Close Racing on Display at Lime Rock Park

by John Chuhran, Clark Thompson and Warren Rosenberg, May 28, 2024

Memorial Day Weekend is traditionally the biggest weekend of the year for fans of auto racing. Waking up Sunday morning to watch the Monaco Grand Prix, they can change the TV channel to watch the Indianapolis 500 for lunch and then switch again in the late afternoon to watch the NASCAR Cup Series run 600 miles in Charlotte, N.C.

But enthusiasts throughout the Northeast know that there is a fourth major racing venue that satisfies the need for speed. Lime Rock Park (LRP) – the 1.5-mile, six-turn road course nestled in the foothills of the Berkshires within a stones’ throw of where New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts meet – annually hosts one of its three major professional race meetings on the Monday of the big weekend.

Above: Gordon Eggelston's Porche cresting a hill in the GT Cup series race. Eggelsteon races out of Hudson Historics in Warwick, NY in Orange County. Photo credit - Clark Thompson

For the last several years, LRP has featured the SCCA Trans-Am series as the headline event during the seasonal debut of pro road racing in the Nutmeg State. Because of local Blue Laws, there is no racing on Sundays at Lime Rock, making holiday weekends especially important at the venue. With Lime Rock being less than 90 minutes from New York City, a crowd estimated to be in excess 40,000 fans attended the four-day event.

Since 1957, the roll of drivers competing at Lime Rock on Memorial Day has featured many of motorsports’ top competitors. This year, the list added Adam Andretti (son of IndyCar and NASCAR race winner John and grand nephew of Mario) and former NASCAR Cup race winner Paul Menard, among others.

Above: Paul Menard (green #3) leading Adam Andretti (white # 17) in the Trans Am series. Photo credit - Warren Rosenberg

Fans were treated to some exciting thrills on Monday as rain showers swept in and made the racing even more challenging (demonstrated in the photo below by MetroSports senior photographer Clark Thompson).

Above: Farmingdale, NY's friver, Jenn Krapata, handles the rain with ease on the way to her first SGT Series professional win. Photo credit - Clark Thompson. Below: Team Krapata, Jenn and dad, Doug, in pre-race preparations. Photo credit - Warren Rosenberg

Menard claimed the win in the main event with Andretti third, but local competitors also had reason to celebrate. Chris Dyson (Poughkeepsie), son of legendary driver/owner Rob Dyson, took second in the Trans-Am feature, Jenn Krpata (Farmingdale, N.Y.) won in her track debut in the SGT class while Joey DaSilva (Westport, Mass.) won in his pro debut at Lime Rock in the GT category after several years of amateur competition.  

Above: Chris Dyson of Poughkeepsie NY. Below: Joey DaSilva od Westport Mass. Photo credits - Warren Rosenberg

Festivities during the weekend included the naming of the Timing and Scoring Tower in honor of former track owner Skip Barber, who was also named grand marshal of the race weekend.

More in depth coverage from this legendary Northeast sports venue will be found in the Spring wrap-up issue of MetroSports Magazine due out in late June.

(-MetroSports-)