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#700 - The calm before the din. Big Jim
McElreath has almost a placid look as he piles on his
tear-offs prior to hopping into the Genesee Beer Wagon for
the 1978 Syracuse 100. He wasn’t gonna be placid in about
five minutes – and he got fourth.
(Harry Cella Photo) |
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#699 - It always seems to happen. We
just released some
our brand new Parnelli Jones book, and already folks are
sending in cool and relevant photos. Here’s one from Dale
Snyder, veteran racing videographer from Nazareth, PA.
That’s Parnelli out on the edge of a heavy Langhorne with
his traveling companion and racing combatant, Jim Hurtubise.
As you can see, neither was too generous to the other about
that extra inch. We sure would have liked to have this one
for the book!
(Dale Snyder Collection) |
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#698 - There was pageantry – and action
– on the night of November 11 at the 4/10 mile oval at
Charlotte. It was the final show for the WoO Sprint cars for
2012. A sellout crowd –- and photographer Dave Dalesandro –
grooved on the fireworks on the parade lap. Fireworks were
offered up again in the final laps by Dave Blaney who
out-dueled charging Paul McMahan in a torrid battle for the
prestigious win.
(Dave Dalesandro Photo) |
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#697 - It was April 14, 2010, the track at Fonda
was heavy with the water table of spring. Doug Zupan was
right there “with my old camera” in the first turn at this
moment when Danny “the Doctor” Johnson came by. He wasn’t
on the hook, he was on call. On the hammer or what! (Doug
Zupan Photo) |
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#696 - Our friend Jim Smith sent in this
classic midget image and the accompanying caption: “Norwalk,
CT, has always been a hotbed of racing activity. ARDC
champion car owner Rich Hennessy hailed from the city, as
does Don Lajoie (Nationwide Series champ Randy’s father),
and most recently NASCAR 2011 modified champion Ronnie Silk.
This photo shows another competitor from Norwalk who passed
away on November 14th at the too-early age of 70. Frank
Gehlin is pictured with car owner Frank Fahey (L), starter
Frank Ferrara, and NEMA president John McCarthy (R) after a
100-lap win at Westboro Speedway in 1967. Frank backed this
win up with another one at Westboro a few weeks later in his
own # 98 Offy, finishing 3rd in the 1967 NEMA point
standings. A frequent competitor with NEMA and ARDC, Frank’s
career was halted by head injuries received at the half-mile
Nazareth (PA) Speedway in 1968. Those injuries, coupled with
a string of fatal incidents during the same year finally
forced both ARDC and NEMA to make roll cages mandatory
beginning in 1969.”
(Frank Gehlin Collection) |
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#695 - Yet another sign of the Indy
roadsters’ last hurrah. Karl Ludvigsen writes, “Designers
were still striving [in the mid-sixties] to improve and
lighten up the traditional roadster to keep it competitive
with the new mid-engined ‘funny cars.’ This new chassis by
Eddie Kuzma carried its steering rack bolted to the tubular
front axle as unsprung weight. This had the merit of
providing absolutely rigid and precise guidance of the front
wheels with respect to the axle, eliminating any effects
caused by jounce and rebound. Detailed refinements were not
enough to save the front-engined roadsters.” From
INDY CARS of the SIXTIES.
(Photo from Ludvigsen
Library Series) |
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-#694 - It was dubbed “The Great Midget
Race” and its two segments were aired on the “Tonight Show.’
Jay Leno and Paul Newman went at it twice with karts, and
Newman won ’em both. Jay Leno chided Newman for “jumping the
start,” but, in fairness, of the two, Newman seemed the far
more comfortable behind the wheel. From
WINNING – the Racing Life of Paul Newman, by Matt
Stone and Preston Lerner. (Photo by Dave Bjerke) |
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#693 - In his book about racing in the
sixties in Southeast Ohio and neighboring West Virginia,
Tony Martin has this to say: “In 1959 Jim Cushman brought
the first winged race car, the Aerodynamic Special, to
Atomic Raceway. I guess I was so excited to get this photo
of racing history, I forgot to focus the camera properly.
The rudders were geared to turn with the steering to make
the car handle better but were found to be just too heavy
for any benefit. Note the width of the wing which was
reported to be a section of a P51 fighter wing. Despite
running slicks that night on the dirt, Cushman was able to
finish second in the feature.” From ECHOES OF THUNDER IN
THE HILLS, by Tony Martin. (Tony Martin Photo) |
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#692 Racing’s bummers are nothing new. How about
this one. Young Eddie Russo was coming on strong in the big
car race on the Syracuse mile in September of 1953. But then
he crashed. The reason: A piece of newspaper flew in his
face, and he spun. The car was pretty dislocated, and so,
too, was Russo’s shoulder. From
Damn Few Died in Bed, by Thomas F. Saal. (Tom Reel
Collection) |
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#691 - Highly respected and
knowledgeable citizen of Florida’s racing community Marty
Little is pretty proud of his younger brother, David. Here’s
what Marty has to say. "David was first involved
with our family-owned Winston Cup team, Tilitco Enterprises,
with driver Randy Tissot. For the 1976 season the team
concentrated on the old NASCAR Late Model Sportsman division
(pre-Busch Series) with several good finishes, including a
runner-up effort at Talladega. David subsequently went on
his own for a short time before landing with former
Miami-based Rahmoc and their laundry list of drivers in the
No. 75 cars. From Rahmoc it was off to the famed Junior
Johnson & Associates in the mid 1980s with the
Budweiser-backed Chevrolet team, Neil Bonnett at the wheel.
David then teamed with the Stavola Brothers and driver Bobby
Hillin in the Snickers-sponsored Buicks. 1990 was the year
David was recruited for the new Penske effort in 1990,
becoming one of the ten original hires when then-named
Penske Racing South went into business. He has been there
ever since. In the photo attached from the NASCAR Awards
Banquet on November 30, David is thanked by Roger Penske for
his long-time services.” (Little Family Photo) |
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#690 - There was much merriment at the
season opening California 500 in 1974. Tony Hulman and “Mom”
Unser joined in after Bobby Unser swept to the win. His
Olsonite Eagle team had been experimenting with ground
effects for the first time. Owner Dan Gurney was clearly
psyched, as shown here standing on the engine. He really
needed to lose those pants, though. From
DAN GURNEY’S EAGLE RACING CARS, by John Zimmerman.
(Pete Piro Photo/AAR Archives) |
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#689 - It was 1978, the year the World
of Outlaws went on the road. That’s Doug Wolfgang working
with what he had. It was just before the time of more
elegant travel with upstairs/downstairs enclosed trailers
and mobile hotels. But one thing for sure: Doug didn’t have
to worry about going to the health club. Check out those
biceps. From
LONE WOLF, by Doug Wolfgang with Dave Argabright.
(John Mahoney Photo) |
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#688 - Four brave men, Bob Welborn
(Pole), Shorty Rollins (outside), and Fritz Wilson and Tom
Pistone brought the field down to the start of the very
first Daytona 500 in 1959. But were any of them braver than
the starter, Johnny Bruner Sr.?
From
DAYTONA 500: Official History, by Bob Zeller |
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#687 - J.C. Agajanian and mechanic Frank
McGurk brought a modified Kurtis 500G to the Brickyard for
Troy Ruttman in 1958. It was one colorful team, but the
environment in Ruttman’s office was on the Spartan side.
There were the transmission, the fuel shutoff, and the kill
switch….From
INDY CARS OF THE 1950s, Introduction
by Karl Ludvigsen. |
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#686 - Dan Wheldon in 2008. From THE
BRITISH AT INDIANAPOLIS, by Ian Wagstaff. (Author’s
Collection) |
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#685 - In his Autosports how-to-race
books, Steve Smith has been advising racers about how to get
around more quickly for years. He’s also been quite clear on
things not to do, if you want to keep goin’ around. A good
example is this massively formidable head rest. “Bounce your
helmet off this one and you’ll be seeing stars,”
he
says. From
STREET STOCK CHASSIS TECHNOLOGY, by Steve Smith. |
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#684 - Harry Cella captured this image
of Rene Charland a few years back at Syracuse. It is so hard
to conceive of the once hyper-caffeinated Champ now at rest,
so totally inactive, in a nursing home in Amsterdam, NY. He
always had his foot on the pedal and an edgy comment for any
occasion. He told me once, “All those drivers’ wives get
pretty worked up about me, you know. But I don’t have time
to mess with them ‘cause I’m too busy out beating their
husbands.” (Harry Cella Photo) |
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#683 - Jimmy Bryan ran his first Indy
500 in 1952. Two years later he was way fast, ending up
second. In 1955 he came to Indiana with high hopes. He was
aboard a Kuzma-Offy wrenched by Clint Brawner, bills paid by
Dean Van Lines. They blew. The Cowboy finally got his
Brickyard triumph in 1958. Photo from
INDY CARS of
the 1950s, Introduction by Karl Ludvigsen. |
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#682 - Hudson Hornets won more AAA and
NASCAR races than any other brand from 1951 through 1954. It
was pretty amazing because the bulky cars were definitely
overweight, powered by in-line sixes rather than V-8s. But
driver Marshall Teague really liked the low center of
gravity, and he taught the factory so much about piping up
the straight sixes that the cars became know as
“Teaguemobiles.” Here’s an early dual-carb setup on a Hudson
six driven by Tim Flock. From
FAMOUS STOCK CAR ENGINES, by John Carollo and Bill
Holder. (Bob Fairman Photo) |
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#681 - In his latest book with Bones
Bourcier, Bill Simpson is just as ornery as ever. But so
much of what he says carries that resilient ring of the
truth. Here’s what he says about this image: “Every time I
see one of today’s spoiled brat racers climb out of the
family toterhome, I want to remind them just how easy
they’ve got things. I once hauled my dragster from Los
Angeles to Virginia with this fancy rig.” From
THROUGH THE FIRE, by Bill Simpson with Bones
Bourcier. (Bill Simpson Collection) |
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#680 - Curtis “Pops” Turner drove a hard
bargain, whether winning or losing fortunes on timberland
sales or making his way forcibly to the front in some 360
auto races. Here he’s shown in a Holman Moody ragtop
working over Marvin Panch off the turn at the Beach on
February 22, 1958. From NASCAR - THE
THUNDER OF
AMERICA
1948-1998 (Daytona Racing Archives Photo) |
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#679 - Ultra-talented Californian Eylard
Theodore “Ted” Horn ventured East from California in 1934
and never went back. He was Central States Racing Champ in
1941 and 1945, top dog with AAA 1946,’47 and ’48. He usually
ran right up front at Indy, but was never quite able to seal
the deal. He was popular – and handsome, as evident in this
shot of him in the car he called “Baby”. He died at DuQuoin
in 1948. From
THE RIM RIDERS: The World’s Fastest Racing Circuit,
by Buzz Rose. (Phil Harms Collection) |
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#678 - Ayrton Senna won three World
Championships in a ten-year run beginning in 1984 and has
been voted the greatest Formula One driver ever. After he
died leading the San Marino Grand Prix in 1994, three days
of national mourning were declared in his native Brazil. The
documentary DVD,
SENNA – No Fear, No Limits, No Equal – has truly
stunning and touching footage and is easily one of our most
popular items this season. |
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#677 - Stirling Moss once said: “Some
people liked to throw the car around. But I had seen ‘Nino’
Farina drive. He looked so relaxed. I sort of modeled my
style on his. I liked to lean back, in the straight-arm
position, because that way you had more control than if you
were close by. Smoothness was everything.” Photo and Caption
from
REAL RACERS: Formula 1 Racing in the 1950s and 1960s,
by Stuart Codling. (Klemantaski Collection Photo) |
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#676 - Our buddy in Ohio, Bruce Pike,
used to run Riverside Park in Agawam, MA, on Tuesday nights,
along with the occasional fling out to Empire Raceway in
Menands, NY. He sent us this rare photo of Hall of Famer Moe
“Money Bags” Gherzi at the Park. For a short period starting
in the mid- to late-fifties, late model specials were run as
an alternative to the normal coupes and coaches. The cars
were often pretty, but generally not too fast. That was a
good thing. Take a look at the rather minimalist “roll bar”
on Moe’s Ford – and at the way the bends in the tubing were
made.
(Bruce Pike Collection) |
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#675 - Scotsman Jim Crawford joined the
Menard Team for the Brickyard in 1990. In practice, he spun
and drilled the wall in the South short chute and went
impressively aerial. Amazingly his injuries were minor – so
minor, in fact, that he was able to soldier home for 15th in
the 500. From
THE ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF THE INDIANAPOLIS 500: 1911-1994,
by Jack C. Fox. |
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#674 - When drag racing took first flight in
California at places like
Goleta,
Santa Ana, Saugus
and Salinas
in the early 1950s, the majority of the machinery consisted
of hot rods from the street and cars from the dry lake speed
runs. That was to change quite quickly, however. In 1951
Bob Rounthwaite and Tom McLaughlin showed up with “the
Thingie.” It was one of the very first rail-job designs
with the driver atop the rear end. Everybody move back.
From
OLD HOT RODS SCRAPBOOK, by Don Montgomery.
(Bob Rounthwaite Collection) |
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#673 - It was 1954, and the pit areas in
the Northeast overflowed with all manner of race cars. The
fan favorite at Seekonk and Westboro Speedways was this hulk
of a car wheeled by the incomparable “Smokey Joe” DelGinio.
That Graham coach with its supercharger was the hot setup,
and Smokey was red hot, too, with his omnipresent stogie.
(Howard White Photo, RA Silvia Collection) |
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#672 - That Al Novotnik is at it again. (See
Photo of the Day #559). The Connecticut-based open wheel
aficionado and craftsman extraordinaire has hand built this
exquisite quarter-scale model of Kurtis Kraft midget
0-86-47. According to Bill Montgomery’s
KURTIS-KRAFT MIDGET GENEALOGY (Companion Edition),
the chassis at one time housed an Offy and a V8-60, but
whatever was in it, it was Georgie Rice’s favorite ride. The
original full sized #36, originally owned by Eddie Bourgnon,
is now lovingly cared for by Long Islander Bill St. George,
a kingpin of The Atlantic Coast Old Timers traveling club.
(Al Novotnik Photo) |
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#671 - Our buddy “Wrench-it Rich”
Mersereau always has his perspective, this time being that
‘it ain’t over ‘til it’s over’. He sent us this image of
Danny Lasoski at the WoO opener at Volusia County (FL)
Speedway in 2006. He wrote: “Danny came in after hot laps
and declared with a very worried look that ‘either the
u-joint is cracked or the engine is about to blow.’ With no
time to fix either, he decided to take one quick qualifying
lap, then pull off and fix the problem. He timed in 10th,
pulled the engine, changed the u-joint, stuck the engine
back in the car just in time to roll off on the outside pole
of the 3rd heat. He won the heat, dash, and feature to kick
the season off in style.” (Rich Mersereau Collection) |
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#670
- Next Memorial Day will be 100 years since Willie Haupt
pulled into the pits at Indy, dismounted, and watched as his
crew changed the right rear. Haupt hustled his Mason, race
cars constructed by the Duesenberg Brothers, to a
ninth-place finish in the 27-car field. From
The Illustrated History
of the Indianapolis
500: 1911-1994, by Jack C. Fox. |
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#669 - A happy day in the Hoosier State
in 2005. Danica Patrick became the first woman to lead a lap
at Indy and, fact is, she was leading with ten to go and had
a legitimate shot at the win. She ended up fourth, again a
first for a woman driver. Do you think her team co-owner
Bobby Rahal was pleased? From
TALES FROM THE INDIANAPOLIS 500, by Jack Arute.
