Where the Schaghticoke Manning Special first raced… pour yourself a stiff drink and watch…
This is the Menands Raceway (aka Empire Raceways) near Albany NY. It was a 1/4 mile paved oval track from 12th of June 1947 till 2nd of September 1963. Here is a a still photo of John Streets racing the Manning there in 1956 and another probably of Wally Chapman testing it wearing no helmet. I have nearly finished writing about the origins of this Manning, watch this space and www.dmtrg.com
The speed of the midget racers is one thing. The danger of having no roll-over bars, no crash protection and open wheels is another. I raced short track for 6 years in the UK in the 2000s (2 litre Superstox, full contact) but at least we had massive roll-over cages and beams between the wheels. Another era.