Saturday, August 8, 2009: The 1965 Vanderbilt Cup Race at the Bridgehampton Race Circuit

posted on Saturday, August 08 2009 by Howard Kroplick

1965 Bridgehamton Program

In 1965, the USRRC (United States Road Racing Championship) brought their version of the "Vanderbilt Cup Race" to the Bridgehampton Race Circuit. As described in the offical program, the format for the race was 75 laps (213 miles) for "Appendix C and SCCA modified category cars and F.I.A. Appendix J Grand Touring Cars". The big attractions for the race were the two Chaparral entries, considered the fastest and most innovative racers of their era.


The Chaparrals, driving by Jim Hall and Hap Sharp, did not disappoint finishing first and second.


Three films of the qualifying trials and the race have been placed on YouTube by Jeffrey Payne:


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Comments
(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) writes... August 10 2009 2:19pm

Great vid clips. Would love to see more video clips from The Bridge. I can hear the sound on most of the clips would enjoy it more if the music was not overlayed into these clips. Its great to hear the sounds of the cars.

(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) writes... August 11 2009 10:08am

Great clips Howard. It’s a shame that,the place is gone.I was ten when that race was run.I loved those Chaparalls.Had H.O.& match box versions of them.The now Eighteenth hole is the hole in the heart of many race fans.The sixties and early seventies were the greatest years of racing here.All lost to greed and overdevelopment.Where do we go from here?

(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) writes... August 15 2009 9:16pm

Tom & Terrence:

Thanks for the comments. Hopefully one day we will have a place to safety run our cars on Long Island.

Enjoy,

Howard

(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) writes... December 30 2009 10:31am

The clips bring back memories of flagging these races and driving in SCCA races during the era of the Bridge track. It was a daunting track for the first time driver, a great experiance for anyone who learned to drive it.

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The 128-page book by Howard Kroplick, a researcher and lecturer on the races, contains rare images of the races from the archives of major museums, libraries and private collectors. The book Vanderbilt Cup Races of Long Island will be available from Arcadia Publishing in March 2008.

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