(IMS Photo) |
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#668 - Frank
Simek, that “Guy with the Hat,” sent us this photo of one of
those heavy moments. Here’s what he said: “Thought you might
like this one. Unfortunately, the shooter is totally
unknown, but here are the facts. The guy in the uniform that
looks upset is Tony Bettenhausen, the guy he is looking at
(lighting the cigarette) is Charlie Sacks (of the Sacks-Hal
Offy Killer fame), and the guy biting his thumbnail is A. J.
Foyt. Charlie is firing Bettenhausen and replacing him with
Foyt at the Allentown Fairgrounds in 1959.” (Pete Sacks
Collection) |
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#667 - Here is another (see
Photo of the Day #526) of the great
African-American open wheeler “Rajo Jack.” Apparently his
real name was John DeSoto, but he became so widely known for
racing heads produced by the Rajo Company in the 1920s that
everyone referred to him by his nickname. He is shown here
late in his career, on Sunday afternoon, July 7, 1946, after
a slip on a slippery track and an ensuing encounter with the
wall at the 5/8th mile Oakland (CA) Stadium. He died of a
heart attack a decade later, his death certificate
identifying him as Rajo Jack in perpetuity. From
A HISTORY OF OAKLAND STADIUM 1946-1955, by Tom
Motter. (Russ Reed Photo/Motter Collection) |
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#666 - Ace Nutmeg State photographer,
John DaDalt sent us this image. He has no idea where it was
or who took it, but he thinks it’s pretty cool. So do we.
(John DaDalt Collection) |
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#665 - The frost is on the pumpkin up
here in New England, and, as always this time of year, some
thoughts begin to reach out to the February splendor of
Speed Weeks and the Daytona 500. It is remarkable to
contemplate just how much the scene in Florida has changed.
Overlay this image in your mind on the current first turn of
the Superspeedway. It’s the parade lap back on February 26,
1956. Tim Flock (#300-A) and Speedy Thompson pace a huge
field into the old South Turn. Just think about what it must
have been like to pass on that guitar string of a
road-turned-race track. From FULLY JEWELLED, Stock Car
Racing 1951-1956, As Told to Russ Hamilton. (Russ
Hamilton Photo) |
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#664 - Here’s Scotsman Jimmy Clark
playing the bagpipes after the 1963 Indy 500. He looks a
little race-worn; he had just finished second to Parnelli
Jones. Where Clark really did a tune on Indy, though, was
his leading role in the international rear-engine invasion
of the sixties. He would win the 500 in 1965. From
THE INDY 500 1956-1965, by Ben Lawrence with W.C.
Madden and Christopher Baas. (Ben Lawrence Photo) |
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#663 - Officials
at the Los Angeles Coliseum were pretty busy with their
midget shows in 1946. They pulled in over 60,000 to watch a
250-lapper. Mel Hansen (flipping), Bob Pankratz (#32), and
Danny Oakes (#10) also had their hands full. From
THE MIGHTY MIDGETS,
by Jack C. Fox. (Fox Collection) |
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#662 - This is a Hudson replica that was
produced as a display for the debut of the CARS film at
Charlotte in 2005. In truth, although the original Hudson
Hornets were the hot setup for racing, this one was even
quicker. Its chassis was actually Kyle Petty’s Craftsman
Truck. Verifying its speed was the late Paul Newman, then a
sprightly 80 years of age. He toured the oval at 165 mph.
From
WINNING – The Racing Life of Paul Newman, by Matt
Stone. (Jeff Siner Photo ) |
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#661 - The Marmon, a luxury car built
from 1931-1933, boasted a 16-cylinder, 490 cubic inch
engine, the largest in America. Few of these weighty (930
lbs) powerplants found their way into race cars, but Tony
Capanna stuck one in this hot rod for the Southern
California Timing Association runs in 1946. He set fast time
of 145.39 – and then, in all likelihood, drove it home. From
HOT RODS AS THEY WERE, by Don Montgomery. (Kobo
Fukataki Collection) |
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#660 - On November 12, 1965 Bob Summers
strapped himself into the minimalist cockpit of the
“Goldenrod,” a land-speed streamliner at Bonneville. Along
with his brother Bill, the two hot rodders from Ontario, CA,
built the sleek 32-foot machine in a small shed, determined
to have the fastest piston-engined auto in the world. George
Hurst donated $5,000 and Chrysler put up four 426 Hemis,
which sat one after another in front of Bob. The average
speed of his two runs was 409 mph, beating record-holder
Donald Campbell, the Brit who had run 403 mph the year
before.
From
PROVING GROUND – A History of Dodge, Chrysler, and Plymouth
Racing,
by Jim Schild. (Summers Brothers
Collection) |
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#659 - Can’t you just see the joy in
Diane Baker’s smile? She had just married popular,
up-and-coming, open wheel racer Jerry Hoyt right at the AAA
race at Dayton, Ohio, on June 26, 1955. Hoyt was hot and he
went on to run first in his heat and second in the feature.
The happiness was short-lived, however. Just two weeks later
the Indianapolis-based driver crashed over the wall at
Oklahoma City and was whisked off to the hospital with
massive head injuries. A 3½-hour effort on the operating
table was to no avail, and he died, bride at his side. From
KINGS OF THE HILLS – AAA-USAC Midwest and Pacific Coast
Sprint Car Championships 1945-1960, by Buzz Rose. |
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#658 - Bob Coy, now 67, is as neat as
they come. He promotes motorcycle racing events, has himself
competed since 1964, and is a Director of the North East
Motor Sports Museum. Check out what he has to say about this
photo:
“This is the seven-hour endurance race I
did at Motegi in Japan in 2009. The motorcycle was a replica
of the 50cc Honda CR110 race bike of the early 1960s. In the
mid-90s Honda reproduced and slightly updated the bike to
celebrate their 50th anniversary. Still, it was a double
overhead cam 4 valve 50cc engine that was most comfortable
at 14,000 rpm. Our bike was further race kitted to 90cc to
be more competitive with the race displacement maximum of
100cc.
Our team consisted of old racing friends from
Japan, Canada, the US and Poland. Our team held several
distinctions at the event. We were the only non-Japanese
team in a field of 150 teams. We were the oldest team, with
an average age of 65 (youngest member was 62 and oldest 71).
We were the heaviest team (I set the record there). Our
support group was all Japanese and didn't speak English. We
had the bike built for us in Japan, but the Japanese
Federation would not accept foreign-made leathers, so I flew
into Japan, was measured, and had a custom suit made in two
days for the race. That was expensive!!! (Bob Coy
Collection) |
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#657 - The 1973 U.S. Grand Prix at Watkins Glen
should have been joyous day for Jackie Stewart. He had run
99 Formula One races to date, with 27 wins. He had planned
to retire after this event, but he never started it. Popular
Parisian pilot Francois Cevert was killed in qualifying, and
with sorrow, car-owner Ken Tyrell withdrew both Stewart’s
and Chris Amon’s rides for the race. Here Stewart and his
wife Helen appear to be bidding farewell to both the track
and to Formula One. From
FORMULA ONE AT WATKINS GLEN: 20 Years of the United States
Grand Prix 1961-1980, by Michael Argetsinger.
(Luongo Photo) |
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#656 - A very focused 19-year-old KK
brought a West Coast look to the King’s Royal at Eldora
Speedway in 1999. (Jim Cooling Photo) |
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#655 - John DaDalt caught this memory of
a couple of racy Bretts (Wanner and Arndt) booking it around
Port Royal (PA) Speedway last spring in their ARDC midgets.
Brett Wanner, a 22-year-old rookie, overcame some
early-season technical tribulations to scoop his first win
at Virginia’s Winchester Speedway in August. It is
particularly remarkable because Wanner and the majority of
his crew are either deaf or hearing impaired. Winchester’s
announcer played the Victory Circle interview brilliantly,
asking the crowd to stand so that Wanner could comprehend
visually the fans’ admiration. As for the rest of the ARDC
drivers and crew members, their enthusiasm was obvious. They
all gathered around to celebrate this very cool
accomplishment.
(John DaDalt Photo) |
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#654 - It is amazing how certain racing
engineers have been so many laps ahead of their time – and
their peers. Case in point was the prolific technologist
Howard Johansen, most famous for his Howards Racing Cams for
early dragsters. Way back in 1953 he was racing track
roadsters at Carrell Speedway, a mile north of Gardena,
California’s Ascot Park. Sixty years ago, most guys were
experimenting with flatheads as an up-fit over six cylinders
and, sometimes, even equipping them with a couple of carbs.
Howard is shown here working the Bebek Brothers’ CRA car. He
built the stout looking Cadillac OHV and built the fuel
injection system as well. George Amick cut an astounding lap
of 19.90 on the half-mile that year, which will stand as the
all-time lap record at the infamous old facility, also once
known as the Gardena Bowl. From
MERCHANTS OF SPEED – The Men Who Built America’s Performance
Industry, by Paul D. Smith. (Don Johansen
Collection)
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#653 - The Datsun Factory team,
including drivers Sam Posey and Masahiro Hasemi, was fast in
the 1980 ISMA Series. They had not yet, however, hooked up
with Randy Lajoie and his Joie of Seating’s technical
offerings. Here is their third driver, Paul Newman, with a
slab of foam taped to his back. Not a lot of fitting and
pre-molding here. From
WINNING: The Racing Life of Paul Newman, by Matt
Stone and Preston Lerner. (John Rettie Photo) |
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#652
- It was the annual autumn shot of Red Bull for a
packed grandstand – the growling ISMA supermodifieds on
their final pace lap for the World Series event at Thompson
(CT) Speedway.
This year Ben Seitz (#17) and Bob Dawson (#28) brought them
down, but the field didn’t quite make it to the green before
the crashing began. A bunch of competitors, including Chris
Perley, a five-time winner of the show in recent years, was
gathered up. There was a whole new start, but trouble
again. So, in the end, the field went off single file on
its high-speed romp. Nine cars ended up finishing, with Rob
Summers, aboard the Chris Perley/Vic Miller team car,
winning it. (John DaDalt photo) |
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#651
- Connecticut
good guy Bill VanSlyke has been offering marketing
assistance to the Northeastern Midget Association, as well
as to October’s Breast Cancer Awareness campaign. Nowhere
have his contributions been more colorfully evident than at
the annual midget wrap-up at Thompson Speedway’s World
Series last Sunday. There was pink duct tape everywhere on
the open wheel rocket ships; even the letters “HOOSIER” on
the tires were colored pink, and pink hats and shirts were
the style of the day in the pits. And here’s NEMA’s grand
flagger, Steve Grant, his white shirt now pink – and his
flag with a new twist on the traditional checkered pattern.
The flag was autographed by NEMA drivers and, to hearty
rounds of applause, given to a car owner’s wife who is
stricken with the disease. (Dick Berggren Photo) |
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#650 - Energetic roving promoter Brett
Deyo was out to make the 13th King of the Can for modifieds
last Friday night at Pennsylvania’s Penn Can Speedway as
colorful an event as possible. He was glad he did. He had a
good crowd on hand and 100 cars in the pits and he felt
awful that it was so darn cold. When Ryan Godown backed up
his great season for the win, Brett presented him with a
reminder of his new princely position. “As you can see,”
said Brett, “Ryan was totally blown away and didn’t know
just what to say! And there was a real roar from the crowd.
That was good to hear, because at that point it was about 22
degrees and I felt that they were the last survivors of the
Titanic!” (Dave Dalesandro Photo) |
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#649 - Photographer Steve Kennedy is one of Cape
Cod’s all time best gifts to racing. Equally comfortable
capturing the image of a trawler on the briny deep or a
bomber feature on Saturday night, Steve has just now
compiled a cool captioned pictorial on the glory era of the
Northeastern modifieds -
MODIFIED STOCK CAR RACING OF THE '60S & '70S: An Illustrated
History Featuring the Drivers, Cars, and Tracks of the
Northeastern U.S. Included, of course, is this neat
shot of Daring Dick Caso in his small block Corvair at
Thompson, CT. Caso, a serious gasser, knew the only
direction was forward, and the #86 knew how to get him
there. It was a flyweight, A-framed car, demonstrating major
dirt influence. It rests today in the Pronyne Motorsports
Museum in Pawtucket, RI. (Steve Kennedy Photo) |
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#648 - The annual Pines Reunion took
place last Saturday in Groveland, Mass., and it was, no
contest, the best ever. Fifty-one cars were towed in, and by
noontime it was difficult to move for all the people. As in
the past, Andy Halwood from nearby Byfield showed up with
this bit of rolling racing nostalgia. The car is the
infamous, completely original McNutt Bros V-8/60 midget
built in 1938. No chrome. It was wheeled back in the day by
“Wildman” Georgie Lewis during the midget heyday in the
Northeast. Note the roll bar over the rear – one of the
first in the area and hardly flip-worthy. The trailer is
original, and the tow vehicle is a gem in its own right. The
1930 Model A is fitted with a ’46 Lincoln V-12 with a ’41
Mercury rear. Over the top cool.
(Dick Berggren Photo) |
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#647 - Last week was Super Dirt
Week on the mile oval at Syracuse Fairgrounds. Our buddy
Dave Dalesandro was there to capture the field, lined up and
parading placidly towards their ferocious fight. After a
17-year absence from victory lane at the Fairgrounds,
54-year-old Brett Hearn out-hustled 44 others to the win,
rain shortened to 113 out of 200 miles. (Dave Dalesandro
Photo) |
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#646 - Here’s one neat Franklin Flyer.
In 1985 Bill Prietzel hustled it to a new track record at
the season-ending open comp show at Wisconsin’s Hales
Corners Speedway, but he wadded it up in the feature. He was
back the next year with a vengeance, roaring to another
track record, this one lasting 12 years. It was the first
time a late model toured the place in under 16 seconds. He
also swept the qualifier and the main. This year the car
with all its aero-outrageousness was pieced back together
for the Hales Corners Reunion, held on August 17, 2012.
(From the Photo Collection of John Surges, President of
Wisconsin’s Modified Stock Car Club) |
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#645
- Here’s a neat shot sent to us by Mark Hann, CEO of
Connecticut’s Victory Motorsports Marketing Services. It’s
the Spada Garage team off to Danbury Racearena or perhaps
Plainville Stadium, back in the day. The race car, a ’32
Ford, was Kenny Webb’s first machine, purchased for $25.
