screen shot yo!
photo from Fox Sports The Saratoga racetrack is the 2nd oldest track in the USA, (the oldest being Freehold), Saratoga has hosted horse racing since 1863. There actually was a few years where there was no racing, due to war, and other outside influences. In July of 1914, and 1915, we had motorcycle races at the track.
Here's some stuff i dug up...
below: from Motorcycle Illustrated July 1915
The Albany-Saratoga Speedway in Malta is the local home for car racing fans, and home to important players in the NASCAR realm, and the track have even hosted some NASCAR sanctioned events. Robin Pemberton, former Vice President of Competition for NASCAR, and his family, grew up across the street from the track, his brother Randy is a NASCAR broadcaster, another brother Ryan, is a crew chief for JR Motorsports, and finally Roman, another brother, is a spotter for Cup driver Brian Vickers. The brothers learned the ways of the road between here and nearby Watkins Glen Speedway.
On this day, Oct. 2nd, 1948, the first road automobile race in the USA since stoppage due to WW2, commenced at Watkins-Glen, known as the "Day The Trains Stopped"
Death Wish Coffee is a coffee company based out of Saratoga Springs, and today, they are sponsoring a car driven by Ty Dylan in a NASCAR race at Dover International Speedway in NH. I'll have to say, that car looks pretty badass with the logo and jet black look, it's pretty slick. Death Wish Coffee recently won a commercial spot during the Super Bowl last year, and look to continue the winning streak. The race is at 2pm Oct.2nd 2016.
Death Wish Coffee started out at Saratoga Coffee Traders, a coffee shop on the main drag in Saratoga. It is reported to be the strongest coffee in the world, and the brand is becoming a household name. Saratoga is actually the home of the oldest continuously running coffee shop in the USA, a place called Cafe Lena. http://www.caffelena.org/ Cafe Lena is currently seeing an entire makeover, and I am not sure how I feel about that, but that is a whole other post. Saratoga has had numerous coffee shops over the years, here's some old ads, from the Saratoga Springs Public Library
Also, I read that coffee became a popular drink during the times of the American Revolution, namely the Battle of Saratoga for this blog's purposes. It was because of the Boston Tea Party, that made tea no longer the choice drink, coffee forever taking over as the choice drink in America. A glimpse into life during the American Revolution in Saratoga, can be read about here, where Baroness Reidesel at one point, speaks of tea being replaced by coffee, due to the Boston Tea Party and duties placed on tea. https://books.google.com/books?id=q4UBAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
It seems racing and coffee have always kept this town buzzin' about! I hope nothing but continued success for the local favorite, now an international obsession, and employer of some every close friends of mine, DEATH WISH COFFEE.
