I've been helping my father relive his old days by making a digital photo gallery on his laptop. While I've found a lot of stuff of his friends, certain drivers, and cars. I don't have a lot of pictures of Islip and from what he's told me I've found nothing of Wall Stadium from that time period. I saw that this site has a lot of old school racing photos. So I thought I'd make an account and ask people here if they had anything to share. Thank you for your time.
Grew up in Islip...figure 8's.moifieds,demolition derby.. Charlie Jarzombek,Axle Anderson.Wooden bleachers,it was dirty and loud,the way it should be,smell the fuel..On summer nights I could lay in bed and hear the heats..
There is a few awesome groups on Facebook that have tons of islip photos. Just type in “Islip speedway” and a bunch of pictures and groups will pop up. I’m in the process of doing this myself. My family has a ton of history with Islip speedway! If you see anything with Alvin Hansen, George Brunnhoelzl, Tom Kennedy, (Tiki Performance Plus) let me know! Super cool to follow this thread. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
When you sat low on the turns on the first laps of the modifieds you'd get pelted with tire scrub..my father wouldnt let us stand at the fence...in hindsight he was smart,there wasnt much between you and the track..
I didn't even think about Facebook. I always looked at the site as a place to share family gathering stuff. So that's a big help.
Marty Himes in Bayshore has a Museum. The last time I was there he had lots of stuff from Islip, Freeport and more.
I was there 2 weeks ago and Marty is 81 and doing well. He's at a local cruise night (afternoon) near the Islip town hall at 2 PM on Saturdays. He brings his '37 Dodge or Plymouth. He was showing me stuff from the old Vanderbilt track, he has a Crosley tow truck from Deer Park Speedway. I lost count of the midgets he has socked away. There is another site, LaSheefs or something like it. He has lots of old photos from Islip.
We're in Florida and my father is not in the best of health to travel. Though I do know that Marty may or may not have some stuff from my dad and uncle.
So I looked into those FB groups. For some reason FB does not like you scrolling too far down compared to Twitter. I did find some stuff. Not much photos are from Islip's racetrack. There's a lot more photos of the dragstrip. A lot of it I noticed is also from Freeport and Nazareth. I honestly don't mind this. Because I've gone down the rabbit hole of racing from the 60s to 80s. I just know my dad is gonna be bummed out. I did find a picture of Alvin Hansen (mainly of his car) for Frank (sorry I screwed up your name). Couldn't find anything on the other two drivers. I'm glad I found what I did. It's lucky that a lot of this stuff isn't lost to time.
Missed the 1ST Street Rod Nationals in Peoria because I Went to the World Figure Eight Nationals at Islip Speedway. It was a tough choice. It was a good time. Got Knocked out of the Derby right away. Gave up racing at started building Hot Rods..51 years later still Building....
The Jalopy Journal