Kenny was a founding member of the Southern New York Racing
Association and the third winningest driver in
Danbury’s history. By the looks of
it, Kenny and his boys were off to have a pretty good time
that night, at the races and afterwards. Probably a much
better time than people in the tow vehicle had during its
previous use. (Mark Hann Collection) |
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#644 - Here’s Jase Randolph working on Nick Smith’s
sprinter at Devil’s Bowl in Mesquite, TX, in 2005. Wonder if
he is driving a 410 yet. From Paul Oxman’s SPRINT CAR
RACING CALENDAR 2005. (Tim Aylwin Photo) |
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#643 - When six-foot, five-inch,
270-pound Tiny Lund left Harlan, Iowa, to go south to NASCAR
land, he had been used to having his way on the short
tracks. His NASCAR career was spectacular from the get-go, a
wild convergence of wrecks and wins that continued until his
death at Talladega in 1975. Off track, he was pretty
accustomed to getting what he wanted as well. Here he is
with his wife, Wanda. When the two met, she says, “He turned
me over and set my heinie-end on fire like a two-year old
kid. Then we were an item after that.” From THE LAST LAP
– The Life and Times of NASCAR’s Legendary Heroes, by
Peter Golenbock. (Wanda Lund Early Collection) |
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#642 - Chris Economaki’s funeral was
yesterday, right near his lifelong home in Ridgewood, NJ. So
much has been written and said over the last few days about
the depth of our Dean’s enduring contribution to
motorsports, and the image above certainly offers some
perspective. Left to right are Johnnie Parsons, Bill
Schindler, Chris, and early East Coast promoter Sam Nunis,
back when the world was young. From
LET ’EM ALL GO – The Story of Auto Racing by the Man who was
There, by Chris Economaki with Dave Argabright
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#641 - If you are anywhere east of the
Mississippi this weekend, you have to come to the Pines
Speedway Reunion at the site of the notorious old oval in
Groveland, MA. The annual event, executed so well each year
by the Groveland Historical Society and local racing
historian Dwight Lowes, will be held this coming Saturday,
October 6. It is just off a major highway, the foliage will
be at full throttle, and take a look at just one of the
displays you will see. This old time supermodified, driven
by Northeast star Billy Murphy, was found a few years back
by Pete Von Sneidern, who began the restoration. Jim Martel
completed the project, including building the engine,
assembling a working driveline, directing finish work such
as paint and lettering by Justin Belfiore, creating and
installing a fuel system and bracketry, etc. Dick Berggren
has been financial cheerleader and official photographer on
the project. (Woods photo by Pete Von Sneidern and garage
photo by Dick Berggren) |
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#640 - Californian Ed Elisian, shown in
1947 at Lazy J Speedway near Sacramento, was one
star-crossed driver. In 1958 he qualified on the front row
at Indy and spun on the first lap, triggering a fiery 15-car
melee. Popular veteran Pat O’Connor was killed, and Elisian
was blamed by many fans and competitors. The next month he
was in another wreck, this time in a sprinter at New Bremen,
Ohio, and Jim Davis perished. Fourteen months later at the
Milwaukee Mile Elisian crashed his Indy roadster, flipped,
and burned to death. From
SACRAMENTO – Dirt Capital of the World, by Tom
Motter. (Elisian/Rushing Collection) |
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#639 - John Force is another
non-stopper. Can you imagine the level of energy when he and
Kenny Wallace both showed up at Lenny Sammons’ Motorsports
show to sign books this past January? When they left for the
airport, everyone else was exhausted but they kept right on
talkin’. From
JOHN FORCE – the Straight Story of Drag Racing’s 300mph
Superstar, by Erik Arneson. (John Asher Photo) |
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#638 - Tough guy, Bobby Varin. It was
just last month that he crashed big time in an ESS sprint
car show at Canandaigua, NY. “I flipped backwards and then
landed on the front bumper and bounced back the other way.
It was the hardest hit I’ve ever had. The hit was so hard my
forehead was bruised by the helmet”. And then there was the
knee, totally torn up and chipped, two cracked ribs and two
broken ones.” Asked how he felt pitching Dave Cruikshank’s
Dover Brake #00 mod into the turns at Utica Rome a week or
so later, Bobby said, “Sure, it’s uncomfortable. But nothing
like I felt crawling around the garage floor, fixing the
torque arm slider getting ready.” Nothing seems to slow him
down. He’s won the big sail panel show at Utica since then
and put in a stirring visiting performance at Grandview
(PA), coming in a close second in the Freedom 76’r to Jeff
Strunk over 75 other entries. Now he’s busy gearing up for
Super Dirt week in Syracuse. Hang on. (Dave Dalesandro
Photo) |
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#637 - In his brand new book
CALIFORNIA GOLD: the Legendary Life of Troy Ruttman,
Bob Gates details one of American motorsports’ saddest days.
Troy Ruttman, Jr., a bright-eyed, handsome high-schooler,
showed up at Pocono Raceway for a Supermodified event. He
had both vigorously and cleverly converted his dad’s 1962
Indy roadster for the event and was right up front in his
qualifier. In the feature, however, something went horribly
awry. Propelled by a honking big block Chevy, the car
ploughed right under the Armco barrier. The impact was so
violent that the front end was shredded, the engine in
pieces, and the roll cage torn off. The popular youngster,
so full of dreams and desire, died instantly. From
CALIFORNIA GOLD: the Legendary Life of Troy Ruttman
(Beverly Ruttman Collection) |
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#636 - Racing motors – the music of the
night – will fill the air at Seekonk (MA) Speedway this
coming Saturday, September 29. The ISMA Supermodifieds will
join the NEMA midgets, NEMA lights, and open comp Street
Stocks for the Seekonk 200, featuring the
Boston Louie
Memorial Classic. The event honors the late Louie
Seymour, the beloved USAC car owner, “the man who towed a
million miles” in pursuit of his oily grail. One of his
favorite former drivers, Bentley Warren, will serve as Grand
Marshal, and the NEMA midgets, shown above at the start of
last year’s
Seekonk D. Anthony Venditti Memorial event,
will compete for the Coastal 181 Cup. (Norm Marx Photo) |
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#635 - Women racers were regular
competitors in the 62-year history of Blue Island Raceway
Park. Barbara Bosak, shown here, and Nancy Price were very
aggressive rivals in the 1970s. Barbara was especially
successful and became hobby stock champ in 1978. Wonder what
the side of Nancy’s car looked like. From
BLUE ISLAND RACEWAY PARK, by Stan Kalwasinski and
Samuel Beck. (Courtesy of Stan Kalwasinski) |
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#634 - This is the cover of the program
for the California 500 at Ontario, complete with the neat
rendering of A.J.’s sponsors, Jim and Diana Gilmore. The
work was done by pioneering motorsports artist John Jodauga.
His work is presented in his book,
THE ART OF DRAG RACING, with Melissa Pasillas. What
a curious beginning it was to the style we so commonly see
on T-shirts and at race tracks all over the country today.
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#633 - No two Eastern modified pioneers
were more colorful than Pete Corey (with helmet) and Rene
Charland, pictured here at Empire Raceway in Menands, NY, in
the ’50s, likely next to an early Sharkey Gaudiosi coupe.
Corey, winner of the 1955 Langhorne National Open, and
Charland, multi-time NASCAR national sportsman champ, were
fierce competitors and not always “buddy-buddy.” It is said
that one night Charland taunted the starting field at Fonda
by walking down the lineup and shaking a live snake at each
driver inside his car. When Rene got to Corey, the story
goes, Pete grabbed the snake, calmly said, “I like snakes,”
and bit its head off. (John Grady Collection) |
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#632 - It was an accident with a couple
of chapters. Bert McNeece got to flipping violently at
Denver’s Lakeside Speedway back in 1939. Along the way, he
was tossed to the heavens. When he came back down, he was a
surprise rider atop the #44 of Bill Logan and Harold
Mainard’s #19. His only hurt was a skinned knee, but the
same could not be said of his #27 Offy. From
THE MIGHTY MIDGETS, by Jack C. Fox. (Leroy Byers
Collection) |
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#631 - It was 50 years and 50 grand to
the winner. Last Saturday night a full pit with 80 of the
best center-steer modified teams towed into Grandview (PA)
Speedway for its 50th anniversary Freedom 76 event. Jeff
Strunk, big time Grandview regular, re-energized his less
than grand season with a great hometown victory over New
York invaders Bobby Varin and Billy Decker. (Dave Dalesandro
Photo) |
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#630 - Here’s Rick Goudy tossin’ it in
big time at the 1979 CRA mid-winter open at Ascot. Back in
the seventies, Goudy and his buddy Jimmy Oskie were on the
hammer with a vengeance, but in the pits it was levity and
good humor. “We had to be that way,” recalls Oskie. “Those
were rough days. You lost a lot and won not many.” Goudy’s
career was off to a shaky start with a fiery accident there
in Gardena. But the summer before this photo was taken, he
became CRA Champion. From
OLD SCHOOL: Volume 2 – 1978-1979, by Mike Arthur.
(Mike Arthur Photo) |
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#629 - If rat rods compete to be “over
the top,” this one redefines the altitude. It pulled in late
in the day last Sunday at the Ty-Rods 40th Annual old-time
car show in Lancaster, MA. The coach body was way cool, as
was the Hemi, the exhaust/headlight co-mounting, and the
suicide front end. But that induction system from that Darth
Vader hat over the front end to the carburetor just had to
be inspired by a mushroom. (Coastal 181 Photo) |
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#628 - English photographer Alan R.
Smith captured this amazing image of Juan Manuel Fangio and
Karl Kling in their Mercedes streamliners whistling towards
the distant start-finish line at the 1954 French Grand Prix
at Reims, totally dominating the event. The photography was
certainly first class, but the guard rails protecting the
lensmen were a bit lacking…as were the hay bales protecting
the crowd. From
THE GOLDEN AGE – Images from the Klemantaski Collection.
(Alan R. Smith Photo) |
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#627 - As basic as dirt. This was the
great Eastern modified driver, Lou Lazzaro, near the end. He
once said, “Some people think I’m lazy, but somehow I get to
the races every week.” He sure did. (Dave Dalesandro Photo) |
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#626 - He was known primarily for his
exhibitionism in sprinters, but Jan Opperman had an eye for
any kind of racing. He’s shown here in the mid-1970s at
Syracuse’s Super Dirt week, ready to wheel Joey Lawrence’s
famous gold and black #16 Mustang. One spring night a few
years earlier at Reading, PA, for the USAC races, Opperman
had his first look at the injected East Coast modifieds.
After watching a whole gaggle of them warm up, he commented,
“Keep an eye on that #57 coach. That guy is really workin’.”
That guy was Kenny Brightbill, just getting started. (Harry
Cella Collection) |
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#625 - “The percentage of nitro in the
fuel mixture must be carefully checked with a hydrometer.
Nitro methane burns yellow and the fantastic white flame
seen above the stacks at night is raw burning hydrogen. The
flame front of nitro measures 7,050 degrees Fahrenheit and,
under full throttle, a dragster consumes 1½ gallons per
second; the same rate as a fully loaded 747 jet with four
times the energy volume.” Quote and Photo from TOP FUEL
DRAGSTERS OF THE 1970s, by Howard V. Koby |
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#624 - Despite running the Indianapolis
500 on several occasions, Davey Hamilton (left) still longs
to beat good friend and teammate Otto Sitterly (right) for
another International Classic title at Oswego (NY) Speedway,
the Home of the Supermodifieds. Sitterly, who won his third
Budweiser International Classic 200 on Sunday, September 2
at Oswego just ahead of Hamilton, maintains and prepares
Hamilton's Supermodified ride as a part of John Nicotra
Racing. Perhaps next season the roles will be reversed, as
Hamilton continues to look for his first Classic win since
1997. (Photo by Otto Graham – Caption by Dan Kapucinski) |
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#623 - Here’s a mid-August photo of
Iowa’s somewhat weary looking Austin Wolf and his Mod after
a win at Kossuth County Speedway. Last Saturday night he
wrapped up the track point chase, becoming, at just 21, the
youngest modified champ in track history. He was also a
winner along the way at Britt. The amazing thing about
Austin’s performance over the summer is that he was also
dealing with a new, mission-critical job. During the week he
is literally going all around the country servicing
sophisticated energy systems on generators operating in oil
and gas drilling sites. Who knows how he was able to get
home in time to race, let alone to work on his car and
become top dog. But the real question is how he will balance
everything this week – and somehow end up in the A-main on
Saturday night at the Boone Nationals. (Wolf Family Photo) |
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#622 - The “Courage of Australia” blew
everyone away on November 11, 1971 at Southern California’s
Orange County Raceway, turning an incredible 5.107 at 311.41
mph. The 27’, 1,100 lb. needle-shaped monocoque machine was
powered by a 12,000 HP, hydrogen peroxide-fueled rocket
engine. Stephanie Rose’s lines looked pretty sleek, too.
From DRAG RACING’S EXHIBITION ATTRACTIONS, by Lou
Hart and Cory Lee. (Steve Reyes Photo) |
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#621 - Last weekend was Sprint Cars of
New England’s Triple Crown Championship, a three-race series
at Canaan, Bear Ridge, and Legion Speedways. On the very
first lap of the very first night at Canaan, Will Hull, a
soft-spoken newcomer, caught a wheel and rode out a violent
end-over-end off turn one, trashing his low-budget but
speedy sprinter. No problem for a guy who’s good – and
gutsy. As soon as Will was back in the pits and clearly
walking upright, replacement parts began appearing out of
nowhere. A wing from one team, front wing from another. Then
came a front axle and rear-end pieces. Here’s Will bleeding
the brakes, getting ready to go. The popular Vermonter more
than repaid the favors by delivering a stunning performance
over the weekend – a seventh at Canaan that night and a tie
for sixth in the three-race chase. (Don MacIntosh Photo)
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#620 - Nearly sixty years ago, in 1954,
this photograph drew national attention. Ed Wolf’s coupe got
to flipping along the front stretch wall and catch fence at
Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City. It must have been pretty
impressive for him – and for some of the nearby spectators.
Thanks to his lap belt, he was not seriously injured. But it
sure was a good thing he did not have to rely on the
integrity of his roll cage, interior sheet metal or side
bars. Photo from SPEED AGE magazine, August 1954. |
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#619 - It was October 29, 1961 at a
150-lap Grand National race at the old Orange Speedway in
Hillsboro, NC. The three in victory lane were right at the
door of enduring NASCAR greatness, but only two were to
continue. Pretty Miss Pontiac was none other than Linda
Vaughn, soon to become Miss Hurst Golden Shifter. Behind Joe
stands Bud Moore, owner of the winning Mercury. He was about
to be named NASCAR Mechanic of the Year, to win multiple
championships and honors right through his induction into
the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2009. Li’l Joe
Weatherly, with the trophy, had just led 149 laps of the
feature to a stunning win. He would drive Bud’s car to the
championship the next year. At Riverside, CA, in January of
1964, however, his concern about being in a race car fire
arguably got the best of him. Refusing to wear anything but
a lap belt so he could exit the cockpit quickly, he had
little containment protection when he whacked the right turn
#6 wall sideways. He was killed instantly. From NASCAR –
The Complete History, by Greg Fielden. |
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#618 - Last Saturday night saw an
unforgettable race at Bear Ridge Speedway in Bradford,
Vermont. Three teammates, among the finest open-wheelers in
New England, joined one another on the podium following the
USAC Dirt Midget Association feature. Joe Krawiec, center
right in black and white suit, was the winner. The
Connecticut racer, appropriately labeled “Flatfoot,” is a
former Whip City Champ and has been red hot on the dirt up
in those Green Mountains. Second place, was Kevin Chaffee
(black suit), the young “Fairlee Flyer,” who has come out of
nowhere and last year won the Vermont Driver of the Year
award for his spectacular performances in midgets,
sprinters, AND modifieds. Third, to Kevin’s right, was Denny
Zimmerman. All that needs to be said of the much admired and
irrepressible Denny is that, yes, he is the same Denny
Zimmerman who was Rookie of the Year at Indy in 1971. But
the real victor of the evening had to be another New England
Hall of Famer, Skip Matczak (far right), whose efforts led
the formation of the DMA a couple of years back. Skip owns
all three of Saturday’s winning cars and, as such,
rightfully becomes midget’s newest Pappy Hough. (Sealsit
Collection) |
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#617 - “Hoppy” Redner earned his
nickname by accidentally sawing off one leg while working on
a roof in Guam during WWII. The Schenectady, NY, resident, a
non-stop Epicurean in every way, just loved his midgets.
