By Jason Levy

For Oceanside native Marty Himes, automobile racing falls somewhere between air and water when it comes to life’s necessities. It would be impossible to imagine his life without cars, racetracks, and the people who brought it all together. All you have to do is drive past his house to see the cars in his yard and track signs across his fence. And once you step inside his house, you will see that his love of all things auto racing is no mere hobby or even passion. Since his birth in 1939, racing is Marty Himes’ life, and his house is the Himes Museum of Motor Racing Nostalgia in Bay Shore, N.Y.

Since 1975, Himes has been collecting anything racing related, starting with a single picture of one of his racing idols, Bill Schindler. Over the years, his collection has grown to include thousands of pictures, posters, racing programs, toys, models, t-shirts, trophies, helmets, uniforms, 125 pounds of film negatives, and the cars themselves. On display in his yard and garage are four full midgets, eight 3/4 midgets, three half midgets, nine stock cars, one early sprint car, and three soapbox derby cars, including the one he first drove when he was 12-years-old in 1952. Many of the cars are still in running condition.

Of the thousands of collectibles in his museum, one that stands out to Himes is his one-of-a-kind bust of Bill Schindler. The trophy was built as a memorial to the one-legged driver after his death in 1952 during an accident at the Allentown Fairgrounds in Allentown, PA. Along with the trophy, Himes has Schindler’s uniform, and a picture of himself as a child next to Schindler wearing the same uniform.

Toward the back of the museum/house are trophies Himes has set aside, away from the rest. These are his own personal trophies from his racing career, and he wanted to keep them separate from the others. “My trophies used to be mixed in with everybody else’s,” he said, “but because I’m not getting any younger, let me get my trophies in one spot in case something happens to me. At least my family will know these are mine.”

Right behind all his trophies are several miniature models of race cars which are derived from cars Himes drove himself, including the sprint car Himes says is the car he had the most fun in. “When I bought it, it took me three years to convince the guy to sell it,” Himes said. “I finally convinced him to sell it to me and then he said to me ‘Just listen to me once, I’m only gonna tell you once. Don’t touch the car.’ And he was 100-percent right because I took that car out and I just changed the gear ratio…and I took it out on dirt tracks and pavement tracks and it’s an absolute perfect car.” He still has that actual car and a few of the other cars still in good condition in a trailer in his yard.

It was because of Himes’ vast connections in the auto-racing industry that he was able to accumulate everything he has in his museum. In the beginning, Himes didn’t expect it to go this far, but after the first couple of years, he realized this wasn’t just a collection anymore. In July, he received a collection of midget racing car models valued at over $1,100 from a donor that had never visited the museum, but wanted his memorabilia to be part of the museum.

“This probably wouldn’t have been too easy for a guy who wasn’t involved in racing,” he said. “Because I had a good reputation and I had a lot of friends, I never had any problems. People said ‘Let’s go through the attic or the basement or the closets and see what we’ve got.’ And this is what happened.”

Himes’ love of auto racing flourished during his childhood. One of his first jobs was to park cars across the street from Freeport Stadium during the races. “One night, I wondered what was going on in there, because I was never in there before,” he said. “It was a Tuesday night, Nassau County Police Boys Club was there sponsoring the kids soapbox derby. I said ‘Wow, that looks like a pretty neat idea. I think we’ll go home and build one of those.’ So we did and came back and the rest is history.”

As Himes got older, he progressed to cars with engines, and became quite proficient behind the wheel. In 1962, he won the novice track championship at Freeport without winning a single race, combining several top-five finishes to earn enough points for the title. Himes would ride in every division he could at Freeport. During a driver’s strike in 1965, Himes raced at other local racetracks, including Riverhead and Islip, before ultimately settling at the Islip Speedway, which was Long Island’s NASCAR home at the time.

When people think about New York sports, they usually associate Long Island with the Mets, Jets or Islanders, but auto racing has been a part of the Long Island sports scene for nearly a century. There were once over 40 racetracks throughout the Long Island region, according to Himes. They included the Bronx Coliseum, Island Gardens in West Hempstead, Long Island Arena in Commack, Madison Square Garden Bowl on Northern Boulevard and Kingsbridge Armory in the Bronx, which hosted only four or five shows. Himes has the only known program from Kingsbridge in his collection.

There were also tracks in Babylon, Mineola, Maspeth, Deer Park, Cedarhurst, Brentwood, Bay Ridge, Brighton Beach, and Sheepshead Bay. Even the Polo Grounds at one point also featured auto racing. Himes has programs, posters, and articles from just about every one of them in more than one dozen, thick binders in his garage.

Himes laments the decline of racing on Long Island even as the sport’s popularity has soared throughout the rest of the country. Only Riverhead Raceway on the eastern end of the Island is still operational. “I feel sad for all of them, but I feel sad especially for Freeport and Islip because they were my home tracks,” he said. “I grew up there.”

Himes does not charge patrons to see his museum, but does accept donations. Visitors come from all over the world to see the museum. Himes remembers a German tourist who asked to build a slot-car version of his Ace of Spades car, which is still fully functional and sits to the side of his house. He gave the man permission without asking for anything in return.

Some days the museum gets 15-20 visitors; other days see fewer or none. “You’re dealing with the public, so you don’t know,” Himes said. “The weather and people’s vacations have a lot to do with it. I’ve had people here from China, Japan, Australia, Germany, all over.”