Reflections on my first visit to the Museum of American Speed

This weekend I took advantage of the 1/2 price admission and made a long overdue trip to the Museum of American Speed, housing the Smith Collection - also known informally as the Speedway Motors Museum.

It's quite a sight and my hour and a half wasn't enough. I didn't even make it to the third floor.

I think what impressed me most (beyond the immaculate restorations) was unlike many museums that just have piles of old crap mixed in with some relevant treasure, the MoAS exhibits each had a story of their own, either told outright with placards or examples of a larger exhibit.

There was a story behind everything - fulfilling in itself - but the museum docents backed it up with more lore and facts to take you deep into the whats and whys. 

The displays were mostly circle-track, sprints and midgets, and mainly in fields where Speedy Bill was involved personally. Indy and NASCAR was represented as were the land speed cars of Bonneville. Yes, I would love to see more sports cars, and drag cars, but maybe that would've taken away from what I saw as an overall theme - the evolution of grassroots, Saturday night American racing.

As I walked through the exhibits I was stunned by the individuality of the cars, the motors, the parts. I grew up at the tail end of some of this, before tube frames and pre-fab, instant race cars dominated the scene. One can see what it was like before mass production reduced the innovation to something that could be made in China, like TVs and computers.

Understand, it's not a question of craftsmanship. Modern technology builds to tighter tolerances with better materials, but these cars had soul, like a steam locomotive. The story of the car could NOT be told without the story of the person behind it.

That is what I miss about today's racing so much.

Yes, there's the driver and the crew chief, but those are always givens. Money has always played a part and always will.

But, through the lens into the past, one could see spirit, that hope that the mind could raise the bar higher through cleverness or sheer perseverance.

The cocktail-napkin drawings, the trial and error, the happy accidents, the new innovations...most of that is gone now. CAD drawings by a nameless engineer or machinist produce the templates that make the jigs that guide the robots to....

I lament. It's not that I don't enjoy racing now. It's just different. Go to the museum and see how it used to be. Then go again. I know I will.

Museum of American Speed 

Jason