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5/16/2012 - Waterford Hills Raceway - Clarkston - Rich Johnson
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Waterford Hills is alive and well.
The 2012 race season begins May 26 & 27 followed by June 9 & 10, July 14 & 15, August 25 & 26, September 15 & 16 and September 29 & 30. Race your street cars during open track day October 14. Vintage Car Races July 28 & 29. www.
waterfordhills. com..
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5/14/2012 - Warren Theatre - Detroit - Bob Z
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I went to this theater in the early 50's when I was a kid.
At that time it cost $. 20 to get in and see 2 movies, several shorts and cartoons on Saturday. On Wednesdays during the summer it was $. 25 but I was in there from about noon until about 5 P.
M. I bought my penny candy and a Holloway at Dick Shott's, a corner store just down the block. Next door was a bowling alley which I think was called Parkland Bowl which later became GiGi's.
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5/11/2012 - Dundee Theatre - Dundee - Bob
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I remember seeing my first and only movie there, it was a Charlie Brown movie in the late 60's possibly early 70's, maybe it was under a different name then. I can also remember waiting in the car with my parents to pick up my sisters after a movie about that same time.
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5/11/2012 - Motor City Speedway - Warren Township - Jennifer Barber
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Hi everyone, my dad Joe Barber raced here.
I wasn't born yet, only heard about it. When I was a kid, he raced at Flat Rock. I would like to know if anyone ever heard of him. There's pictures of him and some of his cars on the Flat Rock page.
Also, my uncle use to go to the motorcycle races there and always told me that's where him and his friends got the ideas to start chopping their Harley's as they got older. He said a lot of innovation in motorcycles came from seeing the bikes at Motor City. The racers made homemade shift/clutch mouse trap mechanisms on their bikes for easier gear shifting that Harley would patented and become a stock part on their panhead Harley's soon after. A lot of the kids in the 50's that watched the motorcycle races eventually built choppers and started clubs afterwards !.
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5/9/2012 - Manchester Speedway - Manchester - nancy (heath)smith
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i had gone to manchester speed way since 1962.
i have two girls and they both went untill i moved and divorced charlie heath. veryl and louise were and are two special people in my life. i loved them so. i was married to harold for a short time and i loved his family so much.
great memories i have of all of them. god bless them all. hope evey one is ging good. give my best to your family cliff and dennis.
god bless..
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5/7/2012 - M-37 Dragway - Brohman - Al Larsen
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to John Griffes, From what I've found out from others was Mike Kymes was the original owner of the car.
He sold it to Jim Bolton, who sold it to my dad. We have narrowed it down to being sold in 1972/1973. I'm planning on making a trip to White Cloud to talk to the people who are living in our house we lived in before moving to Brohman to see if they remember if my dad still had the car when they bought our house or if it was sold by then. If it was sold by then it would have sold in 1972, if we had it when they bought our house then the car sold in 1973.
I've been looking for this car for almost 5 years and find nothing. It really has been lost. I have bought a nice 55 chevy bel-air post and have also bought the van axle, engine, trans etc. and am planning on making a clone of his car.
He has given me all the trophies and all the time slips he had and I'm hoping to put together a nice display of it all. just wish I had his original car to go along with it. I do appreciate all the help, info, tips and well wishes I have received from everyone during my search. Thank you all.
Al..
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5/7/2012 - Lake Lansing Amusement Park - Lansing - Dave Aldrich
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I purchased the miniature railroad at Lake Lansing from Mr.
Johnson in 1973 including all the track, had the locomotive and cars rebuilt and put it in Potter Park Zoo in Lansing in 1974. We operated it along with the food concessions and gift shop. I pulled it out of the zoo in 1985 because of the high cost of liability insurance due to many accidents during the previous year in the amusement business in Michigan. Our insurance costs tripled that year and the City of Lansing wouldn't lower our rent.
We rode 1,300,000 people on the train while it was there. I also purchased the entire contents of the old arcade from Mr. Johnson one day after the county had decided to buy the park land. I still remember buying it on a Wednesday and telling him that my buddie and I would spend the next few weekends removing everything from the building as we worked during the week.
