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Email us at
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All Previous
Photos of the Day HERE |
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#3559 - "Ray Hendrick's last
race after 45 years behind the wheel. Ray is in
a Late Model owned by his son Roy in 1986. Not
only was Hendrick popular, but he was also a
sportsman as well. In 1961 at the Virginia State
Fairgrounds in Richmond, he came to the rescue
of fellow Richmond driver Emanuel Zervakis, who
had flipped his Modified on its side squarely in
front of the oncoming field. Without hesitation
Hendrick wheeled his car to a stop, using it as
a shield to protect the dazed Zervakis and his
car from further harm. For that heroic action
Hendrick received the 1961 Haughton
Sportsmanship Award." Quote from SOUTH
BOSTON: The First Fifty Years, (Roy
Chandler Photo) |
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#3558 - Here's another view of an
incident we showed you in Photo of the Day
#2923. This shot, taken by Randy Crist,
shows A.J. Foyt's father at a Silver Crown show
at Du Quoin in 1972. A.J. had been leading, but
his car caught fire during a pit stop. That's
his father chasing A.J., fire extinguisher
blasting away. A.J., on fire about his head,
leapt from the vehicle but broke an ankle when
the car ran over it before continuing solo down
the track. Our friend and photographer Don
Figler saw the whole thing. He was standing
right there on the far left. |
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#3557 - Back in the day New
England had the ovals tracks well covered with
Modifieds, Late Models, Midgets, and Supers.
There was also some serious road racing, and
talented Paul Newman and Sam Posey brought depth
to the field, along with a side of glamor.
(Unknown Photographer) |
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#3556 Pretty racy! "The 2016 American
Solar Challenge (ASC) was an intercollegiate
solar car race from July 30 to August 6, 2016.
This prestigious event featured university teams
from around the world, each designing and
building their own solar-powered cars. These
innovative vehicles embarked on a remarkable
1,975-mile road course that spanned seven
states, starting from Brecksville, Ohio, and
concluding in Hot Springs, South Dakota. The
University of Michigan won with a time of 48
hours, 26 minutes, 46 seconds. The Principia
entry shown here placed fifth with a time of 64
hours, 32 minutes, 04 seconds. There were 13
entries." Caption and Photo by Don Figler
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#3555 - George Weaver, a top
wheelman and gentleman, is shown in his Maserati
at the old challenging and dangerous street
course at Watkins Glen. It was Weaver's idea to
build a track exclusively for road racing right
aside the 5/8-mile oval at Thompson, CT. It
opened in 1952, the first in the country. Photo
from
A HISTORY OF RACING IN NEW ENGLAND – A
Project of the New England Racing Museum.
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#3554 - That's Esther
Vukovich celebrating aside her husbands winning
car at Indy in 1954. She told the media, "I’ve
got a bull of a man, haven't I?" Bill almost
seemed to agree when he commented, "I've met
every piece of dust and every flying rock on the
hamburger trail from Fresno to San Diego. I know
every brand of oil just from the taste. Quotes
and photo from
VUKOVICH: The Man Who Wouldn’t Lift, by
Angelo Angelopoulos |
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#3553 - Multi-talented wheelman Travis
Pastrana took to the New Jersey Motorsports Park
in 2010 for a Combo Surface Rally. Half of the
track was dirt and the other half was asphalt.
Travis was collected in an earlier incident that
resulted in a right-rear tire rub. Being the
competitor that he is, he continued to mash the
gas of his Subaru and soldiered on for a top-5
finish. After the event was over, he loaded up
his race car, pulled the rig to the fan parking
area and signed autographs for about an hour.
(Mike Feltenberger Photo) |
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#3552 - Nope. It wasn’t something Lenny
Boehler kept hidden under a canvas in his garage
down near Cape Cod in Massachusetts. It's the
Deidt/Offenhauser that Mauri Rose wheeled to
victory at the Brickyard in 1947.
