ECTA Ohio Mile Coverage! Cars, Trucks, and Bikes Ripping Down The Mile Under The Ohio Sun


ECTA Ohio Mile Coverage! Cars, Trucks, and Bikes Ripping Down The Mile Under The Ohio Sun

(Words and photos by Doug Gregory) – The June ECTA meet was full.  Tons of runs, lots of spectators, and a bucket-load of racers came out for what was suspected could be the last Ohio Mile event at the Wilmington Air Park.  The word had been out that Amazon had an arrangement with the Air Park to start using the facility as a hub and expected that role to grow which could jeopardize the ability to have motorsports events at the facility.  Thankfully news came that the Fall event was a go so this was not to be the end.

This event brought out, as usual, all manner of machines to test their speed on the concrete and against the air.  We’d gotten word that the official ECTA photographer, David Whealon of DW Photos, was feeling under the weather and might not make the trip.  It was nice to see he medicated and made the trek to capture the action so we caught him trying to set a record on the quickest thing we think he can handle.  We struggled with broken clouds and the lighting both days so don’t expect DW-quality photos, but we did manage to come up with some acceptable images out of the over 3,000 we shot over the weekend.  Only my 16yr-old son took photos with me.  The eldest spent most of the time watching and my youngest volunteered to hand out time slips to the racers.  When he got tired Sunday afternoon the oldest sprang into action to assist.  It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it.

In this gallery we start off with a blue SRT 392 Challenger and purple Hellcat.  The Hellcat had recently received a full cage and prep for speed at Delaware Chassis works.  The purple beast didn’t disappoint as it went a best of 187.4mph.  Photos show the hoods on both of these Challengers were trying to lift at speed.  Next up is the blue deuce roadster with a turbo’d 2JZ for power.  Its best pass was just a tick over 160mph.  I’d apologize for the poor photos of it, but the paint was really weird.  We discovered the screaming-yellow sidecar was once a ‘Busa-powered Isle of Man TT ride with a father&son team (the son was the ‘monkey’) converted over for land speed racing using two electric forklift  motors for grunt (117mph best at the Ohio Mile).  The collection of ideas and processes to set records is as varied as the clouds in the sky.  Its one of the reasons we love this type of event.  The Steam-powered streamliner was back, but had problems maintaining steam for the whole mile.  Lastly….but not least – Clark Rosenstengal came back with his beastly, Twin Turbo Camaro to reach his goal of 230mph.  In the process the front fascia tried to depart so drastic measures were taken to keep it in place.  Ultimately 230 proved out of reach because well into his last hard-charging pass the right front tire went flat and he crossed the timers with a speed of 220mph on three good tires.  Clark owns and operates a body shop so within two weeks the car was repaired and recorded a ¼ mile pass of 7.98 at 171mph.  He vows to be back and reach his 230mph, street-legal goal.

The silver ’58 Gullwing went a best of 166.5mph.

The yellow Cobalt from UNOH drove to a 147.8mph top speed.

That gorgeous, monster, procharged bike went 159.9mph.

Bob Ida’s TT F150 did 193.4mph.

The Calaguiro Bros. Racing Ranchero blasted through with a 144.4mph run.

Enjoy the photos


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7 thoughts on “ECTA Ohio Mile Coverage! Cars, Trucks, and Bikes Ripping Down The Mile Under The Ohio Sun

  1. john

    Must have missed those cars at Wilmington…along with the tents, street lights and … (?) Nice pics though. 🙂

  2. Brendan M

    I’ve been to the Ohio mile several times, and none of those photos jive. Were the wrong photos uploaded to this article?

  3. doug gregory

    Somehow the wrong photos got attached to the article. I don’t handle that, but I notified the boss and its been fixed. enjoy.

  4. Chevy Hatin' Mad Geordie

    That steam powered doohickey has me creased up with laughter! Did the builder not know how to form smooth curves in sheet metal or what? As for the Gullwing, I love the fact that a million dollar plus car has been progressively upgraded over the years in the pursuit of speed with scant regard to its value. But what is that motor? – I think that it is a modern Mercedes straight six but I could be wrong.

    1. doug gregory

      point is the steam rig is never going to be terribly fast and you work with what you got. Its ‘engine’ is a rotary converted to being propelled by steam. They are still working out sustainable pressure. Great stuff.

      the merc has been built so that it can returned to stock with a little trouble as possible. That is a Rousch-built later-model Merc six. There really isn’t much of anything in Land Speed Racing that isn’t interesting in some aspect. That’s what makes it cool. Its about the only form of racing I do not look down upon any combination. Its not for money or a trophy….its for the journey and the conquest of the goal – along with the fellowship and brain-trust of those who dare to play the game. Magnificent.

  5. authorized racer

    The silver gull wing pictured here reminds me of a dear departed racer from CT,,,John Fitch, who was a great innovator and race car developer.

    The then-86-year old Fitch at Bonneville in 2003, driving Bob Sirna’s 1955 Mercedes Gullwing. The drive failed to set a record but spawned the award-winning 2010 documentary “A Gullwing at Twilight”.

    When he entered the room fashionably late, the 95-year-old Fitch got an even bigger round of applause than the 83-year old Stirling Moss.

    Read about him here;

    http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/videos/a3672/john-fitch-a-life-well-lived/

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