Kelley's Island/ Mid-Ohio Racetrack

Dave and I took a trip in 1997 to Ohio to camp out on Kelley's Island in Lake Erie and then catch some racing at the Mid-Ohio Racetrack. We loaded our bikes and camping equipment into Dave's F-150 and hit the road.

The car-ferry carried us from the mainland to the island, where we unloaded the bikes and set up camp. After a quick ride around the main loop, we realized there wasn't much to do on Kelley's Island.

Lapping waves and a gentle breeze talked me into taking a nap on the smooth-pebble beach.

There was a storm the first night, and while we stayed dry, the rain fly beat against the tent in the incessant winds and kept us from getting much sleep. We had to angle one end of the dining fly down to keep things from blowing off the table.

The next day we found an abandoned rock quarry, and had the entire area to ourselves.

Unfortunately, our island wasn't connected to the tour ferry routes that visited the other islands nearby. We took our bikes to the mainland, rode for hours, but all we found was a single lighthouse.

We broke camp early the next morning and headed back to shore.

We arrived at the racetrack fairly early in the day and met Kyle, who drove up from North Carolina. Below, Chef Parks gets the Crazy Sauce chicken ready to grill, and Dave works on the fettuccine alfredo, all part of a well planned meal schedule.

The main event at the racetrack that weekend was the PPG CART series, but my favorite was the SuperTouring series, which features 4-door production sedans with production engine blocks making about 300 horsepower. The cars are limited to stock driveline configuration, stock body, even stock catalytic converters! This was the last year to see a SuperTouring race in North America, because apparently most U.S. race fans would rather watch NASCAR, in which nothing is stock except the names of the cars. I guess after you've drunk a case of cheap domestic beer it's easier to watch cars go in circles than to follow real racing. There were several other series at Mid-Ohio that weekend, including Formula Ford and Barber Dodge. Here a SuperTouring Dodge Stratus prepares to overtake a Mazda 626.

Dodge was the only badge with factory support, and not surprisingly dominated the series. The racing was still very close, with the drivers braking very late in the turns. This PPG Stratus ended up in a sand trap.

The inside rear wheels usually locked up during trail braking.

Here's a couple of NASCAR style fans watching the first lap of the CART race. After the first few laps, the cars settled into a single file line and just went around and around. It was the most boring race of the entire weekend, and we left early.

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