{"id":460258,"date":"2004-09-01T06:30:49","date_gmt":"2004-09-01T13:30:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportscardigest.com\/\/?p=97692"},"modified":"2024-01-04T22:29:32","modified_gmt":"2024-01-04T22:29:32","slug":"who-was-grandpa-gritzback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/who-was-grandpa-gritzback\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Was Grandpa Gritzback?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='memberful-global-teaser-content'>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The happy driver you see here is not Henry Gr\u00aditzback, aka \u201cGram\u00adpa.\u201d How I came to know that is a minor detective story I hope you\u2019ll enjoy.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">My dad\u2019s photo archive includes several thousand 4&#215;5-inch negatives, many of which depict his lifelong enthusiasm for racing. According to Ozzie\u2019s notes on the paper neg sleeves, he took the earliest shots in 1938. Others are dated post-WWII. On one envelope he penciled a name, \u201cGrampa Gritzback,\u201d and gave the location as Altamont, New York. His date is imprecise\u2014\u201ccirca 1950.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<style>\n        .memberful-global-teaser-content p:last-child{\n            -webkit-mask-image: linear-gradient(180deg, #000 0%, transparent);\n            mask-image: linear-gradient(180deg, #000 0%, transparent);\n        }\n    <\/style>\n<div class='memberful-global-marketing-content'>\n<div class=\"a07online-global-marketing-content-wrapper\">\n<h2 class=\"a07online-global-marketing-title\">No Subscription? You&#8217;re missing out<\/h2>\n<p class=\"a07online-global-marketing-content\">Any Text Here<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"a07online-global-marketing-prompt\" href=\"https:\/\/supercars.memberful.com\/checkout?plan=86696\">Get Started<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"a07online-global-marketing-signin\">\n<h4 class=\"a07online-global-marketing-signin\">Already a Member? <a href=\"https:\/\/supercars.memberful.com\/account\">Sign in to your account here<\/a>.<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The happy driver you see here is not Henry Gr\u00aditzback, aka \u201cGram\u00adpa.\u201d How I came to know that is a minor detective story I hope you\u2019ll enjoy. My dad\u2019s photo archive includes several thousand 4&#215;5-inch negatives, many of which depict his lifelong enthusiasm for racing. According to Ozzie\u2019s notes on the paper neg sleeves, he took the earliest shots in 1938. Others are dated post-WWII. On one envelope he penciled a name, \u201cGrampa Gritzback,\u201d and gave the location as Altamont, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":187,"featured_media":690807,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[263,11272,261,18207],"tags":[18322,17152,17140,548,12165,17143,17204],"class_list":["post-460258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-car-culture","category-members-only","category-motorsport-racing","category-special-feature","tag-2000s-all","tag-car-culture","tag-members-only","tag-motorsport","tag-chris-economaki","tag-special-feature","tag-vrr-column-fast-lines"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Who Was Grandpa Gritzback?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"With a little help from Chris Economaki, Pete Lyons unravels an early American dirt track mystery.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/who-was-grandpa-gritzback\/\" \/>\n<link rel=\"next\" href=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/who-was-grandpa-gritzback\/2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Who Was Grandpa Gritzback?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"With a little help from Chris Economaki, Pete Lyons unravels an early American dirt track mystery.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/who-was-grandpa-gritzback\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Supercars.net\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Supercars.net\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2004-09-01T13:30:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-01-04T22:29:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2004\/09\/FL200409-p1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"576\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Pete Lyons\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@supercars_net\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@supercars_net\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Pete Lyons\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/who-was-grandpa-gritzback\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/who-was-grandpa-gritzback\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Pete Lyons\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/dee0dc3e0ea3204e52a659a117d5f67f\"},\"headline\":\"Who Was Grandpa Gritzback?\",\"datePublished\":\"2004-09-01T13:30:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-04T22:29:32+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/who-was-grandpa-gritzback\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1112,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/who-was-grandpa-gritzback\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2004\\\/09\\\/FL200409-p1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"2000s All\",\"Car Culture\",\"Members Only\",\"Motorsport &amp; Racing\",\"People (Chris Economaki)\",\"Special Feature\",\"VRR Column (Fast Lines)\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Car Culture\",\"Members Only\",\"Motorsport &amp; Racing\",\"Special Feature\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/who-was-grandpa-gritzback\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/who-was-grandpa-gritzback\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/who-was-grandpa-gritzback\\\/\",\"name\":\"Who Was Grandpa Gritzback?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/who-was-grandpa-gritzback\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/who-was-grandpa-gritzback\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2004\\\/09\\\/FL200409-p1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2004-09-01T13:30:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-04T22:29:32+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/dee0dc3e0ea3204e52a659a117d5f67f\"},\"description\":\"With a little help from Chris Economaki, Pete Lyons unravels an early American dirt track mystery.