The location of "Gasoline Alley", in Paterson, N.J. was on East 29th Street between 17th and 18th Avenues. Today, it is made up mostly of small body shops, storage spaces, and a bakery. It is said that the block has not changed much over the past 70 years - just the tenants. During the early part of the Depression the garages were vacated by the mechanics that worked there, due to their going bankrupt. After they left, the garages were rented out for as little as just a dollar a month. Ted Horn, a seven time AAA champion kept his race cars in "Gasoline Alley". So did Johnny Ritter. And "Pappy" Hough did too. "Gasoline Alley" has survived for decades. Believe it or not, "Pappy" Hough continued to do things in his garage up to 1996, when, at age 92, he passed away.

A few years back - well a little more than a few, maybe six years ago, when my son, Eric, was working for Eric Koster at Kneisel's Speed and Sport, Koster showed my son a photo of a machine that was in a story about Ted Horn in an Open Wheel magazine. Keep in mind, Ted Horn passed away in 1948. Eric Koster had used that same piece of machinery, a machine he says was a "Warner Swasey Horizontal Mill", when he was working on the small block car for Brett Hearn in 1976. That particular car, in 24 starts had 19 wins. Eric Koster told me that Dick Simonek used that machine to "rough-out" crankshafts, among other things. He also says that Simonek still has the original drawings for steering gears and such, from the Ted Horn days.

I first heard of a display being put up in the Paterson Museum about "Gasoline Alley" when my sister sent me an article that had appeared in the Bergen Evening Record, a newspaper that is printed in northern New Jersey. The name of the display was: "Gasoline Alley: Paterson's Center for Speed". Included in the display would be race programs from Hinchliffe Stadium and other memorabilia from that track, when the ARDC midgets raced there. Also on display would be photographs and other racing paraphernalia and more. I did not give the display much thought until I heard from a friend of mine, Pete Kessler. Pete said that Nick Fornoro, a former driving champion with midgets, and later a flagger at local tracks, then the flagger for CART, had also heard of the display, and wanted to know if Pete would be interested in going. Hey, I have to say this, if there is ANYWHERE that Nick Fornoro wants to go, if Pete can get him there, he will! Pete asked me if I might be interested in going. Well, there was no hesitation on my part, that was for sure. We had made plans for a trip on a certain date, but good old "Mother Nature" ruined those plans with another one of her snowstorms. So, we made new plans to go see the display on Tuesday, February 25th.

You ever have a day that you don't think you will ever forget? Or surely hope you will not forget? Well, for me, Tuesday, February 25, 2003, is one of those days. I left my place around 10 in the morning, heading to Pete's, which is about an hour drive. Pulled into his driveway at 11. Spent a little time there, having a cup of coffee, then checking out the fairly good size amount of model cars that Pete has. Older models. Still in the boxes, unopened. We left Pete's house and headed for Rockaway, N.J. to pick up Nick, then onward to Paterson, and the Museum.

When we first got into the Museum, and got into the "Gasoline Alley - Paterson's Center of Speed" display, I immediately saw a sign that I just knew would blow Pete's mind. There was a sign for the Orange County Fair Speedway, with an arrow pointing the direction to the track. 

For those of you that do not know Pete Kessler, well, he has a web site that he is slowly building up. A web site devoted to the history of the Orange County Fair Speedway. His web site, "Victory Speedway" can be found here: http://www.angelfire.com/ct3/victoryspeedway/  

We had the joy of meeting one Joe Ruffilo, a fella that lives in Paterson, and the one that had organized the exhibit. Joe was so excited that Nick had finally made it to the show. 

In conversations with Joe, he had mentioned that they really had a very good response to the exhibit, which had been in the Museum since the beginning of February. He mentioned that he was asked, "Where does this exhibit go after it is done here?" by some of those that had attended, those individuals not knowing that this was not a "traveling" exhibit. Well, Joe is already planning on doing it again next year. I can only imagine that, for next year, the exhibit will be bigger. Oh yes, one more thing: Hinchliffe Stadium is just a short way from the Museum. I might as well "let the cat out of the bag", so to say, but Joe is THINKING of having something racing oriented at the stadium, if at all possible. Keep in mind, the stadium has been closed since the mid 90's.

