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Photos of the Day - PAGE 2
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#500 - This is our 500th weekday “Photo
of the Day.” In the two and a half years that we have been
posting them, the photo above is our favorite. It actually
first appeared in a
TEAROFF on 10-19-09. It is especially meaningful to us
at Coastal 181. It was shot by Cary Stratton when she was
pitside at Belle-Claire (IL) Speedway with some of our very
closest racing friends, Rick and Joyce Standridge. That’s
Rick doing his thing. For us the image perfectly captures
the incredible, irrepressible spirit of this country and its
racing community. It is the image of total self-reliance,
doing so much with so little. And you should have seen him
go in the feature! (Coastal 181 Photo) |
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#499 - Former New England photographer
and modified competitor at Seekonk (MA) Speedway Craig Whyte
moved South to stay warm. Here’s what he had to say about
the skating match he recorded at Screven Motor Speedway in
Sylvania, GA, this Feb. 11. “The driver on the left side is
Brandon Sheppard from New Berlin, WI, and the orange car is
Chub Frank from Bear Lake, PA, both World of Outlaw
regulars. Tony Stewart won the sprint feature that night,
and the track was frozen! We had a cold spell and temps were
in the 20s. Thought I was back in Rhode Island.” Photo and
caption by Craig Whyte,
www.WhyteRacingPhotos.com |
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#498 - Since the announcement of his
rightful induction into the NASCAR Hall of Fame, there have
been legion images of Richie Evans floating around the
Internet. In this particular shot from Trenton, however, the
playful “Rapid Roman” seemed more interested in the kiss
than in the silver of victory. Not sure about Pat Romano,
the trophy girl. (R.N. Masser, Jr. Photo, Dick Berggren
Collection) |
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#497 - It's a dozen years now since the
great Lou Lazzarro died after pulling in from the feature at
Fonda (NY) Speedway, but his image still burns bright. You
could say there were four notable consistencies about "the
Monk." First was that series of battered maroon bodies,
always (and appropriately) number 4. Second, he was -- no
contest -- the guy who had spent less to get to the races
than anyone else on any given night. Third, he probably won
the feature. And fourth was Blackie, his constant companion.
How that Shepherd howled when Louie passed away. (Coastal181
Collection) |
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#496 - The surprised look on this
woman’s face is because Rene Charland has just pinched her –
yet another unsuspecting victim of the notorious jokester’s
pranks back in the day. “The Champ” was also a four-time
NASCAR National Champion in the 1960s. He is currently
living in the Wilkinson Residential Health Care Facility in
Amsterdam, NY. Apparently, when awake, he reliably asks the
nurse to marry him. (Miller Photo) |
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#495 - He’s everybody’s buddy, as cheery as they
come, but still Al Robinson is known as the Prince of
Darkness. That’s because of his info-packed overnight
performances announcing the Rolex 24 at Daytona
International Speedway. He also called the show at Watkins
Glen for years, at New Hampshire, Shangri-La II and any
short track lucky enough to get him. Here he is several years
ago at a benefit for the Spalding Foundation for Injured
Drivers, with buddies Ray Evernham and Ken Schrader. Last
May, though, Al suffered a severe stroke and is still
recovering. Now the Spalding Foundation, Shangri-La II and
many of Al’s friends are getting together to throw a major
fundraiser for him at Shangri-La on the weekend of May
11-12, 2012. For details on the event or to make a
contribution, contact Betty Sherwood at the Spalding
Foundation, bjspald@msn.com. (D & J Fotos) |
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#494 - Queen of the Tearoff? Think how
many Amy Gray Swindell has stacked on those helmet posts!
She toured the States each year with her standout racer dad,
Elmer Gray. Here she’s shown getting Sammy’s hat ready in
1982. Thirty years later she’s still at it, keeping both
Sammy and their son Kevin clairvoyant for their sweep of the
2012 Chili Bowl. (Dick Berggren Photo) |
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#493 - At the Seymour Family’s Racer’s
Expo this year the theme was again largely for oval track
competitors. However, a very welcome drag racing contingent
appeared in force, including New England Dragway and Camco
Racing Engines. Much to the delight of the roundy-rounders,
Jon Wall lifted the lid of “The Boogieman,” a Blown 1934
Ford Funny Car, and answered a million question about what
it’s like to take the green with 540 cubic inches of Ford
big block up front. (Norm Marx Photo) |
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#492 - Dick Mills was head-turnin’ ready for the 1967
spring opener at Lee (NH) Raceway and other New England
venues. Like most builders of the day, he had stopped by the
local junk yard for ideas, parts, and pieces. An airplane
sitting there caught his fancy. He grabbed the landing gear
hydraulics, plumbed it all up with backhoe controls, and his
rail frame became springless. The engine was a ’57 Caddy
with a four barrel, funneling power through an automatic
transmission. The five-become-three window ’37 Ford shell
was crowned with an early wing, and the sidepods covered the
battery and three five-gallon GI cans for fuel. “The
Invader” was way fast, but Mills never could develop its
full potential. Apparently, the Tech Inspectors were not
amused.
(Dick Mills Collection) |
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#491 - In his book
FAST LINES, Pete Lyons presents some reasons that
New Zealander Denny Hulme, the 1967 FI World Champ, was
nicknamed “The Bear”: A McLaren fabricator told me about one
day proudly showing Denny an elaborate new throttle
mechanism he’d worked up, guaranteed to operate smoothly
without jamming. “The bloke picked it up and just
twisted it with those big ’ands of ’is, and the
bloody thing bent like a pretzel.
I mean he knackered it. He
gave it back and said, ‘Make it stronger and walked off.’”
From
FAST LINES: Memorable Moments in Motorsports from Vintage
Racecar Magazine, by Pete Lyons. (Pete Lyons Photo) |
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#490 - It has been unusually warm for
February up here in the Northeast, and some of the people
are acting little abnormal, too. ISMA Supermodified stars
Scotty Martel and Chris Perley thought they would take in
rare mid-winter round of golf. As you can see, Chris made
sure that Scotty would be all set when he walked up to make
his first drive. (Coastal Psychiatry Associates Photo) |
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#489 - This photo and caption comes from
Walt Wimer, noted racing historian and everyone’s favorite
resident of Butler, PA. Check out this car. That ain’t no
flathead! Walt writes, “Altoona, PA’s great Johnny Grum
passed away on January 27, 2012 at age 82. Grum saw it all
and did it all when it came to dirt track racing from the
coupes to Super-Modifieds, Sprints Cars, Late Models and
even a couple of years in Street Stocks to close out his
career. He started out in 1950 at the long-gone Tipton
Speedway driving a 1940 Ford. Later he later became a front
runner in the Modified coupes with the old Penn-Western
Racing Association, running at such tracks at Greater
Johnstown, Latrobe and Jennerstown. Later he teamed up with
Windber car owner Joe Horner in the #46 cut down coupe
Modified. In 1966 Grum heard about a radical Super-Modified
car being put together by Harry Fletcher down in Maryland.
The car was called the "sidewinder," a low slung Ford
powered Super. It was quite different from what anyone else
was running about the time of the transition from the Supers
to Sprint Cars in the central PA area. With the # 66
"sidewinder" Grum won more than his share with victories at
Port Royal, Hagerstown, Everett and Bedford.” (Walt Wimer
Photography) |
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#488 - It’s a beautiful thing. That’s
the line up for the Golden Wheels event at the East
Wenatchee Speedway in Wenatchee, WA. Pam Shatraw and the
gang at Vintage Oval Racing magazine keeps everyone up on
the wheel with vintage events across the country. They’re at
www.vintageovalracing.com. (Photo by Tom Hanna) |
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#487 - In August 2010, 100-time modified
winner, Jared Landers, showed up at Batesville (AR)
Speedway, one of his home tracks, to take on the Lucas Oil
Dirt Series’ “Topless 100” in a Super Late Model. He was on
a mission. But on Saturday it rained out. Jared was up all
night, fretting, obsessing about tires and setups. When the
sun came up, it was blazing hot. But, when the green flag
dropped, Landers realized he had a shot at it. And win he
did, his first late model feature, worth $40,000. In Victory
Lane he was whipped – totally exhausted. “I don’t think I
took a breath the whole race,” he gasped, descending to the
track surface. And SPEED TV’s Dave Argabright reported, “Of
all the interviews I’ve ever done, this was the first one
not in the vertical mode!”
(C. Wesley Richardson
Photography,
http://public.fotki.com/cwesleyrichardson/ ) |
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#486 - When you go to buy a subscription
to the new Speedway Illustrated magazine (www.speedwayillustrated.com),
be careful if the Editor, Karl Fredrickson, is on the other
side of the table. Granted, he looks kinda normal, but hang
on for what might happen next. About ten years ago, he
called one day and asked if he could borrow something for
his racing effort. We said sure and he came over and took a
whole dirt modified – for a year. More recently he called
and mentioned, by the way, that he had just gone for an
interesting ride – this time with the Blue Angels! But the
most recent revelation really hit home. Seems he was in Las
Vegas a few weeks ago and stopped by a barroom. Outraged at
the cost of a drink, he asked about any specials. There was
one, the Diablo, that offered four vodka tonics in one glass
with a customer-friendly price sticker. He bought and
dispatched it forthwith. Then he heard about the
Stratosphere. Not the hotel itself, but the jump off the top
– and someone told him his buddy Carl (with a “C” as in Carl
Edwards) had previously done it. So up went Karl, and down
he came via bungee….108 stories. You could say it was
Diablo-fueled, but I think it’s something more ingrained –
and much scarier!
(Norm Marx Photo at Seymour
Enterprises Racer’s Expo) |
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#485 - Car owner Mario Fiore and his
former driver, Reggie RuggIero, were inducted into the NEAR
(New England) Hall of Fame a couple of weeks ago. The duo
sure made some kind of music with the #44 East Coast
modified. Arguably, their highest note came at the Race of
Champions at Pocono in 1988. Following a qualifying snafu,
the team started out back of the band, in 50th place. They
won. The inductor, Bones Bourcier, speculates that they came
up from deeper than anyone in NASCAR history. (Mario Fiore
Collection) |
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#484 - Though In his mid-fifties, no
question Sprint Car Hall of Famer Rip Williams can still
stir up a cushion. But the Ripper is looking a little
professorial these days with that graying ’stash and his
hair parted in the middle. Maybe that’s because he’s often
in class, teaching all his boys (Austin, Cody, and Logan) to
be fast and safe in their sprinters. (John Dadalt photo) |
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#483 - Lone Star J.R., otherwise known
as Johnny Rutherford, was born in Coffeyville, Kansas. But
most of his life has been based out of Fort Worth, near
where he started racing modifieds in the 1950s. He quickly
moved on to midgets, sprints and Indy cars, but not without
some challenges along the way. In 1966, he broke both arms
in an Eldora flip. Two years later he badly burned his hands
at Phoenix, but undeterred, he went on to join that elite
club of three-time Indy 500 winners. J.R. was also one of
the first big-time racers to recognize the value of good
looks and smooth talk. It got him a job as a television
analyst when the driving career ended (ironically, in part
because of an influx of good-looking, smooth-talking,
well-monied foreign drivers). (Joyce Standridge Photo and
Caption) |
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#482 - It was conditioned clay, lovely
ladies, and total testosterone at Reading (PA) Fairgrounds
modifieds in the ‘70s Here are three of the best: Kenny
Brightbill (L), Gerald Chamberlin, and Bud Olsen. (Coastal
181 Collection) |
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#481 - That ever-engaging
Dynamite Dave Dion is now living in Florida, and he’s at it
again. For decades the Northeast’s most popular late model
driver and subject of our very popular book
LIFE WIDE OPEN, by Dave Moody of MRN and Sirius
Radio, Dion is on the Board of the Living Legends of Auto
Racing in Daytona. LLOAR goes into high gear during
Speedweeks. Dave invites everyone to the LLOAR autograph
signing at the Shores Hotel on Feb 21, LLOAR’s fabulous
annual banquet on Feb. 22 (See
TEAROFF 2/21/11), and the brandy new bus tour on Feb.
24. More info is at
http://www.livinglegendsofautoracing.com/events/events.html
.
The previous Saturday (Feb. 18) there’s another
cool event to take in. For the first time ever the town of
Daytona Beach Shores is conducting a celebration to
commemorate the North and South turns of the original beach
course. LLOAR has contacted all living drivers who actually
competed on the beach and many plan to attend, including
Glen Wood and Richard Petty. There will be a beach parade
down A1A at 9:00 a.m. for all race cars up to 1958 vintage
(the last year on the beach course). More info on that event
at
http://www.racingsnorthturn.com .
Note the Surprise
Special offer for
LIFE WIDE OPEN on our home page. We’ll fire a copy
off to you with no shipping charge (along with Dave’s
classic driver card) so he can sign it for you. Be sure to
meet him. They don’t make ’em like him anymore!
