THE BRIDGES FAMILY OF AIRBORNE SPEEDWAY

Bob Mackey Photo Courtesy of John Rock and Bobby Castine
Danny Bridges with what must be his first car - or at least a very early one.

           Around 1966, of my racing friends decided to take in a race at Plattsburgh's Airborne Park Speedway. It would turn out to be the only race I ever saw there until I began traveling regularly there with the Beaver Dragon race effort in 1972.For  some reason, the coupes did not leave a lasting impression on me from that day. Odd, in view of the fact that I was used to seeing good coupe racing at that time. Instead, what I remember most is the track's late models - and one of those was a big old '57 Ford #2.

            That turned out to be Danny Bridges, a man so closely interlocked with the life of the track that his residence was scant yards down the road from the track itself. What I didn't know then that Dan, a lifelong shoestring racer, was a second generation star at Airborne. In fact, his father - George - had raced there a decade before and - in view of his very long career - may have been driving something there the day we attended in the mid '60's.

            I have always felt people like Danny and his father deserve to have pages of their own because, like Red Meade at Catamount, Ted Brown at Claremont, and so many others like them - they were the heart and soul of their race tracks.

GEORGE BRIDGES

Bob Mackey Photo Courtesy of Mike Watts The classic photo most people see of George, from the late '50's.	Bob Mackey Photo From Outside Groove George is seen in this field at Airborne's unique ice races.	Bob Mackey Photo Courtesy of Mike Watts George, winning a race at the 1958 ice race program.
Bob Mackey Photo Courtesy of John Rock and Bobby Castine George, receiving a trophy from Vic Wolfe.

DANNY BRIDGES

Bob Mackey Photo Courtesy of Mike Watts One of the first shots of Danny, from the early '50's.

Bob Mackey Photo From Outside Groove Danny looks over a midget during a 1960's Airborne show.

Bob Mackey Photo Courtesy John Rock & Bobby Castine Danny receiving a trophy at 1964 Airborne banquet - from Mr. Broderick.

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