Quiet Noise

one piston & the pax caenōrum

In the Southeast there is a world where generators blast through the darkness, tiny four cycle engines whine into the night, and families mingle. The small dirt-clay oval of Callahan Speedway in Northeast Florida is one venue where humanity and machine mix into a chalky, oil-stained procession of emotion and camaraderie.

Cleaning, prepping, oiling, carrying. Checking tire pressures, sliding on driving gloves, hosing some of the mud off your axles. The name of the game is consistency. Each day has two practice sessions, one or two heat races that provide the placing for your points race, and finally a points race.

It's really a tires game

The funny thing about spec racing is that, theoretically, all the racers are equal. In the world of spec racing, it becomes a tires game. The person who preps their tires best, cleans them best, and gives them the chance of being the stickiest ultimately has a better shot at winning the day.

“THE HARDER YOU WORK, THE LUCKIER YOU BECOME.”

-Roger Penske

The family element

Between the braapp braapp of the engines, the hum of the generators, and the occasional diesel truck there was a constant din of kids laughing and yelling. Whether throwing a football in the field, or flirting next to the snack stand it is clear that this isn’t just an old man’s affair.

nightfall

After the RAces

The noise of engines and smell of gas is replaced by tiny chirps of birds and the scent of evergreens. After getting in from the races late, the next morning is spent disassembling and cleaning the karts. Where the night was a din of noise, the morning is near silent aside from the horses clopping through the yard.

In a few weeks, the whole thing will happen again.