Here he is aboard the Czyzewski Ford at Empire Raceway in
Menands, NY, in 1956 for a NEMA 200-lapper. He was a top
runner in NASCAR midgets and a MARC champ in 1958 and ’59.
He also just plain loved his suds. One fall he loaded up his
station wagon with beer, forsaking tools and spare parts,
and towed a stock car down to the Langhorne National Open.
It didn’t turn out quite as merrily as he had hoped and he
had to sell both the tow vehicle car and the race car to get
out of a jam down there. That accomplished, he bummed a ride
back north with Hall of Fame wheelman Irv Taylor. Irv
reports that not long afterwards, Hoppy, back with wheels,
was told it was last call at a local watering hole and that
he was shut off. Hoppy was incensed. He drove his car right
through the building on the way home. From MIDGET AUTO
RACING HISTORY, Vol 3, by Crocky Wright. (Les King
Photo) |
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FOUR |
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#616 - Jim Shampine could do just about
anything with an automobile. He was
especially good at
winning, be it in a super, a pavement or a dirt mod.
But
it really seemed over the top when he got in a temporary
tiff with the
management of Oswego Speedway, got
intrigued with sprinters, bought one
from Pop Lloyd, and
won almost immediately with it at a URC show at
Rolling
Wheels (NY) Raceway. He seems just a little more normal when
we
hear that he did have the very occasional misstep.
Racer/journalist Dave
Wickham writes: "Late that year Jim
and I showed up at Sharon (OH)
Speedway for a regular
Friday night show. It had rained. When the sprints
got to
warm up on the track, there was one groove and it was
greasy. I
knew that the only thing to do was to warm up
the engine and keep the car
from getting loaded with
clay. After a few laps they dropped the green and
Jim
came around the outside of me coming out of two and blew by.
When we
got to three, I backed off way early but he
hauled right on in there. His
car went mostly straight,
right up to the third turn wall and flipped.
That was
one night he watched the races from the pits".
(Photo
John Grady Collection) |
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615 |
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#615 - After his horrific fire in an
Indy car at Milwaukee in June of 1964, it was curious that
the return of the people’s racer, Jim Hurtubise, came in a
stock car race, the Atlanta 500. As Kim Chapin wrote in a
Sports Illustrated article in 1978, “He won it by cheating.
During practice Hurtubise determined that if his car rode as
high off the ground as it needed to in order to satisfy the
NASCAR rulebook, it was unstable and slow. But he found that
an adjusting nut that controlled the height of his front end
could be reached by cutting a hole through the floorboard,
and further, that exactly 70 turns of the nut with a ratchet
wrench would lower the front end just enough to make him
competitive. After the pre-race inspection, Hurtubise walked
rather stiff-legged to his car, a wrench hidden in the right
leg of his driving uniform, and before the green flag he
casually went to work. When the race was over and he had
taken the checkered flag, he made what must have been the
slowest victory lap in NASCAR history, cranking that nut 70
turns in the opposite direction. As he cruised through the
third turn, out of view of the NASCAR inspectors in the
pits, he simply threw the wrench into the infield. No
sweat.” (Photo John Grady Collection) |
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#614 - Other than the thought that
Oswego Speedway’s 56th International Classic is just two
weeks away, nothing much else can be taken for granted. Take
2006 for example. One week before the race that year, Otto
Sitterly was red hot – and surely a favorite for the win. He
had won the Mr. Supermodified event and its $10,000 payday,
wrapping up the track championship for the year. He was
running solidly in the top ten on Classic weekend only to
break a suspension part on lap 126. Otto clobbered the
infield barrier just past the starter’s stand and was
knocked out. The car rocketed on, finally doing smoky,
wide-open donuts in the first turn until the track crew
managed to reach the kill switch. The popular Canajoharie
wheelman ended up in the horizontal mode at the Syracuse
Hospital with rib and facial injuries. From
50 Years Oswego Speedway International Classic, by
George Caruso Jr. with Carol D. Haynes. |
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#613 - Brothers Buddy and Vic Shay
(Schey) were standout mid-Western midgeteers before the War.
Buddy reworked the chassis in his #36 to accommodate a
V8-60, which he installed upside down. It took some doing,
but the thing was fast. It was Vic who drove it on July 4,
1942 at Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City. He had a broken
leg from a motorcycle crash at the time, and the pit crew
rigged up a left foot throttle for him. Here the track crew
tends to him after the accident. No one knows whether his
foot got tangled up or the pedal just stuck, but he died two
days later. From
DECADES OF DARING - Midget Racing in the Rocky Mountains,
by Bill Hill.
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#612 How can you not love open competition? Last
Saturday was “run what ya brung” way up at Airborne Park
Speedway in Plattsburgh, NY, just a click south of the
Canadian border. That dash of creative aerial outrageousness
really amps up the fans and the competitors. And speaking of
the competitors (that's Todd Stone, eventual winner in the
#1x and veteran George Foley in the #34), Speedway
Illustrated's Karl Fredrickson said after competing in the
race, "It's incredible to watch either of them drive a race
car from the grandstands or on the track. It's just a bit
more humiliating on the track." (Photo by Andy Watts) |
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#611 - Mike Arthur caught this
interesting scene in 1976. That’s CRA and USAC competitor
Doug Coulter taking a flyer in the Mid-Winter race at
California’s Imperial Fairgrounds. If you’re in the infield
at a sprint car race, it’s best to have eyes in the back of
your head. Photographer Bill Korbacher, pictured above,
missed the shot. From
OLD SCHOOL: Vol. One – 1971-1977,
by Mike Arthur. (Mike Arthur Photo) |
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#610 - Here is Funk’s Speedway in the
early 1920s, a few years after its 1914 opening. It was on
its way to becoming Winchester Speedway, the “World’s
Fastest Half-Mile,” asphalt sister track to Eldora. Bill
Holder has written a detailed history of the track,
ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SPEED, published just in time
for the track’s centennial birthday next year. |
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#609 - Wally “the Doctor” Faulkner
played every role at Northeast speedways in the ’40s, ’50,
and ’60s – starter, promoter, concessionaire, even track
“doctor.” About seven o’clock one rainy evening, Wally was
closing up the concession when, to his surprise, in drove a
bunch of cars, trucks, and trailers. It was the folks who
were going to put on the animal show that night as an added
attraction to the races. Their lead guy was soon in the
office sparring with The Doctor. He was of the mind that,
despite the rainout, he had still brought all of his
animals, his people, and equipment and he should be paid. In
full. The Doctor, less than thrilled with this arrangement,
shot back, “When I pay for an animal show, I get an animal
show.” He forced the troupe to unload in the pouring rain
and to perform in front of a completely empty grandstand.
From
HOT CARS COOL DRIVERS, by Lew Boyd. (Bill Balser
Photo) |
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#608 - Tex Enright, shown here with his
wife Sally, was a very popular and slightly naughty East
Coast starter in the 1960s and ’70s. He once said, “I
adopted a style of my own. I stayed with the whites okay,
but with the widest bell bottoms you’ve ever seen. Enough to
make a kid today go around the corner and cry. And I hunted
around for the wildest hat I could find. Three feet in
diameter. I wore it for one race. I watched them coming out
the fourth corner and I’m crouched down there and they’re
all lined up neat. I go up into the air to drop the green
and I swear that hat held me up there like the Flying Nun on
TV. I floated. And the cars came on. When I finally landed,
in time, I tore that hat off and threw it away. Once was
enough.” From
PAVED TRACK DIRT TRACK, by Lew Boyd. (Sophie
Hertkorn Photo, Dale Snyder Collection) |
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#607 - Check this out. Last Saturday
night, August 11, 2012, Dave Blaney (R) and his son Ryan ran
dirt modifieds at “the Land of Legends,” Canandaigua
Motorsports Park in NY. They wheeled Troyer Engineering
house cars and are shown here with top Troyer crew guy Randy
Kisacky. Now check out Photo of the Day #591
from last month. Can you believe how much Ryan has grown up
in four years? And, meanwhile, Dad hasn’t changed an iota.
(Dave Dalesandro/MSI Photo) |
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#606 - It was Martinsville, turn two, on
the 166th lap of the modified race on Halloween Day, 1982.
Ray Evernham’s car stalled and was drilled big time by Tony
Siscone, a talented racer and school teacher from New
Jersey. Both cars were destroyed and both drivers were
burned, particularly Siscone. He had taken of his
sweat-drenched racing gloves a few laps earlier, and his
hands were horribly burned. Of his recovery he said, “The
hands were in horrible shape….I couldn’t do anything. There
were many a night I cried myself to sleep. It was really
tough.”. Evernham, whose wounds healed more quickly,
reflected that “It’s changed my outlook as far as I honestly
believe now that I could die in a race car. Before, I tended
to think it could happen, but never to me.” Both would
return to the cockpit over time. Image and quotes from
DUST TO GLORY, by Morris Stephenson and Dick Thompson.
(David Allio Photo) |
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#605 - Back in 1967 Les Wilden (above)
and Jim Edgington were masters of the Midwest modifieds –
and great buddies. Jim was wheeling this totally cool coach
that he co-owned with Ron Barton and Roger Hendrickson, but
he had a hankering to run the shows at Knoxville in Daryl
Ahrend’s sprinter. (See
Tearoff dated 11/7/11).
No problem. Les took over
the reins on those nights and drove the car to the
championship at Jackson, MN. Meanwhile, Jim won the title
with it at Fairmont, MN. (Chad Meyer Collection) |
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#604 - Here the checkered flies over the
13th annual REBEL YELL super late model event at Georgia’s
Screven Motor Speedway on July 21. Mike Marlar won it – and
$5300. Too bad we couldn’t hear the hootin’ and hollerin’.
(Craig Whyte Photo) |
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#603 - Back in the sixties and
seventies, there was a pretty green coupe, #69, at seemingly
every dirt track race in New York, chauffeured by popular
nice-guy Bobby Green. Then in September 1982 the unthinkable
happened. Bob flipped at Accord, NY, and incurred a
traumatic brain injury. In the words of his son Robbie (L),
“He lived for 12 more years, but he left this earth that day
at Accord.” Robbie carried on the green #69 legacy and he,
too, earned great notoriety and popularity – and 99 career
wins to date. Just last year he put his helmet on the shelf
to launch his son Randy’s career. Here’s the family’s latest
car. Robbie is itchin’ to get back behind the wheel himself,
but it may be a while longer. You see, there’s Randy’s
younger brother Travis, who is just about ready…..
(Coastal 181 Photo) |
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#602b - In just two weeks it will be time
for the 20th annual Topless 100, a popular event at
Batesville, AR. Topless shows – where presumably you can see
more of the performer by unclasping the roof or the wing or
whatever – are run quite frequently these days with
modifieds, late models, and sprinters. The idea is hardly
new, however. Somewhat less suggestively, the old Freeport
Stadium on Long Island ran “open wheel modifieds” back in
1966. Here Red Raynor manhandles his #93 up the outside past
Jerry Klaus in the #171 and Dave Beck in the #27 for the
win. (Ed Appoldt Photo, Illustrated Speedway News,
Dick Hansen Collection) |
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#602 - It's said
that the family that races together, stays together. When
Stafford Speedway owner Jack Arute passed away, his son Mark
(left) and wife Lisa took over running the track. One of
their sons, David, has long driven race cars, but on Friday
night, August 3, he scored the biggest victory of his young
life by winning the Limited Late Model feature at the
family's track. Joining the victory-lane celebration was his
brother Paul (right) who works on the track crew. David, who
is still a student, drove a brilliant race in which he
demonstrated that he could be both smooth and tough. Don't
think, however, that his is a high-dollar effort. The
driving suit he is wearing bears the name "Mike Stefanik."
Arute bought it at a charity auction.
(Dick Berggren
caption and photo) |
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#601 - The brand new high-banked oval in Irish
Hills, Michigan, opened with a 250-miler in the autumn of
1968. Jim Jorgensen’s struggling team from Connecticut
brought its two cars loaded with hope, but there was
heartbreak on the apron. Bob Harkey, shown here, drove their
Offy from 20th starting spot to 5th place with three to go.
That’s when the left rear let go, and he hobbled around the
inside to capture whatever bit of purse money he could. He
got 13th. Teammate Denny Zimmerman had problems with the
Chevy, but turned in another demonstration of smooth
artistry and brought it home in 11th from 25th. Author Walt
Scadden details Jorgensen’s career in Coastal 181’s brand
new book
SWAMP YANKEE: The Racing Life of Jim Jorgensen.
(Bob Harkey Collection) |
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#600 - Do you think Toby Kruse has anything going
on these days? New promoter at Knoxville Raceway, he’s in
the midst of that seriously heavy-duty August racing
schedule on the legendary dirt. He’s also still promoting
Marshalltown (Iowa) Speedway, as he has done so successfully
for eight years. Here’s a shot from Marshalltown a couple of
weeks back. Toby says, “That’s, bottom to top, Sam Wieben
#198, Scott Davis #81D, Jason Mallicoat #36, and Racer Hulin
#505. The young man on the bottom just turned 14 and is
amazing, like all our drivers.” Seems on top of it all that
Toby’s still a fan! (Bruce Badgley/Motorsports Photography) |
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#599 - The all-surrounding,
record-setting heat, a couple of rainouts, the horrid
economy – everything seemed to conspire to take the wind out
of this year’s Indiana Sprint week. Not! All seven venues
had good crowds, strong car counts, and juicy topless
racing. Photographer John DaDalt says, “Here’s Levi Jones
getting some air time at Bloomington. Levi showed why he is
a champ that week. He was in the Semi four times, yet always
found his way to the front. He had six top fives in seven
races. Worst finish was 8th. And he ended up with the Sprint
Week Championship.” Check out the look of that surface!
(John DaDalt Photo) |
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#598 - How about Trent and Trish Emmel
out of Oungre, Saskatchewan, Canada, and their full-race
concept of a wee family vacation?! They loaded up their
modified, packed up the motorhome, and headed south with
just a few people aboard. Let’s see: Left to right, that’s
Trent with daughters Jace, Jenna, and Jayda, sons Austin,
Dylan, and Riley, and Riley’s buddy Isaiah Geisel. Riley,
just sixteen, has become quite the racer, and the Family
Emmel ran the Dakota Modified Tour, motored up into
Wisconsin where Riley ran some POWRi Lucas midget events,
and then wended their way down for some mod racin’ in corn
country. We ran into them at I-35 Speedway in Webster City,
Iowa, where Riley showed smooth speed on the grand old
half-mile dirt. Riley will be off to Australia and New
Zealand midget racing over the winter, but when he comes
back, he’ll be pretty much on his own. “After all,” says
Trent, “I’ve got Dylan and Austin coming right along, and
they’re lookin’ pretty good at our track back home.” Better
keep that motorhome packed, Trish. (Coastal 181 Photo) |
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#597 - Called the greatest modified driver never to
win a NASCAR Tour championship, Reggie Ruggiero was
runner-up seven times. Now concentrating with Ed Flemke Jr.
on their Race Works Chassis business in Berlin, CT, he is
also turning his attention to the rapidly evolving North
East Motor Sports Museum. He’s shown here with some of the
neat items he’s donating to the organization for display.
