The Midstate Vintage Stock Car Club was originally formed as the Midstate Antique Stock Car Club in the winter of 1983 by Ralph Raasted, Dave Allen, Carl Carpenter, Mel Ogden and Richard Ackerman. The initial purpose of the club was to restore and preserve stock cars of the 1950's and 1960's that raced in the Southern Tier and most notably, Midstate Speedway which had been defunct since 1972. Not only was this club conceived to show interested fans our restorations, but also to exhibit them in a rolling display, and as such, rules were adopted from the 1963 season at Midstate to govern the club. This included unlimited Flathead V8 and Stovebolt 6 engines, the feeling at the time was, 'If it was period correct equipment, we would allow it as this would create greater interest in our club.' Also included at this time were the later, vastly superior inline Chevrolet, Ford, and GMC sixes, which were limited to single carburetors to keep things competitive. Carl Carpenter was installed as President and the club rapidly grew under this formula after showing up at our initial event at Fonda with six cars. By the end of the season we were boasting a dozen. Our numbers grew even greater over the winter of 1984 and for 1985 we had enough cars to travel a bit more beyond our initial tracks for Fonda, 5MP and Brookfield.
At the rules meeting that fall a heated debate ensued over the inclusion of tube framed cars, and the motion passed by a single vote. This eventually led to a new class in the club called the 70's division but initially the cars were allowed the frame only, and used leaf spring suspension. This rule change not only created an influx of new members and cars for 1986, it also changed the path of the club from 'restoring antiques' to 'building racecars'. It was also at this time that the 292 and 300 cubic inch inline six cylinder engines were outlawed, as they were dominating the '60's class, and we also branched out to wine country with our first date to Dundee. This trip was significant in our history as well as Promoter Steve Wetmore had seen our show at 5MP, and offered us a fee to come to his track. For 1987 we had enough cars for (3) separate classes, although we still often raced as one group, we would recognize the winner from each separate class. The Fee we had received from Dundee was further discussed at the Fall Meeting that year and it was voted that we should receive this fee from all tracks. By this point we were traveling quite a bit more, to tracks such as Lebanon Valley, Fonda, 5MP, and Malta. Upon trying to schedule races the following year, Carl found many tracks were not willing to pay for our show including all of the fore-mentioned tracks, which reduced our schedule significantly for 1988.
Our response was the Central New York Stock Car Club, which was the MASCC in everything but name and one rule: we didn't allow tube frames. This club helped bridge the gap for one season in scheduling races at Devils Bowl, Vt., Weedsport, Rolling Wheels and
Canandaigua - more significantly it was our first exposure to the DIRT organization and created a relationship with Jack Speno which would pay dividends in the future. For 1989 the CNY club was dissolved, the MASCC adopted their first set of bylaws and stuck to their guns on the matter of the fee and our schedule flourished as we were now boasting car counts in the 30's and 40's. Where initial tracks had chosen not to schedule us, new ones came to the fore in Brewerton, Utica-Rome, Fulton, Can-Am, Frogtown, etc. 1989 also marked the first year that we returned to Midstate Speedway with a summer event that was to be repeated for several years. Our shows were very successful and drew interest where ever we traveled, and not just from fans either. By this time several 'Hall of Fame' caliber drivers had been drawn to our club including New Hampshire State Champ Buddy Bardwell, Dundee's Cal Lane, Pennsy driver Howard Light and Upstate NY fixture Sammy Reakes.
1992 was another banner year as DIRT and Carl put aside their differences and our club attended the inaugural induction ceremony at the DIRT HOF in Weedsport. This was a 'behind the scenes' deal worked out with Jack Speno - who I was attempting to convince to allow us to race at the NYS Fair on Labor Day. The HOF event was our part of the deal, the Fair came later. For 1993 there were rumblings, many members wanted to race on the DIRT tracks, yet Carl was unable to deal with them to his satisfaction, hence they were left off the schedule. The result was the formation of the Northern Vintage Stock Car Club co-chaired by Al Derouin and Dave Strachan. Again, this was a one year club formation, with the same rules as the MASCC, and used as a vehicle to obtain scheduled events at DIRT organization tracks. At the end of the year, Carl stepped down as president of the MASCC and the two clubs were merged to form the Midstate Vintage Stock Car Club. 'Vintage' was acceptably substituted for 'Antique' at this time as it was more in line with what the club's actual product was, in other words, there were more tube framed and replica type cars at this point, than there were original restored cars.
