Remember the Mosquito Speedway Lark?

[Steve T]

Hi all--

I was away last week for a wedding in Thunder Bay; we drove out and made a family visit of it...I wondered aloud while there whether that Lark with the big metal mosquito on the roof was still present at the long-closed Mosquito Speedway in rural Nolalu. Consensus was that yes, it was still sitting out in the weeds by what had been the gate to the speedway. So on an open afternoon off went Dad and I in the van, and here's what we saw.


The weeds are taller, the car's more faded, and the mosquito has been repainted at least once...but overall the poor old Lark, a '63 Daytona hardtop made into a sportsman dirt-tracker, hasn't changed much at all.

I'll split this post into sections to avoid timeouts...

S.

[doug]

Can it be saved?

[bezhawk]

Now all you need is a C/K dirt trak stocker painted orange with "RAID" on the sides!

[Steve T]

This time I wanted to get more than one pic of the old racer. Here's the rear view, with the now-checkertailed mosquito up top...



And here's a closeup of the other side. As will be seen...I found out the team that fielded this car was based locally, so it is quite possible that the MOSQUITO SPEEDWAY lettering was on the car before retirement.



Here's what's left of the interior.



The track mascot, now sporting a cartoon face complete with goggles, and an expression of pleasure that indicates he is in complete denial about the abandonment of the speedway!

Note the name "Studebaker Stu" painted diagonally across the entire roof. More about this shortly.


More to follow...

S.

[Steve T]

Rear quarter closeups showing nerf bar structure and the distinctive "3". On the decklid one could faintly read "The Crew From Nolalu". By this time I was already aware that the team had been based locally; I'd seen the "3" before arriving at the old speedway. A tease...




The C-pillar Lark badges were still in place on both sides. And no, I didn't purloin one as a souvenir; they were on there but good! As can be seen the car had once been painted bright blue.



More shortly.

S.

[Steve T]

As I said, I'd found out before arriving at the speedway that the Lark team was local. How? Well...it was all a bit surreal. I commented to Dad that it was exactly like a dream. On the way out to the speedway I saw a big open-ended arch-roofed shed in the bush beside the road...and sticking out one end, the unmistakable rear of a Wagonaire. Then, at the other end of the shed, outside in the weeds, a 90s Subaru Legacy--in the same beige-and-brown colours, and bearing the number 3 on the sides in the same style, as the Lark gate guard at the old speedway. Plainly this was, or at least had been, the home of that race team...so it came as no surprise to be able to make out "The Crew From Nolalu" on the Lark's decklid when examining that car a few minutes later.

Of course we had to check out the shed, to the degree possible, on the way back. No one was around; as we were technically trespassing I will not post pix of what was there, but there were five dust-coated Studebakers, a Chevelle and a Fargo wrecker inside, and three Subarus outside, the racer and two apparent parts cars. The Studes were a 2R pickup, a '51 Starlight, a '64 Wagonaire, a '66 Commander 2dr minus front clip, and a '59-61 Hawk that wasn't quite stock. Like the Lark, it had "Studebaker Stu" on the roof...

Breaking my own rule, here's the one shot I will post; let's just say it was taken after a race years ago...


S.

[Steve T]

Bez--

How the deuce did you guess there was a C-body dirt-tracker coming up...!

S.

[Bob Andrews]

Beautiful work on that old-school roll cage. Although somewhere there's an abandoned factory missing some water pipes