Photo from EPIC DRAMA: The Winning Collection
of the IMS Museum
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#3551 - Quite unusually and
sportingly, John Kozak began racing those unruly
1970s-era Modifieds at Reading, PA, Fairgrounds,
having never been out of the grandstands before.
Then, while beginning to crew for Kenny
Brightbill, he cobbled together a sedan of his
own. Four seasons later he bought Brightbill's
famous Pinto, renumbered it 31, and raced up in
the standings, winning the Kennedy Memorial in
'78 by defeating Brightbill. Between the two
drivers, the car won more than any other in
Reading history. (Photo from READING
FAIRGROUNDS MODIFIED MEMORIES, Vince Vicari
Editor.) |
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WD-3550
- Ted Field, with Bill Whittington
relieving, swept the six-hour Times/Toyota
Grand Prix of Endurance at California’s
Riverside Raceway on April 25, 1982. It was
a surprising finish, given the start. Right
at the green, John Paul Jr. gassed it,
scattering the lineup. Field took a enforced
detour through the gravel and had to pit to
remove some of it from his throttle linkage.
He rejoined the field a lap down just three
laps into the race, He sliced through the
field and won it in this amazing-looking
Lola. (Photo
from
RIVERSIDE RACEWAY: Palace of Speed,
by Dick Wallen. Frank Mormillo Photo)
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#3549 - Earnhardt was
Earnhardt personified at Charlotte on May 30,
1993. He was going to win and beware any
obstacles that might appear along the way. One
was Greg Sacks, who was suddenly redirected into
the wall, across the track, and into the
infield. Earnhardt's remarkable recollection
post-event was: "I was close, but I didn't hit
him. Maybe our bumpers touched, or I touched him
a bit, but it wasn't like I rammed the hell out
of him. I don't think I nudged him. (And then,
with a smile): I might've been a-gin him."
(Caption and Photo from DALE EARNHARDT: The
Pass in the Grass, The Charlotte Observer.) |
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#3548 - Wally Dallenbach Jr.
left his home in Basalt, Colorado, after school
to embark on an successful, multidisciplined
professional career in motorsports. He
apparently liked going back home when he could.
Here he was looking very racy in a hill climb
car at Pike's Peak. (From
WALLY DALLENBACH: Steward of the Sport,
by Gordon Kirby.) |
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#3547 - Early Chicago racer
Cliff Woodbury was in the chips in the 1920s,
doing so well he landed the seat in the Boyle
Valve Special. The team was looking pretty
uptown when they pulled into Rockingham, New
Hampshire's scary board track in October of 1928
and dominated the show. But by the next year, it
was a different story. Woodbury started on the
pole of the Indy 500 but crashed out after just
three laps. On the 29th of October, 1929, the
whole country crashed. (From HARD DRIVING
MEN: Images of Speed 1895-1960, by Dick
Wallen. Dick Wallen Collection)
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#3546 - Richard Petty's #43
Pontiac erupts in flames following a crash on
the 95th lap of the 1992 Hooters 500 in Atlanta.
The King of NASCAR was competing in his 1184th
and final NASCAR Winston Cup event. He got mixed
up in an accident while trying to miss several
spinning cars. "It broke the oil line and got on
the headers," explained Petty. "It caught fire.
I figured I better find me a fire truck, so I
drove around the track until I could find one."
Petty got back in the race and finished 39th in
a field of 41. (Caption and Photo from
NASCAR: The Complete History, by Greg
Fielden) |
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#3545 - Early in the 2000s, Doug
Wolfgang and aging Frankie Schnieder came to the
Coastal 181 booth at Lenny Sammons's Motorsports
Show to sign books and were pleased to meet one
another. Everyone had a fine time, especially
Frankie. As you can see, he was also pleased
that the purveyor of adult beverages was right
nearby. Late in the afternoon his daughter came
by and said, "It's time to hit the road, Dad."
