Motorsports Memories

I lived in Corning, NY for 23 years. I used to brag that my kitchen was 17 miles from Watkins Glen International! In the Village of Watkins Glen is the International Motor Racing Research Center (IMRRC). They have all sorts of books, memorabilia, magazines, event programs, etc. that people can come to see or review for research. They also have enough open space where they can display a historically significant race car in the building. Often when the owner comes to retrieve the car after displaying it for a few months, they will do a presentation on the history of the car. Anyway, I spent many pleasant hours at the IMRRC. A few months back I was on their website and a group called GT Motorsports posted a link to a podcast on a legendary supermodified race car that ran at Oswego Speedway, north of Syracuse. I never got to go there, but Oswego is one of those famous venues with a long history. When I was a kid in Toledo, Ohio in the early 60’s, supermodifieds ran at my hometown track of Toledo Speedway. That was junior high and high school time for me.

 

There was a note on the podcast website asking for people to share their stories about motorsports. I wrote up a document covering a lot of the places I’ve been, races I’ve seen, and people I’ve met and sent it in. The result was that I was asked to be interviewed for one of their podcasts. Who Knew? So, the show went live on July 17th and is a few minutes over an hour in duration. It can be heard at the links I was given below. I had trouble with the Apple link for some reason, but the Spotify and YouTube ones worked well. However, Patreon requires a subscription.

 

Article: https://www.gtmotorsports.org/a-view-from-the-grandstands-racing-fandom/

En Femme Style

 

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/deeann-hopings-view-from-the-grandstands/id1520501489?i=1000662386565

 

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0LRCvuctNlRUrpxP83clYv?si=18311c6650ea41cf

 

YouTube: https://youtu.be/2vWEfpZdNmk

 

Patreon Behind the Scenes: https://www.patreon.com/posts/bts-deeann-s5e18-104356531

 

Sometimes I guess we are just in the right place at the right time! It was really a fun time and memories continue to come back. Across all of the changes in my life, my interest in motorsports remains one of the constants.

Note that we have a Motorsports! Group here on TGH. I encourage members to have a look and consider joining.

 

The interview was recorded on ZOOM and I used a background image of a sprint car from Toledo. It took my hometown guy, Rollie Beale, to the 1973 USAC Sprint Car Championship against luminaries such as Lee Kunzman, Pancho Carter, Tom Bigelow and Johnny Parsons.

EnFemme

 

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DeeAnn Hopings

Mechanical Engineer, retired January 2016 and relocated to SoCal. Have a grown daughter and a grown son with my 1st wife, daughter has 2 daughters. Married 2nd wife in 2005 and she knows everything about me. Perhaps 95% of people here in town know me as DeeAnn. In all my political, civic and non-profit involvements DeeAnn is the person of record. I do present as my male persona on occassion when I am running an errand and don’t want to take the time to get dressed and do makeup or want to avoid confusion. I have no plans to change my name legally. When I went for my vaccine shots I presented as Don so there would be any confusion as to who I am. Anyway, those situations are pretty rare. Since I’ve retired, I’ve been a board member of our local trans organization and on the steering committee for our local HRC group. I did both of those for over 2 years, but am now resigned from both. Currently I’m a Volunteer Coordinator for the Greater Palm Springs Pride organization. Also Community Liaison Officer with Great Autos of Yesteryear car club, former Chair of the Cathedral City Public Arts Commission, Vice-Chair for Desert Stonewall Democrats, a Board Member for the LGBTQ Center of the Desert and a Docent at the Palm Springs Air Museum (we are rated #14 in the WORLD! And #1 in California). Hobbies: BIG motorsports fan, been to all sorts of tracks all across the US, primarily a fan of open wheel race cars (Formula 1, Indy cars, supermodifieds, Silver Crown, sprint cars, etc.) but I also follow sports cars, stock cars and drag racing, have driven a few race cars, used to help a friend take care if his pavement modified, have many motorsports related books and many have been autographed by Indy car winners, Indianapolis 500 winners, Formula 1 winners and World Driving Champions, and Formula 1 team principals Was a cyclist good for 55 to 60 miles until a mild stroke in the Fall of 2016, looking to get back on the bike soon, also follow professional cycling Architecture fan, love the work of Frank Lloyd Wright and other architects who did a lot of work here in The Valley under the Mid Century Modern style, visited 2 FLW homes in the San Francisco area in the summer of 2019 that had not been open to the public before, have toured the Robie House, Taliesin West, the now defunct FLW Museum outside of Ann Arbor, MI and FLW structures in Oak Park, IL, San Anselmo, CA, Orinda, CA and the Marin County Offices. Amateur photographer going back to high school with Polaroids and 620 roll film, 35mm film cameras since the 80’s and digital since 2005. Computer hobbyist, built a Hackintosh in 2014 and that served as my desktop computer until early 2021. I rebuilt it with current hardware and it is still my desktop machine.

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Toni Floria
Member
Active Member
Toni Floria(@mustangtoni)
4 months ago

Roberta from that movie is my all time favorite movie character thanks for noting that performance John Lithgrow in that role is fabulous

Toni Floria
Member
Active Member
Toni Floria(@mustangtoni)
4 months ago
Reply to  Toni Floria

Hey DeeAnn. I love your takes on motor sports you’ve forgotten more on the subject than the average fan ever knew

Toni Floria
Member
Active Member
Toni Floria(@mustangtoni)
4 months ago
Reply to  DeeAnn Hopings

I appreciate what you are saying I’m primarily a sports car fan. Especially the endurance races the cars automotive art , are a blend of function, design,power and just plain sex appeal . The driver s the team work the weather and the unexpected all combine to create a spectacle for the serious as well as the casual fan I definitely get the passion coming through your words thanks for your insight s 🧜‍♀️

Jill Lacey
Member
Jill Lacey(@jillleanne)
4 months ago

How wonderful for you to be able to share a trip down memory lane, thank you. I loved it. If you recall I too am a big motor sports fan, having done my share of racing stock cars on dirt and ashphalt in my younger days at local tracks. I did ok with what I had but never won. From then on Iwas and am purely fan based. Mostly NASCAR now and Trans Am but my interests in F1 and Indy are slowly returning.  I had no idea we had a Motorsports group here. Checking it out now.

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