And he warns that the next time the Museum guys come
calling, they’d better bring a truck.
(Dick Berggren
Photo) |
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#596 - A guy could get used to it. In
1971, 15-year-old Sammy Swindell won 11 features at
Riverside Speedway in Arkansas. Two weeks ago Sammy, shown
here at Golden Gate’s Florida 500 in 1977, swept his third
King’s Royal crown at Eldora, hauling home yet another
$50,000. And last week his son Kevin led every lap on his
way to victory in the ARCA 100-lapper at Chicagoland
Speedway.
(Photo by Gene Marderness) |
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#595 - Ouch! Tony Stewart was red hot in
2006. Starting the Coca Cola 600 at Charlotte on May 28, he
was running second in points. It was all good until he
popped a tire and slapped the wall, breaking his shoulder
and leaving the race. At Dover the following week, Smoke
fought the good fight but after 37 laps handed the car over
to Ricky Rudd, who finished the race for him. Just a week
after that, Smoke endured the whole race at Pocono and took
third. (From NASCAR: The Complete History, by Greg
Fielden, Bryan Hallman, and Auto Editors of Consumer Guide.) |
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#594 - Remember that Photo of the
Day yesterday of Bobby Allison in Victory Lane at Daytona in
1978? Well, he’s still one busy guy today. Here he is
earlier this month at Saratoga (NY) Auto Museum’s “Moonshine
to Millionaires” exhibition, choreographed by Ron Hedger
(L). Betcha Bobby’s telling those guys about the trophy
girls! |
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#593 - After a 67-race drought, Bobby
Allison, just then in Bud Moore’s machine, romped from the
back to the front the 1978 Daytona 500. Bobby said, “I’m so
tickled I can’t see straight.” Hmmmm. Photo and Quote from
NASCAR – The Complete History, by Greg Fielden and
the Auto Editors of Consumer Guide. |
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#593 - Scary togetherness! Sixty-four
tires were edgily bunched as Jimmy Clark in his Lotus Climax
brought the field down for the start of the 1965 French
Grand Prix. The event was held in the Auvergne Mountains and
was watched by 250,000. Forty laps later Clark would take
it, followed by Jackie Stewart in a BRM and John Surtees’
Ferrari. From RACING CARS, by Richard Hough.
(British Petroleum Co., Ltd. Photo) |
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#592 - Some of the “cutdowns” in the
1960s in the Pine Tree State of Maine were truly remarkable.
They were fashioned far more by ingenuity than with
engineered parts. One of the most remarkable was the P-38,
owned by Bob Bushley Sr. and wheeled by the incomparable
Homer Drew. It was as if they could overcome any issue and
still win. One night Homer was towed in from feature action
because the steering wheel dislodged. That was hardly a
problem. Bushley snapped on a pair of vice grips, and Homer
went back to work. They won. (Photo from Maine Vintage Race
Car Association Collection -
mainevintageracecars.com) |
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#591 - It seems like yesterday when, in
2008, way cool WoO Champion and Sprint Cup regular Dave
Blaney and his 14-year-old son Ryan stopped by the Coastal
181 booth at Lenny Sammons’ AARN Motorsports Expo. Quiet
like his Dad, Ryan told us in an understated way about his
racing adventures to date in the development division cars.
Somehow, there just seemed to be something special about
him. Trust that intuition! Last weekend Penske Racing
announced that Ryan would be wheeling the Penske #22
Nationwide car for selected events the rest of the season.
First start – Iowa Speedway, August 4. Good luck, Ryan!
(Coastal 181 Photo)
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#590 - Brad Edwards does neat things.
For work, he produces top-notch Indy 500 DVDs. (For
a few of them look HERE) Weekends are a melding of work
and play. Here he is at a vintage meet at Auto Club Speedway
put on by the Historic Champ/Indy Car Association and our
friends at Vintage Oval magazine. Brad is wheeling a Lola
T90 powered by a supercharged Offy. It’s the car Rodger Ward
drove in his last race at Indy, finishing 15th in the 1966
500. (John Darlington Photo, Courtesy First Turn
Productions) |
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#589 - One of the most prolific drivers
in the country, Bryan Clauson is spectacular whether at Indy
or Daytona. But, as John DaDalt shows us, Clauson is just
plain over the top when he comes home for Indiana Speed
Week. Last Friday night he meandered into Gas City for the
opener, and he won. (John DaDalt Photography) |
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#588 - A grand moment for a grand man.
That’s Boston Louie Seymour activating his Donahue Chevrolet
#29 on October 2, 1976. Billy Casella was about to pilot the
jet-black rocket to the USAC National Silver Crown
Championship. On September 29, 2012, the Seekonk 200
featuring the Boston Louie Memorial Classic will be held at
Seekonk (MA) Speedway. It will star open-wheeled ISMA supers and NEMA midgets
competing for the Coastal 181 Cup. (Dick Berggren Photo) |
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#587 - Those dudes Bill Simpson and Bones
Bourcier are at it again! Here’s a photo and a caption from
their new book
Through the Fire, a sequel to Racing Safely,
Living Dangerously: “Crash-test dummy! This was
supposed to be just a posed shot during a party at my home
on Lake Norman in North Carolina. Seconds later, my pals
Sparky Lyon (kneeling) and Bones Bourcier (striped shirt)
launched me down the hill, toward the lake at a seriously
high speed. I hit the sea wall and stopped violently, but at
least I didn’t get wet!” |
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#586 - Gene Marderness just sent us this
photo he took of Janet Guthrie back in 1977. We thought
immediately of the very touching column our friend Dave
Argabright penned about her in the June issue of Ralph
Sheheen’s new Speed Sport Magazine. Here’s some of what Dave
had to say: ”… at a book signing in Indianapolis I
discovered her to be an impeccably gracious and humble
person, articulate and intelligent. Yet it was easy to see,
right below the surface, the fiery competitiveness that led
her to sports immortality. Women involved in motorsports
should pause for a moment to reflect upon that historic May
all those years ago [Indy 1977] when Janet Guthrie opened
the door that first grudging inch. But everyone – regardless
of gender – owes something to that shy, gracious lady
because she helped us understand what dreams are made of and
why everyone has a right to pursue them.” (Gene Marderness
Photo) |
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#585 - An American Indian from Texas,
Joie Chitwood was the first competitor to use a seat belt at
Indy. But it wasn’t for safety. In fact, Chitwood was warned
sternly by Lou Meyer and Wilbur Shaw of the dangers of such
a device, which could cause him to be trapped in the
cockpit. Chitwood had devised the belt to hold him into the
thunderously bouncy “Blue Crown Spark Plug Special” in 1941.
After the War, however, Chitwood’s innovation was better
received. Certainly the aerial deaths of heroes such as Duke
Dinsmore and Ted Horn were factors. But the tipping point
seemed to come when legendary Rex Mays was killed after
being ejected and run over at Del Mar, CA, in 1949. In Jack
Albinson’s words, “Seat belts were mounted for the vast
majority overnight,” but not officially required until 1955.
From THE OILY GRAIL: A Story of the Indy 500, by
Jack Albinson. |
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#584 - Smilin’ Jimmy Mosteller died last
Wednesday. He was known as the world’s greatest cigar
salesman, who sold enough stogies that end to end they would
reach the moon and return several times over. He was also
known as the “Mouth of the South” whose 60 years behind the
mike led many to consider him the greatest announcer ever.
He’s shown here with a victorious Cale Yarborough and Miss
Atlanta International Raceway after the Atlanta 500 in 1967.
Sam Colvin remarked, “Mosteller has always been a super
announcer, but he has been known to get a little reckless
with the truth sometimes. He used to say, ‘if you can’t
convince them, confuse them.’” Quote and photo from
THE LAST
LAP: JIMMY MOSTELLER – 60 Years of Precious Memories,
by Gerald Hodges.
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#583 - Jack Williams and his Canadian team, the
"Syndicate Scuderia," showed up at the 1963 Winternationals
in Pomona with this pretty Top Fuel Hemi. He ran the car
until 1969 and then hung it, engine and all, from the
rafters of his Vancouver shop. Then, for some reason, he
took 'er down and showed up at the Nostalgia Nationals at
Fremont, CA in 1986. It was a beautiful run until the chute
didn't open. The car was wrapped around a tree, and Jack was
wrapped up in the crash house. All wounds were eventually
healed, however, and in this shot the wheels are aloft
again. Jack showed up at the Sechelt Airport strip in 2001
on his 70th birthday. From
LOST HOT RODS Remarkable Stories of How They Were Found,
by Pat Ganahl.
(Jack Williams Collection) |
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#582 # It looks so long ago – and it
was. Jerry Morgan stood proudly before another humongous
crowd at the Reading (PA) Fairgrounds with his injected
coupe way back in 1967. Some things never change, though,
and one of them is Jerry. Today he is in his shop down in
St. Augustine, FL, where he does racing setups and all
manner of motorsports restorations. He’s getting pretty
fidgety, though, waiting for his new heads so he can get
back on the track with his UMP modified.
(Jerry Morgan
Collection) |
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#581 - You’d have to go a lot of laps to
find a more meaningful sprint car image than this one from
Frank Simek. That’s Sharon Williamson, coordinated down to
the color of her clogs and wiping cloths, polishing the
Panther. Once again this season, as with decades of summers
past, her husband Kramer is right up there against the
cushions of the East Coast. (Photo by “the Guy with the
Hat”) |
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#580 - Think what this guy has done in
oval track and road racing. And that’s just the recent part.
In Ed “the Old Master” Pink’s words, “I am a product of
postwar dry lakes racing….the guys introduced me to Vic
Edelbrock Sr., and that’s when my education began in
earnest….By the late ‘60s to early ‘70s, my business was a
combination of completed engines and custom machine work.
The car magazines were making a big deal out of the Keith
Black and Ed Pink (top fuel rivalry) deal…Then, another
change seriously affected the business. The crew chiefs on
various teams, with the new all-aluminum blocks and
replacement sleeves, began rebuilding their engines between
rounds. They didn’t need me….In 1980 when Ed “the Ace”
McCulloch won the NHRA Nationals in a Super Shops Funny Car,
that was the swan song in drag racing….I made the transition
from drag racing to track racing.” Quote and Photo from
FUEL AND GUTS – The Birth of Top Fuel Drag Racing,
by Tom Madigan.
(Tom Madigan Photo) |
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#579 - Scott Daloisio, the announcer of rigorous
sprint car action at California’s Perris Speedway, sent in
this cool shot of speedway bikes and writes “To this day,
‘The Miracle Worker’, Shawn Moran, is the only American to
have ever won the World Long Track championship. Amazingly,
the diminutive Southern California racer won the prestigious
title while riding with a broken leg in Czechoslovakia in
1983! A couple years earlier, he became on the second
American to win the World Under 21 Speedway championship in
a race that was also staged in Czechoslovakia. In this 1982
shot from San Bernardino's Inland Motorcycle Speedway, Moran
is doing a wheelie while going sideways as he passes Keith
‘Snakeman’ Larsen.” You can find more of Scott’s photos on
speedwaymotorcyclephotos.com. He should do a book!
(Photo by Scott Daloisio) |
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#578 - You have to wonder how many
Richie Evans replicas and restorations there are out there
in vintage events around the country. Or, really, the
continent. Our esteemed webmaster, Norm Marx, was way up at
Autodrome Chaudière in Quebec, Canada, last weekend and
caught this shot of a "Richie mod racing a shiny black '66
Chevelle, an authentically worn Chevelle, and a '65 Corvair.
They were the Vintage Sportsman, a support group for the
PASS Super Late Models. There were about 17 competitors, and
they were racing HARD too." (Norm Marx Photo) |
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#577 - The way they were. That’s Frank
and Ella Lockhart after Frank’s win at Indy in 1926. he was
driving a Miller built for Peter Kreis, who took ill with
pneumonia. Lockhart took over and was leading by two laps
when the rain came at the 400th mile. Two years later the
dashing driver would die on the sands of Daytona when a tire
blew in a land-speed record attempt. From
Frank Lockhart: American Speed King, by Sarah
Morgan-Wu and James O’Keefe. (Abilene Reporter Photo) |
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#576 - It’s a pretty much a secret – and
has been so for decades. As if to make it even less visible,
the quarter-mile dirt oval in central New Hampshire has had
a bunch of names: “The Pines Speedway,” “Norway Pines,”
“Rumney,” and, most recently “Legion Speedway.” For years
and years beyond their natural lifetimes, the track ran old
coupes and coaches, often castoffs from more prominent
facilities. Recently Legion fell onto particularly hard
times, but the struggle may be over. As has been happening
so often lately (see
4-18-12 TEAROFF HERE), a racing lifer, Si “Farmer” Allen
from Vermont, has purchased it and injected a silo full of
energy. This shot is from last Sunday night, when the flashy
Sprint Cars of New England (SCoNE) came into town. Left to
right are winner Shawn Berry and podium partners Jim Lowry
and Danny Douville. The crowd was the biggest in memory, and
the fans love all the new action. Go for it, Si! (Wally
Morton Photo) |
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#575 - It was a Sunday afternoon in 1978
at Birmingham International Raceway. That’s local racer
David Mader III who just won the feature, joined by his
mechanic, a young Larry McReynolds. McReynolds had been
working on race cars for four years, and it was Mader who
brought him his first victory. McReynolds has many
achievements behind him these days and a decidedly more tony
look behind the TV cameras. From
LARRY MCREYNOLDS; The Big Picture, by Larry
McReynolds with Bob Zeller.
(Larry McReynolds Collection) |
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#574 - Beware the wrath of “Do it”
Hewitt! “During a USAC sprint race at Angell Park Speedway
in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, on July 7, 2002, Jack Hewitt
flipped and flew over the billboard and out into the pit
area. After a few breathless moments, he reappeared at the
top of the sign to yell at the ‘dumb ass’ who sent him
flying”. From
WIN IT OR WEAR IT – All Time Great Sprint Car Tales,
by Joyce Standridge.
(Kevin Horcher Photo) |
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#573 It’s amazing how quickly word can spread
through the racing community when someone comes up with the
hot set-up. And that’s nothing new. Back in 1948, California
was in the forefront of early track racing, and Andy
Granatelli was paying attention. When he decided to go on
the roadster circuit around Chicago, he made a deal for a
car with Don Blair of Blair’s Speed Shop in Pasadena. In
this image Don stands next to the tow vehicle, about to hop
aboard for the long trip East.
From
HOT RODS IN THE FORTIES: A Blast from the Past, by
Don Montgomery.
