2015

"Pops" wondering when Donahue will notice the "Bull's Eye" taped to his bumper...

The New England Antique Racers (NEAR) rolled into Devil’s Bowl Speedway, on Friday, June 19, 2015, located on Route 22A in West Haven, VT, for the second night in-a-row of racing. The camaraderie in racing back-to-back shows was evident in the catching up and joking around of the NEAR members and their crew.

NEAR race teams were met by Mike Bruno, Devil’s Bowl Speedway owner, on a 4-wheeler as they arrived at the speedway. The rain soaked grounds had Mike and Justin St. Louis orchestrating the NEAR parking of haulers and trailers while children of local race teams were exploring the vintage race cars.

Talking about the earlier camaraderie, one of the friendships formed during those two days, which forever will be remembered, was with Eddie MacKenzie or “Pops” to all that knew him – one of Bobby Donahue’s crew members. My first encounter with Pops was him walking down the road, the day before Devil’s Bowl, into Thunder Road Speedbowl joking with me about how his crew “wanted to make sure he had his exercise”…we talked off and on during the day, sharing our lunch with him, and at one time, he pulled up a chair in our hauler to visit with us…what was so remarkable about Pops was that he would have been 91 years old in October and the life stories he shared - the friend he met on the beach inviting them into his home, and oh yes, he would blame his forgetfulness on “Senior moments”…as seen in this photo, Pops was enjoying some of the joking around at Devil’s Bowl.

Pops’ race team, with driver Bobby Donahue, won the Modified Vintage race…Devil’s Bowl was the last NEAR race Pops would attend, he passed away on July 1, 2015. Our heartfelt sympathy goes out to Pops’ family, the Donahue Race Team and all of his many friends.