BLT4SPD

A little bit of history behind the track: In 1995 When Denver International Airport opened and Stapleton International closed, the city of Denver was left with a huge chunk of land that had several runways on it. The city knew that they wanted to develop it, but while that was being engineered, planned and bid on by several contractors (at the usual pace that government moves), the runways were rented to car clubs for track events. Given the fact that they were runways from a former major international airport, they were smooth, clean and faaaaast. The track at Stapleton quickly gained recognition as a place to go when you wanted to test the upper speed limits of you machine.

I was a college student at the time (ooops, just dated myself) and participated in several events with the Audi club out there and I usually went out to watch the PCA Club Race and Vintage races (RMVR). Given the unique nature of the track and the (somewhat) central location of Denver, those events started drawing quite the collection of incredibly fast and well known machines. Denver wasn’t exactly a hot bed of good/fast tracks, so this was a novelty to us locals. I always had a camera with me, but I wasn’t exactly what you’d call a “Pro”…..actually being an “amateur” would have been a step UP! Let’s just say I had a camera and I liked taking pictures.

Fast forward to this past weekend: There was a little “mishap” at the house and we had a little water ingress into our tiny little “basement” (it’s a former bomb shelter from the 50’s). So, as I am moving boxes upstairs and out of harms ways, I came across my box of pictures (mostly from the 90’s) After the kiddo’s went to bed, I went through every single picture I had in the box. I found some that I thought could be interesting to my fellow 993 community and I started scanning.

I really know very little about the cars. As a fairly shy “kid” at the time, approaching these owners/drivers that showed up in these HUGE tractor trailer rigs that were obviously operating on HUGE budgets just didn’t happen (hind sight being what it is, I should have). I know the driver of the white car was Martin Snow and the red car was Monte Smith (Can’t believe I remember that!!!). I know someone had a radar gun on the back straight and these guys were reported to be hitting 175mph+. The front straight was actually longer, but you could carry more speed onto the back straight.

Additionally, if anyone knows the whereabouts of these cars today, I’d love to hear from you or see pictures. I this found this ad that references Monte Smith’s car:

http://www.porschesport.com/ps17.html


…..and I found this ad that makes it seem like Martin Snow’s car hasn’t changed much since it was raced in the 90’s (but I also don’t know how old the ad is):

http://www.wrightmotorsports.com/Wri...4_Sale_01.html

…..and here it is again with no livery (maybe a back-up car?):

http://www.dailysportscar.com/viewAr...838cf8fa8ddc6c

993 770

Cool!

Spidey 993

Very cool Ben, and great pics! I didn't know that bit of history of Stapleton airport, and relationship with racing. Thanks for posting

AOW162435

Nifty!


Andreas

Flying Finn

Very cool, thanks for sharing.

Funny how poorly that front bumper on that red car fits... Race cars often are pretty crude but that's quite a misfit...

firesm

+993

ironimages

nice, thanks for posting.

2Many Cars

Nice photos, thanks. I suspect turbo cars were popular due to the HP loss from the altitude with NA cars.

BLT4SPD

Thanks Tony. I wish I could remember how long they had racing going on out there. It think it was about 3 years.

BLT4SPD

Turbo's are most certainly a "must have" for high altitude playtime......alright, "must have" is a stretch, but it certainly makes the smile a tad bit bigger.

BLT4SPD

Yeah, the fit and finish on the front of that thing is a complete disaster. If memory serves, A.I.R. is a body kit company from the 80's and 90's, so that's probably not the best car to be splashing your company name on if you're in the business of making body panels!!!