(Tim Timmerman Collection) |
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#572 - Her car was called “Odyssey” –
and how appropriate was that! Aggi Hendriks was running a
plant store in British Columbia when she heard the call of
the strip. She toured North America for nearly 20 years as
the first woman to acquire a jet car license. “Odyssey” was
a 27 ft.-long, 1275-pound dragster powered by a 4500 HP
General Electric J85 engine. She was in the 300 MPH range in
five seconds. In 2002, Aggi retired to Oregon, just as
abruptly as she had arrived on the scene. “Racing was a
large detour in my life. My life was on hold for many
years…but I enjoyed it.” Photo and quote from
DRAG RACING: The World’s Fastest Sport, by Timothy
Miller. |
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#571 - 2 Woodland, California’s Jimmy
Boyd had a seriously strong 25-year career in open wheelers.
Married to Jay Opperman’s widow, Jimmy became a multi-time
NARC champion. He also raced nationwide, even spending four
seasons in Pennsylvania. Probably his most noteworthy win,
though, came the day of this photo, March 18, 1978. It was
at Devil’s Bowl in Mesquite, TX, the inaugural event of the
World of Outlaws. Jimmy smoked ’em, taking home $2000 for
what would turn out to be his sole Outlaw triumph. Seven
years later he hung it up, saying things had changed, and “I
felt worse when I didn’t win than happy when I did.” From
WIN IT OR WEAR IT: All time Great Sprint Car Tales,
by Joyce Standridge. (Photo, Brian Eaves Collection) |
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#570 - “Stories abound of Brian Redman’s
seemingly prescient ability to avoid trouble in
circumstances that had others crashing left and right. …at
the infamously fast Spa, for instance, he once came up to a
blind turn and – for some reason – backed off early, It was
just early enough to avoid the wreckage from another
driver’s accident. The clue? He hadn’t seen any yellow
flags, he told journalist Denis Jenkinson. But he had
noticed, subliminally, something different about the
spectators. On every previous lap, their faces were turned
to him. This time he was seeing the backs of heads.” From
FAST LINES – Memorable Moments in Motorsports,
by Pete Lyons. (Pete Lyons Photo) |
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#569 - We have done some research on
this photo, and it was actually a race and not a fashion
show. It was taken back in 1974 at Islip (NY) Speedway, a
kind of reunion of the three original “Eastern Bandits”:
Denny Zimmerman (L), Dick Corbeil (their sometime “business
development guy”), Rene Charland, and Eddie Flemke. The
intervening years brought mixed fates to the traveling trio.
Eddie, “Modified Racing’s Fastest Professor,” passed away
ten years later. Slowly moving out of the cockpit, Rene was
seen at race tracks far and wide before being knocked back
with various physical issues. He now resides quietly at the
Wilkerson Residential Health Center in Amsterdam, NY. That
day at Islip Denny drove an ex-Art Barry car that had been
wrecked and rebuilt by Eddie Flemke Jr., and he had not
raced again until recently. Comfortably in his seventies,
Denny runs a USAC midget at Bear Ridge Speedway in Vermont.
And here’s what Denny says about Eddie Jr.: “So 35 years
later, Ed Flemke Jr is still building race cars and 35 years
later he is an experienced, smart, and successful race car
driver, but, even more important, I would rate him as one of
the all-time best craftsmen and fabricator of race cars. He
is in the same league as Watson, Gurney, Brabham, Kurtis,
and the other greats.” Pretty cool.
(Coastal 181
Collection) |
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#568 - USAC’s Eastern Storm Sprint Car Series sure
brought some breezy moments this month to Grandview, Big
Diamond, and Port Royal Speedways in Pennsylvania. The
wingless road warriors also ventured over to New Egypt, New
Jersey. John Dadalt, who caught this cool shot there, says,
“Robert Ballou is sliding between Jerry Coons and Dave
Darland. Coon’s car is a little soft in this pic, but I
think it says a lot about USAC. Dirt flying and sideways.
You can barely see Darland lurking in the back. At New Egypt
and Port Royal the breaks went against him, but otherwise he
easily could have won both. He’s still the People’s Champ.”
(John Dadalt Photograph) |
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#567 - Sometimes the Photo of the Day just plain
breeds feedback and stories. Case in point – that #564 photo
of the Circle Two cutdown. Tommy Garganigo, himself an
uncommonly colorful New England racer, points out that back
in 1958 there were two Circle Twos. “I was about 15 back
then and I worked on them for “Shrubby” White, the owner.
Fats Caruso was driving the old one (photo above) at
Westboro and Norwood here in Massachusetts and Leo Cleary
jumped in the new one when it was done. Leo beat Fats in the
heat, and Fats was perturbed. He demanded the old car back.
He got it – and won the feature. The next week Fats was in
the oldie again and went nowhere in the heat. He came in
fuming again, demanding major changes. Shrubby just said,
‘Fats, go have a couple of beers and we’ll take care of it.’
It was like that back then. Off went Fats and Shrubby asked
me to clean the windshield and check the lugs while he
checked the oil. When Fats came back, Shrubby said
everything was fixed, and Fats went out and won the feature.
Fats was pumped afterwards and asked Shrubby what he had
done to the car. Shrubby said, ‘Ask Tommy.’ Gosh, I was just
a kid. I was out of there! This was a mind game. If I’d told
Fats we had done nothing, he would have chased me all over
New England!” (Caruso Family Collection) |
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#566 - Kenny Schrader doesn’t even have
to be there to cause commotion. Last Saturday night Speedway
Illustrated’s Karl Fredrickson was up at Airborne Park
Speedway in Plattsburgh, NY, right near the Canadian border.
Karl was there to present the Schrader/Speedway Illustrated
“Real Racer of the Year” award to a surprise recipient,
Bucko Branham. Problem is the presentation came just after
Bucko’s feature, and he had gotten spun out of the lead with
two to go. Bucko’s nemesis, Jamy Befor, won the show and was
still in victory lane when Bucko came out of the pits to
receive his laurels. The place was rockin’, the fans
hollering and waving fingers. In the end everything calmed
down – and all the track’s 106 drivers came out to shake
Bucko’s hand. So did Karl Fredrickson, as shown here.
(Speedway Illustrated Photo) |
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#565 - If Kenny Wallace (right) has his
way, you’ll soon have the opportunity to run a
Toyota-branded engine in local-level and regional touring
series dirt track racing. Wallace, who will compete in more
than 50 dirt track races this year, tried the engine in a
Rocket chassis owned by Chub Frank (left) at the 2012
Prelude to the Dream last Wednesday. It was the first time a
Toyota power plant was in a dirt late model. The race was
crash-filled and Wallace stayed out of trouble, finishing
12th. Although the engine has many features identical to
those in NASCAR Sprint Cup racing, this one was opened up to
410 CID where the limit in Cup is 358 CID. Cup engines are
all dry sump and this one is wet sump. Wallace praised
Frank’s fitting of the engine to the chassis. “He’s not just
a great driver, he’s an excellent fabricator,” Wallace said
of Frank. The one-of-a-kind headers were made by Schoenfeld,
which has intimate knowledge of the chassis so there was no
need to bring the car to the manufacturer to build the
exhaust. Wallace says the Toyota is only available in steel
block format, while Chevys and Fords are available for dirt
late models in aluminum. The difference is 75 pounds over
the front wheels. Wallace anticipates running the Toyota
engine in all of his remaining 2012 dirt modified races.
When we took this photo, he had run 23 times on the dirt in
2012 and won seven, a fabulous record of around 1/3 of his
starts resulting in wins. (Photo and Caption by Dick
Berggren) |
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#564 - It was the end of an era. In the
very late 1950s, just as the “cutdowns” were about to go the
way of overhead engines and rail chassis, there was a series
of Canadian-American Challenge races. This shot shows Red
Sequin up at Toronto’s Pinecrest Speedway. Sequin was
wheeling one of the last of the cutdowns, the famous and
colorful #Circle Two out of Worcester, MA, also driven by
Fats Caruso. Sequin was red hot and on a winning streak when
he met his Maker at Oswego, NY, in August of 1961. He was
after a $500 extra bounty for anyone who could beat Nolan
Swift, but he was caught up in a wreck and died several
hours later.
(R.A. Silvia Collection) |
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#563 - Like much of last weekend’s activities in New
York, the races at Lebanon Valley rained out. So, the
Tremont Family of racing, one of the Northeast’s all-time
most successful teams, cruised over to the Saratoga Auto
Museum to check out the very compelling ‘Moonshine to
Millionaires’ exhibit. That’s the family patriarch on the
left, Ken Tremont Sr., affectionately known as “Abe.” He’s
been building and fielding rocket race cars since the
fifties. Next to him is grandson Kale and then Kenny Jr.,
the “Sand Lake Slingshot,” likely the most successful of all
the great drivers to suit up for the Tremont car. Dave
Dalesandro, who took the photograph wonders, “Do you think
Abe built any of those moonshine motors?” (Dave Dalesandro
Photo) |
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#562 - It is remarkable to contemplate
the accomplishments of American racer Carroll Shelby, who
passed away at 89 last month. Take a peek at this piece he
raced in 1952. The tube- framed, flathead-powered SCCA car,
named “the Monster,” won him his very first race out at
Grand Prairie, Texas. Think how it compared with his fleet
of Cobras just years later. From
Carroll Shelby: The Authorized Biography, by
Rinsey Mills |
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#561 - Right about the time the World of
Outlaws got started, entertainment promoter CK Spurlock, who
worked with superstars such as Loretta Lynn and Kenny
Rogers, started the Gambler sprint car company. Danny Smith
called it the “Wal-Mart of car racing.” This pretty sight is
Dub May at Lincoln (PA) Speedway back in 1979. It is said
that this was the very first Gambler. (Gene Marderness
Photo) |
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#560 - This is Miles “Mouse” Melius,
perhaps the greatest driver of that wonderful ’60s era of
Milwaukee modifieds. Mouse is archin’ by starter Duane
Sweeney, who would later throw the flags at Indy. John
Surges, who sent us the image, says, “This was taken in 1962
at the 1/4 mile dirt track that was located inside the
Milwaukee Mile until 1966, when it was eliminated. That was
the car that almost ended the Mouse's career. The throttle
jammed during qualifying as he was traveling at an estimated
speed of 85mph. He hit the wall head on and flipped so high
in the air that he cleared a road grader that was sitting
outside the track. He climbed out of the car with a broken
wrist, fractured cheekbone and several loosened teeth. Came
back later that night to sign autographs! He was sidelined
for most of that summer but returned late in the year.” (Tom
Trettin Photo) |
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#559 - Connecticut’s Al Novotnik (R) is
one talented guy. A couple years back he built a dazzling
model of Foyt’s 1964 Indy ride and took it to Indy as a gift
to roadster owner Bud Taylor. Trouble is, AJ got a glimpse
of it. “That sure would look good behind my desk,” he mused.
“But I made it for Bud Taylor,” responded Novotnik. AJ
barked, “But you are in MY garage….” “Okay, okay,” said Al.
“I’ll make you one.” Here’s Al the following year presenting
Super-sized Tex with a meticulously crafted quarter-sized
model of his 1961 entry. (Photo by Anne Fornoro) |
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#558 - On Friday night, May 25, 2012,
56-year-old Sammy Swindell was doing something he’d been
doing for the past 40 years: working on his sprint car in an
effort to win another feature event on a dirt track. His
lengthy record is quite amazing (276 career World of Outlaw
wins, three World of Outlaw championships, and victory in
virtually every major sprint car race that matters). As
amazing is that on the night this photo was taken, Sammy was
leading WoO points. And, that he was unsure of whether his
sponsorship would continue long enough to continue to run
every race on the schedule. Swindell’s style hasn’t changed
since he first burst onto the sprint car scene as a
teenager: He brings immaculate equipment to every event,
runs hard, and is a thrill to watch. (Photo and
caption by Dick Berggren) |
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#557 - It was in the wind, in the stars.
It had to be. That’s four-year-old Danny Dietrich peeking
into his dad’s (Dan Dietrich’s) sprint car garage 18 years
ago. On Thursday night, May 10th, Danny blazed to a popular
victory at Lincoln (PA) Speedway, whipping the invading
World of Outlaws regulars. Dad Dan had been a two-time track
champ at the 60-year-old, 3/8th mile Abbottstown oval.
(Photo by Karl Fredrickson, Speedway Illustrated). |
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#556 - Little other than this water
truck with a bent-up roof remains from Roger Slack’s tenure
as the general manager of the dirt track at Charlotte Motor
Speedway. While he was running the place, one afternoon as
he was spreading water, Slack lost control of the truck and
turned it over. Slack, who was uninjured, soon thereafter
left the track and traveled America’s short tracks taking
notes on what worked and learning as much as he could about
how to better manage a short track. It was an unusual
direction to take since he was already widely acknowledged
as one of the smartest and most effective track operators in
the country. But for Slack, there was a goal of landing a
job running one of the best short tracks in the country. He
got the job of his dreams and today is at the controls of
Tony Stewart’s Eldora Speedway in Ohio. Few if any other
promoters are as dedicated as Slack, and fewer still can
claim to have rolled their speedway’s water truck. (Photo
and Caption by Dick Berggren) |
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#555 - Good guy photographer Dave
Dalesandro was right up there with starter Bob Bigelow and
his green a few weeks back for the start of the rebirth
season of Devil’s Bowl Speedway, Vermont’s picturesque
half-miler. The track, struggling in recent years, was
acquired by racer Mike Bruno over the winter months. When
springtime came, so did the mojo, along with the modifieds
and the crate guys. It seems so appropriate that the hot
driver so far has been crowd-pleasing Vinnie Quinneville.
Son of the late legendary Vince Quinneville, Vinnie returned
with that potent #78 that has more than contributed to the
family’s impressive trophy collection. (Dave Dalesandro
Photo) |
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#554 - This dapper dude was German Bernd
Rosemeyer, tying a shoe before a test run at the Vanderbilt
Cup at Roosevelt Raceway in 1936. He was high-profile,
having recently married the famous long-distance and
acrobatic aviatrix, Elly Beinhorn. Uncommonly talented and
fearless, Rosemeyer was faster than anyone in the
super-powerful rear-engine Auto Union cars. He died in one
seven months later on the Autobahn, doing over 250mph. From
VANDERBILT CUP RACE – 1936 and 1937 Photo Archive,
by Brock Yates. (Crawford Robertson Collection) |
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#553 - Do you think it is possible to be
into racing and not be a Jessica Zemken fan? The dedicated
sprint car sensation has had meteoric success in racing
since she began in a center-steer sportsman car at age 14 in
upstate New York. Her exploits have taken her all over the
United States and Canada – and even to Australia. And, as
you can see from this shot of her at the Jack Gunn Memorial
at Selinsgrove (PA) Speedway on May 12, it has certainly not
all come on a silver platter. (Frank Simek Photo) |
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#552 - When Kyle Bush team driver Jason Leffler ran
into Parnelli Jones at Indy last weekend, he was very
pleased to show off his vintage T shirt that read "I love my
Stones from Parnelli Jones." It was an original from way
back when Parnelli had 47 Firestone tire stores and was part
of the company's Western racing group. Parnelli got quite a
kick out of seeing it, but he outdid Jason that same day.
When he took the "Ole Calhoun" roadster out for a couple of
glorious laps commemorating going 150 mph 50 years ago,
Parnelli was wearing a firesuit made for him by Hinchman
from measurements they took in 1962. Both those boys look to
be fit as a fiddle. (We'll have to check if we can we say
the same for Bones Bourcier who took the picture and is
working on
Parnelli's memoirs,
which Coastal 181 will publish this fall).
