Start your engines, grab some earplugs: Old cars race loud and proud

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Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
IN THE FAST LANE: Travis Engen, driving his 2005 Audi R8 LMP, lines up for the start of a competition at Watkins Glen International racetrack.

The sound comes first. I’m driving through the rolling hills of dairies and farmland in New York’s peaceful Finger Lakes area when I begin to hear something that doesn’t belong. Race cars! I had been warned to bring earplugs, but I had no idea how loud LOUD could be. The noise, like a herd of Harleys, vibrates in my body. I arrive at Watkins Glen International, a 3.45-mile track that hosts Historic Sportscar Racing (HSR) events and other races. 

Although almost all of the drivers are amateurs, they are credentialed. But this is a dangerous, and very expensive, sport. I am walking to a spot where I can take a photo when a truck comes by towing a Porsche with a smashed-in front end. The driver is sitting in his seat looking pitifully embarrassed, but at least he isn’t injured. I have permission to stand by the blue guardrail that surrounds the track – just not at certain curves that are especially prone to accidents, and not too close. No problem!

Racing fan John Kwasnowski is taking photos in the pit. Racing “gets in your blood,” he says. “If you love it, you can’t get enough.”

HSR staff member Frank Thompson, who lines up the cars in qualifying order before a race, notes that “We’re a traveling family. ... We spend more time with this family than with our real one.” 

He has more to say. If only I could hear him.  

Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
ZOOOOOM MEETING: Cars come around a curve in “the boot,” a part of the track, at a race for pre-1978 cars. Historic Sportscar Racing holds six to 10 events per year.
Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
CHEER TEAM: Dalton Williams and his wife, Katelin, with their older daughter Lennon and baby Eleanor, root for Dalton’s father, Randy Williams, who is racing at Watkins Glen International.
Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
BANNER DAY: A flagman waves white and checkered flags at the start/finish line. Slower drivers get the white flag, indicating one more lap to go, while the winner gets the checkered flag.
Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
SPIN CONTROL: Tires without treads, used for maximum traction on dry racetracks, are brought to the pit area. Race competitors choose tires based on weather conditions.
Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
TRACK STARS: A pit crew works on a 1963 Jaguar during a three-minute mandatory pit stop during a 42-minute race.
Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
QUITE A HAUL: Trophies and medals are arranged on a table before being handed out to the winners.

For more visual storytelling that captures communities, traditions, and cultures around the globe, visit The World in Pictures.

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