My friend Dave Bernstein once entered a 100-car enduro race at Long Island’s Riverhead Raceway. The facility, a quarter-mile banked oval originally built in the late 1940s, is one of the last bastions of racing on Long Island. It’s also a great little bandbox of a race track.

Dave had bought an early ‘80s Lincoln in which to do battle. He and his dad prepped the car much in the way one would prep a demo derby entry. His run at glory during the enduro fell short due to a radiator hose that blew off in spectacular fashion, creating a massive steam cloud that the uninformed masses (including his extremely nervous mom) thought was a flash fire.

The things I remember most from that day, though, were the pre-game activities. More specifically, the car rollover competition they held. This was probably the funniest, scariest, most riveting automotive contest I have ever seen. These people were completely insane.

The object of the contest was to drive your car at a ramp as fast as it would go, put two wheels on the ramp and launch the thing off the end, causing it to roll and flip. The scariest part of the whole thing is that roll bars were not mandatory!

I can’t remember if there was a time limit or you simply went until the car was unable to move under its own power anymore, but several guys took multiple shots at the thing, back to back.

Most of the competitors were in little econo boxes but the rules, and yes, there are rules, state that any car under 3,400 pounds is game.

Here are the rules as they appear on the track website for 2009:

1.)    Any stock manufactured car – American or foreign. Car is not to exceed 3,400 lbs
2.)    No moon roofs, T-Tops or convertibles allowed
3.)    All doors must be welded shut
4.)    All glass – headlights, taillights and windows must be removed and the car must be debris free.
5.)    Headliners and the bottom of the rear seat must be removed
6.)    Maximum of three gallons of gas only. No ½ or full tanks permitted
7.)    Padding on drivers door is mandatory
8.)    Manufacturers seatbelt or track approved seatbelt mandatory
9.)    Long sleeve shirt, long pants, shoes, or sneakers mandatory
10) Approved helmet mandatory

Recommended but not mandatory

1.)    Roll Bars
2.)    Shoulder Harnesses
3.)    Window Net
4.)    Gloves
5.)    If a driver wears glasses they should be taped on

That’s it. How a rollbar is not mandatory equipment in a car participating in a rollover contest kind of escapes me, but as a spectator it certainly raised the tension and intensity level.

They are doing one of these things in early May. If you live in the area, you owe it to yourself to see it go down. It’s essentially beyond description to see a Toyota Tercel barrel roll, land on it’s wheels (albeit with two flats) restart, limp around the track for a running start and scream towards the launch ramp repeatedly.

Notice there’s no mention of a breathalyzer test for the participants. I think there’s a good reason for that.