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#551 - It’s “The
Young One,”
Doug Heveron, at
Florida’s
Sunshine Speedway back in February 1983. The 23-year-old,
by then a multi-time Supermodified champ, was soon to
shatter an ankle preparing to qualify for the Indy 500. A
couple of years later, he was part of that amazing Winston
500 at
Talladega
for which the entire field qualified at over 200 mph.
(Gene
Marderness Photo) |
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#550 - It’s Otto by Otto! The hot setup
supermodified driver in upstate New York, Otto Sitterly, is
captured by the area’s hot setup photographer, Otto Graham.
There is a major revitalization going on at Oswego Speedway,
and the thrill of wingless supers is back big time on
Saturday nights. (Otto Graham Photo) |
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#549 - The 22nd annual Vintage
Celebration at New Hampshire Motor Speedway was a bit more
subdued than normal, likely because of the soggy economy and
weather. Nonetheless a gaggle of Indy roadsters appeared,
towing in from far and wide. All were incomparably beautiful
with that timeless, streamlined shape, but otherwise as
different as can be. Upstairs in the sonorous sounding,
Offy-powered Simoniz Special is Larry Pfitzenmaier out of
Arizona. In the middle is the Alfa Romeo-propelled replica
of the Foyt/ Sheraton-Thompson rocket ship owned by
Missouri’s Bud Taylor, while downstairs is Dave Schleppi
from Ohio in the red former Mike Magill car, the first Chevy
V-8 to qualify at the Brickyard. (Ken Paulsen Photo) |
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#548 - Frank and Alice Drogan are one of
the most respected couples in racing along all the East
Coast. They share the driving duties of their beautifully
built #3x Ford coupe, a replica of the car Frank drove at
the turn of the ‘60s at New Jersey’s Wall Stadium and Old
Bridge Raceway. There is quite a bit of discussion about
which of them is faster, but, beyond question, both were of
enormous help to us at Coastal 181 when we were producing
the book
PAVED TRACK DIRT TRACK – Racing at Old Bridge Stadium and
Nazareth Raceway. (Photo by Ed Duncan,
principal researcher for the book) |
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FOUR |
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#547 - Kids are kool. But anyone who has
been watching racing for a while shares concerns about the
graying of race fans around the country – and wonders how
the sport can attract new ones. It was in the 30s on
Saturday night, May 5th, at Lebanon Valley (NY) Speedway,
but this young lady sure warmed up those grandstands. It
worked for her heroine, too. When first-place finisher Ryan
Darcy was disqualified for being a tad light, 26-year-old
Kim LaVoy parked her #3 center-steer sportsman right in
Victory Lane. (David Dalesandro Photo) |
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FOUR |
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#546 - John Surges out in Milwaukee is
one devoted racing historian. Known as the Vintage Modman,
he is a gushing fountain of information about the old-time
cutdowns that once lit up the night at tracks like Beaver
Dam, Hales Corner, and Slinger. Here is John’s place,
housing a 1960s-era modified and a Chevy sportsman. “There’s
never been a street car in there,” he claims. Would that
every garage in the country looked like that! (John Surges
Collection) |
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#546 - That the Knoxville Nationals were
run on a Sunday afternoon in 1980 was a little different.
That was because of the rain the night before. What wasn’t
unusual was that a Saldana was flying on that unique Iowan
surface. It was Joe, the great sprint and champ car shoe,
who had won the show ten years earlier. Today it’s Joey
Saldana who is rocketing around the place. Joey is at the
top of the Outlaw heap, but three seconds are as close as he
has come to his dad’s winning time. (Gene Marderness Photo) |
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#545 - That Eddie Sachs really was a
case. In 1955 he came out from the Midwest to Reading, PA,
to race a sprinter on Tommy Hinnershitz Day. He stayed with
Sam Traylor. In the middle of the night he was pretty
caffeinated. He woke up Traylor, muttering, “I’ve got to
tell you something! Tomorrow is Tommy’s Day. You know they
are going to give him a new car and a lot of money and
presents. But that bastard isn’t going to win the race. You
know I’m going to pass that damn Hinnershitz. I don’t care
where I qualify. I’m going to catch him on the front stretch
so that all those Dutchman fans can see it.” And so he did.
And it must have been later at Indianapolis that he caught
up on his sleep. Quote and Photo from
EDDIE SACHS: The Clown Prince of Racing, by Denny
Miller, IMS Photo Collection.
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#544 - Last year’s URC Rookie of the
Year, Troy Betts, hung around the draw for the feature at
the Spring Sprint Nationals at Dean Hoag’s Black Rock
Speedway in Dundee, NY, last Friday night. His was the
second-to-last ball, and it rolled him right onto pole. But,
apparently, the lead was not the place to be. George Spurick
flew by Troy on the start, and Troy spun later. George was
out front, high, wide, and handsome until he encountered a
lapped car up in his groove and flipped. Bobby Breen ended
up victorious in the 40-car field. (Frank Simek Photo) |
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#543
- Don Lajoie was a rocket ship in this very neat ’37
coach in the 1960s at Danbury (CT) Racearena. The car had a
torsion front and a trailer-bar rear. Don’s son Randy was
quick to learn the trade. He was NASCAR’s Busch champ in
1996 and 1997, and he now concentrates on keeping racers
safe and secure with his Joie of Seating product line.
Randy’s son, Concord-based Corey, is a hot shot on the
NASCAR K&N Pro Series East circuit, but he sure showed the
Northeastern modified fans his stuff with a fabulous recent
performance at the Spring Sizzler at Stafford (CT)
Speedway. From
SYNRA – The Life and Times
of the Southern New York Racing Association,
chapter by Steve Barrick. |
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#542 - Yup. Good moment to throw the
flag. And quite a moment it was back at Martinsville in
1976. On lap 63 of the Dogwood modified show, Floyd Goins
threw a left rear wheel. Fearing trouble, the field slowed,
and when it did, Roger Hill (above) ran over another car and
began a series of barrel rolls. It looked pretty nasty, but
he emerged from the steaming, overturned wreck with just
some cut fingers. Meanwhile, three-wheeling Goins continued
his way around to the pits where his crew shoed him up
again. And off he went. From SUPERSPEEDWAY: The Story of
Grand National Racing, by Richard Benyo. (Neil Britt
Photo) |
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#541 - Everyone in the
Northeast grieves for Hall of Fame modified driver, Billy
Harman. Billy and wife Donna have been one of racing’s most
popular couples for years before her death two weeks back.
In happier times Billy was a terror at the New London, CT,
Waterford Speedbowl aboard this unique coupe that he
describes as “the most incredible modified ever.” With
amazing regularity he would whup the Chevy V-8s with that
piped-up six-cylinder. Today the car sits in the must-see
Pronyne Motorsports Museum in Pawtucket, RI. 401-447-4202.
(Photo: Dave Dykes Collection) |
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FOUR |
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#540 - "Tempe, Arizona’s Lealand
McSpadden [pictured above at East Bay in 1978], one of the
best to ever come out of the Southwest, and Jack Hewitt, a
legendary Ohio star who lived near Eldora and has probably
accumulated more racing stories – happy and horrific – from
that track than anybody, were battling for the lead on the
high banks and crashed. Both flipped hard and after the
race, according to an observer, Hewitt went down to
McSpadden’s car to apologize for a slide job that did not
work. And, then, a little while later, Hewitt [his bell
seriously rung] walked down to McSpadden’s car to apologize
– because he didn’t remember he had just been there." Quote
from
WIN IT OR WEAR IT- All-Time Great Sprint Car Tales,
by Joyce Standridge, (Gene Marderness Photo) |
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#539 - Like hundreds of other people at last
weekend’s Spring Sizzler at Stafford (CT) Speedway,
19-year-old Michael Hann was impressed by this 1948
Hillegass sprinter. Michael is the son of Mark Hann, who so
energetically promotes the forthcoming North East Motor
Sports Museum (www.nemsmuseum.com)
at events around all around New England. Michael was
particularly interested in the concept of flipping before
roll bars. He asked about how drivers used to “go down
under” by grabbing the wheel and pulling themselves low in
the cockpit when about to go over. Fact is that Michael, a
regular in Monday night kart racing at the track, was full
of questions. He’s majoring in Mechanical Engineering at
Wentworth Institute of Technology and he is bound and
determined to become a crew chief some day. His fondest wish
is to be invited to Hendrick Motorsports for his coop
experience. Hope they’re reading this caption! (Karl
Fredrickson /
Speedway Illustrated Photo) |
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#538 - There seems to be no end in sight for the
recent wave of enthusiasm for pre-1980 race cars –
modifieds, supers, sprinters from back before all racing
went cookie-cutter, with common design and store-bought
parts. Interestingly, that retro trend coincides completely
with a very cool chapter in hot rodding these days referred
to as rat rods. “Rat rod” seems to be a loose-fit
description, but in general it involves something built with
massive creativity rather than massive money, largely
utilizing used materials that happen to be on hand rather
than going chrome, and certainly ensuring that the finished
product looks both unfinished and bad ass. Sure sounds like
old time racing to me. From
RAT RODS – Rodding’s Imperfect Stepchildren, by
Scotty Gosson (Photo by Silas Warren) |
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#537 - That great shot of Russ Wood in the SNAFU
picture on top was taken by Jim Feeney. The next two photos,
however, are actually of a model of that car built by Craig
Whyte in North Carolina. Craig's detail is amazing. Here's
what he says: "It's 14 inches long and 8 inches wide, 1/12th
scale. I built it mostly from photo reference and memory.
The frame is soldered brass tubing. Tanks and rims are
machined aluminum. The headers are aluminum tubes. The
engine is the only part that came from a plastic kit.
However the injection is tooled brass and aluminum.
Six-month build!"
(Top photo by Jim Feeney, two model
photos by Craig Whyte) |
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#536 - Mary Susan “Mares” Stellfox was
the first woman to win a URC sprint feature. It was at US 13
back in 1993. Despite a series of difficult family issues
that limited her appearances, the popular Pennsylvanian
distinguished herself with the World of Outlaws and even the
California Racing Association. One of her most spectacular
runs came in August 2006 at Penn Can (PA) Speedway. She
qualified through the B-Main and motored up from 19th
starting spot to the win, earning a $3000 bonus from Bar’s
Leaks, the Series sponsor. (Frank Simek Photo) |
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#535 - That’s New Hampshire runner Clay
Down struggling to find bite on the stone-dry surface of
Canaan (NH) Speedway during a recent warm-up session. Likely
Clay’s time – and everyone else’s – will go down about three
seconds after the joyfully soaking Nor’easter rains last
weekend. And the rail birds will be keeping an eye on Dow in
the Sprint Cars of New England (SCoNE) circuit this spring.
Last year he was hampered by motor problems but still won
the Triple Crown three-race series on Labor Day weekend. The
SCoNE winner at Canaan on the Tuesday night special on July
3 will receive the Coastal 181 Cup. (Mark McKeon Photo) |
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#534 - Cha Cha, 1964 (Frank
Simek Photo) |
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#533 - Banzai Buddha. Ultra-popular late model and
modified shoe Tim McCreadie contemplates the pro stocks with
seeming serenity as they roll in the clay on the
resuscitated Albany-Saratoga Speedway in upstate New York.
By the feature, though, the nighttime air was thick with
intensity. An animated standing-room-only crowd stood and
hollered as TMAC outgunned Brett Hearne, Kenny Tremont, and
Mike Busta in a wild shootout. (David Dalesandro/MSI Photo) |
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#532 - In 1972, Richard Petty and STP
came together to race this Dodge. Today, together for 40
years, STP and Petty are the longest running motorsport
sponsorship partnership, maybe the longest running in all of
sport. To celebrate, at the STP 400 April 22 at Kansas
Speedway STP donated $43,000 to the Petty family’s Victory
Junction Camp, which provides recreational and social
activities for kids with serious health issues. Today’s
big-league racers, including Tony Stewart, Kurt Busch,
Jimmie Johnson and others, have donated millions to enlarge
and build the Victory Junction Camp. The Petty #43 run in
the Kansas race was painted in the retro scheme of
yesterday, and driver Aric Almirola wore a suit identical to
the ones worn by Richard (except with the addition of
today’s safety technology). Petty said the blue color goes
back years before STP and came from mixing some white and
blue paint to do a car—they didn’t have enough of any one
color—and the color became known as “Petty Blue.” The Dodge
is one of several that Petty saved from his racing days.
(Caption and Photo courtesy of Dr. Dick Berggren) |
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#531 - The day before this photo was
taken in October 1964, Kenny Shoemaker had pried the A to Z
Automotive #24 onto the pole for the Langhorne 100-Mile Open
Championship. The following day there was no question that
“The Shoe” reveled in the glory of whupping the 200-car
field with his time of 36.642 in a small block Sportsman.
The photo shows Shoemaker just after the race with the clear
look of a winner. Surely, it was his proudest moment ever,
but it was oh, so fleeting. The Shoe was just about to learn
that Freddy Adam in the Bullock #76, who most thought to be
a lap down, had actually won. It was a disappointment that
the Shoe took with him to the grave 37 years later. (Frank
Simek Photo) |
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#530 - Top Fuel standout Shirley
Muldowney was red-hot in the Buttera Funny Mustang in
September 1972 at West Salem, Ohio. At the 900 foot market
in round one the car grenaded in a ball of flames. “Cha Cha”
guided it down to the shutdown grass area and managed to
quell the flames, but she suffered burns around the eyes,
hands, and arms. From
FUNNY CAR FEVER, by Steve Reyes. (Photo by Steve
Reyes )
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#529 - It’s been said for years that the
mechanic makes the driver. But consider the very special
effort made by Charlie Jackson on behalf of his driver,
Tiger Tom Pistone. Tom had certainly measured up during the
feature, winning the mid-season championship in 1957 at
Chicago’s Blue Island Raceway Park. The diminutive Pistone
(five feet, two inches) did have a little trouble measuring
up in Victory Lane, however, and his main man Jackson lent a
welcome lift. From
BLUE ISLAND RACEWAY PARK, by Stan Kalwasinski and
Samuel Beck. (Stan Kalwasinski Photo) |
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#528 - "Born the 17th Marquis of Portago, Alfonso,
or ‘Fon’, was not just a true member of the Spanish
aristocracy – he was also a first class jock....Of all the
well-to-do and titled drivers, Portago was the most for-real
class act, and just what you’d expect from European
aristocracy... He also looked the part, seemingly always to
be ‘casually chic’ in a dark Lacoste shirt with a cigarette
literally hanging out of his mouth – like a James Dean
without the brooding…. I recall Portago going with a
beautiful world class model in 1954. And then in 1957, there
was actress Linda Christian to give him what the press later
labeled ‘the kiss of death’ in Bologna on the Mille Miglia.