Frankie’s response: "I think you're right. Run
right along and I'll see you later." (From
FRANKIE SCHNEIDER, The Old Master, by
Dennis Keenan.) |
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#3544 - On a magic night
Brad Doty, previously paralyzed in a grueling
Sprint Car crash, returned to Eldora to pace the
feature field of the 1998 King's Royal. (The car
had a Honda four-wheeler hand-throttle setup).
"As the truck pushed me away, everyone along the
pit lane was giving me the thumbs up. As I drove
around the track, people came to the fence and
were waving, pressing against the fencing as if
they were trying to touch me as I rolled by.
Although thousands of people were waving at me,
and maybe a million more were watching on
television, at that moment I was all alone. It
was me and the race car, alone on Eldora's steep
banks. As I went through turn two, my mind
flashed back 10 years to a night that shaped the
lives of many people. A night that took me
several years to fully deal with. In a way this
moment was the closure I had been looking for.
As that concrete wall swept past I felt a
renewed sense of purpose, a euphoria I thought I
had forgotten. For ten long years the dragon had
trailed me, trying to steal my hopes, my dreams,
my life. But now the dragon was dead, forever
silenced and out of my heart." (Caption and
Photo from
STILL WIDE OPEN, by Brad Doty with Dave
Argabright.) |
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#3543 - That's Ray Evernham,
with his most careful touch, tuning recent bride
Erin Crocker's 410 at Knoxville in 2010. Later
that year, they both pulled into a 360 Sprint
Car race in North Carolina. He recalls, "t was
the only time Erin and I got to race together
which was really cool. Even cooler was Erin won
the race and I finished sixth. What wasn't so
cool was on the last lap Erin was lapping me as
she passed the start-finish line; she says she
was giving me extra room, and I say she was
waving at me. Either way, she hit the wall and
her car tumbled into the air and out of the
speedway. The racing headlines said 'Husband and
Wife Crash at Start-Finish Line. Wife Wins.' We
laugh about it now, but it wasn't very funny
then." (Photo and Caption from
RAY EVERNHAM: Trophies and Scars, by
Ray Evernham with Joe Garner) |
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#3542 - Mission Bell 200
Trans-Am event, Riverside, 1970: "In a race
Parnelli Jones regards as 'my best drive ever,'
he clawed his way back through the field to
victory. Fans and drivers alike recall the
spectacular sight of Jones drifting through
Riverside’s famous esses, clipping apexes at
every turn, and intentionally striking the
curbing to bounce his Boss 302 onto its outside
wheels to turn it in for high-speed corners.
Here Jones (15) prepares to pass Gurney (48). It
was the last time either driver would race
against each other." From TRANS-AM: The
Golden Years in Photographs 1966-1972, by
Daniel Lipetz. |
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#3541 - Herman Beam was
another kind of smoke. The quiet engineer from
Johnson City, TN, earned the nickname "Turtle"
by going slowly in his early Grand National car.
He attracted considerable attention at the 1960
Daytona 500 when he was black-flagged after
eight laps for forgetting to don his helmet.
Then, from 1961 and 1963 he set a remarkable
record. He entered 86 races and finished every
one of them. It ended on March 17, 1963, when he
blew his clutch at the Atlanta 500. A
HISTORY OF EAST TENNESSEE AUTO RACING, by
David McGee. (Carl Moore Photo)
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#3540 - "Boston Louie
Seymour towed Sprint Cars from his home in
Marlboro, MA, all over the country to compete in
what was then USAC's Thunder and Lightning
division. In one ten-year period he racked up a
million miles pulling those cars. But Boston,
(center) also competed in USAC's Silver Crown
Series, where in 1976 with his sons Mike (left),
Bobby (right) and driver Billy Cassella the
family won the championship. This photo was
taken at the final race of the series, Syracuse
in October, on the day they earned the title.
Caption from
A HISTORY OF AUTO RACING IN NEW ENGLAND: A
Project of the Northeast Racing Museum.
