Here isn't your typical Lark...

[Steve T]

Have a boo at this:

http://www.roadsideattractions.ca/nolalu.htm

...A bit of background. Few years back, I was perusing a copy of the Canadian Speedway Guide, and noticed "Mosquito Speedway", a clay oval in, of all places, Nolalu, Ontario. Now Nolalu is not quite the first place one would think a speedway might be located; it's 44 km northwest of the middle of nowhere, so to speak. But I knew where it was...because I had cousins who lived there. On my next visit it became crucial to visit this improbably-located speedway. And this was the track's "signpost": the hulk of a 62-63 Lark hardtop (or maybe even a doctored convertible), obviously once a stocker (note the rollcage), its hood held shut with a couple cinderblocks...and a giant metal cutout of a mosquito perched on its (homebuilt?) roof.

Mosquito Speedway, as I understand it, has since closed (not a towering shock, given its remote location); I have no idea whether this thoroughly oddball Stude is still there...but ever since seeing it I've mused about how cool it would be to cobble the old stocker back together, stick in a Chev SB and driveline, and go racing down here at Flamboro or Ohsweken. (BTW, at Ohsweken last year one of the race classes featured a splendidly turned-out Volvo 262 Bertone coupe!) Had I the right skills set, and anywhere to work on such a project...I'd actually consider it. Anyone else seen any Studebaker stockers, back in the day or even recently?

S.

[glen]

I'm guessing that the mosquito's were in abundance on race days?
Being its location and all.....in the middle of nowheresville!

Bzzzzz Bzzzzz Bzzzzz

glen Brose - Perkinsville, AZ

[glen]

I'm guessing that the mosquito's were in abundance on race days?
Being its location and all.....in the middle of nowheresville!

Bzzzzz Bzzzzz Bzzzzz

glen Brose - Perkinsville, AZ

[Steve T]

Glen--

Oh yeah...northwestern Ontario, race season is basically June to early September...mosquitoes galore and then some...the name of the speedway is no surprise, but the existence (even for a time) of a speedway in that spot certainly is! (Not, at all, knocking northwestern Ontario BTW; but one thinks of hunting, fishing, canoeing, et cetera, before one thinks of motorsports in a place like that...)



S.

[Steve T]

Glen--

Oh yeah...northwestern Ontario, race season is basically June to early September...mosquitoes galore and then some...the name of the speedway is no surprise, but the existence (even for a time) of a speedway in that spot certainly is! (Not, at all, knocking northwestern Ontario BTW; but one thinks of hunting, fishing, canoeing, et cetera, before one thinks of motorsports in a place like that...)



S.

[Guido]

Due to an odd turn of events, my company ended up owning a race track in Canada for a period of time. It had a whole host of issues that came with it, but I managed to get it sold without us getting sued.


http://community.webshots.com/user/GuidoSalvage

Hiding and preserving Studebakers in Richmond, Goochland & Louisa, Va.

[Guido]

Due to an odd turn of events, my company ended up owning a race track in Canada for a period of time. It had a whole host of issues that came with it, but I managed to get it sold without us getting sued.


http://community.webshots.com/user/GuidoSalvage

Hiding and preserving Studebakers in Richmond, Goochland & Louisa, Va.

[bams50]

I LOVE that picture! It's now my desktop, although it's not high enough resolution to fill the screen and still be sharp

Early in my racing career I drove cars that looked just about exactly like that- just never a Stude! I wish my scanner was working so I could post a picture of Black Bart, a severely battered 76 Monte Carlo that dominated the stock classes for a few years with yours truly at the wheel[^] That car brought in over 12 grand in an era where a regular feature paid about $150! That amount included a $7000 winner's share for a big Pepsi-sponsored 200-lap enduro, where we were sneered at by the NASCAR-looking competitors; then when Bart whipped their behinds we spent the night in the tech barn (the front of the enclosed concession stand[)]) tearing the engine apart under paid protest, which netted another $250 for being ridiculously legal[^] I so loved that car that when it was time to retire it I couldn't cut it up; it's still here, out back in a place of honor[:X]

That car helped me move up in class, and we did hit a number of tracks in Ontario- Merrittville, Humberstone, Cornwall, and on pavement Cayuga, and a few others that escape me just now.

Time marches on, life goes forth, and things change; nothing is forever. But thank you for sharing that picture and bringing back some great memories of my glory days!

Robert (Bob) Andrews Owner- Studebakeracres- on the IoMT (Island of Misfit Toys!)
Parish, central NY 13131

"With your Lark you're on your own, free as a bird, alive as a Lark. You've suddenly discovered that parking is a pleasure, traffic is a breeze, turning's no trick at all, and happiness is a thing called Larking!"

[bams50]

I LOVE that picture! It's now my desktop, although it's not high enough resolution to fill the screen and still be sharp

Early in my racing career I drove cars that looked just about exactly like that- just never a Stude! I wish my scanner was working so I could post a picture of Black Bart, a severely battered 76 Monte Carlo that dominated the stock classes for a few years with yours truly at the wheel[^] That car brought in over 12 grand in an era where a regular feature paid about $150! That amount included a $7000 winner's share for a big Pepsi-sponsored 200-lap enduro, where we were sneered at by the NASCAR-looking competitors; then when Bart whipped their behinds we spent the night in the tech barn (the front of the enclosed concession stand[)]) tearing the engine apart under paid protest, which netted another $250 for being ridiculously legal[^] I so loved that car that when it was time to retire it I couldn't cut it up; it's still here, out back in a place of honor[:X]

That car helped me move up in class, and we did hit a number of tracks in Ontario- Merrittville, Humberstone, Cornwall, and on pavement Cayuga, and a few others that escape me just now.

