BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show

This episode of The Logbook, our History of Motorsports series, revisits a 2015 IMRRC “Syracuse Mile: A Look Back” program celebrating the New York State Fairgrounds’ famed dirt oval, the “Moody Mile,” after its final season. Moderators Joe Marotta and Gary Montgomery lead a driver panel with Wes Moody, Glen Donnelly, Alan Johnson, Gary Tompkins, Danny Kapuschinski, Johnny Birosh, and Mel Lane, sharing stories of record-speed laps, unique innovations like the Gary Ballou car, wide-open sprint car runs, pit strategy, crashes, and the culture of Super Dirt Week. Donnelly recounts launching Super Dirt Week in 1972, weather battles, and future plans for new facilities and track surfaces. Historian Dr. Gary George traces the track’s history from early 1900s auto races and AAA/USAC champ cars through stock cars, special events, and tragedies, underscoring the Syracuse Mile’s legacy and irreplaceable significance.

===== (Oo---x---oO) =====
00:00:00 Moody Mile Tribute
00:01:52 Welcome and Introductions, Meet the Panel
00:06:15 Wes Moody 100 MPH Lap
00:10:45 How Super Dirt Week Began
00:15:05 Donnelly Vision and Grit
00:17:18 Danny K First Time Magic
00:21:35 Birosh Sprint vs Modified
00:26:08 Tompkins Racing Memories
00:35:21 Mel Lane Two Car Perspective
00:37:42 Sprint vs Modified Times
00:38:21 Knoxville vs Syracuse
00:39:11 Alan Johnson Takes Stage
00:40:05 Survival and Strategy, a Non-Qualifiers Comeback
00:44:48 Early Driving Myth
00:45:38 Turn One Crash Memory
00:47:29 Offseason Shop Grind, and "Syracuse-Only" Cars
00:52:04 Aero Tricks and Fords
00:53:58 1900 Letter Origins
00:54:55 Famous Cars
00:58:22 Future Track Vision
01:00:49 Unsung Heroes and Jackets
01:03:07 Afternoon Session Setup, Joe Marotta Childhood Memories
01:10:55 Dr. Gary George History Slides
01:14:22 War Pauses Racing; Roaring Twenties Motorcars
01:21:36 Postwar Return 1949
01:22:12 Fifties IndyCar Glory
01:24:05 Date Changes, the 1974 Crash and Stock Cars Take Over
01:27:39 Women And Early NASCAR
01:29:28 Innovation And Big Wrecks + First Night Racing
01:35:41 Salt City And USAC Disaster
01:37:29 Motorcycles, Trucks and Snowmobiles
01:41:11 Supermodifieds & Outlaws
01:44:58 4th of July Tragedy
01:48:07 Break And Thanks
01:48:38 Tom Thumb Autograph Story
01:51:03 Gary Tompkins Takes Ride
02:01:25 Ballou Car Shockwave
02:05:51 Hochman Dirt Week Journey
02:18:02 Legacy Farewell Sponsors

====================

The Motoring Podcast Network : Years of racing, wrenching and Motorsports experience brings together a top notch collection of knowledge, stories and information. #everyonehasastory #gtmbreakfix - motoringpodcast.net

More Information: Visit Our Website

Become a VIP at: Patreon

Online Magazine: Gran Touring

Follow us on Social: Instagram

This episode is part of our HISTORY OF MOTORSPORTS SERIES and is sponsored in part by: The International Motor Racing Research Center (IMRRC), The Society of Automotive Historians (SAH), The Watkins Glen Area Chamber of Commerce, and the Argetsinger Family - and was recorded in front of a live studio audience.

Recorded live at the International Motor Racing Research Center in Watkins Glen, Joe Marotta and Kip Zeiter preview a day-long retrospective celebrating the history of Syracuse’s “Moody Mile” after the track’s final race, emphasizing celebration over politics with driver roundtables, slides, and video. Historian Dr. Gary George discusses his lifelong racing passion, early visits to Syracuse dating to 1949, and a presentation built with fellow historians Jeff Ackerman and Mike Maney, including video starting with the 1972 race. Guests recount memories such as the naming of the “Moody Mile” linked to a 1970 100-mph modified lap, snowmobile and motorcycle racing at the fairgrounds, and standout competitors like Gilles Villeneuve and Smokin’ Joe Frazier. Drivers Cal and Mel Lane share experiences, while champion Gary Tompkins reflects on key Syracuse runs and the Jim Beachy/Pillsbury era. 