(Dick Berggren Photo). |
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#3539 - Tough guy! "Dale Earnhardt
had a pretty hairy wreck in the Bud Moore
Wranglers Ford at Pocono in 1982. Tim Richmond
was also involved. Dale is sitting on the track,
off to the left." From
FLORIDA MOTORSPORTS RETROSPECTIVE PICTORIAL,
by Eddie Roche. (Roche Collection) |
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#3538 - On June 27, 1938, at
the Iowa State Fair, Emory Collins showed a bit
of wear sitting in his Offy/Miller Sprinter
after winning a battle royale with Gus Schrader.
Congratulating him in Victory Lane were Barney
Oldfield and announcer Ronald Reagan. From
SAFE AT ANY SPEED: The Great Double Career of
Joie Chitwood, by Jim Russell and Ed
Watson. |
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#3537 - In what might well
be the best of all his terrific books, Bones
Bourcier does a deep dive into the souls of
FOYT, ANDRETTI, and PETTY, America’s
Racing Trinity. He captions this image,
“Few drivers have ever played hurt as often as
NASCAR’s King.”
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#3536 - In his rigorously
researched book
THE LAST LAP, author William Walker
investigates the deaths of driver Pete Kreis and
riding mechanic Bob Hahn at the Indy 500 in
1934. Considered to be one of the strangest
incidents in racing history, there were no skid
marks leading up to the wall, no signs
whatsoever of any kind of mechanical failure
after very thorough analysis. The whole issue
remains unresolved, with a dark, lingering
thought in the background - might this have been
a suicide? From
THE LAST LAP, by William Walker. (IMS
Photo) |
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#3535 - "Quick Nick" Rescino
was unquestionably among California's greatest.
Shown here at San Jose Speedway in the mid-'70s
in an asphalt Super, he won with everything he
drove. Especially remarkable was when, wheeling
a Supermodified, he whupped the World of Outlaws
travelers at their own game. Over the years he
racked up over 200 fast times. (Dennis Mattish
Photo, from
Sea to Shining Sea, by Ken Clapp)
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#3534 - San Diego's Cole
Whitt was in the karts when Team Red Bull took
notice of him, putting him in Sprinters in 2004.
He moved to Indiana, traveling the country with
his helmet. On June 8, 2008, he pulled into Big
Diamond Raceway in Minersville, Pennsylvania. As
pictured in victory lane at age 17 with Dave
Darland and Levi Jones, he knocked off the
feature, becoming one of USAC’s youngest
winners. He was on his way to NASCAR. (Mike
Feltenberger Photo) |
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#3533 - It was 30 years ago, before
taking out the leader became
commonplace...."Dale Earnhardt celebrates in
Victory Lane after bumping Terry Labonte late in
the race to win the 1999 Goody's Headache Powder
500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. The move was
virtually a repeat of what Earnhardt had done to
"rattle his cage" and beat Labonte in the 1995
Goody's 500. Earnhardt was booed heartily by
fans in the stands for one of the few times in
his long NASCAR career." From
NASCAR 75 YEARS, by Kelly Crandall,
Jimmy Creed, Mike Hembre and Al Pearce. |
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#3532 - It may have been ten
years ago, but he was red hot already. Rico
Abreu winning the inaugural Tribute to Gary
Patterson, a Civil War Series race at Stockton,
CA, in 2014. From GUIDE TO NORTHERN AND
CENTRAL CALIFORNOIA RACEWAYS, by Saroyan
Humphrey. (Humphrey Photo) |
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#3531 - On July 13, 1974,
NASCAR's Grand National West pulled into Eugene,
Oregon, for a 100-lapper on the 3.8-mile
pavement. Red hot Jack McCoy was fast qualifier
and swept the main. He recalls, "When you're