(Photo
Dion Family Collection) |
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#480 - That’s Mario Andretti next to the
Mataka Bros. ARDC midget at Thompson (CT) Speedway. He
finished third that day. Mario reflects in his 1994
biography, ANDRETTI, “If I had stopped and really
reflected on the danger just once, I probably never would
have stepped back in a race car. As realistic as you wanted
to be, you almost didn’t want to think about it. I was
driven by something different. I was driven by the desire to
win at all costs. But I didn’t want to know what the costs
were.” From ANDRETTI, by Mario Andretti, with
Foreword by Paul Newman. |
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#479 - This Photo of the Day comes to us
from popular Speedway Illustrated and Coastal 181 journalist
Joyce Standridge, who describes a bit of international
travel with her racy husband, Rick. “Six times we went to
England to race what they call Formula 1 Stock Cars. They
resemble our sprint cars but are much heavier and they
entertain the crowds with "contact" racing. It's not demo
derby, but it's certainly not dainty either. We met racers
from all over the world and always had a wonderful time with
our English hosts, too. Although we haven't been over since
2002, we understand that people still ask after Rick. Maybe
it's because he gained the nickname "Rollover Rick." You can
kinda guess how he came by that. However, he also is the
highest finishing American ever in the 40-year history of
the World Final with an 11th place run in 1996. Considering
how different the racing is and how there's very little time
to adapt–and how many Dutchmen tried to ram him into the
fence (succeeding a couple of times), 11th is almost like
winning!” (Mike Greenwood photo) |
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#478
- Time for everyone to lose that winter funk, get into
the garage, and get ready. You can bet this guy is. (John
Dadalt Photo) |
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#477 - He was
only 16, but Glen Andrews had quick wits. At Oxford Plains
(Maine)
Speedway in 1951,
Roger Eliot replaced Stan Dodge, the regular starter who
missed only this date in three years. At the end of the
feature, Eliot was a little too enthusiastic about waving
the checkered. He stepped out into the path of fourth-place
finisher, Buster Burt. Burt tried to swerve, but he clipped
Eliot before crashing mightily into the grandstand wall.
Andrews, who was coming off the fourth turn, saw the carnage
and purposefully flipped his car to block the track.
Unfortunately, Eliot was pretty beaten up. He died in the
hospital that October. From
OXFORD
PLAINS
SPEEDWAY –
the First Three Years, 1950-1952,
by Floyd “Zeke” Trask. |
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#476
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New York State Stock Car Association’s Hall
of Fame honored Walt Mitchell a week ago. Walt
won over 300 features over a 35-year run.
You’ve got to be one talented gasser to do that, and
in order to do it as both and owner and driver, you
have to be pretty enterprising, too. Walt told
a story about the time he took his daughter for a
dental check-up. Turned out she needed some
major work – $1500 worth, with a $500 down
payment. That was huge back then, but
Walt said “no problem.” He made sure to run
Fulton
that weekend because they paid $500 to win. He
and his daughter were right back in the dentist’s
office bright and early Monday morning. (Dave
Dalesandro Photo)
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#475 - This was June 23, 1955 at Reading
(PA) Speedway. Reading had its way of wadding up cars, even
back then. Where do you think Moose Moore’s driver’s seat
ended up? Moose had everything back together the next
weekend. He was busy minding his broken arm and multiple
abrasions to face and body. (Photos Michael Ritter
Collection) |
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#474 - It was one emotionally charged
moment when Rick Eckert chugged into Victory Lane at the
Dirt Track at Charlotte last November. His twelfth-place
finish secured the WoO late model championship, and he was
met with an embrace from Barb Vest. Barb’s husband Raye, a
popular and successful business man and late model team
owner, died in 2009, having supported the Eckert operation
for many years. Rick said, “He was the best car owner any
driver could ask for. He loved racing more than anyone else
I have known.” (David Dalesandro Photography) |
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#473 - In 1957, two years after his
father’s death, Billy Vukovich Jr. was collecting autographs
at the indoor midget races in Oakland. Here he’s catching up
with roadster-era hero Bob Veith. Ten years later, Billy won
the Californian Indoor Championship for himself. From
INDOORS! Volume 3, Tracks of the West, by Tom
Motter. (Russ Reed Photo) |
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#472 - Any Supermodified fan in the
world can tell you about the Rowley Rocket’s amazing racing
resume. But to watch Chris Perley drive is a whole different
matter. He seems unencumbered by the normal demands of homo
sapiens – things like having to back off going into a turn.
Is he the best winged Super driver…ever?
(David
Dalesandro Photography) |
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#471 - Stan Lee (L) was one of those
early midget guys who was also into flying. In fact, he was
Continental Airlines’ top-ranked pilot. It is said he made
big bucks flying shuttles to Southeast Asia during the
Vietnam era. Good thing, because he likely spent a ton on
his very fast #66 USAC midget. Here he is in victory circle
with driver Mel Kenyon at Ascot in February 1973. That’s
promoter J.C. Agajanian in the cowboy hat, but, quite
understandably, Stan seems more interested in the trophy
presenter, June Wilkinson. From
DECADES OF DARING – Midget Racing in the Rocky Mountains,
by Bill Hill. (Dick Wallen Productions Collection) |
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#470 - If ever a
race course was AC-DC, it has to be Albany-Saratoga Speedway
in Malta, NY. The spiffy half-miler was built by Joe Lesik
in 1965 and hosted amazing asphalt modified competition. By
the mid-seventies, the facility, then owned by Chuck
Richards, was covered with clay and became a Friday night
Mecca for the center-steer dirt mods. But in 2010, the
identity crisis continued, and Bruce Richards swept away the
dirt. Right from the get-go, the fan base did not react well
to the second-time-around asphalt. Howie Commander,
majordomo of the legendary Lebanon Valley Speedway, appeared
last fall with dump trucks and graders and will offer up
broadsliding once again this summer. As good guy Dave
Dalesandro’s recent photo shows, dirt really is beautiful in
the Capital District of the Empire State. (David Dalesandro
Photography) |
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#469 - Michael Ritter of MiBest
Collectibles has lots of neat memorabilia. But this image
really seems over the top. It’s Allentown, PA, with the
sprinters right before the War, likely 1939. Much has been
written about the oft-tested bravery of the drivers in those
dusty days before belts, cages, and fire equipment. Not so
much has been discussed, however, about the apparent
eagerness of the fans to get right on top of the action.
(Michael Ritter Collection) |
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#468 - Few racing fans are unaware of
the huge records built up in seasons past by East Coast dirt
tracker Glen Fitzcharles (L) and South Dakota’s own Doug
Wolfgang. But the one who really raised the eyebrows at the
Coastal 181 booth at Motorsports 2012 in Oaks, PA, this past
weekend was Glen’s granddaughter, Shayna Texter. The
95-pound 20-year-old motorcyclist is beyond fast on bikes.
Just some of her accomplishments in 2010 alone were becoming
the first female ever to win a motorcycle Grand National
Event, capturing AMA's Most Dedicated Rider Award, and
sweeping the CNG main event on the storied half-miler at
Knoxville, Iowa.
(Frank Simek Photo) |
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#467 - When you think of East Coast car
owner/chassis genius Bob Judkins, it is hard not to envy his
energy level. At how many races have you seen those racy red
2x modifieds dominate over the years? How many stellar shoes
have sat in those seats: Jim Hurtubise, Jerry Marquis, Ed
Flemke, Fats Caruso, Bugs Stevens, Gene Bergin, Kenny
Shoemaker, etc., etc., etc. And the beat just goes on. Last
summer Bob and wife Angie towed all the way up from
Edgewater, FL, with the current 2x to run a show at Seekonk
(MA) Speedway, just a couple of laps from Providence, RI.
Bob’s grandson, Ryan Preece (R), had the honors and hustled
the family hot rod to a seventh-place finish. (David
Dalesandro Photo) |
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#466 - One of the most competent of all
the East Coast dirt trackers in the 1950s was Steve Danish
of Cropseyville, NY. The garage owner started racing later
in life than most but exhibited world-class talent as both a
builder and a driver right from the start. Somewhat an Eddie
Flemke of the clay, Danish often policed younger and overly
enthusiastic competitors. Some considered him a bit stern.
However, it sure seems he was enjoying this day at a Go-Kart
event on 9/9/61 in Meco, NY. The photographer, Frank Simek,
speculates that he must have gotten a deal. |
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#465 - Englishman Len Terry looks on
while Dan Gurney tries out a mock-up cockpit of what would
become his F1 Eagle. He went on to win the 1967 Belgian
Grand Prix. It thus became the first and only car produced
in America to win a Formula 1 race in the modern era. From
DAN GURNEY’S EAGLE RACING CARS, by John Zimmerman.
(AAR Archives) |
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#464 - Liverpool,
New York’s good guy, Irish Jack Murphy, is frequently
observed overseeing the action at ISMA super shows these
days. But for the summers between 1949 and 1970, he was
looking out of the cockpit of supers and modifieds, dirt and
asphalt. He was sumthin’. He’s shown here confidently
carrying his Shamrock #6 into turn one in his time trial for
the 1973 Oswego Classic. He got to the track too late to
even warm up. So, he heated his tires with an acetylene
torch and off he went. He set third-quick time. From
50 YEARS: Oswego Speedway International Classic, by
George Caruso Jr. with Carol D. Haynes. |
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#463 - The late Jack Thomasson (L) of
Spray, NC, also known as Perk Brown, was one red hot racer
in the Southeast back in the 1960s, especially aboard Bill
Mason’s #45 Chevy coach modified. He must also have been a
pretty engaged father. Here Perk Brown Jr. gets to accept
the victory kiss after one of Dad’s legion wins at
Martinsville. From DUST TO GLORY: The Story of Clay
Earles and the NASCAR-Sanctioned Martinsville Speedway,
by Morris Stephenson. |
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#462 - Jim Chini’s photographs are
treasures of preservation. Here, in one image, he is able to
capture the astounding driving competence of “Lone Star
J.R.” Johnny Rutherford is wheeling the MOOG St. Louis #2 to
a sixth-place finish at the Sacramento mile in 1965. Note
the stoic calm of his posture and gentle but confident grip
on the wheel, while the chassis twists and that Offy screams
for Heaven. From
SACRAMENTO - Dirt Capital of the West, by Tom
Motter. (Jim Chini Photo) |
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#461 - Even during his days behind the
wheel, Ned Jarrett was known as “Gentleman Ned” for his
sensible, measured demeanor. That did not mean he was not on
the gas. He ran his last race on October 30, 1966 as
reigning champion. That day at Rockingham, he accidentally
triggered his fire extinguisher and was forced to make an
unscheduled visit to the pits. He got third anyway. From
NASCAR LEGENDS, by Don Hunter and Ben White. (Don
Hunter Photo) |
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#460 - Sprint car superstars, Doug
Wolfgang (L) and Brad Doty were ready to go in early March
1985 at Devil’s Bowl Speedway down in Mesquite, TX. On
January 20 and 21 they will be together again, signing their
books,
LONE WOLF and
STILL WIDE OPEN, along with author Dave Argabright,
at the Coastal 181 display at Motorsports 2012
www.aarn.com/motorsports2012.html. Wonder who will sell
more? But to get them going, you could ask them who was
faster. From LONE WOLF, by Doug Wolfgang with Dave
Argabright. (Max Dolder Photo) |
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#459 - “Rapid Ralph” Denson was a
journeyman flathead racer from Mexico, NY. He got caught up
with supermodifieds in the early 1960s. What he remembered
most about his racing days at Oswego “was coming out of it
alive, I guess. I had two accidents, and they were good
ones.” This one sure qualifies. He hit the pit entrance. (Gater
Racing News 1969 Oval Racing Yearbook) |
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#458 - It’s the
Brothers Reutimann, Buzzie and Wayne, of the ultra-popular
and successful racing family from Zephyrhills, Florida. They
were close this day at Nazareth Speedway up in Pennsylvania
back in the seventies, Buzzie in his Dave Cruickshank #00
and Wayne aboard Rich Marinelli’s M-1. They still are close
and will be joining the Coastal 181 display at Motorsports
2012 in Oaks, PA next week.
www.aarn.com/motorsports2012.html. From
PAVED TRACK DIRT TRACK – Racing at Old Bridge Stadium and
Nazareth Raceway, by Lew Boyd.
(Photo Richard
Marinelli Collection) |
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#457 - Our
friend, the highly polished photographer John Dadalt, sent
along this image to torture us for not being headed for
Tulsa. As of last
Friday (January
6, 2012),
261 competitors were on the way to Chili Bowl, version 26.
Share the pain! |
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#456 - In Brian Donovan’s book
HARD DRIVING – The Wendell Scott Story, Scott talks
about walking up to the pay-off window after his first Grand
National start. “It was the guys who were racing more of
less in my bracket – the ones with no financial backing. Bob
Colvin was handing out $150 or $200 apiece to these guys to
get home on. Colvin would give them the money and have them
sign their name for it. I went over and got in line. When my
turn came at the window, Bob Colvin looked up and said,
‘Nigger, you better git yo’ ass back up that road.” (Photo
from DUST TO GLORY – the Story of Clay Earles and The
NASCAR-Sanctioned Martinsville Speedway, by Morris
Stephenson.) |
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#455 - Derek
Daley had a ways to go. Here he was in 1969 at 16, driving
his first car, a ’52 Ford Anglia. He would advance through
the Indy 500, the Grand Prix of Monaco, and the 24 hours of
Le Mans before writing
RACE TO WIN – How to become a Complete Champion Driver,
a book, says Mario Andretti, that “teaches lessons it took
guys like me years to learn.”
