Would YOU Drive a 1963 TQ?

Racing remains a sport with risks, but none so vivid as that shown in this sequence of photos from Pine Brook in 1963.

No roll cage, just a rudimentary roll bar. No five-point harness, just a padded "Sam Browne" belt. No Snell-rated helmet, just a basic "Cromwell" or, if you were truly state-of-the-art, a Bell Star.

I question seriously how many of today's drivers would drive one of these cars.

Happily, this driver was not injured in any significant manner, despite his car rolling over fully and traveling to the guard rail, off of which it bounced before coming to rest. Unhappily, I have no idea who it is! The car is numbered 65. Does anyone out there have any specific knowledge? If so, send a note to  us at Vairteccorp@gmail.com.

The Early Ruins of Pine Brook

I have titled this photo "The Early Ruins of Pine Brook" because it was taken after the track had been closed, but before the fencing was torn down and the track surface torn up.

Melissa Cooke, whose father fielded a TQ for many years and who herself raced a micro-stock at Pine Brook, took this and many more photos of the doomed facility following its closing. Not visible in this shot is the fact that the bleacher seating was already gone, and that other features of the facility were already being dismantled or left to rot.

She took this shot from the roof of the box office building, where the announcer and scorers' positions were, and from where I viewed almost every race at Pine Brook starting with the first one in 1962.

We will be posting more of Melissa’s photos as time goes on.

The track closed in the Fall of 1989 following the decision by property owner Anthony Pio Costa to disallow further operation by promoter Jack Bellinato. Pio Costa had big dreams for development of the property, but it was more than a decade before anything happened. A Home Depot was built, eventually, but why racing could not have continued why development was being sought is known only by Pio Costa.

Karting at Pine Brook?

Here is a most unusual photo taken by Dave Innes, and sent to us by Gary Mondschein: A 1960s go-kart on a victory lap at Pine Brook.

This photo appears to date from the late 60s. Early enough that there is only a roll bar on the kart (New Jersey required the same safety standards for karts in those days as it did for all other racing machines), and late enough that the infield ripple strips are in place.

Kart racing never took root at Pine Brook, despite the track's compact size that would seem to lend itself to the tiny machines. Among the reasons is that kart racing never took root in New Jersey back then, in part due to those State regulations.

Now, Gary, can you find us a photo of the one-and-only flat-track motorcycle race that took place at Pine Brook?

Old Bones

The car is the photo is one that Blu Metz was shepherding at Sundance Vacations Speedway this past Sunday. It is the former Storero #01, and Blu happily noted that the car raced at Pine Brook back when Andy Storero was driving.

But, obviously a car that is now more than 21 years old would require some changes and updating to remain competitive today. I suggested that the car was the Storero car in the same vein as the old “George Washington’s Ax” story: It’s George Washington’s ax, although through the years the head has been replaced once and the handle has been replaced three times.

“Okay,” said Blu, pointing to the car’s nerf bar. “That nerf bar definitely raced at Pine Brook!”

Born at Pine Brook

In the photo is a mid-60s English Ford Anglia, modified into an oval-track race car. This photo was taken circa 1971 at the Flemington Fairgrounds – so what is it doing here?

Well, the site on which this photo is posted, http://www.speedwaysnapshots.com/, has dozens of old photos from several of the region’s tracks, including Pine Brook. We will be adding some of those photos here as we go along. But the real point of our posting this photo is to illustrate the fact that this class of car, often referred to as "mini-stocks," was born at Pine Brook.

In 1963, looking to broaden the track’s offerings, Dick Marlow dreamed up what he termed "midget stocks," and sketched out specifications based on the size and displacement of the VW beetle. Midget stocks debuted at Pine Brook that year... without success. Despite being small cars, they were too big for the Pine Brook track, and only a handful of races were ever run.

But the racers who had put together the cars were not about to let a too-small race track hamper their efforts. They formed the Foreign Compact Racing Association, or FCRA, and soon had booked races for themselves at Flemington, Wall Stadium, Fort Dix Speedway, and elsewhere. They quickly dropped the "midget stock" name in favor of "mini-stocks," and in their relatively short history they put on some truly great races.

One of the best races we ever saw was an FCRA feature at Wall Stadium around 1969 or so. By then, nearly the entire field was comprised of Anglias. While VWs and Fiats and NSUs and Renaults and others were all tried at Pine Brook, it did not take innovative racers long to figure out that within the original specs, the Anglia was the car to have. This may explain why you never see a Ford Anglia at a vintage car show these days – they all gave their lives to mini-stock racing.

We do possess an 8mm home movie of the mini-stocks banging their way around Pine Brook, and if we ever figure out how to convert those films to digital images, we’ll post them. In the meantime, our thanks to Jeff Scott at Speedway Snapshots, for helping us illustrate the fact that "mini-stocks," by whatever name, were born at Pine Brook.

A Young Guy on Old Timer's Night

On "Old Timer’s Night" in 1983, Billy Courtwright was the winner in Pete Petraitis’ #40, one of the more successful cars of the time period. Click the photo to see a larger version.

Courtwright, of course, is the smiling young fellow in the driver’s suit, shaking the hand of car owner Petraitis. There is plenty of the event sponsor’s product, Chemlube, being passed around also.

In the background, upper left, is Jack Bellinato, who was Pine Brook’s promoter from the passing of Jack Dowie until the end in 1989. Bellinato is wearing what he considered to be his lucky hat, the hat he counted on to ward off rainouts. We don’t know the story behind Mark Allen’s hat, at the far right.

In addition to Courtwright, numerous drivers enjoyed victories in this car. Nick Fornoro, Jr.’s name is lettered on the cowl in this shot. Courtwright and Fornoro were great friends, but friction did occur as they competed for rides in front-running cars like this one. We can remember Bob Cicconi winning in this car, too.

Also lettered on the car is "One of The Bad Guys," a nickname given to a merry band of racers, including Petraitis, from Long Island. Once, when it seemed that all the racing luck and most of the officiating decisions were going against them, Will Ford lamented, "What are we, the bad guys?" A nickname was born.

Thanks to Billy Courtwright for sending us this photo. Send us your Pine Brook memories!

Today's Trivia: The Name

The name "Pine Brook Stadium" was the name originally given to the track by builder Dick Marlow. But at some point during the promotional reign of Jack Dowie, the name was changed to "Pine Brook Speedway." Later, when Jack Bellinato was in charge, he experimented with "Home of Champions Speedway" but it never stuck. Everyone called it "Pine Brook," be it Stadium or Speedway.

Many people thought of Pine Brook as one word, Pinebrook. But it is two words, named after the Pine Brook section of Montville Township, in which the track was located.