Photo of the Day

All Previous Photos of the Day HERE

#3842 - That was the California Jalopy Association car driven by Don Edmunds (California's future master builder extraordinaire) flipping to its demise at Huntington Beach in 1949. He had already been ejected through the roof. He ended up with a broken shoulder blade and $3 for the car from the junkyard. (Photo from THE DON EDMUNDS STORY: The Saga of Rotten Red, by Paul Weisel, Jr.)

#3841 - Are you ready? "In 1991 Al Teague donned his open face and a pair of goggles and went for 400 mph with just one blown Chrysler Hemi [at Bonneville. The goal was to take the Summers Brothers’ wheel-driven record of 409 set in 1965 with four unblown engines.] Off the trailer he went 407, but the track was poor and wet. On the down run he went a staggering 425.23 with a terminal speed of 432 mph. The turnaround for the return run was agonizing because of the wet conditions, but they made it, and Al averaged 409.986 for a new record." Quote and Photo from HOT ROD MAVERICKS: The Builders, Racers, and Rebels Who Revolutionized Hot Rodding, by Tony Thacker. (Petersen Automotive Museum Archive)

#3840 - In the late 1970s, when Rod Osterlund started his Winston Cup team, he offered the ride to Dave Byrd, a red-hot racer in the San Jose area. Byrd thought about it but declined, favoring to continue his fabulous Saturday-night career in 30- and 50-lappers for 30 more seasons. Dave Marcis ended up in the Osterlund seat. Then Dale Earnhardt. From SEA TO SHINING SEA, Racing from the Wild West to California, By Ken Clapp with Bones Bourcier. (Dennis Mattish Photo)

#3839 - Our friend Jim Hehl, the racing historian from Florida, writes, "I stumbled across this neat photo from 9/8/68 at the Dayton 500 at Dayton Speedway. That's Benny Parsons, the race winner, and beside him is ARCA's most notable champion and ARCA founder John Marcum. Standing next to John is a young Phil Parsons, while, just to the right of Benney's left shoulder peeking across the hood, is John's young grandson, Ron Drager, who would become longtime ARCA President." (Jim Hehl Collection)

#3838 - Shellhammer’s Speedway in Leesport, PA, the "Little Track by the River," runs 25 different classes, many geared to prepping guys and gals for future racing endeavors. Here Kassidy Kreitz (69K - now a 410 Sprint driver) and Dylan Hoch (who became a multi-feature winner in Sportsman at Grandview) exercise their Slingshots. Caged Karts and Wingless Micros are also part of the action. (Mike Feltenberger photos)

#3837 - They sure tied them light at the old Springfield (IL) Speedway, Rick and Joyce Standridge's home track. No body, no headers, no shoulder harness. From FAST MEMORIES: Springfield Speedway 1947-1987, by Joyce Standridge and Terry Young.

#3836 - "Aldo and Mario Andretti lean in to hear what Foyt has to say after A.J. led the first ninety-seven laps at the Hoosier Hundred, only to snap a brake pedal and finish second. 'I asked him why he was using his brakes,' Mario recalled. 'I think it pissed him off.'" From A.J. FOYT: Survivor, Champion, Legend, by Art Garner. (Revs Institute, The Bruce R. Craig Photograph Collection)

#3835 - Growing up on a farm near Chester, South Carolina, Buck Baker had to outrun police on his very first whiskey run in order to stay out of jail. "If there was something going on that you dare not go to, like the roughest side of town or the roughest joints, that's things I played," he told a reporter shortly before his death in 2002. "I was brought up like an alley dog. I kind of felt like I was Buck Baker, a tough somebody. That may have been because I didn’t have the care of a mother and father, maybe brothers and sisters. Maybe I just had a bad outlook on life. I lived like that for an awful long time, but I never went to jail in the 1930s.” He started his first race at 27 in 1946 and became a two-time NASCAR champ. From THE BEST OF GERALD HODGES, by Gerald Hodges/the Racing Reporter.