(Derek Daley Collection) |
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#454 - Mark Donohue won the 1972 Indy
500, a first for the Penske team. After the 1973 race,
however, with all the tragedy and the loss of his friend
Swede Savage, Donohue announced his retirement from the
driver’s seat. However, the winds of change would blow again
the following year. On December 14, 1974, he married Eden
White, moved to England, and prepared for the 1975 Formula
One season, now with a Penske PD1. For the Austrian Grand
Prix, they switched to a March. He was fast and was turning
over 150 mph on the long pit straight when the left front
blew and the car ramped over the guard rail. He was
conscious afterwards, talking to Eden, Mario Andretti, and
others before bowing to incredible head pain. He was rushed
to the hospital and into surgery to remove a blood clot, but
he died the following Tuesday night. From
MARK DONOHUE – His Life in Photographs, by Michael
Argetsinger. (Eden Donohue Rafshoon Collection) |
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#453 - Four-wide drag racing isn’t
exactly new. This is York (PA) Dragway in July 1969 when
Bill Jenkins dusted off Dyno Dan Nicholson, Steve Kanuika,
and Ronnie Sox with a 9.84 second pass. “Grumpy Bill” will
be signing his newest book for us at Area Auto Racing News’
MOTORSPORTS 2012 show on Saturday, January 21 in Oaks, PA.
From
GRUMPY’S TOYS: The Authorized History of Grumpy Jenkins’
Cars, by Doug Boyce (Jeff Tinsley Photo) |
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#452 - Who can really say whether the
racing was better 65 years ago at Martinsville, VA, than it
is today? But, as Red Byron (L), winner of the first race,
and Bill France Sr. so aptly demonstrate, the head gear sure
was cooler. From DUST TO GLORY: The Story of Clay Earles
and the NASCAR-Sanctioned Martinsville Speedway, by
Morris Stephenson. |
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#451 - A sight to
warm a racer’s heart in December. That’s the fabulously fast
– and intimidating – Devil’s Bowl Speedway in Mesquite, TX.
The sprawling facility tests sprinters and late models
weekly on a track that runs up and down hill. Note how high
the backstretch is relative to the front. Incredibly, this
year will be its 40th under the steady leadership of Lannie
and Beverly Edwards, who are busy at the moment prepping for
their little off-season gig in Tulsa, the Chili Bowl. (Photo
by Coastal 181) |
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#450 - At the
time they were the big boys. And they still are to anyone
who ever saw them race. Leaning on the aero package is Bill
Slater, the New England-based weekend racer who won
everything available to win. He almost always was aboard a
black coupe with dramatic yellow lettering, #V8, “the
Connecticut Valley Rocket.” In the middle is Ed Flemke,
asphalt modified racing’s acknowledged professor, as so well
articulated in Bones Bourcier’s book
STEADY EDDIE. He’s wearing one of those wonderful
Judkins 2x jackets, a big collector’s item these days. And
on the right, topped and tailed in clothes he may now choose
to forget, is Pete Hamilton, fresh off his victory in the
1970 Daytona 500 in the Petty Enterprises #40 Superbird.
(The late Neil Murray Collection)
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#449 - When the motors shut
off, the shouting got started. It was a NASCAR Busch Series
show at IRP in 1988. New Hampshire driver Dale Shaw (L)
certainly has the attention of Mark Martin (far right with
his crew chief) after the main event. The two were dicing it
out for third on lap 173 when they collided. Martin
recovered with a seventh, while Shaw was in the basement at
25th. From
SECOND TO NONE – the History of the NASCAR Busch Series,
by Rick Houston. (Dick Conway Photo) |
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#448 - Frank Kurtis, the shy 6’4” metal
worker from Los Angeles, became likely the premier and most
prolific race-car builder in the country in the early
post-war years. He built just about every kind of vehicle
imaginable, including this streamlined and canopied Novi in
1946. Marvin Jenkins hustled it to International Class D
records at Bonneville. From KURTIS-KRAFT – Masterworks
of Speed and Style, by Gordon Eliot White. (Mark Dees
Collection) |
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#447 - Brad Doty’s just-released
STILL WIDE OPEN – Enhanced and Expanded, with Dave
Argabright, includes this image. Brad comments, “Oops…this
little miscalculation came at Lawton, Oklahoma, in 1982. I
heard later that Sammy Swindell hung this photo in his
trailer with a sign that read ‘My hero.’ Sorry, Sammy!” From
STILL WIDE OPEN – Enhanced and Expanded, by Brad
Doty with Dave Argabright. |
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#446 - That’s Herb Thomas (R) with
Smokey Yunick and a trophy girl in 1954. Smokey writes about
the photo, “Me and Herb after a win…they said posing for a
photo was in the contract, so I made myself look pretty.” He
continues, “Herb was never in the running for America’s male
sex symbol, and his interviews after he won won’t be
copied.” From
BEST DAMN GARAGE IN TOWN – My Life and Adventures,
by Smokey Yunick. |
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#445 - When Art Ingels and Lou Borelli
built the first Go Kart in Los Angeles in 1956, they used a
surplus two-stroke engine atop a simple tubular chassis.
What a craze it started. The ultimate evolution of their
creation is the SuperKart, now raced worldwide. They house
250cc twin cylinder engines and can reach 160 miles an hour.
From
KARTING MANUAL – The Complete Beginner’s Guide to
Competitive Kart Racing, by Joao Diniz Shanches.
(Author Photo) |
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#444 - Following some serious motorcycle
flat tracking, Rick Mears first got into four-wheel racing
with sprint buggies at Ascot in Los Angeles. Here he’s
landing from flight over the infield jump. They say he and
brother Roger were both terrors. From RICK MEARS THANKS:
The Story of Rick Mears and the Mears Gang, by Gordon
Kirby. (Mears Family Collection) |
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#443 - Brit Mike
Hawthorn worked his Cooper-Bristol for all its worth in this
turn at Goodwood, England, in 1952. That same year he
debuted in Formula One. He won the 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans
after being involved in the grisly wreck that killed 85
people. From
THE EYE OF KLEMANTASKI (Louis Klemantaski Photo,
Klemantaski Collection) |
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#442 - Some pictures are worth a million
words to the racing enthusiast. Such is the case with this
Leroy Byers shot of Jud Larson in Chet Wilson’s “Offy
Killer.” It was 1963, and the way-brave Larson had just
returned to the ovals following a four-year recovery from a
heart attack. He had lost none of his style, as he shows
here, confidently riding out his win at an IMCA event at
Muskogee, Oklahoma. Note the driving suit, the lap belt, the
roll bar, and the unfiltered injection. From
THE OFFY KILLER: Chet Wilson – The Man Behind the Legend,
by Donna Wilson.
(Leroy Byers Photo) |
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#441 - Bob McCoy has had one seriously
full and colorful life, as his wife Lynn writes in their
cool new book CIRCLE OF IMPACT – The True Life Events of a
Brave Action Figure. Bob was hot in everything he drove,
whether stock cars, open wheelers on the dirt, or roadsters
on the Bonneville Salt Flats. He even tried rodeo. On April
22, 1978 he invited his whole family to watch him take on
the infamous bronc Rio Hondo. It was quite a show. Bob
caught the stirrup with his boot on the way down and spent a
very long time in the crash house with 16 busted bones. From
CIRCLE OF IMPACT – The True Life Events of a Brave
Action Figure, by Lynn McCoy. |
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#440 - Since buying Bristol Motor
Speedway in 1996, Bruton Smith has doubled the capacity of
the racy half-mile. In August of 2008 a sell-out throng of
fans performed a crowd wave recorded by Guinness as the
biggest ever. From
NASCAR THEN AND NOW, by Ben White. (Nigel Kinrade
Photo) |
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#439 - Her
name is
Mercedes Harris and
even at age 17, she’s winning in dirt mods around
Texas,
Arizona, and
New Mexico
big-time. Here’s what she has to say: “From the
moment I came home from the hospital I was around race
cars. My brother Billy Roy raced for years and
then stopped to help me out as much as possible.
You can thank my dad for my name – and my mom for
letting him name me after a car. And, believe it
or not, my middle name is spelled “Chasy,” but
pronounced “chassis.” You can say I was doomed
from the start!” (Photo - Glen Blasdel Collection)
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#438 - It was a sight to warm a racer’s
heart as the modifieds lined up for the “Thunder on the
Thruway” event at the rejuvenated I-88 Speedway in Afton,
NY, last June. However, the thunder soon brought the rains,
and a painful chunk of the 2011 season was lost to the
horrible flooding in the Northeast. (Dave Dalesandro Photo) |
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#437 - Morgan, Minnesota’s Dick Forbrook
is in the Knoxville, Jackson (MN), and Kossuth County (IA)
Hall of Fame. No wonder, with all his wins in supers and
sprinters back in the ’60s and ’70s. Only once did Dick
drive with fenders, racing six events in three days, sprint
cars by day, the late model at night. Chasing races from
Lincoln, NE, to Des Moines, he capped the stunning weekend
run with a 100-lap late model show in Omaha. Dick’s son Guy
is a legendary sprint car crew chief, inducted into the
Knoxville Raceway Hall of Fame in 2009. (Photo and caption
by Chad Meyer) |
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#436 - Seems that just about every
old-time shot of rim riding with wire wheels at Reading (PA)
Fairgrounds features the Flying Dutchman, Tommy Hinnershitz.
However, Joie Chitwood, shown here, was no stroker either.
From SAFE AT ANY SPEED – The Great Double Career of Joie
Chitwood, by Jim Russell and Ed Watson. (Bruce Craig
Photo) |
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#435 - It must have been a comfortable
feeling driving for Ford during their “Total Performance”
years. Here is the 427 candy they brought to Riverside, CA,
and made available to their teams in 1965. From
BUD MOORE – Man and Machine, by
Dr. John A.
Craft. (JD Craft Collection) |
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#434 - Ferrari plunked a six-cylinder
engine into a Kurtis 500D Chassis for the Indy 500 in 1956.
It was quite a machine. The appointed driver was a
50-year-old Brickyard rookie, Giuseppe “Nino” Farina, also
the world driving champion. They were unable to get up to
speed in time to qualify before the rains came. From THE
FERRARI. by Hans Tanner. |
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#433 - Bummer. Surely Vic Rothe thought
he had it in the bag. He led 72 of the 75-lap midget feature
at Kansas City in the Carl Badami Offy in the fall of 1942,
only to ventilate the engine. He was looking a bit forlorn
afterwards, hanging on to a busted connecting rod. It was
the final event before the racing ban for World War II.
After a tour in Europe, Rothe resettled in Memphis, TN, and
raced mainly the V8-60 before heading off to Korea. From
ONE TOUGH CIRCUIT – Midget Racing in America’s Heartland,,
by Bill Hill. (Vic Rothe Collection) |
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#432 - Willie Hunziker won this, his first
KCMARA feature at Topeka, KS, in 1957. He had a short but
colorful career, his enthusiasm often livened with alcohol.
One night at an IMCA midget race in Shreveport, after he had
had a couple of pops, he tried to get back in his car after
a restart, but fell out the other side. The officials took
him out for the night. A liver ailment took him out forever
in 1961. From
ONE TOUGH CIRCUIT – Midget Racing in America’s Heartland,
by Bill Hill. (Tim Malone Collection) |
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#431 - Tommy Ivo had that showmanship
from the start, and it paid off. He was the first
Californian to go on tour to the East, and promoters were
delighted with the kit he brought with him, even in the
early ’60s. Check out his glass-walled hauler, race car
inside, road car atop. From
FUEL AND GUTS – The Birth of Top Fuel Drag Racing,
by Tom Madigan. (Photo Tommy Ivo Collection) |
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#430 - A very comely Scottie McCormick
congratulates Johnny Beauchamp at the end of the very first
Daytona 500, February 1959. But it was an unofficial
celebration, and three days later the actual victory was
awarded to Lee Petty. From
DAYTONA 500: The Official History, by Bob Zeller.
(Photo ISC Archives) |
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#429 - On November 15th, Troy Bissoneau
towed his family’s beautifully kept Walter Beletsky sprinter
to New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The occasion was a press
event announcing a multi-year project to build a North
East Motor Sports Museum on the property. Working closely
with Ric Mariscal and R.A. Silvia of the popular Pronyne
Museum in Pawtucket, RI, NEMS will be a huge asset in
preserving the deep history of racing in the region. Dick
Berggren has been the sparkplug behind the effort and has
enlisted the support of the local community as well as NHMS
management. That’s Dick on the left, Ken Smith, RA Silvia
and Pete Von Sneidern holding the building’s architectural
rendering, Dick Batchelder, Ric Mariscal, Ricky Craven, and
Lew Boyd. For further info:http://www.facebook.com/pages/pronyne-motorsports-museum/136201409727948
and www.NEMSMuseum.com. |
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#428 - The great late Ralph Blackett of
Des Moines, Iowa, leans the Jim & Helen Utt #30 against a
serious cushion during the 1967 IMCA Winter Nationals held
every February in Tampa, FL. According to a former Utt crew
member, on this race day it rained several inches the
morning of the event. By that afternoon they were racing.
Jim & Helen Utt are 2009 Kossuth County Racing Hall of Fame
inductees. Ralph Blackett was inducted into the Knoxville
Raceway Hall of Fame in 1986.