Time marches on, life goes forth, and things change; nothing is forever. But thank you for sharing that picture and bringing back some great memories of my glory days!

Robert (Bob) Andrews Owner- Studebakeracres- on the IoMT (Island of Misfit Toys!)
Parish, central NY 13131

"With your Lark you're on your own, free as a bird, alive as a Lark. You've suddenly discovered that parking is a pleasure, traffic is a breeze, turning's no trick at all, and happiness is a thing called Larking!"

[glen]

Steve,
It just reminded me of a dirt track near Anchorage, Ak. that was
used for stock car and destruction derby events....the mosquitoes
seemed to always out number the cars and the paying spectators.

glen Brose - Perkinsville, AZ

[glen]

Steve,
It just reminded me of a dirt track near Anchorage, Ak. that was
used for stock car and destruction derby events....the mosquitoes
seemed to always out number the cars and the paying spectators.

glen Brose - Perkinsville, AZ

[Steve T]

Hey Bob--

Since I took that shot of the retired-stocker Lark, I've got the original prints and (somewhere) the negs. Would be perfectly happy to get one scanned to CD and email it to you if you like. (Most of the photos I sent to Ed Solonyka, whose website that is, were for the Planes On Pedestals section...I'm huge into old planes as well.)

Your story about the Monte Carlo takes me back to age 5, 6, 7...I knew what every car on the road was, was mad keen on motorsports, and Dad and I went regularly to the two Cayuga tracks (Cayuga Speedway and Dragway Park on the old Kohler airfield) and also to Flamboro. Bit earlier (70-73 or so) than your Monte but still the "feel" would be very much the same. A few drivers from the local oval circuit in those years...hm, gotta blow some of the dust off the cerebral cortex...yeah: Junior Hanley; Don Biederman; Kenny Aspen; Freddie Poets; Walter Zavitz; Earl Ross...and at Dragway Park, we saw Don Garlits, Connie Kalitta, Shirley "Bounty Huntress" Muldowney...what a time that was. Quite a delight now to go a couple times a year to Flamboro and Ohsweken; much has changed, but the core experience is the same, and it's still fun to be a race fan! And on one of our visits to Ohsweken last summer we brought along my 5-year-old nephew. (Alas he's a bit too big for the tiny repro-NASCAR jacket I wore to races at that age, and still have as a prized souvenir...)

Thanks for the fast run (and hard left turn) down Memory Lane!

Cheers

Steve T

[Steve T]

Hey Bob--

Since I took that shot of the retired-stocker Lark, I've got the original prints and (somewhere) the negs. Would be perfectly happy to get one scanned to CD and email it to you if you like. (Most of the photos I sent to Ed Solonyka, whose website that is, were for the Planes On Pedestals section...I'm huge into old planes as well.)

Your story about the Monte Carlo takes me back to age 5, 6, 7...I knew what every car on the road was, was mad keen on motorsports, and Dad and I went regularly to the two Cayuga tracks (Cayuga Speedway and Dragway Park on the old Kohler airfield) and also to Flamboro. Bit earlier (70-73 or so) than your Monte but still the "feel" would be very much the same. A few drivers from the local oval circuit in those years...hm, gotta blow some of the dust off the cerebral cortex...yeah: Junior Hanley; Don Biederman; Kenny Aspen; Freddie Poets; Walter Zavitz; Earl Ross...and at Dragway Park, we saw Don Garlits, Connie Kalitta, Shirley "Bounty Huntress" Muldowney...what a time that was. Quite a delight now to go a couple times a year to Flamboro and Ohsweken; much has changed, but the core experience is the same, and it's still fun to be a race fan! And on one of our visits to Ohsweken last summer we brought along my 5-year-old nephew. (Alas he's a bit too big for the tiny repro-NASCAR jacket I wore to races at that age, and still have as a prized souvenir...)

Thanks for the fast run (and hard left turn) down Memory Lane!

Cheers

Steve T

[bams50]

Oh man..... forgot about Flamboro.... another great track... ever see the winged ISMA Supermodifieds run there?

I remember Shirley Muldowney as "Cha-Cha"... never heard that name for her.

I'd love a higher-res copy of that picture! Should be easy to just e-mail it; if you get a chance- no big deal! My computer already has that one captured[^]

Robert (Bob) Andrews Owner- Studebakeracres- on the IoMT (Island of Misfit Toys!)
Parish, central NY 13131

"With your Lark you're on your own, free as a bird, alive as a Lark. You've suddenly discovered that parking is a pleasure, traffic is a breeze, turning's no trick at all, and happiness is a thing called Larking!"

[bams50]

Oh man..... forgot about Flamboro.... another great track... ever see the winged ISMA Supermodifieds run there?

I remember Shirley Muldowney as "Cha-Cha"... never heard that name for her.

I'd love a higher-res copy of that picture! Should be easy to just e-mail it; if you get a chance- no big deal! My computer already has that one captured[^]

Robert (Bob) Andrews Owner- Studebakeracres- on the IoMT (Island of Misfit Toys!)
Parish, central NY 13131

"With your Lark you're on your own, free as a bird, alive as a Lark. You've suddenly discovered that parking is a pleasure, traffic is a breeze, turning's no trick at all, and happiness is a thing called Larking!"