#3834 - Things seemed so much simpler at the Brickyard at the turn of the 1960s. But with visitors like Colin Chapman and Jimmy Clark in October of 1962, everything was about to become a lot more complex. Photo from INDY SPLIT: The Big Money Battle that Nearly Destroyed Indy Racing, by John Oreovicz. (IMS Archive Photo)

#3833 - "As a spokesperson for Montgomery Ward's Riverside Tires, Sam (Nunis) taught his bulldog Hank, named for Ralph Hankinson, to attack Firestone tires as a part of his 'Pit Lane Medicine Show.' Little Hank is seen here biting the tread of a competitor's rear Firestone tire." Quote and photo from The Miller Grill, a historical novel by Bart Stevens. (Nunis Family Collection)

#3832 - It was twelve to go at Turkey Night at Ventura, California, in 2018, and two young guys, Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell, were playing rabbit and hound on steroids. Bell won it. "I just got lucky being there in second. Someone was making the bottom work beneath me in three and four, and I figured it was going to get better and better. I trapped Kyle up there with a lapped car." Quote and photo from TURKEY NIGHT: Midget Racing at Thanksgiving - Race by Race 1934 - 2024, by Dave Wolin. (Racer magazine photo)

#3831 - Dick Berggren went to the recent Vintage Drags show at Oxford Pains up in Maine. "This was my favorite. Six chrome carbs and no fenders." (Dick Berggren Photo)

#3830 - From talented lensman John DaDalt: "I've been in Indy for the past week, and here's a shot of Jake Trainor in the Seymour #29 sprint car at Anderson Speedway. Jake had quite a weekend, winning the All-Star midget feature at Indianapolis Raceway Park Friday night. Then, even more impressively, he went from 16th to 5th in the "Hoosier Hundred" USAC Silver Crown race, also at IRP. It was only his second career start in the ‘big cars.’ Then he and the Seymour guys topped it off with a win in the Little 500 on Saturday night at Anderson.” (John DaDalt Photo)

#3829 - That's Donnie Beechler in the 1950 Indy 500 winning car of Johnnie Parsons. He's all set because Bones Bourcier leaned in and told him to take it right to the cushion.

#3828 - In 1948 21-year-old Eddie Sachs moved to Greensboro to compete in Bill France's formative NASCAR events. By 1961 he had become racing's "Clown Prince" and came within three laps of winning the Indy 500. (Photo from REBELS WITHOUT APPLAUSE: Southern Late Model Racing 1938-1949, by Greg Fielden. (Walter Chernokal Photo)

#3827 - Rick Mears. "The fans know we are running at 200mph, but they do not know what that means...I usually put it that we are covering a football field in a second. And that kind of gives them an idea, because they know what a football field looks like. When they’re up in the stands watching from a distance, the cars don't look like they are really running that fast. Another thing is the reason people like stock cars so much; they can run close. Fans don’t realize it, but we can't run close. That’s when we get in trouble, 'cause our cars depend on the air for downforce. When we get close to somebody, the wings 'go away.' The cars won’t handle." Photo and Quote from SPEED! Indy Car Racing, Photographs by Chet Jezierski.

#3826 - It was Brightbill and Horton at an open-comp show at Bridgeport, NJ. No question that Kenny got into his work. (Mike Feltenberger photo, STRAPPED IN magazine)

#3825 - Perhaps the most celebrated Californian Sprint Car driver of all time, Bent Kaeding is the second in three generations of family racers. He may have won some 400 features, but "the things that stick out to me the most are the pre-race and post-race activities like the pancake breakfasts, racing during the fairs, and drinking out on the pavilion until the sun came up." (Quote from Rustmag.com, Saroyan Humphrey Photo)

#3824 - Fan favorite George "Ziggy" Snider, shown with legendary mechanic A.J. Watson. Starting back in 1965, quite remarkably, the Californian had 22 starts at the Brickyard, more than anyone else without winning the race. His eighth place in 1975 was his best finish. He was frequently aboard his buddy A.J. Foyt's entry. Photo from SEA TO SHINING SEA: Racing From the Wild West to Daytona, by Ken Clapp with Bones Bourcier (John Isom Photo)

#3823 - When it was opened, Maine's Oxford Plains Speedway was one primitive place. That was long before Bob Bahre bought it and turned it into a shining facility hosting the nationally recognized Oxford 250 for Super Late Models. Here's some of racer Roland Brown's summer back in 1950. The crowds loved it and were huge. (Photos from Oxford Plains Speedway: The First Three Years 1950-1952, by Floyd E. "Zeke" Trask)