(Photo and caption
courtesy of Chad Meyer) |
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#427 - Steve
Schweitzberger was really manhandling his sprinter at the
Nebraska State Fair in 1975. The over-worked right front
looks like it’s asking for a smaller left rear! From
BIG CAR THUNDER – More Sprint Cars on America’s Fair
Circuits, Volume II, by Bob Mays. (Joe Orth Photo) |
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#426 - The first Daytona 500 was in 1959 and it was
green all the way and relatively uneventful until its
amazing three-wide finish. The next year there was a relaxed
look in the pit area. The calm would go away on the first
lap of the first 100-mile qualifying race, however, with a
six-car tangle that saw Tommy Irwin go for a swim in Lake
Lloyd with his ’59 T-bird. From
Daytona 500: The Official History, by Bob Zeller.
(Photo from ISC Archives) |
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#425 - Larry Phillips, the
incredibly talented late model racer from Missouri, was also
a serious motorcycle enthusiast. He’s shown here on a dirt
bike at the Springfield Fairgrounds in the sixties. Along
the way, while racing for NASCAR, he accumulated five
Winston Racing Series Championships and 15 track titles. He
succumbed to lung cancer on the first day of autumn, 2004,
and 100 bikers led the procession from the church to the
cemetery. From
LARRY PHILLIPS: Master of the Short Track, by
Kendall Bell and David Zeszutek. (Dennis Slane Collection) |
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#424 - At Fonda this spring three of the
most familiar faces in New York racing history reconnected
at Fonda Speedway. That’s John “The Turtle” Grady, left;
“Barefoot” Bob McCreadie, center; and “Jumpin’ Jack”
Johnson, right.
(David Dalesandro Photo) |
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#423 - It was a
day show at Tampa in 1985. Did Steve Chassey deliver that
Genesee Beer Wagon into turn one or what?! That’s Tony
Armstrong in the Ofixco Chevy in pursuit. From
BIG CAR THUNDER – Sprint Cars on America’s Fair
Circuits, Volume 1, by Bob Mays. (Bob Mays Photo)
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#422 - In just one image, Dave
Dalesandro captured the soul of it. That’s the “Cement
Palace,” the time-honored quarter mile in Seekonk, MA. Here
the NEMA midgets get some exercise on the night of the
track’s annual $10,000-to-win Modified Madness show. Stock
cars and midgets have a million laps there. It opened on
Memorial Day 1947 with the Bay State Midget Association, and
a thorny character named Oscar “Cannonball” Ridlon won the
show. The track was never for the faint of heart. Often when
drivers first get up to speed, they have trouble finding the
starter’s box because the constant centrifugal force from
the bowl-like layout.
(David Dalesandro Photo) |
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#421 - Here’s one to ponder as the
temperatures cool in the Northlands. Last weekend was the
Duel in the Desert at Las Vegas Speedway’s dirt oval. David
Allio sent us this shot of one of the 20 C-mains. 240
modifieds entered this year’s Duel, the biggest IMCA mod
show west of the Mississippi. Missouri’s Terry Phillips
towed back to Springfield with the trophy last year. (David
Allio Photo) |
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#420 - By 1957, NASCAR’s “Grand National” cars were
becoming just a little tricked out. That year, Rex White
introduced weight jacks. But in general, the cars weren’t
all that ergonomic. Buck Baker worked a lot of hours to win
the championship. Think what he went through just to win
that 200-mile at Langhorne. From
THE CREW CHIEF’S SON: A Trackside Memoir of Early NASCAR,
by Michael L. Clements. |
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#419 - It was non-stop
California Racing Association action at Ascot Speedway in
Gardena, CA, the speedway noted for the world’s most
heart-stopping sprint car drivers – and trophy girls. One of
the stars of the CRA for a full 25 years was five-time
champion Jimmy “Ozone” Oskie of Downey, CA. Jimmy was on the
hammer, as he had to be to win 58 CRA career mains. But
sometimes he was a little over the edge, as Brad Marvel
noticed watching him flip in April 1985. From
THE WINGLESS WARRIORS – California Shot Shoes, Volume II –
CRA Sprint Cars 1970-1994, by Buzz Rose.
(Jim
Chini Collection) |
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#418 - Brian Hoar, aboard his gleaming Goss
Dodge/RPM Engine ACT Late Model, dominated the time trials
and feature at this year’s 49th annual Milk Bowl at Thunder
Road (VT) Speedway. As usual, the weekend was awash in cars
and pageantry: The race itself was highly competitive,
though highly regulated, before yet another sprawling crowd.
It’s curious to ponder that 46 years ago, in 1965, the Milk
Bowl’s pole was earned by one tough cookie from over in
North Haverhill, NH, named Ronnie Marvin. Driving his
rudimentary square-top with a liberally carbureted flathead,
Marvin’s time of 14.25 on the quarter-mile could well have
gotten him in the show this year. (Cho Lee Collection) |
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#417 - It was mutual admiration at Martinsville in
October 1971. Canada’s Denis Giroux had arrived on NASCAR’s
national modified scene with flare and flourish. It would
all be sadly short-lived, however. Denis was critically
injured in a horrible crash first lap, first heat of the
1974 Spring Sizzler at Stafford, CT, ending a once promising
career. (Bill Balser Photo, Boyd Collection) |
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#416 - Dizz
Wilson, second from left in Tampa in 1954, had three Central
States Racing Association sprint-car owner titles. He worked
on a shoestring, often scrounging cast-off parts at Indy.
He’d typically let his drivers stay in a tiny trailer behind
his home in Mitchell, IN. It was known as the “fertility
wagon.” Dizz needed his full share of drivers. Here’s what
Bobby Grim wrote about him: “Now there was a character! Dizz
Wilson would sometimes show up at the track with three,
four, five cars. One time over in Illinois he had five, and
it was dusty as hell that day. When the race was over, Dizz
got to loading his cars, and he only counted four. Where’s
the other car? They got to looking, and found it crashed out
of on one end of the track, clear out in the trees. Killed
the driver outright, they said. They loaded the car and
headed back to Mitchell. It was a tough deal in those days.”
From
THE RIM RIDERS – The World’s Fastest Racing Circuit,
by Buzz Rose. (Merle Wilson Family Collection) |
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#415 - Longtime sprint car,
supermodified and (more recently) midget owner Stanley
"Skip" Matczak and his Angie were happily married on
Saturday, November 5, 2011, in Somersville, CT, near their
home. Matcak currently heads the Dirt Midget Association
(DMA) which runs at the 1/4-mile Bear Ridge Speedway dirt
track in Vermont. The DMA was recently profiled as an
outstanding and highly competitive low-cost series in a
feature story in Speedway Illustrated magazine.
Matczak is the founder and owner of Seals-it which
manufactures a wide array of race car sealing products which
are used in virtually every form of American motorsports.
The couple will honeymoon in Hawaii. (Dick Berggren Photo) |
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#414 - There’s
just that special something about going topless. It works
for cars, too. Here are the brothers Bartemy, Adam in the #X
and Aaron in the #3 in late August at Airborne Speedway in
Plattsburgh, NY. Those dirt cars on Airborne’s graduated
pavement half-miler put on one cool show. (Andy Watts Photo) |
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#413 - In 1938 the champion of New
Jersey’s lethally dangerous midget board track, the Nutley
Velodrome, was Eddie Staneck, a huge winner in big cars and
midgets. With all the carnage at the track, three
investigations were undertaken as to whether it should be
closed. Staneck was among its most enthusiastic defenders,
claiming the ultra-high banked bowl was safer than a dirt
track. Ironically, the next year Staneck died in this flip
in the Rastelli Offy at the May 16th opener at Castle Hill,
a dirt oval in the Bronx. From Midget Auto Racing History,
Volume One, 1934-1942, by Crocky Wright. (Walt Imlay
Archives) |
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#412 - After his last race of this
season, the Oktoberfest at Lee USA (NH) Speedway, Bobby
Glass hung up his helmet. It was not a move taken lightly.
Glass had been behind the wheel for 55 years in every kind
of short track car imaginable. His career was dotted
liberally with wins, including in 2011. Shown here (Left)
ready to go out for the feature, Bobby ended up getting
bumped around a little but remained uncracked. Avoiding a
huge pileup on the last lap, he snuck home just in the top
ten. During the week Bobby was involved with just as an
intense and integrated community as racers. He was a fireman
in Revere, MA. Fittingly, when he got to that final finish
line, he stopped and spun his tires in acknowledgement of
his retirement. The car caught fire, and Bobby casually
drove over to the fire truck. There were all kinds of
celebratory hugs, as soon as the fire was extinguished.
(Left, Coastal 181 Photo; Right, Lee USA Speedway Photo) |
| FOUR |
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#411 - While Jay Trinca awaited his
family’s arrival at Riverhead Raceway on Long Island, NY, on
Saturday, October 8, an unimaginably tragic highway crash
took place. Jay’s wife Keri and promising kart-racer son
Jason, just 7, were killed. Jason’s sister Marialena (4) and
brother Christopher (2) are in critical condition. A
fundraising effort in the racing community has been formed
to help the family. Please do send a note – along with some
support if possible – to: Trinca Family Memorial Trust, P.O.
Box 520, Ridge NY 11961. |
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#410 - Among the very most popular of
all New England racers are Anne and Goodwin Hannaford of
Hollis Center, Maine. They’ve had cars for years and have
consistently supported all those around them. The 2011
campaign, however, will have their name on it forever. Their
21-year-old driver, a real smoothie named Josh Cantara, took
all the veterans to task and won the Star (NH) Speedway
modified point chase. (Deb Dore Photo) |
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#409 - Don’t anyone even think about messin’ with
the history of auto racing in Vermont. It’s got some big-boy
guardians. On the left is everybody’s buddy, Cho Lee, a
devotee with a collection (with mobile displays) of
thousands and thousands of old-time photos. Bill Ladabouche,
center, works tirelessly on an extraordinary treasure for us
all to enjoy at
www.catamountstadium.com. And the dude on the right,
with the twinkle under those sunglasses, is Lloyd Hutchins.
He’s got enough refurbished square tops and flatheads to run
his own B-main. (Dick Berggren Photo) |
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#408 - That’s Russ Gamester going very fast in his
Silver Crown car in turn four at this year’s Hoosier
Hundred. It’s one photogenic event, but photographers
beware. As Jim Donnelly tells us, “On the right side edge of
the photo is the sign that I was able to duck behind just
before getting machine-gunned by clods.” Jerry Coons won the
race. (Note
Tearoff on Jerry Coons 5-5-10) (Jim Donnelly Photo) |
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#407 - Dick Monahan recalls this moment at the Labor
Day 50-lapper at the Cheshire Fairgrounds in Swanzey, NH, in
1957. “That’s George Monsen, driving Dan Dexter’s black #178
flathead, taking the checkered, about to lap Charlie Zipp.
In close second is the familiar #50 of Ernie Gahan, NASCAR
National Modified Champion ten years later. The announcer, a
young Boston University student named Ken Squier, quipped
that George was 'on his way to the land of milk and honey.'
He got $87."
(Dick Monahan photo) |
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#406 - Why does it seem that the worst
things happen to the best people? Coastal 181 business
associate and highly regarded motorsports publisher David
Bull was severely injured in a motorcycle accident in
California in late July. He broke his back and leg, damaged
a number of internal organs, and remains in the hospital,
though thankfully making a steady recovery. His large and
fantastically supportive family have set up a website so
that David’s friends, colleagues and customers can follow
his progress. You can contact him at
www.caringbridge.org/visit/daviddeforestbull . Like so
many others, all of us at Coastal 181 send him our very best
wishes for a successful and speedy recovery. |
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#405 - Buddies. It was a quiet moment, 38
years ago, near the start of the second Spring Sizzler at
Stafford (CT) Speedway. Hall of Fame driver and builder Hop
Harrington was looking pretty academic with the pipe and
that fatherly arm draped around fellow Hall of Famer, Fred
DeSarro. Hop had just put together a beautiful, tricked-out
#1 Pinto modified for Ray Hendrick, while Freddie was
driving Lenny Boehler’s understated working man’s coupe “Ole
Blue.” (Gene Frankio Photo,
Boyd Collection) |
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#404
- Just checkin’ to make sure you are paying
attention.....................
(Dick Berggren Collection) |
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#403 - Sitting proud and upright was the
much-admired Don Branson at a USAC Champ Car race at Trenton
in 1963. The masterful Illinois veteran racer loved the
roadsters and exercised them with a gentle touch at
ferocious speed. He died at Ascot three years later at age
46 in a double fatal also claiming Dick Atkins. (Ray Masser
Photo, Ken Merrick Collection) |
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#402 - Doggone dragster! Bob Muravez
watches as his pooch Prince checks out the cockpit of the
fabulous, twin engine “Freight Train” dragster in the
mid-sixties. When Bob himself climbed in, his name changed
to Floyd Lippencotte, Jr. That’s because his parents wanted
nothing to do with racing, and certainly wouldn’t have
appreciated Bob doing 200mph. From
FUEL AND GUTS – The Birth of Top Fuel Drag Racing,
by Tom Madigan (Bob Muravez Collection) |
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#401 - It’s May of 1967 at the Monaco
Grand Prix. Chris Amon, in his first ride in a Ferrari,
comes upon his teammate, 31-year-old Lorenzo Bandini, who
would perish in the horrific crash and fire. Amon said in
his biography, “It was a long race, the thick end of three
hours, and it was very hot that day. I know by lap 75 I was
actually starting to get cold in the car, which meant that I
was totally dehydrated. I’m sure he went through the same
thing and it was purely a lapse of concentration that caused
him to run wide and hit the bales.” From
REAL RACERS – Formula 1 Racing in the 1950s and 1960s,
by Stewart Colding (Robert Daly Photo) |
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# 400 - Here is the old half-miler at
Nazareth, PA, back in the early fifties. The old fairgrounds
was never a garden spot, as shown here. In fact, it was the
identity of grit, located right next to a cement plant.