The first weekend we spent more time playing with all those old games and toys than we did working but we did manage to move 12 old pinball machines out. On my way to work one day the next week I stopped in Haslett to get a coffee and overheard the bread delivery man talking about the big fire at the park overnight. Sure enough, the arcade burnt to the ground. Mr.
Johnson told me the fire dept said that some homeless person had broke in and built a fire in an old bathtub to keep warm and it got away from him. I was crushed not because of the money I lost but because of all those dozens and dozens of old arcade machines gone as well as all the other stuff including a beautiful old Chris-craft boat. I worked through high school across the street from the park at Smiths Food Market in the sixties and spent a lot of time at the park during my youth, what a great place. Mr.
and Mrs. Johnson were just two of the most wonderful people you could ever meet. I would often see Mr Johnson around town for years after that and had some nice talks with him. Dave Aldrich.
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5/1/2012 - Hastings Motor Speedway - Hastings - Charles Sawdy
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The old race track was only dirt then in later years it was paved as seen in the second picture. The location of the old racetrack was off west state rd to airport road then maybe 500 to 600 feet the drive was on the south side of airport rd. In the second picture the Taxi strip and runway are clearly visable. My dad told me about this and I have seen pictures of people that raced there Gordon Johncock from hastings that was a nascar driver got his start on that track.
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4/29/2012 - Sunset Speedway - Port Huron - Fred Pickard
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Terry D I remember whe Cliff Richardson purchased a old Hudson 6 banger from Bill, I had seen you dad a few times when I came back to Port Huron to visit, I lived about 4-5 miles from the track in Sparlingville, Orpha and Cliff were like parents to me when I lived up there in Michigan, I remember plenty of stories about auto racing at Sunset and Jeddo. Fred.
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4/29/2012 - Quo Vadis Theatre - Westland - reeka
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omgosh this made me cry so bad :(.
my husband and i, just dating back then, would hang out there all the time. so many memories there. i think our names were in every stall in the mens and womens bathrooms lol. most of my high school days were spent there,? so sad.
this place COULD have and SHOULD have been saved ?..
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4/28/2012 - Spartan Speedway - Mason - Randy
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Went to Spartan's opener this past Friday and it was really nice.
First time for me going there. Easy parking, pleasant and personable staff, stands easy access and secure, clean bathrooms, perfect viewing of the whole track and fast paced program. Even though being the first night, there was still a good turn out of cars. And plenty of action.
The Mod feature was won at the line with the #55 nosing across the line by about 6 to take the win after coming from the very back of the pack. And they had TWO features for the Pony class as there were so many of them. Overall, certainly a good place to go on a Friday evening. Tickets were a Friday discount of only $10.
food was kinda pricey, BUT you can bring in a cooler and outside food to make it more affordable. I will be back. and I'd recommend getting out there to check it out!.
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4/25/2012 - Auto World - Flint - Steve Locke
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I wish Flint would really step up, and restore downtown too the way it would have been when Billy Durant first put General Motors togather Then Flint would really have a 'tourist attraction' i. e. The Sloan Museum.
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4/25/2012 - Lake Lansing Amusement Park - Lansing - Amanda LaBo
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I have lived in the area of Lake Lansing my entire life and am extremely intriqued by this website. I was born in the 80's so never saw the park in all its glory, does anyone know why the amusement park was demolished. I sure wish it was still around, I hope someone decides to bring it back This area needs to have fun safe places for kids to go, that keep them entertained.
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4/25/2012 - Miracle Twin Drive-In Theatre - Burton - Clint
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BURTON, MI - Once home to a bustling hangout for children and adults alike, Burton’s Miracle Twin Drive-In Theater now sits vacant with broken glass littering the ground, silent speakers hanging on poles and blank screens as a backdrop for neighbors next door.
Burton resident Dawn Reyes, whose backyard view from her home at Centennial Farms is one of uneven pavement and weeds seeping through cracks at the former East Court Street movie house, frequented the business in its heyday while growing up in Davison. “That was what we did in high school,” she said. “Go to the movies every Friday and Saturday night. That was a staple for Davison kids because we were so close.