===== (Oo---x---oO) =====
00:00 Pit Stop - Live at Watkins Glen!
00:58 Moody Mile Farewell
02:17 Meet Dr. Gary George
04:32 First Syracuse Mile Memories
05:33 Chris Economaki Stories
06:52 Building the History Presentation
08:12 Joe Cali and Racing Archives
09:59 How the Moody Mile Got Named
13:15 Drivers Cal and Mel Lane
15:29 World of Outlaws at the Mile
17:21 Secrets of Mastering the Mile
18:49 Motorcycles and Memories
19:34 Mel Retires and Rebuild Talk
20:08 Snowmobile Legends
21:44 Gary Tompkins Joins In
22:35 Mile Near Win and Strategy; 2002 Fuel Gamble to Second
24:27 How Gary Got the Ride
25:46 Championship Magic Season and Classy Banquet Stories
27:41 Landing National Sponsors
28:57 Gary’s 2015 Comeback Grind
31:10 Smokin’ Joe Frazier Tease
31:57 Preserving the Moody Mile
33:41 Sign Off and Sponsors

====================

The Motoring Podcast Network : Years of racing, wrenching and Motorsports experience brings together a top notch collection of knowledge, stories and information. #everyonehasastory #gtmbreakfix - motoringpodcast.net

More Information: Visit Our Website

Become a VIP at: Patreon

Online Magazine: Gran Touring

Follow us on Social: Instagram

This episode is part of our HISTORY OF MOTORSPORTS SERIES and is sponsored in part by: The International Motor Racing Research Center (IMRRC), The Society of Automotive Historians (SAH), The Watkins Glen Area Chamber of Commerce, and the Argetsinger Family - and was recorded in front of a live studio audience.

In this episode of The Ferrari Marketplace Podcast, host William Ross interviews Chris Miele of Prancing Horse of Nashville (Ferrari of Nashville) about his lifelong passion for Ferraris, from attending Ferrari Club of America Nationals as a kid in New Jersey to serving as a Marine scout sniper in Hawaii while obsessively reading car magazines. Miele explains how he entered the auto business through Mercedes-Benz, gained early Ferrari dealership experience in Hawaii, helped launch a New Jersey Ferrari dealership in 2004, and witnessed key model eras, calling the 360 a major game changer. He discusses how Ferrari options and tailor-made evolved, the importance of deep product knowledge and Ferrari Academy training, and how Nashville was chosen to fill a regional market gap. He outlines the dealership’s ownership group, unique atelier features, Classiche work, restoration and concours projects, events, storage services, and the strategy behind sourcing rare inventory.

===== (Oo---x---oO) =====

00:00 Meet Chris Miele
01:06 Early Ferrari Spark
02:29 The Marine Corps Years
05:07 First Dealership Break
06:33 Building Ferrari NJ
09:42 Breaking Into Ferrari Sales
13:53 Options and Tailor Made Evolution
17:57 Classiche and Concours Projects
21:21 Chris' Detour to Rolls and Porsche
23:57 Launching Prancing Horse of Nashville
28:24 What's it like opening a Ferrari Dealer?
31:07 Ferrari Academy Training
32:24 Ownership Group Spotlight
33:33 Designing the Atelier Room
35:50 Sourcing Rare Inventory & Classiche Program Value
40:22 Italy Projects and Events
43:43 Collector Market Realities
48:07 Growth and Storage Business
50:23 Wrap Up and Sponsors

====================
The Motoring Podcast Network : Years of racing, wrenching and Motorsports experience brings together a top notch collection of knowledge, stories and information. #everyonehasastory #gtmbreakfix - motoringpodcast.net

More Information: Visit Our Website

Become a VIP at: Patreon

Online Magazine: Gran Touring

Follow us on Social: Instagram

On Ferrari Friday's, William Ross from the Exotic Car Marketplace will be discussing all things Ferrari and interviewing people that live and breathe the Ferrari brand. Topics range from road cars to racing; drivers to owners, as well as auctions, private sales and trends in the collector market. Copyright William Ross, Exotic Car Marketplace a division of Sixty5 Motorsports. This episode is part of our Motoring Podcast Network and has been republished with permission.