right, you're right....And we used an air
shock-a dummy with no valving but with the
inflatable feature in place to raise the rear of
the car to meet NASCAR's minimum roof-height
standard. After going through inspection, we
'adjusted' the relief valve that lets the air
out of the unit near the driver's seat,
restoring the ride height we desired. On this
hot evening I forgot to release the pressure on
my qualifying run, but still set fast time. Was
a crazy lap with all that weight jacked into the
car." From RACING"S REAL McCOY, by Jack
McCoy. (McCoy Collection) |
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#3530 - Iowa native Tiny
Lund sure got it done fishing. He had a popular
freshwater camp down in the low country of South
Carolina, and he himself pulled in a 55-pound
striped bass, a recordholder for 30 years. But
with NASCAR Cup racing, he had but one
superspeedway win, the '63 Daytona 500 in the
Wood Bros #21. He was replacing their driver,
Marvin Panch, who had been burned earlier in the
week in a non-Cup event and Tiny had pulled him
out of the wreckage. Over the subsequent years
Tiny's real success came on the short tracks
where he won big time. Nonetheless, he did
decide to take a one-off Cup ride at Talladega
in 1975, getting into the show after first
alternate Grant Maddox dropped out. Tiny went
only six laps before a huge backstretch melee
claimed his life. He was 45, leaving his wife
Wanda and son Christopher. (Photo from NASCAR
The Complete History, by Greg Fielden) |
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#3529 Gutsy Ricky Wright was a winning
Big Block Modified driver in the 1980s and '90s
at Lebanon Valley, New York. It's an
intimidating high-banked half mile, not a good
place to have brake problems...One night he was
hit hard from behind in traffic. The belly pan
beneath the driver folded up from the rear,
breaking Ricky's foot badly. As he was taken off
to the hospital, the medics wanted to prepare
him for arrival by cutting off his fire suit.
Painful though the injury may have been, the
loss of an expensive fire suit would be even
worse. He made them wrestle it off whatever the
consequence. Two years later, Ricky was riding a
motorcycle right next to the track and he
crashed. He hurt his leg again, this time really
dramatically, with a femur penetrating his blue
jeans. He made no complaints about any treatment
of his outerwear when the helicopter came to
take him for a ride. Maybe motorcycles are too
dangerous for Big Block Modified drivers." From
MODIFIEDS OF THE VALLEY: A History of Modified
Racing at Lebanon Valley Speedway, by
Lew Boyd. (Mark Brown Photo) |
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#3528 - Don "the Snake"
Prudhomme and Ed Pink occasionally clashed, but,
boy, did they win drag races. From
Ed Pink: The Old Master, by Ed Pink
with Bones Bourcier. (Ed Pink Collection) |
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#3527 - In 2010 a record was
established as four women qualified for the
[Indy] 500. Danica Patrick (top) finished sixth
while Simona Silvestra (2nd) was 14th and
honored as the top rookie. Ana Beatriz (3rd) and
Sarah Fisher (bottom) were both eliminated in
accidents. Caption and photos from
500 on the (Indy) 500: Tales, Facts, and
Figures on the Greatest Race in the World,
by Rick Shaffer. (Simona, IMS Archive; balance,
Dan Boyd) |
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#3526 - In 1963 Curtis
Turner told Smokey Yunick that he was determined
to run at the Brickyard. Yunick dusted off a car
he called "the Python," and off they went. There
was just a wee bit of women-and-song out there
in Indiana, and with two days to go, Yunick
pointed out that they needed 3 mph more to even
qualify. So Turner went for it big time – and
got the third-turn wall. He subsequently
apologized and suggested they restart the party.
