bridgehampton raceway

The official website of the Bridgehampton Racing Heritage Group

January 31, 2009

BRIDGEHAMPTON - THE DUST AND THE GLORY

It stood at the pinnacle of American car racing during the golden age of the sport in the 50s and 60s. They called it “The Bridge” and mostly they loved and feared the place. Stirling Moss called it the “most challenging course in America ” and routinely it embarrassed world class drivers during the heyday of the Can-Am, Trans-Am and international sports car races. It was a place of wonderfully diabolical natural beauty.

The Bridge is no longer. It’s a private, luxury golf course now. Key portions of the track have been preserved however, and if you listen, you can almost hear the roar of the groundthumpers flying into Millstone corner at 200 mph to the whoop of 80,000 fans.

This is your site. It’s maintained as a tribute by the Bridgehampton Racing Heritage Group, a band of enthusiasts who kept racing alive at Bridgehampton for nearly two decades. If you ever experienced The Bridge, we welcome your photos and comments. Through this site, the excitement of Bridgehampton lives on.

VINTAGE PHOTOS. . . . . . . . . WHAT DRIVERS SAY ABOUT THE BRIDGE . . . . . . PEOPLE . . . . . . .


Click Here to see classic images of action at Bridgehampton over the past 50 years. Do you have great shots? Contact the webmaster about submitting prints or digital images you'd like to share.	Click here to read classic quotes from drivers, world famous and unknown.	The pits of Bridgehampton were equally fascinating. Cutting-edge racecars from around the world, film stars, some of the most beautiful women in the world and awestruck kids mingled in happy celebration of speed.

January 2009: Watch a rare video of the great 1968 Can-Am. It features memorable footage of winner Mark Donohue charging over the hill at the back of the pits into what he called "the roughest, most challenging part of the course". Note that about 5% of the footage is from another track, probably Edmonton. You can tell it's not Bridgehampton: Grass grows there.

1968 Can-Am video

1960's videos from the Bridge courtesty of Jeff Payne

BTW; if anyone has film footage of racing and people at Bridgehampton, please dig it out and contact the webmaster.
We're interested!

BRIDGEHAMPTON RACE CIRCUIT IN ACTIVE TIMES (click to enlarge image)

The site layout featured a jaw-dropping 180-degree view of Long Island 's North Fork , Shelter Island , Sag Harbor and the sailboats on Peconic Bay . The circuit had four vertical elevation changes totaling 130 feet and eight distinct corners, including a banked hairpin curve around a hillock at the lowest point of the course. A flat-out straightaway nearly 3/4 of a mile long suddenly disappears into a hair-raising decreasing radius downhill curve, known as Millstone Turn. More than one international star has called this steep decline, which is blind and taken flat out in most race cars, the most difficult turn in racing. Sam Posey, for one, said that sailing off the abyss in a sports racer was like “flying into an air pocket” in a plane.

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