of racing with vintage Indy cars, stock cars, and modifieds. Among these drivers was Alan Preliasco, who was presented with the Bahre Cup for his commitment to the event over the past 27 years and his unmatched sportsmanship.
The Bahre Cup is named after the track's original owner Bob Bahre, who brought the idea of a one-mile oval track to life in 1990. The award is given out each year to one driver that has displayed life-long support and dedication to the event.
"It was completely unexpected," Preliasco said. "I think there are a lot of other people who've done more than I have for the event. But this is really very nice, and I really appreciate it."
The Vintage Racing Celebration brought forth cars that formerly race in the Indy series as well as NASCAR stock modified cars. Preliasco drives the No. 6, 1954 Clyde Adams Roadster. This car has a long rich history racing that started long before Preliasco.
"It's an original Indy car," Preliasco said. "But as usual with some of these we really don't know the history. It was built in the 50's, then it became a super modified and pretty much got beaten to death. The fellow that we got it from about 25 years ago is named Thomas Smith out of Kentucky.
"I was talking to some people who knew him, he's passed away now, said they remembered when he brought it home on a trailer. He dragged it out of the woods and it was just a disaster, so he spent a lot of time putting it back together," continued Preliasco. "He would usually go to Winchester Speedway for the old timers event, I guess A.J. Watson was there one time and A.J. said he didn't build the car but he thought it was a Clyde Adams car and that's all we really know about it. But it's a fun car to drive."
This week, Preliasco was able to spend the No. 6 car's glory days flying around the speedway's 1.058-mile oval. "It's a nice track," Preliasco said. "It's not too big, but it's still big enough you can have a lot of fun. It's nice and wide so people don't get into each other's way. There's always a nice group of people, everybody always has a good time."
The Vintage Racing Celebration sheds light on the old saying "If only this car could talk." Every car that raced over the past two days has a story of its own; from racing at the sport's largest stage to small-town short tracks on Saturday nights. These vintage cars are not a part of the driver's life? the drivers are a part of theirs.
The Vintage Racing Celebration is an annual event at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The 2017 season has more events to come featuring Hot Imports Night (Aug. 26), NASCAR race weekend (Sept. 22-24), Extreme Chunkin (Oct. 14-15), and the Gift of Lights, which will run from late November though late December.
