If a member of The Bridge golf club in Bridgehampton, having failed to check his scheduled tee time, drove up the driveway to the clubhouse to play 18 holes of golf on Saturday September 17, he would have found the golf course overrun by 334 automobiles.
They would be on the fairways, the greens, alongside the sand traps, up top of hills and down in the valleys, adjacent to the clubhouse and the caddy shop, all shined up and parked with nobody in them.
The cars had all been driven up there during the night and earlier in the day on the same road as the golf club driveway, but the cars’ drivers would know that driveway by another name — the Millstone Turn and, a little later on for it is a long driveway — the put-the-pedal-to-the-metal Main Straightaway before the Millstone Turn.
Yes, the golf club, opened in 2002, is called The Bridge. But before that, a world famous 2.8-mile race track also known as The Bridge occupied this 400-acre property from 1957 to 1992.
During that era, thousands of spectators sat in the stands to watch and cheer on powerful, high-speed automobiles driven by some of the most legendary racing car drivers in the world roaring through the curves of this track at speeds exceeding 150 miles an hour for trophies and prizes.
But on this day, the golf course called The Bridge, in a salute to that long-ago era, was hosting a car show of racing cars, antique cars, experimental cars, gold winged cars, odd looking cars and astronomically expensive cars (think half a million dollars).
They’d been assembled here on this site by owners from all around the country for viewing by crowds of specially invited guests who, if they chose to come, each paid $225 for the privilege of being there. Advised as festive dress, garden party clothes and, for the women, no heels, it was probably the biggest private event of the 2022 season.
Proceeds benefit Southampton Youth Services.
Guests included Christie Brinkley, Candace Bushnell, Jon Bon Jovi and Nicole Miller, and they and others enjoyed a day inside the clubhouse, on the golf course and at the pro shop which had been renamed for the day in honor of the promoter of this event Richard Mille, live music, drinks and food from various vendors occupying interesting kiosks around the property.
It was a glorious, end-of-summer sunny day. Temperature around 75°. And for those who were there, it was a completely unique and extraordinary day that would not be soon forgotten.