Under Jerry Fried’s strict promotions, however, the racing
was good and lasted for nearly three decades. Fried even
built a one-and-an-eighth-mile dirt oval alongside. That was
purchased and turned into a fine asphalt miler, owned by
Roger Penske. Sadly, however, as we chronicle in our book
PAVED TRACK DIRT TRACK, both ovals eventually
succumbed to “commercial development.” (Dale Snyder
Collection) |
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#399 - Oh to have been there! That’s
turn one at the fabled former “Square,” Flemington (NJ)
Speedway, back in 1950. Hank Rogers Sr. hauls it in, leading
the pack in a heat race. (Dale Snyder Collection) |
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#398 - Jon Stanbrough is an open air
sprint car specialist from Avon, Indiana. He's twice
National Non-Wing 410 Dirt Driver of the Year and two-time
champ of the Indiana Sprint Week. They call him the "Silent
Gasser" for his stealth attacks. But his turn entry at Terre
Haute in 2010 was hardly muted. That right rear's really
diggin'! (John Dadalt Photo) |
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#397 - “Johnny Two for Two.” On Sunday,
October 2 Johnny Benson Jr. repeated last fall’s win at the
Race Against Cancer ISMA 100 at Seekonk (MA) Speedway.
(See
‘TEAROFF’ dated 10/29/10). Turning laps in the 10.9
second range, he whupped the best in the business of supers.
(RG Design {Robert Gill} Photography) |
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#396 - In the pre-War racing boom, the
midgeteers were racing everywhere, including indoors at the
International Amphitheatre in Chicago. In 1941 Joe Gersich
was hard on the handbrake, trying to stay clear of a
flipping Carl Trottman. From
SPEEDWAY PHOTOS, Early Auto Racing in Chicago and the
Midwest, by Bob Sheldon. |
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#395 - On Sunday afternoon, September
10, 1961, Utica-Rome (NY) Speedway opened its doors. As Rene
Charland demonstrates above, however, the floor wasn’t quite
ready yet. The asphalt had not cured properly, and cars spun
everywhere, but Bill Rafter, 1959 NASCAR New York State
Champ, kept it straight and took the cash back to Niagara
Falls. Bones Bourcier details the subsequent years of racing
at the facility in the brand new book
THE HOME OF HEROES: Fifty Years of Racing at Utica-Rome
Speedway. Coastal 181 produced the Limited Edition
collector’s item for track owner, Gene Cole. (Rod Nacewicz
Collection) |
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#394 - Coastal 181 historian Ed Duncan
has a way of coming up with outrageous images. Long before
Stafford (CT) Speedway was paved and became one of NASCAR’s
showcase short tracks, it was a tattered half-mile
fairgrounds track. In the early 1950s, a loose-fit local
band of daredevils ran their “hot rods” through the dust and
the holes. They were a creative bunch, as is well
demonstrated by Ken Torrant’s early cutdown. How about that
sail panel? (Ed Duncan Collection) |
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#393 - Racing buddies Carl Oberg and
Mark Alden are modified through and through. It now looks
like they will end up a very credible fourth in the point
chase at Thompson (CT) Speedway this season. They took some
time out, though, a couple weeks back and took up to the
Sylvania 300 at Loudon the beautifully preserved car
nicknamed “the ghost rider” that the late Richie Evans was
to run in 1986. Richie Jr., seated on the left rear tire,
paced the Sprint Cup field in a very emotional moment. Next
to Richie Jr. is his sister Tara and their Mom, Lynn. After
Richie was killed, Lynn married Evans’ longtime crew member
Billy Nacewicz, standing next to her. (Carl Oberg Photo) |
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#392 - Even in
the racing community, with its millions of members, that
small number of legendary figures somehow always gets to
know one another. Take this shot, from the unlikely location
of Hudson Speedway in New Hampshire back in 1985. That, of
course, is “The Intimidator,” conversing with the late
Marvin Rifchin, the entrepreneur from Watertown, MA, whose
company, M&H Tire, shoed winning race cars for decades and
decades. (Nasty Neil Murray Collection) |
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#391 - A compelling aspect of racing
over the years has been that, if you don’t take a car right
up to its uppermost limit, you’re a stroker. But, if you go
over it, you’re toast. That flavor has been lost in some
recent forms of the sport, but it is alive and well in
wingless sprint cars on dirt. How about this shot of
top-shelf USAC gasser Damion Gardner at Kokomo during the
Indiana Sprint Week in 2009? John Dadalt captures him right
on that thrillingly precarious ragged edge. (John Dadalt
Photo) |
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#390 - Friend and dedicated racing
historian Tom Avenengo reminds us that this September marks
49 years from the demise of Freeport, Long Island’s Bill
Schindler. Tom writes, “On Saturday, September 20, 1952,
auto racing lost one of its best drivers – Bill Schindler.
He was fatally injured while participating in an afternoon
AAA Sprint Car race at the Allentown, Pa., Fairgrounds
half-mile dirt track. Back in 1936, when he lost a leg in an
accident at the Mineola track, he vowed to never race twice
on the same day, since he was scheduled to race twice on
that day. He never did until that day in 1952 when he ran
the Sprint Car at Allentown in the afternoon, and then was
scheduled to run a midget that night at Hatfield, Pa. Len
Duncan ended up winning the midget event.” Schindler is
shown here in one of his many victory circles, this time
with Johnnie Parsons and announcer/journalist Nat Kleinfield.
From
DAREDEVILS OF THE FRONTIER, by Keith S. Herbst
(EMMR Collection) |
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#389 - After sweeping the Lincoln (PA)
Speedway championship in 1959, Roger Sowers showed up with a
rear engine car. It didn’t work on that dirt as well as Jack
Brabham’s Cooper did on the Brickyard in Indianapolis in
1961! From
LINCOLN SPEEDWAY 50TH ANNIVERSARY – 50 Years of Thrilling
Dirt Track Racing. |
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#388 - It was a tragic event that bore a
wonderfully life-enriching institution. On May 12, 2000,
Adam Petty, grandson of Richard and son of Kyle, was killed
in a single-car Nationwide Series crash at New Hampshire
Motor Speedway. Five months later his family honored him
with the opening of the Victory Junction Gang Camp in their
home town, Randleman, North Carolina, to serve terminally
ill children. From
NASCAR RACERS, by Ben White. (Nigel Kinrade
Photo) |
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#387
- Who gave more to racing than the great open-wheeler
Jim Hurtubise? Here Herk checks the radiator in the Sterling
Plumbing Special for dirt clogs at DuQuoin in 1963. He ran
14 USAC Sprint shows that year and won at New Bremen, OH,
and Lancaster, NY. Vintage Photo from USAC SPRINT
HISTORY 1956-1980, published by Carl Hungness.
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#386 - How about Mike Perrotte, that
promoter of Airborne Park (NY) Speedway. (See
TEAROFF dated 8/2/11). On Sunday afternoon, September
11, he held a 100 lap challenge for any big block guys to
come in and show their stuff against the very racy small
block locals. Perrotte decided to compete in a big block
himself. Before the show he mused, “I know some of the guys
might think it will be fun to wave as they go by me, but
I’ll be out there trying to win just like them. Maybe I can
surprise a few of them still.” He sure did. He smoked ’em.
(Andy Watts Photo) |
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#385 - Just as this year’s Indy 500 was
decided on the very final turn (see
J.R. Hildebrand “TEAROFF”), so too was the 55th annual
International Classic at Oswego (NY) Speedway. The winner,
Otto Sitterly, an uncommonly competent supermodified
wheelman, outgunned Canadian Mike Lichty for the closest
finish in race history. Otto is shown here greeting
third-place finisher Randy Ritskes in victory circle. Seeing
the photo Otto says, “I can’t believe I just passed my
teammate on the last lap and won the Classic. I’m trying not
to cry!” (Dave Dalesandro Photo) |
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#384 - The recent
Photo of the Day about Pappy Hough (#377) brought lots of
comment. No wonder. Born in 1902, Roscoe “Pappy” Hough raced
during most of the last century. Most famously, he owned a
herd of midgets called the “Five Little Pigs” in the 1940s.
He barnstormed non-stop and far and wide with these fast but
unsightly creations, all of them stacked on one trailer,
their five drivers often stacked into the back seat of the
tow car. Pappy himself won a NASCAR Short Track Division
crown in 1951 and subsequently worked on race cars in his
Wayne, NJ, garage for the balance of his life. Frank Simek
was at Grandview (PA) Speedway in 1995 to record the final
time Pappy settled into the cockpit. (Frank Simek Photo) |
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#383 - Reader John Dadalt, like so many
others, says to keep an eye on Kyle Larson, shown here
banzai-ing around Angell Park in Sun Prairie, WI. There are
a lot of national strands in the red-hot 19-year-old from
Elk Grove, CA. His mom is Japanese-American while his dad is
Norwegian, British, and American Indian. Meanwhile, it
appears Kyle can win with anything he jumps into. So far
this year he is Copper on Dirt and Belleville Nationals
Champ, and he has feature wins in Silver Crown, ASCS, USAC,
and WoO sprints, and POWRI and USAC midgets. (John Dadalt
Photography) |
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#382 - It’s been about a year
since we got some refueling from Rocket Rich Mersereau, late
model and character standout. He’s always on a trajectory.
Here’s what he says this September: “This photo is from
Kalamazoo Speedway in April. The next lap I junked it, and
we haven’t run worth a s--t since. Notice all the new safety
features: no containment seat, see-through window net, a
helmet that’s older than me. If you don’t want to get hurt
in a race car, sit in the stands. There’s plenty of room.”
(Mersereau Collection) |
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#381 - That’s Jack Zink (L) talking with
his driver, Jimmy Reece, before the 1952 Indy 500. About
five feet six inches tall, Reece had some trouble holding
himself up in the seat and, given the enormous speed, not
jabbing the brakes at the end of the straights. So, as he
described to Bill Vukovich, “I put a speed secret in the
cockpit…a Jesus bar. When I go into the turn, I push my left
foot on that bar and pray to Jesus I come out the other
side.” The John Zink Special finished in seventh place, on
the lead lap. From
TO INDY AND BEYOND, The Life of Racing Legend Jack Zink,
by Dr. Bob L. Blackburn |
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#380 - Here is an historic, but
certainly solemn, shot from the old Westboro (MA) Speedway.
It was 1962, and the Atlantic Auto Racing Association had
just formed a new ‘bomber division,’ the first for A-framed
cars in New England. The class was wildly popular, and early
features started 33 cars, lined up three abreast. Identified
so far are Bruce Tessier in the #8, Red Beeso in the #99,
and Bob “Tucker” Sleeper in the #24 Chevrolet. No happy
endings with this group. Tessier was killed in an ugly
accident in that same turn three years later. Beeso, a
character for the ages, died from fire burns in the
seventies. And the fun-loving Sleeper drowned when his
snowmobile broke through thin ice.” (Tessier Family
Collection) |
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#379 - Bummer. Joey Biasi had the URC
field covered at Georgetown Delaware until lap 17 of the
25-lapper. At that point the rear tire stagger got hard to
measure. (But look also at the top of the roll cage.
Photographer Frank Simek says, “That’s what’s known as a New
Jersey bar. Joey’s not a small person…and a few of New
Jersey’s finest overseeing New Jersey’s racing decided this
year to enforce a long-time rule that states the bottom of
the top roll bar must be a minimum of 3” on top of the
driver’s helmet.”) (Frank Simek Photo) |
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#378 - Jimmy Back, one of those
ultra-swift late model standouts in the seventies, was a
philosopher and partier as well. Father Grubba quotes one of
Back’s pit crew: “It must be the sleep that makes me sick. I
always feel pretty good when I go to bed.” From THE
GOLDEN AGE OF WISCONSIN AUTO RACING, by Father Dale
Grubba. |
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#377 - Pappy Hough and driver Phil
Garrett work on the Cox Esso Service midget, prepping for
the races at the Buffalo Civic Stadium in 1939. Look at that
car. That same essential configuration of chassis and body
sits in thousands of garages around America still today.
Long live the straight front axle! From
DAREDEVILS OF THE FRONTIER, by Keith Herbst. |
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#376 - Look at this one twice. It was
named “Suddenly,” a purple supermodified powered by an
injected 427 Ford. The beastly creation was the hot setup in
the early seventies with its owner/driver, Bill Bigsell, at
Rowley Park Speedway. (That’s Australia). From
FULL THROTTLE: Images of Australian Speedway 1970-2009,
by Tony Loxley |
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| #375
- Fate – sometimes so random and consummately sad. On
August 12, 1988, Jeri Rice, a 29 year old teacher from
Tucson, dropped out of the races at Southern New Mexico
Speedway. Her midget had developed engine problems, done for
the night. Jeri walked across the pit area to her hauler to
change out of her fire suit. A wheel from a stock car broke
loose, flew high in the air, and killed her. From new
SUPPLEMENT TO RACERS AT REST, by Buzz Rose. (The
Toops, Western Racing News Collection) |
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#374 - Many an old timer would say that
Wally Stokes had to be one of the best ever. The Willoughby,
Ohio, star was the 1948 Central States Racing Association
champ with 25 wins in 27 starts on the dusty sprint car
circuit. His wife Grace often did the highway driving, Wally
curled up in the back seat. Such was the case on their way
to a midget race in Illinois at 2:30 a.m. on August 21,
1949. Somehow Grace missed the turn but met the trees. She
was badly banged up, but survived. Wally was thrown from the
car and died. From
THE RIM RIDERS, by Buzz Rose.
