Mid America Raceway - 2000

This group of pictures came from Garneau Weld. He also sent along some of his memories of Mid America Raceway. If anyone has the dates or more information, please email me.

My name is Garneau Weld, and I learned to road race (motorcycles) at MAR. The lush countryside and one of the country's most challenging road courses made MAR the best weekend motor sports experience in the country. I really miss it.

A few highlights and good memories that I will briefly recall:

-First came to the course in 70'-'71 when Carl Hogan, now deceased, tested and ran a Lotus and later Gurney Eagle in F5000 and or F1 vs Formula "A". (not certain about these details)

-Watched a showroom stock racer smack the outside of turn one to scrub speed and then throw the car sideways down the "escape road", just missing the telephone pole on the left. The really neat result was that after bolting down the downhill straight, this guy brought the car from terminal speed to no speed without any brakes or any apparent damage to himself or the car. While taking a photo of the car and talking with the driver, he revealed that he just used up his final line of defense, the parking brake. I was very impressed.

-Stomping tall grass to make a camping area and then making sure snakes were not present. Raccoons were OK.

-Taking a cold shower using the on-site well bib.

-Water puddling up to 6" on the inside of turn one in the days when races were not red flagged due to heavy rain.

-Sweating like a pig.

-Free entry for racers. (not happy when this changed!!!)

-Endless beer and food at socials

-Great walk through the woods to observe other parts of the track. (kind of like being at Rockwoods Reservation)

-The double apex, possibly negative camber turn four. (never checked the angle myself, but the rumor was neg. camber) (I remember this turn as four but may be mistaken)

-I remember the Mack Yates , blue & white # 7, would zig zag down the track after his eye operation and comp. license was reissued. (I believe his car, unrestored, is now located in Boulder, CO at a Shelby non-profit collection.) Mack was my hero. He demonstrated that car racers could be really good guys without really big egos - a true gentleman racer. WOW

-I remember some guy in a very beautiful, very clean, very shiny formula car really driving hard out of nine, up the hill, in the very early morning. It was just me, observing, and this guy on the track. (The trees were dripping and the air very heavy and moist.) To my complete surprise, this driver lost rear traction after passing under the bridge and slid far, far up the hill, into the grass, kept sliding, then hit something very solid. What a waste. This car was a complete mess and a terrible loss to someone, such as myself, who did not completely understand the risks associated with motorsports.

hmmmm

-Paul Newman in his Ferrari. (Have photo from that one time appearance. Also, I saw the 308 in California in '98 or so. Very basic prep. compared to today's cars.)

-I remember using weeds, growing through the cracks in the track, as markers. When the weeds in the racing line were worn down, we had to look for new weeds as markers. (Is this Missouri?)

-Remember first race; WERA (great club), six hour endurance, rained, bikes exploding like hand grenades when they went down, dodging bike parts when they went down, lots of very impressive sparks when they went down, my good friend and team member (being told not to crash my bike just before going out for his two hours), crashed my bike on the first lap in that turn four.

-Walked the entire course, for the first time, in '00. What memories!! - Took photos covering the entire course.

Broken section of the retaining wall at Turn 1.	This is the inside retaining wall at Turn 1.	The tower above the infield grandstand, near the walkover bridge.
Entering Turn 3.	Looking from Turn 3 up to Turn 4, from a dog's eye view.	Leaving Turn 4 to run down to Turn 5.
Skid marks in the road between Turn 5 and Turn 6.	This is either the escape road between Turn 3 and Turn 6 or a section after Turn 6.	Looking to Turn 7.
Leaving Turn 7 to Turn 8 near the trees. There was a great area on the hill to the right of Turn 8 for watching the action..	Turn 8 exit to Turn 8A? There wasn't any flag station there, but with two turns, I heard it referred to as Turn 8A occasionally.	Grandstands on the infield, Turn 1.
Looking from Turn 8A to Turn 9.	This is the section between Turn 9 and Turn 10.
Going up the hill from Turn 10 to the main straight. This is the drive-over bridge most of us came in on.

If you can identify any of these people, please with their names. Thanks.

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