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/who-was-grandpa-gritzback\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/who-was-grandpa-gritzback\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2004\\\/09\\\/FL200409-p1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2004\\\/09\\\/FL200409-p1.jpg\",\"width\":1080,\"height\":576,\"caption\":\"Few American fans had access to road courses in the 1930s and 1940s. For most, auto racing came only to local fairgrounds like this one in Altamont, NY. Calling the action from the pagoda just might be a young Chris Economaki. Photo: Ozzie Lyons - www.petelyons.com\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Supercars.net\",\"description\":\"Exotic and Supercar news, information, pictures and videos\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/dee0dc3e0ea3204e52a659a117d5f67f\",\"name\":\"Pete Lyons\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/10\\\/Screenshot-2023-10-28-at-1.02.22\u202fPM-293x293.png\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/10\\\/Screenshot-2023-10-28-at-1.02.22\u202fPM-293x293.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/10\\\/Screenshot-2023-10-28-at-1.02.22\u202fPM-293x293.png\",\"caption\":\"Pete Lyons\"},\"description\":\"Pete Lyons is an international motorsports reporter, photographer and award-winning book author in the fields of Formula 1, Can-Am, Endurance sports cars, Indycar, Trans-Am and many more forms of the sport. In his decades-long, worldwide career, Lyons has authored 14 books and also been a staff and\\\/or freelance contributor of stories and\\\/or pictures to numerous enthusiast publications, including Autosport, AutoWeek, Car and Driver, Road & Track, Vintage Motorsport and many others. His honors include 2 Dean Batchelor Awards for Excellence in Journalism, and a Lifetime Achievement Award.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/pete-lyons\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Who Was Grandpa Gritzback?","description":"With a little help from Chris Economaki, Pete Lyons unravels an early American dirt track mystery.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/who-was-grandpa-gritzback\/","next":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/who-was-grandpa-gritzback\/2\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Who Was Grandpa Gritzback?","og_description":"With a little help from Chris Economaki, Pete Lyons unravels an early American dirt track mystery.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/who-was-grandpa-gritzback\/","og_site_name":"Supercars.net","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Supercars.net\/","article_published_time":"2004-09-01T13:30:49+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-01-04T22:29:32+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1080,"height":576,"url":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2004\/09\/FL200409-p1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Pete Lyons","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@supercars_net","twitter_site":"@supercars_net","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Pete Lyons","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/who-was-grandpa-gritzback\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/who-was-grandpa-gritzback\/"},"author":{"name":"Pete Lyons","@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/dee0dc3e0ea3204e52a659a117d5f67f"},"headline":"Who Was Grandpa Gritzback?","datePublished":"2004-09-01T13:30:49+00:00","dateModified":"2024-01-04T22:29:32+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/who-was-grandpa-gritzback\/"},"wordCount":1112,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/who-was-grandpa-gritzback\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2004\/09\/FL200409-p1.jpg","keywords":["2000s All","Car Culture","Members Only","Motorsport &amp; Racing","People (Chris Economaki)","Special Feature","VRR Column (Fast Lines)"],"articleSection":["Car Culture","Members Only","Motorsport &amp; Racing","Special Feature"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/who-was-grandpa-gritzback\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/who-was-grandpa-gritzback\/","url":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/who-was-grandpa-gritzback\/","name":"Who Was Grandpa Gritzback?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/who-was-grandpa-gritzback\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/who-was-grandpa-gritzback\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2004\/09\/FL200409-p1.jpg","datePublished":"2004-09-01T13:30:49+00:00","dateModified":"2024-01-04T22:29:32+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/dee0dc3e0ea3204e52a659a117d5f67f"},"description":"With a little help from Chris Economaki, Pete Lyons unravels an early American dirt track mystery.","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/who-was-grandpa-gritzback\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/who-was-grandpa-gritzback\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2004\/09\/FL200409-p1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2004\/09\/FL200409-p1.jpg","width":1080,"height":576,"caption":"Few American fans had access to road courses in the 1930s and 1940s. For most, auto racing came only to local fairgrounds like this one in Altamont, NY. Calling the action from the pagoda just might be a young Chris Economaki. Photo: Ozzie Lyons - www.petelyons.com"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/","name":"Supercars.net","description":"Exotic and Supercar news, information, pictures and videos","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/dee0dc3e0ea3204e52a659a117d5f67f","name":"Pete Lyons","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Screenshot-2023-10-28-at-1.02.22\u202fPM-293x293.png","url":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Screenshot-2023-10-28-at-1.02.22\u202fPM-293x293.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Screenshot-2023-10-28-at-1.02.22\u202fPM-293x293.png","caption":"Pete Lyons"},"description":"Pete Lyons is an international motorsports reporter, photographer and award-winning book author in the fields of Formula 1, Can-Am, Endurance sports cars, Indycar, Trans-Am and many more forms of the sport. In his decades-long, worldwide career, Lyons has authored 14 books and also been a staff and\/or freelance contributor of stories and\/or pictures to numerous enthusiast publications, including Autosport, AutoWeek, Car and Driver, Road & Track, Vintage Motorsport and many others. His honors include 2 Dean Batchelor Awards for Excellence in Journalism, and a Lifetime Achievement Award.","url":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/author\/pete-lyons\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/187"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=460258"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460258\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/690807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=460258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=460258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=460258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}