Lime Rock Park 50

IME ROCK — For some institutions (or people), turning 50 can precipitate a midlife crisis. But Lime Rock Park, which first opened its doors 50 years ago, in 1957, seems quite comfortable with what it is: one of the most scenic and beloved auto racing venues on the East Coast.

"I first came to Lime Rock Park in 1959 when I was 21," said Skip Barber, an accomplished race car driver and founder of the racing school at the track that bears his name. "I fell in love with the area but knew I could never make a living here."

So Barber started the racing school in 1975, based it in the Northwest Corner and moved here shortly thereafter. In 1983, he set his sights on buying the track that his school used for much of its training. He was worried "the wrong people" might try to acquire the park and use it for something other than auto racing.

The following year, he and a group of five other investors — mostly businessmen and lawyers he had met through the school — put together a deal to buy the park from Harry Theodoracopulos. They set about making numerous improvements, including repaving half the track and building a new paddock. Since then the park has been a cultural success, if not a financial one. According to Barber, the park’s finances have ranged from small losses to modest profits — mostly the latter.

To Northwest Corner residents, the park is perhaps best known for its vintage car races, as well as unique events held at the park. Over Memorial Day weekend, for example, the park kicks off its 51st season with the Grand-Am GT Classic and Hemmings Sports and Exotic Car Show.Special cars, special people

Rich Taylor of Sharon is a freelance writer and a dedicated racing buff, who served as managing editor of Car & Driver magazine. He grew up in nearby Hyde Park, N.Y., and visited Lime Rock in its inaugural season.

"It’s a special place," said Taylor, who wrote a comprehensive book, "Lime Rock Park: 35 Years of Racing," chronicling its history to 1992. "You start out liking it because of the cars and the racing, but you stay around because of the people."

Construction on the track began in 1955, when Jim Vaill took some of his family’s former farm and gravel pit off Route 112. With the urging of some local members of the Sports Car Club of America, he built a 1.5-mile track featuring some rather unusual curves and elevation changes.

Construction took almost two years because of a combination of local opposition and poor weather conditions. Even after the track opened, the opposition to its operation continued, eventually resulting in a court-imposed injunction against racing on Sundays.

That ban remains in effect today, although in 2005 Barber proposed to alter the terms of the injunction to allow for Sunday racing during the July 4 weekend and as a possible rain-date for the one stock car race the park holds each season. Barber said that proposal is still in the talking stages and he has not filed any court papers.A track as safe as it is lovely

Lime Rock was one of several parks built in the years after a 1955 accident at LeMans, France, where a driver and 84 spectators were killed in the worst accident in racing history. That race, some of which is run on city streets, prompted a renewed emphasis on safety that persists to this day, Taylor said.

One racing professional who helped lead the charge for safety was famed driver and inventor John Fitch, an early director of the track who helped Vaill improve the design. It was Fitch’s racing partner who died in that race at LeMans, and the Lime Rock resident has dedicated his career since then to automotive safety.

Fitch recalled the precarious finances of the track in the first few years, when track officials had to take out rain insurance.

"If it rained and nobody came we would go bankrupt," Fitch said. "The track had no money. It operated on a shoestring."

He also recalled that in the early days the entire track was paved for about $17,000, in part because costs were contained through donated labor and materials. A few years ago, it cost $1 million to repave.

Fitch returned to Lime Rock from several years racing in Europe in 1955, right after the great December flood that set back the building of the track. He settled in a home on Salmon Kill Road and raised his family there.

He invented a device that not only helped make racing safer but also saved countless lives on America’s highways. The Fitch Barrier, a bright plastic barrel filled with sand, has lined highways worldwide since he invented it in 1970.

Lime Rock Park is just that — a park. There are no grandstands, just rolling hills that form a natural amphitheater. Beach blankets, umbrellas and coolers typically dot the hillsides during races.

And the scenery is among the best on the East Coast. Even the Virginia International Raceway on the border with North Carolina and Watkins Glen International in central New York can’t match Lime Rock’s natural beauty, Taylor insisted.

"You can sit on the hill," said Taylor. "It’s like having a picnic at the race track."