Camden, Ohio, is the location of the Greggs' go-kart race track and it was an excellent place to turn it up. Go-kart racing did not have, back then, the glamour of Formula 1 drivers doing it during their off-time but there was ferocious competition and more classes than they run today. Some of the classes were probably banned. Whenever you see go-karts in video today, typically there is one motor and they go smokin' fast. Back then they permitted two with outrageous modifications to both of them.
The twin-engine go-karts had an open class in which anything goes. Some maniac even tried adding hydrazine (i.e. rocket fuel) to the mix for the kart but there was a little problem with it exploding. Hydrazine is so volatile, it can explode if you drop the container. The fuel was usually methanol-based plus nitro and whatever else they could find.
The motors for the open class were 8.2 cubic-inches ... but ... these lunatics would stick three carburetors on this motor, two pointing straight-up and the other pointing directly forward at the bottom of the crank case (the motors were mounted 90 degrees off vertical). This was the only class for my ol' Dad and the motors would explode regularly. On one occasion, the motor blew and the connecting rod to the piston broke, consequently shooting out of the bottom of the crankcase ... to where my ol' Dad's right shoulder would have been if he were not leaning left into a corner.
The reason the motors often exploded is they would mix anything flammable to make the fuel for them. If you really did a good job of it, you would blow a hole in the top of the piston AND break the connecting rod.
The Camden track was like most others since it ran 3/8 to 1/2 a mile. The straight in front of the pits wasn't the longest but you could build plenty of speed before the left turn at the end. Likely you would hit this at at 60-70 mph and you would balance on the edge of the adhesion until you came around almost 270 degrees and then hard right into the back straight. On that one with the right machine, you could hit about 90 mph and this one again would swing you around 180 degrees and then into a series of wiggles which would bring you back around to the front straight.
There was one little detail about the Camden track which set it apart from all the others and which drew high-calibre racers from all over the place.
At the end of the back straight, the turn which threw you back around 180 degrees ... had Monza banking on it. The bank was so steep you could not walk up it when it was wet.
The way it worked was you would go into the corner and up on the right side of the track and then dive to the center of the corner to drift out on the other side which sets you up for the next corner at the end of the little straight after the Monza. Hitting that thing at 90 mph is guaranteed to be one of the big thrills you will ever know. This isn't only jumping out of an aircraft and pulling the ripcord. It's major calculus to solve that corner and Lotho could probably spell out the mathematics for you.
The mathematics did not always work, not precisely. If anything breaks while you are in your 90 mph dive to the center of the corner, there is only one direction to go ... and that would go off the top of the Monza and consequently into low-Earth orbit. The banking dropped just as steeply on the grassy side of the bank so the Monza turn made a perfect launch pad.
As Lotho discovered ...
It was not his mission to obtain the Camden Pilot License but some glories are bestowed upon us anyway, particularly when there was a problem in the steering. He sailed off the top of it at somewhere short of 90 mph and we were all thinking, holy shit, we really did get someone killed this time.
No-one had been badly hurt racing go-karts ... well ... unless you consider breaking ribs and cutting off fingers as badly hurt. Hey, wtf, they sewed them back on again. My ol' Dad broke three or four ribs in a total Hollywood crash right in front of my ol' Mother. She was one seriously tough woman to put up with all the stuff we did. Between the four of us, there's no counting how many times we dragged her to emergency rooms. She always said 'the Scots are a hardy race' and we damn sure put that to the test. Not once did she ever say to me 'I wish you would stop.' Tough lady.
(Ed: what happened to Lotho?)
How about a little latitude for building some drama as we left Lotho hanging in space, waiting to continue his journey to his inevitable destination at about 90 mph and, by that time, we were probably already moving toward where we figured he would land.
There's no clear memory of how far he sailed but Lotho is the calculus wizard, he could probably tell you. The remarkable fact is he can tell you as he was not seriously injured and the kart ended up on its wheels. My ol' Dad comes running up and Lotho is in the kart, screaming, "Start me up. Start me up!"
He was not only breathing but all he wanted was to get back into the race.
(Ed: and?? And???)
That was when the corner official handed him the steering wheel which had broken from the kart and which had originally shot him off the Monza.
Lotho reviewed the situation for a moment and then decided maybe this one couldn't be continued.
This is a man who would not stop if his brakes failed. There are always means to slow down, after all. Sometimes those means involve hitting other karts on the track with you ... but you know how that goes ... that's racin', brother. Someone will probably go off the track from it so the trick is to ensure it is not you. That's racin'.
The twin-engine go-karts had an open class in which anything goes. Some maniac even tried adding hydrazine (i.e. rocket fuel) to the mix for the kart but there was a little problem with it exploding. Hydrazine is so volatile, it can explode if you drop the container. The fuel was usually methanol-based plus nitro and whatever else they could find.
