The Ghost of the Bridgehampton Motor Racing Circuit
While out east on Sunday, we stopped off to peer into what was once Bridgehampton Motor Racing Circuit. I had been there when the track was still being used several times with a good friend, Rogers.
When Rog and I first met, I was green. He, with decades of riding experience already under his belt, talked to me about riding and racing. He gave me pointers on how to improve my skills. He had taken me under his motorcycling wing when I was just a pup.
In the summer of 1997, Rog introduced me to club racing as a spectator. He had a homegrown contingency program with a website called Kneedragon. He sold T-shirts and stickers and put the money into the pockets of the little guys who were duking it out on the track. He was ahead of his time then. He used to sit out there at the Bridge and broadcast club racing over the web using a cellular modem and a laptop. This was in the days when the average person on the internet hadn’t moved past ‘Welcome! You’ve got mail.’
My memories of Bridgehampton were entirely as a spectator. I remember being nervous about riding my bike through the sandy beach of a roadway into the paddock. One of my most vivid memories is being on a hill near the horseshoe with a view of the bay as the backdrop. Then there was of course, watching Penguin Racing School conducting classes. I also remember watching Donna Karan’s late husband Steve Weiss pull up with his trailer and unload his Ducati 916 and thinking ‘wow, I wish I could have one of those.’
I remember and yet, it all feels like a 1,000 years ago now. Just taking a quick tour around the web looking for information on Bridghampton, I’ve found that there are many people who have happy memories that still live on in their hearts. The Bridge was special to a lot of people. I guess I was lucky enough to experience it in it’s final hurrah. Now it is just a ghost of my past.
The Ghost of the Bridgehampton Motor Racing Circuit http://goo.gl/fb/gBQ3
I really wish they never turned it into a golf course i would have been able to ride track every weekend 🙁
The clips of the Bridge and Louden brings back great memories including 3 days in in the hospital in the Hamptons from a crash at turn 1 and a trip to the Trauma center at Louden thanks to the Bowl.
thanks Fuzzy.
Ah yes the bowl … used to camp right next to that turn under the big pine trees… when did you crash at the Bridge???
I remember when I was a kid and my brother would race his bike there in 79 thru the mid 80’s it was a site to see all the different class bikes racing at one time in two groups and people with yellow number plates with black number white with red number and just the crowd of riders! it was amazing.. the history of that track is amazing in itself 2 and 4 wheel wise. Yes there are ghost there but no one has forgotten them that is for sure!!!