About Me  | Lakeside Speedway in Denver Colorado + Rick Carelli Photo MemoriesPosted May-03-08 01:00:45 PDT Updated May-03-08 13:12:56 PDT Tonight's addition of Lakeside Speedway in Denver Colorado brought back many old personal memories. As the kid of a racing family, our weekends during the Summer were usually spent at one of the area tracks. Englewood, Colorado National, Pikes Peak Speedway, Colorado Springs International, and of course, Lakeside Speedway. Not only did we go through the gates of Lakeside Amusement Park more than several dozen times over the years (never forget the laughing lady statue in front of the funhouse, the steam train ride around the lake, the "haunted" house ride, the "Chipmunk", and the speed boat rides on Lake Rhoda), we spent many nights at the ol' race track next door. I even recall on nights we were at the park and racing was going on next door, my brother and I would ride the ferris wheel and hope for it to stop at its highest point (allowing people to exit the ride), so we could catch a glimpse of the action inside the track. And the rumble of the cars' engines could be heard all the way from our home in the suburbs near Golden. Many memories of Rick Carelli in that red #6 machine battling Frank Denning, Bob Land, Pat Petrie, Harold Evans, and others in the classic modified coupes. Here are a few old rare photos of Lakeside Speedway from my own collection: This is a shot of the pits looking over the east stands. Rick Carelli's red mod is off the trailer ready for action:  Here's a shot from the end of the front-stretch of, yes, Rick Carelli, going into turn 1:  Carelli is making the hard left turn in Lakeside Speedway's tight corners:  Later in the 80's Carelli battled the likes of Joe James, Jr. (in that very cool corvette late model #54), Scott Backman, and others in this late model, a personal favorite of mine:  And of course the super-awesome modified that showed up in the late 80's to win race after race:  Can you tell who my favorite driver was at Lakeside?? While Carelli won many races at the track, many fans in the stands seemed to not approve of that...and so they booed him. Not me! I was one of those who looked up to Mr. Carelli as a hero. He of course went on to a successful career in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, being one of the pioneers of that series and winning a few races to boot. I had the wonderful opportunity to meet Mr. Carelli at Indianapolis Raceway Park in recent years (as he is now team manager for Kevin Harvick Racing and a spotter for Ron Hornaday, another great racer and client of ours), and he is such a class act. Thanks to Rick Carelli and all the drivers who raced at the Lakeside Speedway until that fateful day in 1988 that closed its gates forever... |
) 
 About eBay | Announcements | Security Center | eBay Toolbar | Policies | Government Relations | Site Map | Help | |
Copyright © 1995-2008 eBay Inc. All Rights Reserved. Designated trademarks and brands are the property of their respective owners. Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of the eBay User Agreement and Privacy Policy.
| |