zeitgeist57 Posted December 30, 2009 Report Share Posted December 30, 2009 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WKKJ42QVYM&feature=PlayList&p=49750226CD09BF6A&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=84 Really cool to see GT racers blowing through downtown. The commentary is interesting also. I didn't live in Columbus in the 80s, but I would've enjoyed watching these races... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wnaplay1647545503 Posted December 30, 2009 Report Share Posted December 30, 2009 There was a thread not to long ago discussing these races back in the day. I lived in/outside german village until the mid 90's and it was neat to go down and see them, and if we didnt go, we could always hear them from the house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark1647545493 Posted December 30, 2009 Report Share Posted December 30, 2009 I went to this race all three years they had it. I'll try to dig up some of my pictures. I remember one year (believe it was the last year of the race) Bobby Rahal was driving the 'Mustang Probe' car. That was back when Ford was going to screw the Mustang up and make it a FWD car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HUMBLER1647545517 Posted January 2, 2010 Report Share Posted January 2, 2010 Thanks for sharing. My neighbor was a fire marshall. He has VHS tapes of all the races of which I've watched most. Very cool! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark1647545493 Posted January 2, 2010 Report Share Posted January 2, 2010 I found my pictures and have been scanning them since yesterday. Most of the pictures are from the stands in front of Vet's Memorial. It's crazy seeing the prison in the background of some of the pictures. I'll have them done tomorrow and I'll post the links to them. also I had my facts all wrong.... In 1988 Bobby Rahal never drove the Mustang Probe car, he won in the Budweiser car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerrodh Posted January 2, 2010 Report Share Posted January 2, 2010 Wish they'd do that again! that be something to see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boostedgtp Posted January 2, 2010 Report Share Posted January 2, 2010 Man it would be sweet to see this happen again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave1647545494 Posted January 2, 2010 Report Share Posted January 2, 2010 800hp turbo buick road racer ftw Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buckeye1647545503 Posted January 2, 2010 Report Share Posted January 2, 2010 My dad crewed for a team in the race that that ran a renault alliance sponcered by Rapallo's Restaurant that used to be in the continent. He/ his company had the contract for welding down the man holes (the gtps whould suck them rite up) and even whould break the welds after a while. I also think that we have a Officail race poster signed by Buck rinehart somewhere Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AI Coupe Posted January 2, 2010 Report Share Posted January 2, 2010 Most of you are too young to remember but Ashton Tate was a huge vendor of IBM data bases way back and I was their primary distributor (Ingram) on the east coast. I had a bunch of co-op money to spend or loose so we sponsored RapidFire Pit Lane for the 500 one year. Flew in execs from all the major computer retailers in the country and had limos shuffle them back and forth from hotels and the airport to the track. We had a gold hospitality tent (next to Rahal and Bud) for the weekend and started serving champaign breakfasts at 9am, catered lunches and a open bar all day and fancy dinners at night. Spent well over a hundred grand in sponsorship but the conputer business was flush at the time and didn't make a dent in the co-op I had to spend for the year. Got to do some parade laps with the Ford dealers and met most of the drivers. Unreal experience! Probably won't ever happen again. Ron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigflee Posted January 2, 2010 Report Share Posted January 2, 2010 That would of been awesome to see/be a part of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craig71188 Posted January 3, 2010 Report Share Posted January 3, 2010 Was fortunate enough to work all three years as a pit marshall. Worker registration & part was at the old state penitentiary. The track was well liked by mast drivers - it was pretty wide compared to many temporary circuits. The only two really odd things were the 180 degree turn around in the middle of pit lane (just about at the entrance to Veteran's Memorial) and the railroad underpass going out Spring Street with one of the suppports causing a "narrowing" of the track under the tracks. Dana "Buck" Reinhart was a huge supporter of the race - too bad city council wasn't then. I don't see it ever happening again here - just look at the city's "support" of converting Cooper Stadium to a motorsports complex! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
31rx7 Posted January 3, 2010 Report Share Posted January 3, 2010 I also worked as a Pit Marshall in 1985 and 1986. It was a great thing for the city, and as far as street courses go, it wasn't too bad. The pit arrangement was a disaster though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wheezy Posted January 3, 2010 Report Share Posted January 3, 2010 That was cool. Wish they would do it now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark1647545493 Posted January 3, 2010 Report Share Posted January 3, 2010 Here are some of the many pictures I have of the races..... 1985 http://rides.webshots.com/album/576164590ucYcrx?vhost=rides 1987 http://rides.webshots.com/album/576159935HAIQcu?vhost=rides 1988 http://rides.webshots.com/album/576167260IGDwem?vhost=rides Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nitrousbird Posted January 3, 2010 Report Share Posted January 3, 2010 I never knew anything about these races. Was pretty awesome watching the video. So what officially happened that caused these downtown races to stop? I would think this brought a lot of money into the city...money the city could sure use now (and a hell of a lot better than raising taxes....). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sgtschulze Posted January 3, 2010 Report Share Posted January 3, 2010 It will never happen again. Hell...you can't even get the casino built in the lawful location without a ton of protest etc... Top that with losing the F1 GP race @ Indy....Big losses for racing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeitgeist57 Posted January 3, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2010 Maybe we could bring back the race using "green" technology? Electric race cars, sponsored by companies? Ohio State University? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark1647545493 Posted January 4, 2010 Report Share Posted January 4, 2010 My dad worked for Ford in the 80's (that's how I got my tickets) and he told me that most of the sponsors lost money on the race. From 85 to 88 Ford split their cost by having the Ford dealers help pay, but After the 88 race Ford pulled out and that left the Ford dealerships responsible for the entire Ford share of the cost which they just couldn't afford. Remember this was before Ricart got larger than life and was just a Ford dealer. (actually Ricart almost went bankrupt during this time period) The tickets for the event ran $15 for general admission and $100 for Grandstand seats. The price went up about $10 the last three years. General admission got you inside the gates to stand along a fence or you could walk around the track. The grandstand tickets got you somewhere to sit. There was also separate tickets to get you into the paddock area, driver's lounge and the hospitality tents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buckeye1647545503 Posted January 4, 2010 Report Share Posted January 4, 2010 there was also alot of none car people that cause problems becouse they did not enjoy it so they wanted it gone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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