The motors for the open class were 8.2 cubic-inches ... but ... these lunatics would stick three carburetors on this motor, two pointing straight-up and the other pointing directly forward at the bottom of the crank case (the motors were mounted 90 degrees off vertical). This was the only class for my ol' Dad and the motors would explode regularly. On one occasion, the motor blew and the connecting rod to the piston broke, consequently shooting out of the bottom of the crankcase ... to where my ol' Dad's right shoulder would have been if he were not leaning left into a corner.
The reason the motors often exploded is they would mix anything flammable to make the fuel for them. If you really did a good job of it, you would blow a hole in the top of the piston AND break the connecting rod.
The Camden track was like most others since it ran 3/8 to 1/2 a mile. The straight in front of the pits wasn't the longest but you could build plenty of speed before the left turn at the end. Likely you would hit this at at 60-70 mph and you would balance on the edge of the adhesion until you came around almost 270 degrees and then hard right into the back straight. On that one with the right machine, you could hit about 90 mph and this one again would swing you around 180 degrees and then into a series of wiggles which would bring you back around to the front straight.
There was one little detail about the Camden track which set it apart from all the others and which drew high-calibre racers from all over the place.
At the end of the back straight, the turn which threw you back around 180 degrees ... had Monza banking on it. The bank was so steep you could not walk up it when it was wet.
The way it worked was you would go into the corner and up on the right side of the track and then dive to the center of the corner to drift out on the other side which sets you up for the next corner at the end of the little straight after the Monza. Hitting that thing at 90 mph is guaranteed to be one of the big thrills you will ever know. This isn't only jumping out of an aircraft and pulling the ripcord. It's major calculus to solve that corner and Lotho could probably spell out the mathematics for you.
The mathematics did not always work, not precisely. If anything breaks while you are in your 90 mph dive to the center of the corner, there is only one direction to go ... and that would go off the top of the Monza and consequently into low-Earth orbit. The banking dropped just as steeply on the grassy side of the bank so the Monza turn made a perfect launch pad.
As Lotho discovered ...
It was not his mission to obtain the Camden Pilot License but some glories are bestowed upon us anyway, particularly when there was a problem in the steering. He sailed off the top of it at somewhere short of 90 mph and we were all thinking, holy shit, we really did get someone killed this time.
No-one had been badly hurt racing go-karts ... well ... unless you consider breaking ribs and cutting off fingers as badly hurt. Hey, wtf, they sewed them back on again. My ol' Dad broke three or four ribs in a total Hollywood crash right in front of my ol' Mother. She was one seriously tough woman to put up with all the stuff we did. Between the four of us, there's no counting how many times we dragged her to emergency rooms. She always said 'the Scots are a hardy race' and we damn sure put that to the test. Not once did she ever say to me 'I wish you would stop.' Tough lady.
(Ed: what happened to Lotho?)
How about a little latitude for building some drama as we left Lotho hanging in space, waiting to continue his journey to his inevitable destination at about 90 mph and, by that time, we were probably already moving toward where we figured he would land.
There's no clear memory of how far he sailed but Lotho is the calculus wizard, he could probably tell you. The remarkable fact is he can tell you as he was not seriously injured and the kart ended up on its wheels. My ol' Dad comes running up and Lotho is in the kart, screaming, "Start me up. Start me up!"
He was not only breathing but all he wanted was to get back into the race.
(Ed: and?? And???)
That was when the corner official handed him the steering wheel which had broken from the kart and which had originally shot him off the Monza.
Lotho reviewed the situation for a moment and then decided maybe this one couldn't be continued.
This is a man who would not stop if his brakes failed. There are always means to slow down, after all. Sometimes those means involve hitting other karts on the track with you ... but you know how that goes ... that's racin', brother. Someone will probably go off the track from it so the trick is to ensure it is not you. That's racin'.
3 comments:
You are mixing incidents.
The flight from the top of the monza resulted in returning to the track skipping the next several corners.
The broken steering wheel same track one corner later a sharp right hander. I tried going i side of a line of about 4 carts and bounce of them to make the corner. That works fine in Nascar but not open wheel. The result was several flips and a broken kart.
Later Kathy Hartman invented the roller bumper which allowed that with more success
You only list my arrests and mishaps. I actually can drive.
Of course you can drive but it's like a good vacation. All you remember is, well, that was nice. If there was a disaster then you remember it forever ... and you treasure it! Witness the Cleveland Car Jumping Rode.
I'm really not sure if I was even there but I've heard the story a lot and it's one of the best. Most likely I was off playing soldier about this time.
The biggest thing I avoid is who was the best except I know it wasn't me. You and Doc can sort that out. Dunno if you remember but my lap times were always faster in practice. An empty track is the dream speed, as fast as that sumbitch will go. I do remember how that frosted Doc as my style was smooth and you saw how aggressive he was but the times came out close. That pissed him off (larfs). I'll post my one effort at trying to execute a track removal. My kart was on its side at the time of the pic.
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