(Norm Stokes
Collection) |
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#373 - A cool shot of Shelbyville,
Illinois’ Wilbur Shaw at Indy in 1940 in the Boyle Maserati
Special. He won, as he had in 1937 and 1939. But perhaps
even more significantly, Shaw would really become savior of
the Brickyard. The condition of the raceway, unused during
World War II, was so deteriorated that owner Eddie
Rickenbacker decided to close it. Shaw wasn’t about to let
that happen and he persuaded Terre Haute’s Tony Hulman,
owner of major food-producing and grocery interests, to take
it over. That was in November 1945. The price: $750,000.
From GENTLEMEN START YOUR ENGINES, by Wilbur Shaw.
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#372 - Couldn’t have been more than a
couple of days after the launch of his new book at
Utica-Rome Speedway in New York that Coastal 181 racing
scribe Bones Bourcier was spotted at Angell Park out in Sun
Prairie, Wisconsin. Now, how did you say he got there? (Dori
Noble Photo) |
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#371
- On Thursday night, August 18, Laura and Karin
Fredrickson stopped in at Thunder Road Speedway in Barre,
VT. They took their dad, too. He’s Karl Fredrickson, chief
of everyone’s favorite magazine, Speedway Illustrated.
Here Laura is telling Ken Squier how the big girls deliver a
commanding “Gentlemen, start your engines!” Meanwhile, Karin
was in the pits selling subscriptions. Apparently she walked
up to a group of guys and told them, “My dad says this is
the best reading in the bathroom and so you should have it.”
Out came the $20 bills.
(Speedway
Illustrated Photo) |
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#370 - So, after 40 years of friendship,
we had a disagreement with Dave Lape last week. You see,
David, one of the all-time most popular and successful
racers at Fonda (NY) Speedway, has been racing there for 49
seasons. As of August 13, the “Night of Features,” he had 99
wins at the “Track of Champions.” That night David won the B
Main, and he dismissively concludes his current total is 99
1/2. We looked at the trophy, and it quite clearly reads
“Feature Winner”. We say he has 100.
(Otto Graham Photo)
– and while you’re at it, check out Otto’s very cool site,
www.ottosraceaction.com |
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#369 - Endicott, New York’s Jeff
Ackerman takes care of things. One of his favorite
possessions is this pretty little flathead square top, and
there is quite the history to it. The car won the Fair Race
at Syracuse in 1963, one of the six such events captured by
the late Cliff Kotary, the “Copper City Cowboy.” It was one
finely tuned rocket ship, weighing 1800 pounds with Kotary
and fuel aboard. In more recent times, Jeff has won four
vintage events at Syracuse in it, including the vintage Fair
Race in 1995. (Coastal 181 Photo) |
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#368 - Some like to polka, some to play
the ponies, but, for some Coastal 181 readers, life’s
pleasurable pursuit is packing the track. High among them is
racing connoisseur Bradley Poulsen of Greenleaf, Wisconsin.
“There can be no greater fun than running laps at Eldora
before the World”. (Bradley Poulsen Photo) |
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#367 - Here are two great racers, Tony
Kanaan (L) and Dario Franchitti, sharing a laugh at Loudon a
couple of weeks back. They are both at the top of their
games, having come through some harder times of late. Tony
is currently fifth in IZOD Indy points, while a red-hot
Franchitti leads the parade. It seems like yesterday that
Franchitti was struggling a bit to get up to speed in the
Camping World Trucks and a very uninformed reporter in
Martinsville asked him if he felt sorry for “stealing the
ride from a worthy Southern late model racer.” (David
Dalesandro Photo) |
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#366 - Coastal 181’s buddy Patrick
Reynolds, down in Mooresville, has been very active with
benefits for legendary racer Sam Ard who battles head
injuries, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s disease. Sam was a
multi-time Busch Series Champion who was terribly injured in
a crash in 1984. Here’s a shot Patrick took recently of Sam
with Kevin Harvick. If you want to find out how to help Sam,
drop in on www.samard.com.
And listen to Patrick, who hosts Motorweek Live at 7:00 PM
ET on Racers Reunion Radio,
www.racerreunionradio.com. (Patrick Reynolds Photo) |
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#365 - Is racing at Indy
good for your health? Maybe so. Take a peek at Raul Boesel (L), Bob Harkey, and Steve Chassey. They
appeared lookin’ fit as a fiddle after the very popular
gathering of living 500 participants last May. (Jim Donnelly
Photo) |
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#364 - Bill Ryan, majordomo
of Oxford Plains (ME) Speedway, kept the traditions of the
Oxford 250 very much on track for its 38th running a couple
of weeks back. He made sure that the best of the
Northeastern late model shoes would be toe-to-toe with the
best of the nation. Las Vegas’ Kyle Busch (#51) came to
town, fresh off his 100th win in NASCAR’s top three series,
and Rowdy won the show. It was no cake walk, however, with
locals like Nick Sweet, Austin Theriault, Eddie MacDonald,
and Jeff Taylor (#88) nipping at his heels. Meanwhile, Ryan
packed the house.
(JAR Racing Photography)
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#363 - Poor Gabi Curry. The
long-suffering Iowan mom has tried to be accommodating to
her race-obsessed family. That got a little hard a while
back when her husband Wayne flipped big time. Gabi started
watching her two sons, Gerald and Wayne, with a bit more
concern. But when her daughter Laura, pictured here, got
upside down in her stock car, it was too much. Gabi stays
home these days. It is quite unlikely she will be joining
Laura, also known as “the Dutchess of the Dirt,” next month
at the Boone Nationals! (Coastal 181 Photo) |
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#362 - The Queensland Family has
polished its Deer Creek (MN) Speedway to quite the shine,
and the multi-groove racing is a sight to behold. How many
people in those grandstands do you think even knew what was
above and behind them when Jeff “Buck” Monson captured this
image? (Buck Monson Photography) |
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#361 - Midwestern promoter Joe Ringsdorf knows how
to stir things up. You should have seen the first few laps
of his “Night of 1000 Stars” at Hancock County (Iowa)
Speedway on August 11, 2011. He started the 35 fastest IMCA
mods, three deep for 50 laps. But you had to keep watchin’.
After 25 laps, the race was stopped for exactly ten minutes,
before resuming. Teams were allowed to come on to the
frontstretch and do whatever they wanted to the cars in that
time. Mechanical mayhem. Were the air guns, tires, fuel
cans, and wrenches ever flying then! At the end of the
subsequent 25 laps, leader Benji Lacrosse was still quickest
and went home $6500 richer. (Coastal 181 photo) |
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#360 - Looking south along the
backstretch of the 4/10th-mile Hancock County Speedway in
Britt, Iowa, last week, it all looked pretty rural –
especially with the corn rail, a natural fence if there ever
was one. But don’t let that fool you. It was the “Night of
1000 Stars,” and the pit area to the north was pretty urban,
buzzing with IMCA mods. Promoter Joe Ringsdorf had the
stands to the west packed like kernels in the corn. (Coastal
181 photo) |
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#359 - Jim
Donnelly, Senior Editor at Hemmings and author of Coastal
181’s
MILLER’S TIME, is round the world with that camera
of his. After the memorabilia show at Indy on May 27th, he
was off to the Indiana State Fairgrounds where he snapped
this cool shot of midgeteer Brad Kuhn in a Silver Crown car
at the Hoosier Hundred. Don’t you just wish he also had
sound? (Jim Donnelly Photo) |
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- The Flathead – the cantankerous darling of racers in
the ’50s. Properly bored, ported, and relieved, flathead
blocks required hours and hours of handwork. Yet they were
infamous for growing small cracks, rendering them useless.
Here, “Reg” tries the benediction route as he begins testing
a block by pumping in high-pressure water. From FORD
FLATHEAD V-8 BUILDER’S HANDBOOK 1932-1953, by Frank
Oddo. (Frank Oddo Photo) |
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#357 - Eldora! Kenny Jacobs spirals atop
Rick Hood (#14) on his way out of the park in an ASCoC event
in 1989. From ELDORA SPEEDWAY: The Most Famous Short
Track in America, by Bill Holder with Earl Baltes. (Bob
Fairman Photo) |
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WD 356 One of the luckiest NASCAR Cup victors is
Jeff Burton, shown here with wife Kim. Burton crashed
mightily in the TransSouth 400 at Darlington on the first
day of spring 1999, just as the caution came out for
raindrops. Somehow he kept his smoking, steaming Exide
Batteries Ford moving until the red and checker flew two
laps later on #163, in a downpour. He got the trophy. From
NASCAR Winston Cup 1999. |
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#355 - This murky image shows all-time
great IMCA sprint car driver Gus Schrader dueling with Jimmy
Wilburn at the Iowa State Fair in 1941. Ironically, three
months later Schrader, again battling Wilburn, crashed and
died in Shreveport, LA. Schrader, age 46, had purchased a
farm with his racing winnings and planned to retire at the
end of the season. From 1990 IMCA Yearbook. |
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#354 - This bike shot was taken at
Belmont (CA) Speedway in 1953. Motorcycle and car racer
George Benson explains, “The faster the shoe slid across the
surface of the track, the greater the friction and the
higher the temperature would build in the steel shoe. On
occasion the hard facing on a rider’s shoe would wear thin
and sparks from the soft steel underneath the hard facing
could be seen trailing behind a rider’s shoe in the turns.
This resulted in a fast rider being dubbed a “Hot Shoe,” and
riders in general referred to as “Shoes.” From
George Benson, THE RACING YEARS: a Memoir of the Life and
times of a Racer 1952 to 1987. |
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#353 - Now
there’s a couple! From
MY FIRST CAR, by Matt Stone
(Lyn St. James
Collection) |
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#352 - May racers never forget Kara
Hendrick. The pretty 22-year-old Californian, second in USAC
TQ national driver standings, switched to full-sized midgets
for 1991. On October 5, she got fast time in the USAC
Western States Midget series event at El Cajon, setting a
new track record of 15.75. Many thought she was on her way
to the checkerboard that day, but fate turned ugly. On the
second lap of the feature, Kara, now known as “Racing’s
Angel,” flipped violently and perished.
From
RACERS AT REST: The Checkered Flag 1905-2005, by
Buzz Rose.
(Mike Arthur Photo) |
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#351 - Sometimes even the best of
buddies get to banging. In March 1954 Bill Vukovich and his
promising mentee Johnny Boyd both showed up at a 100-lap AAA
midget race in Fresno. Boyd recalled, “To this day I don’t
know why I did it. The juices were really flowing…I dropped
down to where he was running and BAM! I ran right into the
back of him… I thought, ‘Boyd, you dummy!’ Sure enough the
next corner here he came. He didn’t even attempt to turn and
hit me a ton. Then I got mad….” From
VUKOVICH, by Bob Gates. (Van Natta Collection) |
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Alton Palmer tosses his TEO
into the old graveyard turn at Fonda (NY)
Speedway,
just as he has done for decades. He is as natural to the
aging Fairgrounds as the summer moon above the grandstand
and the trees that line the backstretch. He’s really
motoring this season, though, as both he and teammate,
ultra-racy Ronnie Johnson, have visited the checkerboard.
(Dick Berggren Photo) |
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#349 - With 500 feature wins and gaining, lots of
folk consider Scott Bloomquist top dog. But is he also
principal pooch? Better ask Buddy. (Dave Dalesandro Photo) |
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#348 - Who says that creativity has to
be expensive? Bob Weber, promoter of Hudson (NH) Speedway,
continues to have success with his “outlaw” hard-top class.
You have to run a treaded American Racing Tire, you have to
have a two-barrel, you have to have a stock snout, and you
have to meet minimum right-side weight. That’s it. Any motor
placed where you want, any body. These rules are designed so
guys can go out back and dig out some old chassis – and peek
under the bench for that motor that has just been sitting
there under the tarp. NEAR Hall of Fame driver and popular
veteran Pete Fiandaca revamped his car (originally built in
1986) over the winter rather dramatically, “using stuff from
the pile.” He calls this version “the last of the cutdowns,”
and he’s right that it has that old time, non-cookie cutter
look. Peter calculates that the entire project cost him
under $200, and the fans sure are abuzz about it. (Coastal
181 Photo) |
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#347 - Curious how racers find a way to
relax. Kasey Kahne spent his Cup days off last weekend by
joining Kasey Kahne Racing Team drivers Paul McMahan, Cody
Darrah, and Brad Sweet on Friday night for the Summer
Nationals at Williams Grove. As usual, Kasey was fast,
copping seventh-quick time. But in his heat race, he tangled
with Craig Dollansky and cartwheeled right out of the place,
big time. He was uninjured and received a huge ovation as he
jogged back into the arena. (Dollansky did not receive as
warm a salutation later in the evening when he was given an
Outlaws provisional to start the main). Calm and collected
as he may have been, Kahne was quite likely on the phone on
Monday morning for a new chassis.