Motoring historian Jon Summers records a monologue from Highway 40 in New Mexico about long-haul trucking, sparked by a former FBI agent’s book claiming many truckers are serial killers; Jon argues the job’s transience and past lack of surveillance could enable predators, while stressing most truckers are not killers. He links truck-stop culture with prostitution/sex trafficking and discusses how CCTV and truck monitoring change risks today. He also describes the alienation of American rest stops, grueling hours, energy-drink dependence, dangerous speed differentials, and how trucking’s distances strain family life. Exploring his fascination with big rigs, especially Freightliner and Volvo dominance due to fleet support networks and aerodynamics, while Kenworth/Peterbilt serve owner-operators and Mack fills niches. Jon considers buying a truck, CDL requirements, owner-operator “indentured servitude,” pay claims, high turnover, and predicts autonomous trucks will end the era of piloted over-the-road hauling.

===== (Oo---x---oO) =====

00:00 Trucker Serial Killer Claim
03:00 Transience and Truck Stops
05:13 Sex Trafficking Connection
07:24 Love's and Driver Fatigue
11:01 Freightliner Obsession
17:47 Why Fleets Choose Volvo?
20:04 Autonomous Truck Future
22:21 Buying a Used Rig
26:19 Pay Rates and Turnover
29:34 The Owner/Operator Trap
32:11 City Driving, Wrap Up and Network Credits

====================

The Motoring Podcast Network : Years of racing, wrenching and Motorsports experience brings together a top notch collection of knowledge, stories and information. #everyonehasastory #gtmbreakfix - motoringpodcast.net

More Information: Visit Our Website

Become a VIP at: Patreon

Online Magazine: Gran Touring

Follow us on Social: Instagram

Jon Summers is the Motoring Historian. He was a company car thrashing technology sales rep that turned into a fairly inept sports bike rider. On his show he gets together with various co-hosts to talk about new and old cars, driving, motorbikes, motor racing, motoring travel. Copyright Jon Summers, The Motoring Historian. This content is also available via jonsummers.net. This episode is part of the Motoring Podcast Network and has been republished with permission.

This episode of The Logbook, our History of Motorsports Series features Arthur Carlson, Director of Archives and Research Operations at the Revs Institute, outlining a major expansion in automotive archival preservation and access. He describes Revs’ new, highly secure Archives and Research Center in Naples, Florida; the scale of its holdings (including the Revs Digital Library’s ~724,000 photos, plus extensive books, periodicals, film, audio, art, and automobilia); and plans for a high-end digitization lab and modular researcher workspace. Carlson explains partnerships using AI and machine learning for car and facial recognition to generate richer metadata across hundreds of thousands of images, plus an oral history initiative with the University of Kentucky leveraging transcription, translation, and linked data. He also details renewed digitization uploads, new acquisitions, returning internships, and a proposed consortium (“G.A.R.A.G.E.”) to create shared discovery and digitization standards across institutions.

===== (Oo---x---oO) =====

00:00 Arthur Carlson, Introduction
01:43 Revs Library Origins
02:49 New Archives Facility
04:24 Digitization and Access
05:23 AI Car Recognition
08:26 Face Recognition Finds
10:15 Oral History Initiative
13:17 New Collections
15:19 "G.A.R.A.G.E." Consortium Vision
18:07 Audience Q&A
25:02 Closing Thanks and Sponsors
====================

The Motoring Podcast Network : Years of racing, wrenching and Motorsports experience brings together a top notch collection of knowledge, stories and information. #everyonehasastory #gtmbreakfix - motoringpodcast.net

More Information: Visit Our Website

Become a VIP at: Patreon

Online Magazine: Gran Touring

Follow us on Social: Instagram

This episode is part of our HISTORY OF MOTORSPORTS SERIES and is sponsored in part by: The International Motor Racing Research Center (IMRRC), The Society of Automotive Historians (SAH), The Watkins Glen Area Chamber of Commerce, and the Argetsinger Family - and was recorded in front of a live studio audience.