Joe Ruffilo & Nick Fornoro

When hearing this, we immediately thought of having a show there with the Atlantic Coast Old Timers (ACOT). More than likely a "still" show. BUT, while we were talking about this, Nick just had to ask, "How is the surface?" I kinda get the idea that Mr. Fornoro would love to take a trip around the old speedway in a midget, again. Heck, Nick is only 82. There is lots of time!

The first car that I noticed, that was on display there, that caught my eye, was a white and blue # 31.

There was a small sign in front of the car that said: "Sugar Blues" - On display courtesy of Eugene Erickson. Built for owner Jerry Willetts in Paterson, N.J. by among others, Jimmy Shaw, in 1946. Driven by Rex Records in it's first race, at Hinchliffe Stadium, on Easter Sunday in 1946. "Sugar Blues" was one of the most succesfull cars in the Kingsbridge Armory. Notable "Sugar Blues" drivers included Rex Records, Al Keller, Johnny Ritter, Larry Bloomer, Johnny Ringger, and Len Duncan. Duncan won 18 races in "Sugar Blues". My, how many times have I seen that car run? Later on, Willetts had two other midgets, another # 31, which was mainly blue in color, and a # 41 that was blue and white. When looking over the "Sugar Blues" car, I noticed a photo that was placed in the seat. Upon closer examination, I saw that it was a photo of Johnny Ritter, and he was in the "Sugar Blues" midget. Yes, I am happy to say, I remember when Johnny drove that car on a few occasions. 

After checking out the "Sugar Blues" midget, I then went to my left to check out a yellow # 23 outboard powered midget. There was also a small informational sign by the # 23, and it said: "On display courtesy of Eugene Erickson. Elto Outboard. Built in Detroit by Johnny Ritter in 1936-1937. Ritter came East with the car in 1938. He won the last race of the season at the Nutley Velodrome. That season he competed in 29 races, placing in the top five 24 times, winning six times. 

Today, the car has an Evinrude "Pumper" engine. The "Pumper" is the same Elto design, the engine was used by the Navy in WWII. This is a more reliable engine for racing." Unfortunately, there are only a few "Outboard" powered midgets that run today. Not in competition, but with various "Old Timer" clubs. I can recall, vaguely, from my past, how the outboards could only go a couple of laps under "caution", before they had to pull out, run a fast lap or two, just to make sure the plugs did not foul, then pull back in line, waiting for the start. The exhaust pipes on the Outboard midgets was quite large, them being neccesary to get rid of the tremendous amount of smoke that they produced, using an oil/gas fuel mixture. And the odor of "Castor Oil"! Now, today, at our Go Kart track, on occasion, someone will use some type of "Castor" oil. When I get a whiff - well, it takes me back to 1946/1947, just like that.

There were numerous photos on display. Regular sized, and also some that had been "blown-up", and were mounted on the walls. There were also quite a few model cars on display. OLD models. Metal cars. There were two model cars that caught me eye. Upon seeing them, I wondered where they had come from. One was a model of the Mike Caruso # 2 Offy midget that was driven mainly by the late, great, Bill Schindler.