#3822 - Chaos at Eldora in 2007. Dave Darland, Brady Short, Mike Brecht, and Darren Hagen in crunchy company. From MODERN THUNDER: The Illustrated History of USAC National Sprint Car Racing 1983-2019, by Dave Argabright, John Mahoney, and Patrick Sullivan. (John Mahoney Photo)

#3821 - "Poughkeepsie-based Dyson Racing had many of the same crew members working together over the years, which was one of the reasons behind its success....Rob Dyson's victory total in IMSA Prototypes was unsurpassed." Quote and photo from IMSA 1990-1999: The Turbulent Years of American Sports Car Racing, by Mark Raffauf. (Rick Dole Photo)

#3820 - "As if his [Chevy/Harley] contraption wasn't crazy enough, E.J Potter would rev the bike up on the rear stand before rocking it off and rocketing up the asphalt in spectacular, smokey, crowd-pleasing fashion. For this he was typically paid $1 per mile per hour over 100 mph. He eventually got the 'Widowmaker' up to 160 mph." From HOT ROD MAVERICKS: The Builders, Racers, and Rebels Who Revolutionized Hot Rodding, by Tony Thacker. (Motor Trend Group/Petersen Automotive Museum Archive)

#3819 - Sammy Swindell had just scored $27,000 from the Syracuse SuperNationals and then it was $65,000 at North Texas Speedway from some noticeably pleasing attendants. He managed half a smile. From SAMMY: 50+ Years of Winning, as told to Bones Bourcier. (Paul Arch Photo)

#3818 - When core crewman Mike Hayslett read the draft of "Barefoot Bob" McCreadie’s book, he commented, "I like what Bob has to say in this chapter. I don't think Brett (Hearne's) gonna like it. But, hey, in a couple of years, Brett can have his own book and get even." From BAREFOOT: The Autobiography of Bob McCreadie, as told to Andy Fusco.

#3817 - It was May of 1973, and Bentley Warren was doing his best at Indy in his undernourished, five-year-old Eagle. He commented, "I'll tell you how outclassed we were in relation to the top cars. To adjust the boost on those Offy engines, you had to loosen a lock nut and turn a bolt on the waste gate. We were so afraid of blowing up our engine that we'd add boost a tiny bit at a time, maybe three-quarters of a turn on that bolt. Well, I watched Bobby Unser's team add boost in the qualifying line. Their engine man loosened the lock nut, put a speed wrench on that bolt, and just cranked away. My eyes must have been as big as watermelons. I could not believe what I was seeing. Big boost means big speed. Bobby broke the track record by nearly 18 miles per hour. Most of that was due to his sleek Eagle, but the engine didn't hurt." From WICKED FAST: Racing Through Life with Bentley Warren, as told to Bones Bourcier. (IMS Archive Photo)

#3816 - Bob Potter at Connecticut's New London Waterford Speedbowl: "I remember one time I was leading a race down the Speedbowl years ago. They had a wreck and they threw the red flag. You could get out of your car, so me and my buddy, we're both outside our cars shooting the breeze. I started laughing... 'It sounds like somebody's tire going down.' Come to find out it was my right rear... So my buddy, Jerry Glaude, he chews gum, so I says, 'Got any gum?...I took the gum, put it on that hole - you could see it, it was small. We backed the car up so we set right it on the gum. And it didn’t leak no more. I could finish the race and ended up winning!" Quote and Photo from MODIFIED STOCK CAR RACING of the ’60s and ’70s, by Steve Kennedy. (Steve Kennedy Photo)

#3815 - Martinsville November 2022. "Ross Chastain came up with what is now called 'Hail Melon' - a nod to his family’s watermelon farming business - by jamming his Chevrolet into the wall and simultaneously mashing the gas. That combo enabled the Chevy to turn a lap faster than the track's pole qualifying record. Chastain made up five spots to make the final four." Quote and Photo from NASCAR MAVERICKS, by H. A. Branham and Holly Cain. (Stacey Revere/Getty Images)

#3814 - "Having witnessed several veteran drivers be killed or badly injured in fiery racing accidents, Len [Sutton] decided to hang up his helmet in the middle of the 1965 season. He went on to work for several racing equipment companies and to be a radio announcer at the Indy 500 for several years. As in the case of many great racers, Len's failure to win the Indy 500 doomed this highly talented and accomplished man to undeserved obscurity." Quote and Photo from SECOND TO ONE: All but for INDY, by Joe Freeman and Gordon Kirby (RMA/Knox Photo)

