Hey Hoseheads. Im looking for some help, and what better place to find the info I need than Hoseheads!
My girlfriend is part of a comittee putting on an art exhibit and the Contemporary Art Museum in St. Louis, Missouri (http://camstl.org). The exhibit will focus on the life and art of Salvator Scarpitta, who also happened to be a racing enthusiast. Sal owned a sprint car team in central PA for many years, and upon his retirement, the team was purchased by then driver Steve Siegel.
I'm not going to pretend that I know a wealth of information about Sal. I do, however, have a pretty strong knowledge base regarding sprint car racing, and dirt track racing in general. I've been around it my whole life (only 26, I know I'm not old enough to please most of you old farts), and drove midgets and micro sprints throughout my teenage years. Because of this, I've been asked to help with gathering some information about Sal and his racing endeavours.
With the little knowledge I have on Sal, I thought the two best sources of info about him would be Steve and Jim, as they both raced for him and now own the car and team that he built, and HOF member Keith Kauffman, for obvious reasons. If anyone here could connect me with any of these gentlemen, it would be greatly appreciated. I'd like to conduct an interview with them to simply get an inside look at who Sal was, and how his involvement in racing shaped him as a man and an artist.
Im not looking for anything too in depth or specific, moreso just some info on who Sal was. There doesn't have to be an art aspect involved, as I'll allow those who are much more informed (i know jack shit about art :D) make inferences. I'm simply trying to gather useful information, and talk to some drivers along the way.
Like I said, if anyone here can connect me with any of these gentlemen, or any other notable members of the racing community who had the pleasure of knowing Sal, it would be greatly appreciated. Also, if you yourself have anything you'd like to add, please comment in this thread. I'll respond to everyone as quickly as I can.
When I was first asked about this, I saw it as an opportunity to introduce people who have never heard of sprint car racing to our beautiful sport. What better way to do so than combining something they love (contemporary art), with my passion (sprints). Thanks for all your help, hoseheads. I'm hopeful this thread won't devolve into the poo slinging nonsense we sometimes see on here (although that stuff is funny as well on occasion!).
If you have any information, please contact me at [email protected]
Thanks!
Thomas
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