(Jack Kromer Photo) |
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#346 - Larry Pearl of Newburyport
Framers has framed lots of racing pictures for Coastal 181.
But, being a photographer for many years, he has some really
cool images of his own. How about this image he took of
Graham Hill at Watkins Glenn in 1967? And how about the aero
apparatus! We questioned Walt Scadden, our ever-patient and
good-natured technical advisor, about it: “The car in
question, I think is a Lotus Type 49, Colin Chapman design.
He came up with this setup most call a hub-mounted high
wing, Most other F1 builders followed suit. The reason for
the high mount was simple: to get a clean flow. The mount to
the hubs allowed the use of lighter springs because the
downforce was being put through the hub to the tire,
avoiding the suspension. The wing provided good downforce
numbers, but the drag numbers were very high and any effort
to support the struts by running arms forward made the drag
too great. Chapman also experimented with the driver’s
adjusting the wing angle while moving, with cables inside
the upright struts. Because the wing was mounted to an
active independent suspension, the internal stresses were
incredible. There were a number of wing failures, one at
Brands Hatch where a wing ended up in the crowd and fans
seriously injured. By 1968, F1 officials had had enough and
outlawed the deal.” |
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#345 - When
Rocket Man Ryan outperformed everyone in Saturday’s mod show
and then Sunday’s Cup race at New Hampshire a week ago, it
seemed like one cool, clean sweep. But a few days later
NASCAR tech announced that there had been a little
over-fishing going on. The #7 modified, owned by Bono Manion
and driven to the winner’s circle in the last four events at
NHMS, was disqualified for being beyond legal limits. (Don
MacIntosh Photography) |
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#344 - Dick Berggren has done it all in
racing. His photography and his columns are known
internationally. His pit road TV reporting is unparalleled.
And he was pretty racy in a sprint car, too. (Note the
slight twist in his once-broken left arm!) But we bet you
didn’t know how he became an announcer. It was up at the old
Arundel Speedway in Maine in the sixties. Bergie was track
photographer, and Russ Conway, another NEAR Hall of Famer,
was co-promoter and announcer. At the start of the NESMRA
supermodified feature, a rabbit ran out in front of the pack
and was pretty much equally dispatched over twenty-some
front bumpers. Russ quipped over the PA, “Well, I guess
there will be no Easter Bunny next year.” At the end of the
show, a grandmother and her tearful granddaughter approached
Russ. The enraged lady ripped him a new orifice, wanting to
know how he could be “so insensitive, such a monster.” Russ
handed the mike to Bergie, and thus began a great career.
(Don MacIntosh Photography) |
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#343 - Rachel Gilbert of Laconia, NH,
sure is a trip. She’s been a gearhead for years and has
celebrated much of her 100th birthday at nearby New
Hampshire Motor Speedway. First she toured the Magic Mile in
the pace car. Then on July 16 she returned for the modified
race, giving the “Gentlemen, start your engines” command.
Clearly no one needs to tell her to start her own. (NASCAR
photo) |
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#342 - Don Mac caught this shot at the Sprint Cars
of New England show at Bear Ridge Speedway, Bradford, VT, on
July 9. Former ISMA supermodified driver Randy Wimert,
deciding to drop in on the Church of the Clay this season,
flipped his sprinter on the last lap of the heat race.
Experienced a racer though he may be, he had never flipped
before, and, when the car landed on all four, he kept right
on going. Unfortunately, the evening’s menu of misadventures
had another course. Later that night, on the way back home
to the state of Maine, a moose jumped right onto the highway
in front of Randy’s Dodge Magnum. The roof of the car looked
just like the wing of the sprinter. Both the car and the
moose were totaled. (Don Mac Photography) |
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#341 - Danny Bohn is one busy guy. So
far this summer he’s won six times with his IMCA dirt mod –
and once in asphalt mod at Bowman Gray. Whenever possible
he’s also in the office of the Godfather Motorsports super
late model, shown here, owned by Jim Gallison Jr and MRN and
Sirius radio personality Dave Moody. Dave wrote the Coastal
181 book on Dave Dion (LIFE
WIDE OPEN), while Danny’s grandfather, Parker Bohn,
is featured heavily in the Coastal 181 book
PAVED TRACK DIRT TRACK about Old Bridge (NJ) and
Nazareth (PA) Speedways. Amazingly, the car that Danny
drives at Bowman Gray was built in 1991 and had previously
been raced both by Danny’s granddad Parker and dad Eddie.
(Dave Moody Collection) |
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#340 - That’s
good Coastal 181 customer Doug Pepper in some kind of golf
cart on steroids at Indianapolis. His home, Brisbane,
Australia, isn’t exactly around the corner from our open
wheel tracks, but Doug is fully in the know. Here’s what he
has to say:
I’ve been 3 times to the Speedway, once in 2000 for
the Brickyard 400, and the last two years to the 500. I’m in
a club called National Indy 500 Collectors’ Club, and those
Indy-based members really look after me. They run me around
town to race shops, etc, and put me up. I love it. Top
blokes! I attend other races while I’m there. Hoosier
Hundred at the Indianapolis Fairgrounds, the Hut Hundred
held down on the Kentucky border, at Haudstat, plus sprint
car races at Brownsburg, IN. We don’t have all that kind of
racing Down Under. I’m interested in early speedcars
(midgets), sprint cars, and my favourite, Indy Roadsters. I
don’t follow any other type of auto racing in OZ, except
vintage speedway racing and vintage road racing, called GEAR
Racing, meaning Golden Era Of Auto Racing. (Doug Pepper
Collection) |
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#339 - This very neat photo was taken at
Selinsgrove, PA, on June 25, 1960 by Dick Monahan, a current
neighbor of ours here in Newburyport, MA. Dick was a crew
member on the unlikely creation, and here’s what he has to
say: “George Monsen is about to take the brand new
Dexter/Whitney URC sprinter out for its first hot laps. The
car was built from scratch, using parts from a dirt
modified. Standing behind the car are (l to r) Tinker
Whitney (who built the engine), George Sedak (a fan), Linc
Dexter and Dan Dexter. The URC officials hated the roll bar
and the square tail, but the car won a feature and finished
3rd in the owner point standings. Monsen finished 4th in the
driver standings and was named Rookie of the Year, while
Linc Dexter and Tinker Whitney were named Mechanics of the
Year. Don't you love the driving suit?” (Dick Monahan Photo) |
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| #338
- And this was just to add to the insult that so much
racing felt from those soggy times last month. After waiting
out the rains for a day and a half at the Autodrome
Chaudiere, just south of Quebec City, Canada, the PASS Super
Late Model guys finally got on the track for a Sunday
evening show on June 26th. Travis Benjamin blew a tire and
glided swiftly into the signage – and the water barrels.
(Photos by Coastal 181’s esteemed webmaster, Norm Marx) |
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| #337
- Here’s another captioned photo from Mark McKeon,
Coastal 181’s buddy in the Green Mountains of Vermont:
“So quiet and reserved that he’s called “The Silent Gasser,”
Jon Stanbrough is best known for triumphs in non-winged
Sprint Cars. He’s a two-time champion of the USAC Indiana
Sprint Week, a five-time champion of the King of Indiana
Sprint Series and a two-time track champ at Kokomo Speedway.
He’s also no slouch wheeling an indoor Midget, having picked
up a win at Toledo in 2008. He’s shown here at Ft. Wayne, a
week after his Toledo victory in a Rick Daugherty-owned
mount on a night when he finished third in the 60 lap
feature, behind Liquid Lou Cicconi and Tony Stewart.” |
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| #336 - Last month
all the big boys and girls assembled at the foot of New
Hampshire’s commanding Mount Washington for the automotive
Climb to the Clouds. Not surprisingly, world rally champ
David Higgins out of the Isle of Man whipped all comers with
his lavish Vermont SportsCar-prepared Subaru entry. Todd
Cook towed out from Tempe, Arizona, with a super-trick
rear-engine flyweight and hustled to an impressive second
place run. The top speed of the day, however, was a local
former roundy-round racer right out of neighboring Vermont.
Sixty-nine-year-old Jerry Driscoll got to thinking 20 years
ago that he was getting a little old for the bullrings – and
he knew he was underfinanced. So he went out to his garage
and welded up an understated hill-climb car, based largely
on Corvette suspension parts. He bolted in a good ol’ small
block and promptly became seven-time New England hill-climb
champion. This year at Mount Washington he was pretty low
key, hardly even a 9/16th wrench in sight. However, by the
end of the day he had out-timed all 70 other competitors for
the fastest time of the day – 114 mph, another record on the
Mountain. (Dick Berggren Photo) |
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#335
- How cool would it have been to have a “truckin’
teach” like Stephanie Stevens in first grade? The New
Jersey-based degreed mechanical engineer, former ARDC
midgeteer, and current 305 Sprint Car driver, is a first
grade aide on her way to becoming a middle school math
teacher. Here she gives her class some reading lessons,
using, most appropriately, a Coastal 181 children’s book.
All the lucky
kids that day also
each got a tie-dyed crew shirt. (Stephanie Stevens
Collection) |
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| #334
- May their stories be forever told. Here’s a
shot of legendary Raymond Parks at the Lakewood Speedway
Reunion in Dawsonville, GA, in 2009. On the right is Mobile,
Alabama’s Gerald Hodges, “the Racing Reporter.” Gerald,
himself once a “skeeter” owner, has penned some of the very
few books written about short track racing in the Southeast.
Subjects have included Gene Tapia, announcer Jimmy
Mosteller, and
SOUTHERN SUPERMODIFIEDS, Vol. I. SOUTHERN
SUPERMODIFIEDS, Vol. II has just been released. From
SOUTHERN SUPERMODIFIEDS and Other Early Racers Vol. II
(Hodges Collection) |
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| #333 - Last Halloween we did a
TEAROFF on Johnny Benson Jr. and his dad, Johnny Sr., an
honored old time Supermodified name. Johnny Jr had taken a
breather from weekly superspeedway racing, was trying out
the Supers, and had just knocked off his first ISMA feature
win, at Seekonk (MA) Speedway. This year Johnny is back, big
time on the hammer. He is shown here ducking under a nosy
#78 of Mark Sammut on his way to a third-place Midwest
Supermodified Association show at Toledo (OH) Speedway on
June 17. (RG Design Photo) |
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#332 - A beautiful
beginning. That’s the very first Morales Brothers car, shown
here in 1948 at the old Carrell Speedway at 174th and
Vermont in L.A., a mile North of Ascot. Johnny Mantz is at
the controls, and Walt James is in “Silent Six.” Mantz was a
charger. Two years later he won the first Southern 500 at
Darlington. He died at 54 in a highway accident. From
Perris Auto Speedway Program – Oct. 18-19, 1996
(Richard Miller Photo) |
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| #331 - The
methodology was a little informal when Scott van Buskirk got
mid-race service at Southern Iowa Speedway in his IMCA car
back in 1990. But that gas man was a pretty good shot. From
the 1990 IMCA Yearbook (Gunilla Haglund Photo) |
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#330 - Helio
Castroneves, here with Julianne Hough, must have some kind
of trophy room down there in Miami. On top of all the
Kart-win hardware from South America and the IndyCar Series
wins here and there for Roger Penske, now he has THREE
Borg-Warners from the Brickyard plus the disco “Mirrorball.”
From
Victory Road:
The Ride of My Life, by Helio Castroneves. |
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#329 - Danica
Patrick, Simona de Silvestro, Johanna Long – all of you guys
– better be careful of what’s coming down the road today!
Coastal 181 modified driver, Blake “Sideways” and Ericka
“Dzus Queen” Shepard are doing the right things with twins
Colbie and Gracie. They’re not even a year, but in rides
already.
(Dzus Queen Photography) |
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| #328 - Equally
competent with words and images, racing journalist Mark
McKeon sent along this photo and caption from coverage of a
victory circle he clearly enjoyed. Here’s what he says:
“Sammy Swindell has just won his second consecutive
Oskaloosa Front Row Challenge at the Southern Iowa Speedway
and is about to collect a check for $10,000 on August 10,
2010. Although it’s already a warm, humid night, the trophy
girls have rubbed baby oil on themselves and each other so
that they would glisten even more in victory lane. It was a
process observed in wide-eyed silence by a phalanx of
fortunate photographers.” (Mark McKeon Photo) |
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| #327 - Here’s
another great shot by the “Guy with the Hat,” Frank Simek.