Mike Caruso #2 Offy Midget

Johnny Ritter # 3 Offy

The other car was a model of the , a car that I can fondly say I saw run for it's very first time, that being at Hinchliffe Stadium on September 30, 1947, a night when Bill Schindler won his 48th feature event of the year. Bill was to go on and win five more features in 1947, but, hard to believe, he was NOT the ARDC champion. Georgie Rice had that honor. Hard to imagine, isn't it? you go out and win 53 features and do not win the championship? Maybe it will be a little harder to believe, but the following year, Schindler won 53 features AGAIN! Yes, he was the ARDC champion in '48. The Caruso Offy has been restored. I saw it run a while back, at the Orange County Fair Speedway, in Middletown, N.Y. I believe Johnny Kay drove it. The Ritter Offy? Well, there is a history for that car too. After the death of Ritter, On October 12, 1948, the car was auctioned off. It eventually ended up in the hands of one Mr. Kenneth Brenn from Warren, N.J. I had heard rumors, then was told that, yes, that was the same car that Rodger Ward drove on the Road Course at Lime Rock Park, in Connecticut, in 1959. That race was billed as a "Formula Libra" event. Just about everything except stock cars competed. Some of the days best Sports/Racing cars were in competition that day. Also, I do recall a Grand Prix Maserati in that event.. I remember, and have on film, the Maserati "dirt tracking" it around the long sweeping right hand turn at the end of the main straight. George Constantine, in his Green Aston Martin, # 49, won the first "heat", that day. Between the first and second heat, they changed the rear gears in the Brenn Offy. Ward went on to win the second heat, then he won the feature too. The Ritter Offy has also been restored, but not as the "Ritter Offy", but rather as a Ken Brenn car. I often wonder if the "Ritter Offy" was the same car that Fred "Jiggs" Peters drove to victory in the 300 mile midget race at the Trenton, N.J. Speedway. Well, let me say this - "Jiggs" is credited with the win. While "Jiggs" was making a pit stop, the drivers had to get out of the car during the pit stops, "Jiggs" had his back to the car. Another driver jumped into the Brenn Offy and the push truck pushed him off! The "relief" driver completed the race, with the car winning.

As many of you out there know, I first started going to races back in 1946. The first track that I went to was Hinchliffe Stadium, in Paterson, N.J. While at the display in the Paterson Museum, there was a a brief history, by printed word, about the history of Hinchliffe Stadium. Following is what is said:

Hinchliffe Stadium, in Paterson, N.J. - the "City Stadium" as it was first known - was built at a cost of $200,500.00 at the falls on the Passiac River, partly on an old Dutch Reform burial ground, and partly on land bought from the Society for Usefull Manufacturers, that had been founded by Alexander Hamilton.

It was dedicated in September 1932 as the High School football and baseball field. The stadium was later re-named for Paterson mayor John V. Hinchcliffe.

The 1/5 mile cinder track at Hinchliffe was a natural for the midgets, which began racing there in 1934. Temporarily eclipsed by other tracks, there was no racing in 1936 thru 1938, but it re-opened as a paved track when the Nutley Velodrome closed in 1939.

Hinchliffe was chiefly a midget track, but stock cars took over in 1950, and ran there the last two years the track operated.

Pete and I took quite a lot of photos. Pete was nice enough to e-mail me some of his. One photo, that of Nick with some cub scouts that had come to visit the display, when Pete sent it, he made a comment/question. He said: "Cronologically, Nick is 82 years old. How old do you think he is in this photo?" 

I looked at the photo. I also remembered how Nick took to that group of youngsters. How he explained various things to them. How old was Nick? My reply was: "He looks like an old 8 or 9 year old." Yes, as Pete said to me previously, when you get Nick in with anything pertaining to racing, he "loses" quite a few years.

So, with a few people from the Paterson, N.J. area, people that have an interest in the history of "Gasoline Alley" and Hinchliffe Stadium, we three, Nick, Pete and myself, had quite an enjoyable afternoon at the Paterson Museum. Next year we most definately will return for this display. This year, it was held during the whole month of February. Unfortunately, we made our trip at the end of the month. Had we gone there earlier, I sure would have had this report in earlier, and I most definately would have suggested that those interested in a small part of racing history make a visit to the Museum to view what was on display. And, you never know who just might be there at the same time. Who knows, but next year, you might have the pleasure of being at the display at the same time as someone like Nick. If so, you will have a real nice time. Believe me!

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