Pretty sure Connecticut ad agency principal and early BMWCCA member Warren Markey was the designer/illustrator of the certificate.
Or maybe he didn’t. The Commissioner of the United States Patent Office supposedly proclaimed as much back then but – to use a currently popular term – that quote has been debunked. However, it’s still a cautionary tale for those wishing to characterize as new something that traces its history back many decades. Take track days, for instance.
The author of my favorite Substack column wrote that there was no such thing as track days until recently:
"Trackdays” as we know them now simply didn’t exist. Nobody drove stock street vehicles on a racetrack. Not on any consistent basis, anyway."
I’m not sure what timeline Jack has in mind but here’s a little photo essay of one such event, among many, that I attended with my first BMW 2002 at Thompson Speedway in Connecticut on September 20th, 1975:
Thompson is a bit more presentable these days (see below).
My '71 2002, looking pretty battered by late 1975. It still irks me that I didn't go to Gene Murphy Auto Body when I got hit from behind (note the mismatched Colorado Orange).
Skip Barber instructor Tony Scotti with me in my Peterbilt cap.
Some slalom practice before...
Lapping!
The day of these photos, quite a few laps in, I missed a downshift approaching this final turn leading back onto the oval which caused me to brake too hard and lock the fronts, sending me directly towards that dirt banking. I actually had time to ponder the cost of a tow back to Boston but at the last second I thought to take my foot OFF the brake pedal (which was counter-intuitive as hell) and the car darted left. Which taught me to heed what one of the instructors had been chiding me about – not relying on a downshift to slow for a turn! Lesson learned.
My friend Mark's formerly Polaris Silver '72 Bavaria. Bear in mind, black was the rarest of all BMW colors back then and Mark wanted black. I'd forgotten about the BWA SportStars, which I had on my second Colorado 2002. And yes, that was duct tape that we were required to stick on our headlights.
Anyway, the road course portion of the facility reopened in 2014 as Thompson Speedway Motorsport Park in Thompson, Connecticut. The oval had run continuously but the twisty bits had fallen into disrepair. The track was lengthened and repaved and the feeling is quite Lime Rock-like in its picturesque setting today.
Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park (TSMP) is one of short-track racing’s oldest and most historic tracks, located right here in Connecticut! Opening in 1940 and hosting its first race in 1951, Thompson hosts six oval-track events each year, including Modifieds, Late Models Street Stocks and more.
Thanks for sharing your memories and photos from this.
Side note: The thought that there are countless period photos of events like these unseen by the greater populace of the internet saddens me.