Racing cars burn the roads in a reality TV road race in Tuxedo

History abounds along the course, even if the cars are going too fast to notice, By Bill Lemanski Tuxedo - The Sterling Forest section of Tuxedo was the venue for a reality TV show road racing event last Friday and Saturday as souped-up racing cars screamed along Warwick Brook Road and Long Meadow Road. Police closed both Warwick Brook Road where the starting and finish lines were located along with Long Meadow Road and a section of Route 17 south to enable the cars to lineup before the starting line. The approximately 50 cars ran a circuit from the Quarry Field starting line off Route 17 to the DPW garage and back with many turning in times of approximately three and a half minutes at speeds around exceeding one-hundred miles per hour. Early Friday morning one car upset and turned over injuring the driver who was rushed to Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern. One race official noted that the road was somewhat difficult due to a less than smooth and level surface with bumpy locations sections. Bootleggers and murder The 3.9 mile round trip race circuit followed a bucolic route at dizzing speeds through rolling forest and past picturesque lakes. The beginning of the east-west Warwick Brook leg of the race at Quarry field was originally the location of the first Tuxedo golf course and passed a few private residences currently on the road. The start-end location is almost exactly where an unsolved murder was committed in September 1928. Motorcycle Trooper Carl T. Wilder was gunned down near that location within 100 yards of the north gate of Tuxedo Park and died later in the long closed Tuxedo Memorial Hospital. The homicide, purportedly committed by bootleggers from Greenwood Lake, was never solved. The north-south Long Meadow Road run began opposite the former International Paper Company facility at the end of Warwick Brook Road then continued south to the west of the sequestered enclave of Tuxedo Park. The turnaround was at the DPW garage where the location is notable for the mine head of a long ago abandoned iron ore mine elevator towering over the road on the west side of the road and the enormous mountains of mulch in front of the garage on the east side. The Tuxedo race is part of a multi-series competition that is being held throughout the summer across the country. The show, with a reality theme focusing on the drivers and their interaction will air on the Versus Network (formerly the Outdoor Life Network) next October.