To the Editor:

I thought I’d pass along the latest news of the indomitable Sir Ken Bailey of Voorheesville. Our intrepid World War II Army veteran checked another item off his bucket list this past Saturday when he climbed through the window of a 650HP stock car at the Pocono Raceway, NASCAR’s “Tricky Triangle,” in Long Pond, Pennsylvania and took a few laps around the track at speeds exceeding 200 miles per hour.

At Christmas 2015, Alyssa Bailey gave her dad, Christopher Bailey, and great-grandfather, Ken, ride tickets from Stock Car Racing Experience at the Pocono track. Their rides were postponed twice during the summer due to weather conditions, so Saturday would most likely have been their last opportunity of the year, and it turned out to be a beautiful sunny morning with very comfortable temperatures.

Ken and Christopher were issued fire suits and escorted to their cars, Chris in #1 and Ken in #2. Ken’s car had an appropriate red, white, and blue, stars-and-stripes motif. After the first lap, Chris’s car was in the lead. When they came into view the second time, Ken’s car had taken a commanding lead, which it held all the way to the end of the “race.”

It was later confirmed that Ken, who turns 95 in February 2017, now holds the track record as the oldest person to ever participate in the Stock Car Racing Experience.

In attendance at the track on Saturday, along with Ken and Chris, were Janis Bailey, Alyssa Bailey, Ryan Bailey, Nate Van Anden, and myself.

Mark Yingling

Clifton Park