He and his passenger, American Eddie Nelson, were lying a
credible third at the time, but died along with 12
spectators when they crashed some seventy-five miles from
the finish.” Photo (Klemantaski Collection) and caption from
PHIL HILL: A Driving Life, by Phil Hill |
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#527 - Jimmy
Bryan was riding high in the late fifties. When he won Indy
in 1958, he enjoyed the profound privilege of winners from
1947-1959: He got to kiss the movie star. And that year
Queen of the Festival Parade was none other than 24-year-old
Shirley Maclaine, Warren Beatty’s older sister. In 1960
Bryan’s luck ran out in a fatal crash in Puke Hollow at
Langhorne (PA) Speedway. Maclaine, however, has just kept on
motoring. She has written several autobiographies – often
fairly racy – related to her acting career, her personal
life, activism, and spirituality. From
THE INDY 500 – 1956-1965 by Ben Lawrence, WC
Madden, and Christopher Baas.
(Ben Lawrence Photo) |
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#526 - Both authors Don Radbruch (Dirt
Track Auto Racing 1919-1941) and Joyce Standridge (Win
It or Wear It: All-time Great Sprint Car Tales)
have told the sad saga of a racer whose name may have been
Dewy Gatson. Gatson, shown here (on left) at Calistoga, CA,
in 1949 driving his own Miller, was popular and respected in
the racing community on the West Coast under the nickname
“Rajo Jack.” When he went to race in the more conservative
Midwest, however, he had to duck under the cowl for
photographs – and he was advertised as “Raja Ramascus, the
great Portuguese dirt track champion.” Rajo Jack, an African
American, died in 1956 at age 51. Fifty-one years later, he
was inducted into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame. From
Dirt Track Auto Racing 1919-1941, by Don Radbruch.
(Russ Reed Photo, Don Radbruch Collection) |
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#525 - He thought he had it in the bag.
Mark Martin led the 1990 Winston Cup Championship chase from
June through October, but along came the Intimidator. Dale
Earnhardt won Phoenix and got a third at Atlanta, the last
two shows, and sneaked by with 26 points. Arlene Martin was
there to console her husband. From NASCAR: The Complete
History, by Greg Fielden and the Auto Editors of
Consumer Guide. |
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#524 - It was
1979 and the Outlaws were running at Five Mile Point (NY)
Speedway. Lynn Paxton was red hot at the time and he really
wanted to give the quarter-miler a try. “That’s the car
owner, Maynard Boop, to my left,” he says, “and Davey Brown
Jr., the mechanic, to my right. Good thing we won, because
they weren’t too excited about going up there. If we’d
gotten wrecked, I would have had to walk home.”
(Gene
Marderness Photo) |
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#523 - It was so sad to hear of Bill
"Grumpy" Jenkins' passing a week ago. We were amazed with
his enduring popularity when Bill came to sign the book
Grumpy's Toys at our booth at the Area Auto Racing
News' Motorsports Show in January. He was still a tad on the
stern side, but we did get some smiles out of him!
Predictably, the Grump wasn't sure at all how to react when
artist John Jodauga came up with this Superman-themed press
kit cover for him back in 1970. However, the feedback from
the media was very positive, and "the Champion of Underdogs"
went on to "break the bonds of the Hemi's grip on Pro
Stocks." Quote and image from
The Art of Drag Racing, by John Jodauga with
Melissa Pasillas. |
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#522 - A master open-wheel crew chief,
Andy Dunlop tells many amazing stories of the glory days in
his book
DAMN FEW DIED IN BED, edited by Tom Saal. One of
the most memorable, though, took place at the Hoosier
Hundred in 1962. Dunlop’s driver Allen Crowe started down
back and was motoring up through the pack until he tossed
the left rear wheel coming off turn four. He flipped and his
foot likely was jammed on the go pedal. The car spun round
and round upside down and on its side until it finally
stopped right near the pit area, on fire. Everyone assumed
the worse, and Crowe was removed unconscious. Turned out he
was okay, but not quite ready for Trenton the next week. The
car wasn’t ready either. From
DAMN FEW DIED IN BED: Memories of a Life in American
Automobile Racing 1930-1975, by Andy Dunlop and
Thomas Saal. (Frank Fisse Photo) |
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#521 - How about that 18-year-old from
New Mexico, Mercedes Harris, waltzin’ it into the turn at El
Paso Speedway Park? Asked what she was thinking at the
moment, she said, “Not much! I try not to think unless the
car gets really upset. It sure wasn’t here. It was working
beautifully and all I had to do was react and take in all
those great dirt track feelings!” |
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#520 - It was an awful moment in 1970
when the transmission in Don Garlits’ Swamp Rat 13 blew,
broke the chassis and dispatched a big part of Big Daddy’s
right foot. It was also a transformative moment in
drag-racing safety. As Garlits was recuperating in the
hospital, he drew up a new design. When Swamp Rat 14 showed
up, it was rear-engined. And when it started winning, the
whole drag racing community followed suit. (Images courtesy
of Don Garlits Museum, in
DRAG RACING: The World’s Fastest Sport, by Timothy
Miller.) The story is also told in
Don Garlits: Rear Engline Dragster |
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#519 - Russell “Red” Coffin, the 1965
Grandview (PA) track champion, is widely known for his
glorious, terror-inspiring broadslides around Reading
Fairgrounds in injected big-block modifieds. He had seven
RSCA wins. Just recently, recovering from a bout with
illness, Red reflected that “my whole life was built around
those Friday nights.” But one April weekend in 1966 he
headed a little further west. He had always wanted to try a
sprinter, and Earl Steffen’s car was available for a URC
show at Williams Grove. Things didn’t go too well. In fact,
all that Red remembers is stopping for gas on the way.
Looking at the photo series from his collection, he figures,
“I was okay until that homemade Sam Brown belt broke. Then I
got hurt. Really hurt.”
(Photos from Red Coffin
Collection, also appearing in Paul Wiesel’s book
THE FREDDY ADAM STORY: The Life and Times of the Kutztown
Komet.) |
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#518 - A well-regarded member of the
Eastern modified community during the glory years of the
1960s and ’70s is Russ Betz. A Connecticut native, he was
active as a driver of his familiar blue and white #59 coupes
and coaches, over the seasons also wheeled by gassers such
as Rene Charland, Don Wayman, and Maynard Forrette. Russ was
out of racing’s view for a while, but he has reemerged and
he sure has some new and uptown words in his vocabulary. He
is now proprietor of a vineyard in Stamford, NY, southwest
of Albany. It’s not just wedge and stagger anymore. You
should hear him talk about the delicacies of the blueberry
wines he produces. Russ is pretty busy, though, and trying
to clean his slate a bit. He is selling his last car,
pictured above with everyone’s favorite “Big John” Kershaw
at the helm at Fonda. It is an original, original
“Toby’s Tubes” car, with trailer bars beneath and a big
block up front. It is complete, and ready for a respectful
new owner. Russ is at
www.blueskyfarmwinery.com. (Howie Hodge Photo) |
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#517 - Beuford
Shanebrook was a physician and early midget driver and
builder of
great renown,
especially in the East and throughout the Midwest. Here
“Doc” gives
the Port Elto one
serious ride around Dorney Park Speedway in Allentown, PA.
Built
in 1884, Dorney Park is the
oldest operating amusement park in the country. The
flat, tight 1/5-mile oval on
the grounds was run from 1939 to 1986. (Bob Bergeron
Photo, Mike Ringo Collection,
courtesy of Bradley Poulsen) |
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#516 - Don Montgomery’s very cool hot
rod books detail the wave of post-war automotive enthusiasm
in Southern California. Along with drag racing, jalopies,
and streamliners on the dry lakes, track roadsters were a
big part of the scene. Formed in 1946, the California
Roadster Association hosted shows at facilities such as San
Diego’s Balboa Stadium (above). That’s Jack McGrath on the
pole and Fred Ryness in the ’27 T alongside. McGrath, “King
of the Roadsters,” won the championship that year and went
on to a short but stellar open-wheel career. Known also as
the “Splendid Splinter,” he was dynamite in the midgets and
soon went champ car racing. He is especially remembered for
a torrid duel with Bill Vukovich at Indy in 1955, before
dropping out with a busted magneto. Unfortunately, Vukie
would die later in that race, and McGrath would follow in an
accident at Manzanita on November 6 that year. From
HOT RODS AS THEY WERE, by Don Montgomery. (Tim
Timmerman Photo) |
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#515
- It’s July 25, 1963, and the mighty USAC midgets were
at Seekonk Speedway, the Cement Palace, right near
Providence, RI. The field was star-studded. Here, fresh from
his win at Indianapolis, was Parnelli Jones (#99), dicing
with Don Branson in the #4, and UARA midgeteer
extraordinaire Russ Sweedler (#12). Note how calm – even
placid – they each look behind the wheel. But those were not
comforting times for open-wheelers. Both Don Branson and
Chuck Rodee, the winner that night at the ‘Konk, died in
crashes over the next three years.
(RA Silvia/Pete
Zanardi, John DaDalt Collection) |
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#514 - Last Sunday at I-35 Speedway in Winston,
Missouri, Corey Dripps (#31) and Mark “Fluffy” Dotson got
into some dueling aerial calisthenics. Corey’s Big Cock
Chassis car was a little rearranged, but he builds ’em
strong. He’s been repairing it at the Gessel Garages in
Wichita and will be racing again tonight. (Chad Ebel photo –
www.racedayprints.com) |
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#513 - Can there be any doubt that it’s
Kenny Brightbill? His driving style and his #19 chariots
have been equally distinctive since the Sinking Springs, PA,
native began racing in 1969. He’s won over 400 features to
date, and is shown here at Delaware International Speedway,
where at age 62 he won the 2010 driving title. Check out all
of Delaware’s short-track history in our friend Chad
Culver’s new book,
DELAWARE AUTO RACING. (D&L Photos) |
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#512 - How can anyone not be a Becca
Anderson fan? The Houston, DE, resident is one racy
open-wheeler, with success in WoO, ESS and URC. She is shown
here a couple years back taking a shot at the indoor TQs in
the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. She is also a busy
restaurant manager and is reportedly working out schedules
so she can be back on the Rislone Series with gusto this
summer.
(Howie Hodge Photo) |
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#511 - Have you checked out
Speedway
Illustrated recently? That’s the magazine dedicated
to short track racers. The photography and copy are way
cool. How about this JA Ackley shot of Matt Jester testing
the cushion at Delaware International Speedway? And that
great quote in a recent issue from Carl Edwards. “Finding
the absolute edge is a lot safer in a tight car than a loose
car. Mark Martin says that if the car is pushing, he can go
right up to as fast as the car will go. But with a loose
car, he can go as fast as he can go.” (JA Ackley/Speedway
Illustrated Photo) |
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#510 - It’s the boys of Spring, but they
seem to be hiding from the sun! L to R last Saturday at
Selinsgrove (PA) Speedway are Jimmy Horton, Matt Sheppard,
Tim Fuller, Billy Pauch the Elder and Billy Pauch the
Younger. It was 75 degrees that afternoon when the green
flew for the big-block modifieds, and the senior Pauch
showed them the way around. (Dave Dalesandro Photo) |
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#509 - We’re all so lucky to have Howie
and Mary Hodge out there recording things, just as they have
done since the world was young. Howie is a commanding
figure, but there’s always that twinkle in the eye. I asked
him what in the world was going on in this 2010 image. His
response: “That’s Kristie, Bobby Santos' girl friend
(Hear No Evil), Heather, Tommy Baldwin's PR person (See No
Evil), and Melanie, crew person on Bob Garbarino's modified
(Speak No Evil). As for the question about what I had just
said to them, it is top secret and can never be revealed.”
(Howie Hodge Photo,
www.thechromehorn.com) |
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#508 - Californian Dave “Junior” Bradway
was a popular and gutsy sprint car driver in the 1980s. He
was successful from Ascot to Knoxville, exhibiting a
fearless approach fashioned after his heroes Jimmy Gordon
and Gary “Preacher” Patterson, both of whom died in
sprinters. Unhappily, Junior’s fate ended up the same when
he crashed mightily at Skagit (WA) Speedway on the Summer
Solstice in 1987. Ironically, he was laid to rest in the
same cemetery in Sacramento with Gordon and Patterson. (Gene
Marderness Photo) |
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#507 - For the
decades of the 1960s and 1970s, there can be little argument
that the late model racers from Iowa were cream of the crop.
And beyond doubt, their capital was Keokuk, that old-time
town along the banks of the Big Muddy. The Keokuk
Komets raced far and wide, Don White, Ramo Scott (pictured
above), Dick Hutcherson, Len Blankenship, and Ernie Derr
among them. Their achievements were extraordinary. That
group in itself earned 18 IMCA Championships and three ARCA
titles. (Midwest Racing Archives Photo, courtesy of Kyle
Ealy and Lee Ackerman) |
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#506 - That's
Stewart Friesen (#1) going at it with Erik Rudolph at Lenny
Sammons' indoor races in Providence RI last weekend. Stewart
was supposed to join us to sign autographs at the Gater
Motorsports show in Syracuse, but he slipped away to go
racing. We agreed, reluctantly, but told him he had better
well win. Win he did, convincingly, both Saturday night and
Sunday afternoon. Erik was runner-up in both times. (Norm
Marx Photo) |
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#505 - Does it ever occur to you that
the pit area can seem almost too kitted-out these days?
Maybe all the bells and whistles folks tow around aren’t
absolutely necessary. Check out this gear change. It was no
backyard deal. It was nationally notorious Pete Folse who
called for a gear change right before feature at the Iowa
State Fair on August 31, 1959. A 9/16th, a ball-peen hammer,
and a couple of pieces of newspaper worked just fine. Folse
and his Offy were fast, but Wichita’s Harold Leep won the
show. (Cal Lane Collection) |
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#504 - When Gary Bettenhausen could not
do the full USAC Sprint Car circuit in 1972 due to Champ Car
racing, he all but bequeathed the Sprint title to Sammy
Sessions. Sammy seemed to like the idea. He swept the 40-lap
season opener at Tri-County Speedway. Do you think there was
anything about that day he didn’t like? (Gene Crucean Photo,
Cal Lane Collection) |
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#503 - That’s the lineup for the midget
segment of the 4 Crown National event at Eldora in 1981. The
irrepressible Kenny Schrader was beyond busy that day. He
won the midget main, he ran the Rose Brothers Champ dirt car
and got a sixth, he drove his own Mustang to 10th in the
stock car feature, and he qualified Steve Kinser’s sprinter.
Steve was late getting there, but he belted up as soon as he
arrived and drove right to Victory Lane. (Cal Lane
Collection, John Mahoney Photo) |
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#502 - Talk about giving someone the
wheel! In this seriously action-packed Midwestern early
midget image, Bert McNeese is wrestling to keep the infamous
#1 Koch Offy straight. He’s just thrown his right rear, and
it’s bouncing off the shoulder of Walt “The Count” von
Tillius just in front. (Open Wheel Magazine, May
1984, Leroy Byers Photo) |
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#501 - It was back in the forties; Ford
V-8 60s were the hot setup, but often too hot. To deal with
that, innovative midget car owner Sarge Robinson built up
and demonstrated his newest flathead to Playland Stadium
Speedway (Seattle) official Gordon Fish. It featured extra
aluminum water jackets, redirected the exhaust, and added
new water tanks to the sides of the block. It became known
as the “waterhouser.” Though the workmanship was apparently
quite spiffy, it didn’t work, and soon the Offenhauser
reigned supreme. From
SMOKE, SAND, and RUBBER, by Mel Anthony. (Golden
Wheels Collection Photo) |
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