Shop for the perfect danbury racearena gift from our wide selection of designs, or create your own personalized gifts. SNYRA Reunion Promises a Look Back at the Best of Danbury. The reunion is moving to a new home this year, and hopes to make that move permanent. Who raced in Danbury's Racearena, will be.
What brought them all together was the 12th annual reunion, sponsored by the, a club dedicated to preserving the memory of the track and the drivers who raced there, for future generations. 'It's going to be a great turnout,' SNYRA member predicted, as he and other volunteers attached checkered wristband after checkered wristband to the outstretched arms of the people streaming through the door. 'The weather is great, and that's a great calling card for us.'
The track, which opened in 1932, closed along with the Danbury Fair after the 1981 season. But the Racearena lives on in the memories of the people who filled the stands, the drivers who raced there and the sons and daughters whose earliest memories involved watching their fathers roar around the dirt oval. Some, like Jr., of New Fairfield, went on to race there themselves, and continued their racing careers at other tracks after Danbury closed. 'A lot of the old drivers are here,' Hansen said. 'But this is mostly for the fans. They want to come here and rub elbows with their old heroes.' Cars on display ranged from the 1936 Ford driven by the local racing legend to the modified Ford Pinto that raced until 1981, then sold after the track closed.
Two years ago, Giardina, who lives in Katonah, N.Y., tracked down his old car in Vermont, and after last year's reunion, had friend Lou Dilesi restore it to like-new condition. 'He did a great job,' Giardina said. Some of the cars, like Art Knapp's Pinto, which ran at Danbury in 1975, were more bare-bones, pieces of sheet-metal bolted to a frame with a single, extremely uncomfortable-looking aluminum seat for the driver. 'It wasn't about comfort. It's all about speed,' he said. Fans could also purchase a DVD, with sound, of old home movies taken of races at the Danbury track during the 1970s.
For those whose memories went back even further, silent films were available, set to music, of races from the 1960s. Race fans could also take a look at the more than 120 scale models of cars that ran at Danbury, built by brothers Milt.
Most of the models began life as plastic kits that were popular years ago, but were modified and painted to resemble the Racearena cars. 'Some we did from pictures, others from memory,' said. Was surprised to find one of the cars driven by her father, among the model display.
But she pointed out to the brothers that the color scheme should have been red and white, not blue and white. 'I'll have it changed by next year,' Eugene Molinaro promised.