Miniature cars race in Seaford

On a 200-foot concrete track in a forgotten corner of Seaford's Cedar Creek Park, Stuart Hamill's foot-long car hit 150 miles per hour and kept going.

At 170 it sounded like a swarm of enraged hornets. At 200 it painted a black line in front of your eyes. When it topped out at 204.473 miles per hour, the announcer cried "Whoa, he's on fire today!" and a crowd of about 30 gave him an ovation.

The 69th American Miniature Racing Car Association Nationals started Thursday, a scaled-down affair, its organizers said, because of a poor economy and because the sport known as tether car racing does not enjoy the following it once did.

In the 1940s and '50s there were several hundred tracks and thousands of racers; now there are three tracks, and the national association counts 150 members.

"It was big at a time when the United States was king of manufacturing," said Hamill, 50, a former aircraft assembly worker who left the job when his company downsized and now drives a limousine. "We had a lot of craftsmen and they had knowledge and tools and did the work, but all those people died out."

Tether cars resemble the speedsters raced on Bonneville Salt Flats more than any conventional vehicle on the road. They attach to a pole at the track's center by steel cable; centrifugal force would snap anything less sturdy. There is no steering and there are no brakes. Cars race one at a time in different classes of engine size and design; the highest speed wins.

Even those who love the sport say its appeal is peculiar. "It's about precision and intricacy," said Ed Fischman, 48, of Wantagh. "It's not for everybody. If I could hit a baseball 400, 500 feet, I'd be doing it."

Yesterday's crowd was composed mainly of men of retirement age, many of them mechanics or engineers who built model cars or airplanes as boys. They were men like Loyd Torrey, 77, who tested the prototype for his racer in the Cal Poly wind tunnel; like Dave Lundegard, 53, who in his home workshop keeps 10 years of log books recording every mechanical adjustment he's ever made on his racer, along with the resulting changes in speed. His next big project is to coat his racer's gears with titanium nitrate. "It increases lubricity and hardness and reduces friction," he said. "It's what they do in Formula One cars."

The youngest racer, by several decades, was Nicholas Ellick, 13, who was introduced to the sport by his grandfather, Ed Baynes Jr., 65.

Their deal is simple: passing grades in school buys races and shop time. Nicholas was racing the same car his grandfather raced as a boy. He didn't like his chances against the newer, sleeker vehicles on the track. But spending some time with his grandfather, who he doesn't see as much as he'd like, "is just a blast." Also, there were only three racers in his class, so "no matter what, I get a trophy."

For more information on the association, visit amrca.com. The nationals continue Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.