” A concession standing at the back of the property was recently torn down, Reyes said, along with ticket booths. The demolished materials were taken away last week. Rachel Lulay, a spokesperson for National Amusements, Inc. , confirmed the company has paid for demolition of buildings on the site, but there was no response as to why the action took place.
The location closed in 2008. A representative for Realty company Lee & Associates, which is also handling the sale of the shuttered Showcase Cinemas building on East Court Street, said the 60-acre drive-in property listed online for $1. 6 million has not been sold. Reyes has seen vehicles coming back and forth out of the site and hopes for further movement on the property.
“This is not very pretty back here,” she said. “I know it’s for sale. I hope they take those screens down. ” Burton police Lt.
Brian Warden said with demolition taking place scrappers may have been in the area, but he noted “I have not heard of anything pressing or an issue over there or anything at this point. ” Ron Kaiser took his family to the drive-in when it was still in operation, taking in movies as often as possible. “Me and my family and kids grew up in there,” he said of spending summer evenings at the facility. “It’d been there for quite a few years.
Kaiser would like to see a green space or something else take the place of the current facility, and he was sad about the closure of drive-ins in the area. Of the previous drive-ins in Genesee County - which included the Dort Drive-In, Flint Drive-In, Northland Drive-In, Silver Drive-In, South Dort Drive-In and Westside Drive-In - the lone remaining operation is the U. S. 23 Drive-In off Fenton Road in Mundy Township.
“I hate to see a thing dying like that,” he said..
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4/25/2012 - Motor City Speedway - Warren Township - Bob Brendel
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I can't believe it took so long for me to discover this site.
I was raised right across the street from the track on Pelkey Street. My Dad owned the Gulf/Shell gas station on the corner of 8 mile & Schoenherr. Needless to say I spend almost every chance to be at the track. We I got old enough to drive I would take our Wrecker or Jeep to service the equipment for the track.
Many a time I had to go and upright the tractor that Frank Ianelli would roll over when plowing & grading the track. My Dad used to take the jeep to the track to be one of the push vehicles to get the midgets started. I have lots of pictures from the programs that had colored photos included. This site has really brought a lot of really great memories of some really great racing.
I currently live in Texas and believe it or not at 76 years old I am a tour guide at the Texas Motor Speedway. I sure meet a lot of race fans and give them a thrill by taking them in a 15 passenger van around the track at over 85 miles an hour on the 24 degree high banks. My favorite driver was Duane Carter and at Indy my favorite was Bill Vukovich, hence my email is Vuky@centurytel. net.
It was really fun recalling many of the drivers. Here are some that I did not see mentioned. Jake Jacobson (always drove with a cigar in his mouth) Powder Blue # J2. Another few names were Bill Boyd, Johnny Parsons, Mike Nazarak, Mel Hansen, Ted & Gene Hartley, Wes Seageser (One arm driver), Cal Niday (had a wooden leg), Eddie Russo and a couple of really old names were Bob Swanson.
& Ronnie Householder. As I come up with more fun information and photos about the track I will be coming back to this site. I was more into the Midget Racing, but I watched the Roasters, hard tops and Motorcycles with equal amount of interest. I do remember a driver named Bob Harner who always played a guitar and sang during intermission.
I hope some of you will respond to my message to see if we have any other fun times to relive. I also sold Souvenir pins & French fries at the track, any thing to watch the races. Way back in the early days there a bar next to my Dad's gas station called the Speedway Inn (owner Roy Scott) and my Mom was a bar maid there and all the drivers would come there after the races, anybody remember ?? My relatives once told me that my Mom actually breast fed my in the grandstands. You might say I was weaned at the track into racing !!.
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4/22/2012 - Miracle Twin Drive-In Theatre - Burton - Randy
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Yesterday 4/21, went by and seems as though they are slowly dismantling the buildings as now the ticket booths are totally gone (just the lane poles remain). Regarding the large billboard sign, one side has been taken down, but the side facing west is still intact. Both screens are still standing as well. just thought to give a progress report!.
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4/20/2012 - Pine Ridge Amusement Park - Birch Run - Teresa
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So sad I was looking for this place a couple years now and just found the website today to find it closed. Looking for fun things to do with my 9 kids. I heard good things about this place is what kept me looking. Thanks anyway :).
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