I should note at this point that Carl and his wife Myrtle, had run the club for 10 years, and done a tremendous job of guiding us through a high growth era. Al Derouin was elected as the new President, his wife Beverly was Secretary and she did yeoman’s work in organization and public relations. We raced more at the DIRT organization tracks for 1994, culminating in our first trip to the NYS Fair Labor Day event, our crown jewel that was repeated for several more years. Bill Fish took over writing our Gater articles at this time which had been labeled as 'From the Desk of Carl Carpenter' to this point, Bill did a great job of promoting the club.
Al guided the club through 1995 when Terry Fergerson took over as president. He and his wife Kathy also did a fine job in running the club for the next two years which saw continued growth, no rules changes, our first trip back to Waterloo and Incorporation of the club, no small feat any of that. The club boasted it's all time high car count of 55 at Fulton during this period, although it was getting tougher to book shows with a fee that had now been raised to $1500.00. For 1998 Terry decided to step down as president and Richard Ackerman was elected. The schedule was paltry at first until the decision was made to drop the fee, then we had plenty of races but obviously, this affected membership and car counts. I took over as correspondent of the Gater articles at this time and had great fun describing the antics of not only our members, but of my slobbering Saint Bernard Belvedere as well. Dave Rausch created our first club website during this period and it was well received.
The club continued to race at several New York tracks during this period and added many Canadian tracks as well. A ‘core’ group of members emerged during this period of time that kept the club active, the races interesting and continually attracted new members and fans. In 2002 member Erin ‘Doc’ Smith was voted in as President as Richard Ackerman stepped aside, it turned out to be only a momentary term for Doc however and Richard guided the club through the 2003 season. It was during this year that we learned of Doc’s passing in a tragic accident at his 1000 Islands camp. The club moved forward in 2004 with Pat Sonnenberg as president and his wife Brenda as Secretary. Brenda had done an outstanding job on the new club website and continued her steady work for the club. For 2005 Pat’s focus was to bring OHV V-8’s into the fold and this was a bitter subject for many long standing club members who were not in favor of such a change. The matter, in my opinion, was not handled correctly with the bylaws in place at the time and this became the impetus that effectively split the club. Southern Tier members re-formed the Midstate Antique Stock Car Club and re-instituted the original club intent while the MVSCC forged ahead with the new V8 platform. In retrospect, as far as car counts go, it hurt both groups. Gary Byerly was installed as President in 2006 and he remained active and steadfast until his untimely death at the racetrack in Holland, NY in 2006. Brad Litzenberger took the reins as president at that point and along with core members Shirley and Ken Morden, kept the club together through 2007.
For 2008 Secretary Ed Rohr and Vice President Tedd Scott introduced new rules to the club, effectively eliminating the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s class rules, (which specified engine and suspension type) and replaced them with the classes of Hobby, Sportsman and Modified. These classes would be determined by a competition committee and based on the members equipment, experience and how well he could get around a track. This was meant as a means of easing the technical inspections as well as allowing more members to bask in the glory of a class win. The new rules were adopted for 2008 and tweaked once for 2009 in which the Hobby class was re-named Limited Sportsman and the members have shown their approval by continuing to create good car counts at MVSCC shows. For 2009 to present Frank Blanchard has had the helm of the club with much advice and help offered from VP Tedd Scott, Treasurer Rob Casti and Secretary Mary Casti. John Walsh has created an updated club website and the club membership continues to support as well as grow.
In fact, even some ‘old members’ have decided to re-join the fray.. as many of the differences between the the ‘antique’ and ‘vintage’ groups just don’t seem to make sense anymore, and an era of co-operation has begun with joint events scheduled. After all, the overall purposes of both clubs is to have fun, and if not preserve the cars themselves, then to at least preserve or be reminiscent of the memories that these cars created. How’s that for a mouthful? We’re birds of a feather, even if we don’t agree on everything, that’s OK – it’s allowed. We all still enjoy putting our foot in it when the green drops, revel in slinging mud and rejoice at the sound of racing machines in full song. We have to realize that the cars that were brand new race cars when we started the club in 1984, are now by definition – antiques (at least if we’re using 25 years = antiques..) At the very least, they’re obsolete equipment, now it’s just a matter of what period do you want to represent? The club now represents cars from the 1950’s right up through the 1980’s, a wide swath of technology as well as aesthetic values – and it’s a delicate balance that keeps it all together. We’re fortunate as members to have dedicated leadership to keep everything balanced as we forge ahead into our 4th decade of racing. Come check us out, you may still see a belching Stovebolt, or torquey Flathead alongside a screaming small block, and the members enthusiasm is infectious as they describe their ride. Regardless, a unique experience awaits, and hopefully one that will take the fan back to a time when the tracks were as heavy as the drivers right foot.
Jeff Ackerman
December 2010