#3813 - Rick Standridge's most impressive fly-over at Illinois' Shepp's Speedway in 2008. His wife, Joyce, said, "Rick had a broken sternum and broken ribs. He (and I) spent the night at St. John's Hospital in Springfield (IL) but not for those injuries. The nurses couldn't get his asthma under control." Quote and Photo from FOUR AND MORE: The Standridge Brothers – Big Wins, Big Wrecks, Big Fun, by Joyce Standridge. (Jim Jones, Double J Photo)

#3812 - A very rare image of the horrendous inferno at the first National Open at Langhorne in 1951. "Wreckage from Don Black's car is strewn across the track, with Wally Campbell's machine (far right) in flames. Dick Linder's V2 is involved with several other cars partially obscured by smoke. Miraculously, only Black was seriously injured in the fiery accident." Caption and photo from LANGHORNE No Man’s Land, by Spencer Riggs. (Photo Theresa Campbell Collection)

#3811 - We were very sorry to lose our friend, the great Ed Pink this week. Coaxed on by his buddy Jim Busby, Ed entered the sports car world in 1986 reworking Porsche factory engines. Ed would later comment, "I don’t know if 'haul ass' translates directly into German. But that’s what we did." Quote and photo from ED PINK: The Old Master, by Ed Pink with Bones Bourcier. (Ed Pink Collection)

#3810 - The much-admired Jimmy Caruthers, 1975 USAC Midget Champion, pictured here posing with his championship-winning Pizza Hut Silver Crown car and his crew. From left to right, Skip Wiese, owner and sponsor George Middleton, Walt Krueger, Wayne Lee, Joe Johnson, and Chief Mechanic Larry Griffiths. Jimmy competed in the 1975 USAC Silver Crown season while suffering from cancer and managed a third place in the last race in September during the Hoosier 100. It earned him the championship. Sadly, he passed away six weeks later at the age of 30. (Photo and a caption by Don Figler)

#3808 - The Nutley (NJ) Veladrome was built for bicycle racing in 1933. It was something to behold – a 1/7-mile boarded oval saucer banked at an incredible 45 degrees, seating 12,000. When interest in the two-wheelers declined, into town came the AAA Midgets in 1938, offering up insanely dangerous, high-octane spectacles. Here Duane Carter and Paul Russo test destiny. After three fatalities in two years, county voters shut it all down. (Photo from HARD DRIVING MEN: Images of Speed 1895-1960, by Dick Wallen. (Dick Wallen Collection)

#3807 - Oh My! (Photo from Speedway Illustrated May 2025)

#3806 - "Since 1974, Goodyear's wet-weather tyres have enabled drivers to lap at very high speeds, even when tracks are soaking wet. At practice at Monaco, Emerson Fittipaldi put Goodyear "wets" through their paces." Quote and photo from Autocourse 1977, Mike Kettewell, editor. (Richard Poulter Photo)

#3804 - "January 11, 1937, and they were preparing and fueling George Eyston's Thunderbolt for another attempt at the land speed record. He eventually set the record at 357.5 in 1938." From HOT ROD MAVERICKS: The Builders, Racers, and Rebels who Revolutionized Hot Rodding, by Tony Thacker. (Keystone France Photo)

#3803 - Ray Spognardi, Richie Evans' friend and crewman: "I saw what Richie did at Daytona. He adapted to that place so fast it was scary. We’d get there, and before he'd go out for first warmups he’d be as nervous as anyone else. I mean, it’s Daytona. His temples would be twitching. He'd go out for a few laps, and when he got back in, he’d still be the same way, high-strung. But after he went out the second time, he’d be as relaxed as if we were running at some half mile. That used to amaze me." Quote and Photo from RICHIE: The Fast Life and Times of NASCAR’s Greatest Modified Driver, by Bones Bourcier. (Ray's Racing Photo, Lynn Evans Collection)

#3802 - Mario and Michael. From MARIO ANDRETTI, by Bernard Asset. (Bernard Asset Photos)

#3801 - Dario Franchitti: "The most telling endorsement of Dan Gurney comes from the funeral of his sparring partner Jim Clark in 1988. Jim’s father took him to one side and confided to him that he was the only driver his son feared on the track." Quote and Photo from ROMANCE OF RACING, by Dario Franchitti. (Bernard Cahier Photo)

All Previous Photos of the Day HERE