Well, I finally did something that I have wanted to do, for the last couple of years, if not longer.  I, along with my oldest daughter, Judy, traveled up to Rhinebeck, NY on Saturday May 4th, to the big car show/flea market.  We went up, not to check out the flea market or the custom and restored  road cars, but to check out the restored cars of the Atlantic Coast Old Timers, ACOT, for short, and to meet up with some of my fellow club members.  In fact, I, in a way, HAD to go this year.  Seems that I was offered an opportunity to sit in a midget.  The offer was sent to me, via an e-mail by a Mr. Doug Post.  And the car - the restored Darrell-Villa Offy, number 83.  Things started to "mushroom", so to speak, about my being in the car.  Next, I had to have photos taken, so they could be posted on the OWR web site.  I will not bother you with some of the "threats" I had received, but they were all sent by friends of mine, who really meant no harm. 

Our original plan was to leave Port Jervis at around 8:30 AM.  Well, my oldest son, Tom Jr. was down from the Watertown, NY area, to attend school for Volkswagen.  He stayed over Friday night, and wanted to take my other son, Eric, Judy, and me, out for breakfast.  So, what with my also doing the race reporting from our local Go Kart track, which runs on Saturday night,  our visit to the show was going to be cut short by a couple of hours.  Even though the show was scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, ACOT was only there for viewing on Saturday.  Well, I can say this, you could spend all day, not just a few hours, with the ACOT people.  As for the other part of the car show/flea market?  That is something that would probably take two days just to look at all the restored "road" cars, "muscle" cars and the "customized" ones.  Truly, this show is an auto lovers delight.  My suggestion:  If at all possible, go next year, if you are fairly close to the area. 

The ACOT cars had their own little section, in the infield, of the old former race track.  This year, they had about thirty restored race cars from years past.  And, what a beautiful day for the show!  The temperature was perfect, and the skies had no clouds.  Once Judy and I made it to the ACOT area, I knew that I was going to be disappointed.  No way could I, in the short time that we were going to be there, do the things I was planning on doing.  Oh, I had the opportunity to talk to quite a few fellow members, but where I was hoping to get more information and history on the cars on display, well, that was slowly "going down the drain", so to speak. 

The first car that we went to was the restored sprint car that had been driven by Ed Gallione, a red & white number one.  This car is now owned by Allan Wiltse from Bedford, NY.  I have to say that it was his wife that made the offer, to my daughter, for her to go sit in the car.  Already it was starting!  Folks, you can not imagine the friendliness of the ACOT members.  They will bend over backwards to help you have a good time while visiting them.  After I took a photo of Judy, I spotted the number 83 midget, the car that I had the offer to sit in.  With cameras in hand, Judy and I went over to the 83.  The hood was up, and as I was checking out the "Offy" engine, the thought came to me.  Get a picture.  Send it to LeVan at OWR so he can get the photo up on the web site for all those that had never seen an "Offy" midget engine.  After taking the photo, a gentleman came over and asked if I was Tom.  His name was Doug Post, and he is the owner of the restored  "Darrell-Villa Offy".  Yep, the car looks just like it did years ago.  Doug and I spoke about the "old days", when he excused himself, just for a few seconds.  He returned with a stack of pictures.  Pictures that had been taken back in the late 40's at Danbury, Ct.  When I first went to see the racing there, back in '46 & '47, I thought that the track was "white" in color.  Hot Damn!  The photos showed the track to be very "light" in color.  And, the track, which was inside of a moat that circled it completely, had to be entered via a bridge that crossed over the moat.  Ah yes, he had photos of cars being pushed, by hand, over that one car wide bridge.  And some of the other photos!  Really bought back memories.  

Sorry to say, even though Doug and I talked for what was really a short time, I really could have stayed with him a lot longer.  Yes, there were a couple of photos taken of me in the seat of the 83!  Doug, thanks again!  While talking to Doug, I asked him if this was the car that Len Duncan set the altitude record at Flemington in.  "No, that was another car", he told me. 

Having the opportunity to speak to, and ask questions of many of the members there, I was directed to various others for answers.  One of those that I spoke with was Dick Briggs.  Dick is the current owner of one of the former Ken Brenn midgets.  In fact, it was Dick that restored this car that he had at the show.  Dick handed me a nice little booklet that told some things about the midget.  It has been restored to the way it was in 1966.  The car had/has a name:  "Phyllis".  It's first driver was Len Duncan.  The second one to sit in the car competitively, was Larry Dickson.  Larry won every race when he drove "Phyllis".  The great Bobby Unser, the very first time he ran "Phyllis", he came home the victor.  Don Branson drove the car at the annual "Hut Hundred" in Terre Haute, Indiana, and, yes he won with it.  Some of the other drivers were:  Bobby Adamson, Russ Klar, Dave Lundy, Mitch Smith and Bill Brown.  All winning drivers.  Dick was the original mechanic for this particular midget.  Surprisingly, it is one of only four models of this type of car, built by Floyd Trevis.  The booklet has more information in it, but I thought the following was rather interesting.  Ken Brenn designed and added the roll bar, the one behind the drivers head, in 1958.  A year later, the roll bar was adopted by the entire racing circuit.  Nine years later, Ken designed, and added, a roll cage, made to give the drivers more protection.  Again, this was adopted by the entire racing circuit the following year.  There were a couple more things that I had heard about, and since Dick had been with Ken Brenn for so long, I thought he might be able to answer  my questions.  On September 30, 1947, at Hinchliffe Stadium, in Paterson, NJ, Johnny Ritter debuted a new "Offy" midget.  Just a little over a year later, he was fatally injured during a race.  His car was raffled off, and the winner of the raffle was someone from either Virginia or West Virginia.  From what I remember Dick telling me, the gentleman drove the car a few times, then parked it.  I had heard that the Ritter Offy ended up in the hands of one Ken Brenn.  Dick affirmed this.  I hope I am not wrong with what follows, but, if I remember correctly, Dick said the main reason that Ken bought the Ritter Offy, was because the other car that he had at the time, was one that had been built by Eddie Allen, and no "regular" parts would fit it.  Seems like Eddie had made most of the parts himself, and they were completely different.  The Ritter Offy was a Kurtis Kraft car, and parts were easily accessable.  Another thing that I had heard was that when Rodger Ward won the "Formula Libra" race that was held at Lime Rock, Ct, in 1959 I believe, in the Brenn Offy, that it was the Ritter car.  Again, Dick said that was correct.  Johnny, you left us to soon! 

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