It is thought to be at the 1968 All Star race at Fonda (NY)
Speedway. Left is Paul Marshall, a journeyman New York
modified driver, and at center is Steve Danish, the honored
standard bearer of fifties Sportsman racing in the
Northeast. Right is Lambertsville, New Jersey’s, Frankie
Schneider. Marshall and Danish were pretty much done behind
the wheel by this time, but Frankie, as always, was
something different. Born in 1926, he had already been
NASCAR National Modified Champion (1952) and had won
hundreds of features all over God’s creation. But he was
really just getting going. He raced even up into his late
seventies and was very supportive in the research of our
book about Old Bridge, NJ, and Nazareth, PA,
PAVED TRACK DIRT TRACK. (Frank Simek Photo) |
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| #326 - Great old-time NASCAR modified star and New England Hall of
Famer Bill Slater wasn’t able to make it to the recent
Norwood (MA) Arena Reunion, but his longtime buddy John Bain
brought along something special. In John’s words, “We were
done in Daytona, 1965 I think, and Bill went out and
practiced in a 1960 Chevy Permatex car. When he came in for
inspection, Pete Keller saw Bill’s old helmet. ‘You can’t
run that here,’ barked Keller. ‘Go over to that booth, buy a
new helmet, and tell them I’ll pay for it.’ That’s just what
Bill did, and he gave me the old one to throw away, says
John. No way I was going to do that. Today is the first time
since it has seen the light of day in 46 years.” (Dave Dykes
Photo) |
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| #325 - The guys and
gals in URC have always played hard ball. October 5, 1986 on
the commanding 5/8 mile clay at Bridgeport, NJ, was no
exception. Here Bill Glenn in the #77, Kramer Williamson in
the #8, and Buck Buckley sort things out. No one was
seriously wounded. United Racing Club Annual Pictorial
Yearbook, 39th Edition, 1986 (Tom Kelly Photo) |
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| #324 - George
“Leon” Duray, the 1920s- era Indy driver, knew how to find
the go pedal. In 1928 he set a lap record at 124.018 that
lasted for nine years, a record for a record. A couple of
weeks later, he took his Miller to the Packard proving
grounds and ran 148.17 mph, setting a world’s closed course
standard. It is rumored that he said the lack of guardrails
at the facility didn’t bother him whatsoever, as he had no
intention of using them. Yikes. From THE GOLDEN AGE OF
THE AMERICAN RACING CAR, by Griffith Borgeson (Griffith
Borgeson Collection) |
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#323 - In the
late1950s, when the cutdowns and early modifieds reigned
unchallenged as the “A” divisions, a Sportsman division also
ran at many Northeastern tracks. One of the fastest – and
for sure prettiest – of the Sportsman cars was Jim Travers’
electric blue coupe. Built by New England Hall of Famer
Marty Harty, the car – and its trailer – were both
flyweights. Check out those old Ford hubs everywhere – and
ponder the sonorous sweetness of a Flathead through stack
pipes such as those. The car has recently been located and
is being accurately restored by Howard Towne of Towne’s
Early Ford in Dorchester, NH.
(Towne’s Early Ford
Collection) |
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| #322
- In 1984 21-year-old Dave Blaney had one incredible,
stunning season. Demonstrating even then his brilliantly
polished driving skills, he won both the USAC Silver Crown
Championship and the Rookie of the Year honors. Likely
Blaney’s most impressive drive came in the 200-lap endurance
contest at St. Paul’s asphalt half-mile at the Minnesota
State Fairgrounds. Blaney had never even run pavement
before, but he ground it out to a second place finish behind
Marvin Carman. (From Silver Crown Championship Program,
July 13, 1985, Indianapolis Raceway Park) |
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| #321 - In the
TEAROFF on Climb to the Clouds (June 16), we talked about
Colorado’s Jim Keeney’s entry. Unfortunately he had to
cancel. However, the roster still overflows. How about this
for a hill climb hot rod? Santa Clara’s Mike Ryan will
attack the slopes of New Hampshire’s Mt. Washington this
weekend with his racing Freightliner, a 14.7 liter
turbo-diesel, a mere 1950 horsepower. (Vermont SportsCar
Collection) |
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| #320 - Trouble at a
country fair! That’s Brad Doty and Jac Haudenschild in a
photo booth back in 1969. Clearly they were practicing for a
million podium finishes. Brad’s fabulous book, produced with
Dave Argabright, has been reprinted in enhanced and expanded
fashion and is just now off the trailer.
STILL WIDE OPEN, Second Edition by Brad Doty with
Dave Argabright with Foreword by Steve Kinser. (Ed
Haudenschild Collection) |
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| #319 - The way they
were. It’s NASCAR’s Sophomore Class in 1982. Sitting, L-R,
are Rick Wilson, Morgan Shepherd, and Mike Alexander, while
standing are Tim Richmond, Joe Ruttman, and Ron Bouchard.
From BUSCH CLASH of ’82 – Daytona International Speedway
Program. |
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| #318 - Nope, it’s
not Joey. It’s Tony, back when the Smoke was a little
thinner. He had just won his first career Winston Cup event,
the 1999 EXIDE SELECT 400 at Richmond. From NASCAR
WINSTON CUP 1999 – The Official Chronicle of the 1999 NASCAR
Winston Cup Series Season. (UMI Publications) |
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| #317
- That’s Nigel Mansell, tough guy. The Englishman,
looking a little ragged and unshaven, had been bedridden for
two weeks with a world-class case of chicken pox prior to
the 1988 Hungarian Grand Prix. Somehow he won the pole and
ran up front, but finally dropped out from sheer exhaustion
on lap 59. He whispered over the radio link, “I have never
given up before and I’m so sorry.” From AUTOCOURSE, The
World’s Leading Grand Prix Annual 1988/89. (Steve
Domenjoz Photo) |
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| #316 - Lakeside
Speedway regular Bobby Lane built innovative stuff with his
father, Elmer, and brother John. In 1976, Lane, then 22,
showed up with a Midwest Modified Sprint Assn. sprinter with
a coil-over front end. It was pretty slick, the first one in
Kansas City. Note the rubber brake lines – and the right
front steering. (Photo from Official Program, Lakeside
Speedway 1976) |
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| #315 - You never know what is
going to happen next at Gene Cole’s ultra-successful
Utica-Rome Speedway in Vernon, NY. Deanna DeFazio is case in
point. She had no idea what was up when she was asked onto
the frontstretch on opening night. But Pure Stock Driver
Mike Kazlauskas sure knew what he had in mind – and so did
track management. As soon as Deanna accepted Mike’s
proposal, fireworks were set off in the background. Is that
cool or what?!? (John Clifford Photo) |
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| #314 - This neat
looking little cutdown might have thrown some dirt around
the Milwaukee area back in Fuzzy Fassbender days or torn
around Olympic Stadium in Kansas City. But not the M & H
asphalt tires. This was New Hampshire driver Lou Harton at
Hudson, NH, in the sixties. Harton was a busy and popular
shoe. He died in 1973 at Lee (NH) Speedway, when he slammed
sideways into the concrete in a Pro Stock. (Paul Richardson
Collection) |
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| #313 - It is hard
to believe that it was May of 1999, already 12 years ago,
that Open Wheel magazine was purchased by EMAP-Petersen
Publishing. Sadly, another issue was never printed. Dick
Berggren and his team had put out incredible racing
journalism for the unfendered for two decades. Fortunately,
much of the group, including Bergie’s current Airedale
“Indy,” is involved in the re-launch of Speedway Illustrated
magazine just this year. (Open Wheel Magazine, May
1999 ) |
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| #312
Good guys, Don Miller (L) and Jim Donnelly have done Coastal
181 proud. The book they wrote for us,
MILLER’S TIME – A Lifetime of Speed just won second
place in the American Auto Racing Writers & Broadcasters
Association (AARWBA) annual Motorsport Book competition. Don
has done about everything there is to do with speedy cars,
and Jim is Senior Editor at Hemmings, the famous Bennington,
VT, publisher of periodicals for motorheads worldwide. Here
they are in April 2010, signing the brand new book at the
Speedway Club at Charlotte. (Cary Stratton Photo) |
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#311 - And this
is how the big boys do it. In 1981, dirt tracker Gary Huston
smacked the wall a ton running on “the hard clay” at
Middletown, NY. He went for a sky ride and then started
flipping. He was uninjured, but likely felt somewhat
tentative for a few days. From Open Wheel Magazine,
December 1981.
(Bob Snyder Photo) |
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| #310 - In 1981,
Canadian Junior Hanley got ’er dun. Shown here on his way to
the Cracker 200 Championship at New Smyrna, he went back
North for the regular season with some bounce in his step.
He kept up the pace, and won 45 of 61 events (74%) and was
top dog at both Mt. Clemens, MI, and Toledo, OH. (From
15th Annual World Series of Stock Car Racing Official
Souvenir Magazine) |
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| #309 - Age-defying
open wheel star Bentley Warren is truly pan-national. Based
alternatively in Arizona and Maine these days, commuting
regularly on his Harleys from Hell, he has raced everywhere.
Over the years, some of his Supermodified rides have had
that same kinda sketchy, baling wire look of his bikes. When
he went to Indy in the early seventies, his friends tried to
polish him up just a little bit. But, right before the 500,
out came the duct tape. From 1974 Indianapolis 500
Yearbook, presented by Carl Hungness. (Jim Chini Photo) |
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#308 - Mudslinger
magazine’s Gene Murphy described dirt late model standout
Dennis “Rambo” Franklin this way in 2004: “Big as a vending
machine, he’s more than the weekend warriors can handle… No
other Carolina hot shoe is wooing the fans harder. Like
wrestler Rick Flair, the fans are gonna love hating him for
years.” That’s Rambo on the left with his Dad and crew
chief, Dick Franklin.
(Gene Murphy Photo) |
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| #307 - On April 29,
2011, the Rislone URC sprinters ventured down to Delaware
International Speedway. Once again that beyond bionic,
beyond veteran Kramer Williamson showed the kids the way
around with yet another feature win. URC was back there
again this Memorial Day weekend, and Kramer was twelfth.
Early in the evening, PA-based photographer Frank Simek,
“the guy in the hat,” caught Felicia Williamson steering her
dad’s car into the pits. We wonder if it is legal to text
from a sprint car in Delaware…..(Frank Simek Photo) |
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| #306 - After
20 years of trying, Dale Sr. really wanted to win the
Daytona 500. Before the 1998 running, he glued a lucky penny
onto the dash. “Now, as Earnhardt put it, ‘the monkey is off
my back!’ And he so exuberantly illustrated the fact by
hurling a stuffed monkey across the press box.” From
DALE EARNHARDT – Defining Moments of a NASCAR Legend,
by Michael Fresina. (NASCAR Illustrated Archive) |
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| #305 - One
star-crossed image. That’s Buddy Taylor in Roger Carsten’s
“Pacemaker Chevy” at Erie, CO, in 1971. Carsten died in a
plane crash on the way to this event. Taylor, winner of over
200 sprint car shows in the Southwest, was killed at
Manzanita in 1978 at age 52. From
BIG CAR THUNDER – Sprint Cars on America’s Fair Circuits,
Volume 1, by Bob Mays. (Leroy Byers Photo) |
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#304 - Ed Duncan of Rowley, MA, has done
tireless work preserving the traditions of racing in the
Northeast. He was a major contributor to Coastal 181 books
such as
HOT CARS COOL DRIVERS and
PAVED TRACK DIRT TRACK.
For many years, one of the most notable supermodified events
has been the season-ending free-for-all at Star (NH)
Speedway known as the Star Classic. Here is a shot of Billy
Murphy warming up for the NESMRA-promoted event back in
1969. You can see that Murphy, “the Flying Irishman,” had a
fairly rudimentary approach to the whole deal. He was just
as unclad as the car, but he made an obvious effort to make
sure he could go the distance with fuel. The popular Classic
will return to Star this September, now that long-time
promoters Bob Weber Sr. and Jr., have reassumed control of
the facility. (Ed Duncan Collection) |
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#303 - Cool car, cool guy. For nearly
two decades, Larry Pfitzenmaier of Sonoita, AZ, has
maintained and campaigned the Simoniz Special at vintage
events, much to the delight of roadster heads far and wide.
The car, built by A.J. Watson, was raced from 1959 until
1964, and sits today with its original historical integrity.
The car won two races at the Daytona Tri-oval in 1959 with a
closed course record of 170.261 mph and took second at Indy
the same year. If you run into Larry, be sure to ask him how
Jim Rathmann describes a lap at Daytona in it. (Rick Falconi
Photo) |
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| #302
- Mike Joy (L) and Pete Falconi were talkin’ it up 25
years ago. Announcers at Stafford Springs Speedway in
Connecticut, they were also competing in a media race. Mike,
quite the accomplished driver in his own right, won it,
while Peter remembers spinning out from over-aggression.
While the Nomex may be on the shelf these days, the two are
still in the booth big-time. Mike calls Sprint Cup action
for Fox TV while Peter continues to entertain the fans at
short tracks all over New England. (Falconi Family
Collection) |
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#301 - Bobby
Allison is certainly best known for his NASCAR exploits, but
there wasn’t much he didn’t exercise along the way. In 1973,
he was a rookie at Indy aboard a Penske Racing McLaren-Offy.
He qualified 12th quick at 192.308, but he blew on the first
lap. As shown above, one of his crew members didn’t want to
believe it was over. From 1973 Indianapolis 500 Yearbook,
presented by Carl Hungness.
(Ron Burton Photo) |
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#300 - As this is our 300th Photo of the
Day, we decided to pick a car #300. Here’s Ken “Baltimore Bones”
Marriott on his way to the NASCAR National Modified Championship in
May of 1957. He used multiple rides for title including this
tri-carbed Ford coach. In the fall the skillful but solemn shoe
began building a car for Daytona, but the project was never
completed. He didn’t go. In fact, he quit racing all together. We
don’t plan to any time soon – watch for Photo of the Day # 301 next
Monday! (Russ Dodge Collection) |
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Photos of the Day - PAGE 2
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Photos of the Day - PAGE 1 |
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