Monday Briefing: Planning field trips to Riverhead Raceway
After calling for a NASCAR track in Calverton almost two years ago, I was reminded by longtime Riverhead Raceway owners Jim and Barbara Cromarty there already is a racetrack on Long Island, right here in Riverhead.
The couple then publicly invited me to come down for a night of racing. That was June 2010.
I still haven’t taken the Cromartys up on their offer.
But I’ve been itching to, and I plan to get there soon. I’ll probably bring the wife and friends and write about the experience in a column, from the perspective of someone with no motorsports experience. This weekend’s nerf bar mishap — the first of its kind in some three decades — won’t deter me.
My yet-to-be-written column will come with some other beefed-up Riverhead Raceway coverage this year.
While we do post race roundups weekly in the newspaper sports section, this season we’re going to post at riverheadnewsreview.com and sometimes in the papers a “Meet the Drivers” series, short profiles and photos so folks here could learn about these passionate men and women who descend on Riverhead each weekend for races.
That, and we’ll do our usual news features about something unique going on at the track. In 2010, we featured Daryn Miller of Franklin Square on our cover after he likely became the first deaf driver in history to win a NASCAR-sanctioned race. In 2011, “Holeshot Racing” was the buzz in Riverhead.
But not being regulars to the races, we’ll need some help.
If you know of something unique or interesting happening at the local track, be sure to email me at [email protected].
• I had the opportunity to drop by the Bark for Life dogs and wine fundraiser event as it was wrapping up Sunday at Martha Clara Vineyards. It seemed to be a really nice event that featured a jazz band and lots of well-behaved dogs and puppies, as well as owners.
Watching all the farm animals goof off was also entertaining.
If you’ve been looking for a family-friendly winery for the pets and kids, whether there’s a big event planned or not, Martha Clara is it.
• And if you want to turn that day at Martha Clara into more of a learning experience, don’t forget Hallockville Museum Farm is right across the street. There always seems to be something going on down at the farm.
This weekend was Hallockville’s “Springtime Life on the Farm” event.
It was a real babe magnet, we found. Click here for photos.
