| Eastern Mutual Racing Club Brookfield, Morris, Vernon & Sharon, NY |
| Eastern Mutual Racing Club. The club started in 1951 (taking over for the defunct Consolidated Racing Club) at Vernon (now Vernon Downs), Brookfield and Morris Speedways. Sharon Speedway was added to the mix in 1954 but by then Fonda had opened and was challenging to put the club out of business. By 1955 Fonda had taken hold as a more popular venue and most of the top drivers migrated, but from 1951-1954 the EMRC reigned superior not only in car counts and competiton, but also in 'name' drivers as well. Other tracks raced at during this time were Bennets Field in Utica, Columbia Speedway, Richfield Springs, Symrna, Sidney, Oneonta, Norwich as well as the State Fair in Syracuse. The club boasted the largest number of drivers of any club during the era in which it operated and often competed for name drivers with the Mohawk Racing Club. Top drivers of the club included Tommy Wilson, Bernie Ingersol, Don Hendenberg, Jim and Fred Gerow, Bernie Miller, Tom and Cliff Kotary, Joe Cigineko, Nick 'Private Eye' Carter, Frank & George Gallup, 'Racin' Greyson Smith, Jim Luke and 1950 Consolidated Champ Fred Sheppard amongst many others. Club President was Fly Creek's Frank Trinkaus who for years fielded the famous #62 car out of his speedshop. Track announcer was the colorful Mike Sandy who often nicknamed the drivers and Russ Bergh recorded the action on film. Brookfield was the clubs signature track, often drawing 3,500 fans for Saturday night races under the lights. The track was very challenging, a large paperclip shaped 1/2 mile with plenty of dust and ruts. The corners were particularly rough and strewn with boulders promting the club to have the corners paved so they would hold up better. Marginal lighting and dust weren't the only challenges facing drivers at the track though, sitting at base of a valley off the Skeanatles Turnpike, fog would often roll in as well which led to some interesting stories. In one, Al Sanders who related he was down 'a few laps' pulled into the infield pits in the fog to cut the track and make a few laps up 'and that's how the story grew that I was chasing Frank Trinkaus through the pits in the fog..' Many thanks to Richard Parry, Alan Weaver and Bob Gibbs for their contributions to this page. |