Yunick recalls that somehow, "We were in Vegas
two days later finishing that up, and I go back
to Daytona with the remains in about a week. I
think the Python was cremated. Its remains went
to Japan and came back as a Honda motorcycle
(probably two of them). We did extinguish any
burning desire Curtis had to conquer Indy." From
THE BEST DAMN GARAGE IN TOWN, by Smokey
Yunick. |
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#3525 - With its twin
tubular-steel side members joined by perforated
webs, the Kurtis Kraft 2000 chassis was suitable
for both dirt tracks and the Indianapolis Motor
Speedway. It was sprung by torsion bars. From
INDY CARS OF THE 1950s, Ludvigsen
Library Series. |
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#3524 - While it first appears that
Holly Shelton has found a new way to pass POWRi
Midget Series competitor Max Guilford by flying
over the top of him, unfortunately for Holly,
it's the beginning of a series of flips in
between the first and second corners at the
Belle-Clair Speedway, Belleville, Illinois, in
2018 at a POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League
event. Holly suffered no injuries. Unfortunately
Belle-Clair, a neat little track with that
distinctive wooden fence, closed a couple of
seasons back. (Photo and caption by Don Figler.) |
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#3523 - Former dirt track
racer, ARCA star, multi-class NASCAR driver, and
race director at Penn National Speedway,
Lebanon, Pennsylvania's Bobby Gerhart Jr. was
tabbed to qualify the Roush Racing #99 at Pocono
in 2005 while regular driver Carl Edwards was in
Colorado running the Salute to the Troops 250 at
Pikes Peak International Speedway. Edwards
finished fourth after starting 41st in the
43-car field. (Mike Feltenberger Photo) |
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#3522 - The diminutive,
star-crossed Cheryl Glass (#28) races to the
outside of Lealand McSpadden at San Jose
Speedway in 1981. "It takes a lot of me to run a
night of practice, qualifying, heat races, and a
sprint car main event," sprint car driver Tim
Green said, "and I’m over six feet and 200
pounds. Then I look at this little, very
lady-like woman, who drives a lot faster and
smoother than some top male drivers, and I’m a
little lost for words." From
THE FIRST LADY OF DIRT: The Triumphs and Tragedy
of Racing Pioneer Cheryl Glass, by Bill
Poehler. (Shirley Glass Collection) |
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#3521 - In his brand new
book, Lynn Paxton recalls a memorable 1968, both
on the track with a new car as well as an
unexpected encounter at the concessions stand.
"This is 'the ‘Bathtub' at speed at the Grove,
October 6, 1968. The car brought sixteen feature
wins. Always at a disadvantage against the
high-priced, custom-built sprinters, the Kenny
Weld-built car with Paxton as the driver held
its own to say the least. It was a tough
machine, always taking abuse and coming back for
more. Paxton flipped it five times that year."
And then there was Barbara Deardorff. Barb's mom
would make the introduction happen at the
refreshment stand at Susquehanna where Barb was
working. Barb says, "I thought he was a real
geek." They married in 1972. From
LYNN PAXTON: My Way, by Don Robinson.
(Kings Photo) |
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#3520 - She's the voice that
smiles when you call customer service at
Speedway Illustrated magazine. Christine
Worthington was also winner of the Eastern
Motorsports Press Association's President’s
award last month. She surely deserved it. She
helps keep the publication timely and lively,
with contributors countrywide focused on the
goal of helping folks race "Faster, Safer,
Wiser." But of all her talents, the one most
relied upon is keeping the ground wires tight on
her husband, Karl Fredrickson, the magazine's
highly charged founder and mayordomo. (Speedway
Illustrated Photo) |
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#3519 - Oh my! Robert Ballou
at Ocala on February 16, 2024. (Photo John
DaDalt, master lensman from the Nutmeg state)
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#3518 - Even back when
racing, Jeff Gordon has passionately supported
pediatric-cancer research. Working with the
Clinton Global Initiative and Paul Farmer's
Partners in Health, he's supported the Butaro
Cancer Center of Excellence in Rwanda. He is
shown with his wife, Ingrid, visiting with kids
near the Center. From
JEFF GORDON: HIs Dream, Drive, & Destiny,
by Joe Garner |
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#3517 Check out the faces. From Don
Figler's
MIDGET RACING CALENDAR 2024.
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#3516 - Gutsy Ralph Liguori
in Andy Granatelli's Novi at Indy in 1961,
prepping for some practice. After a few
refresher laps, Ralph went to pick up some
speed, and the engine exploded, distributing
hundreds of parts and pieces with the car
sliding down the backstretch and pounding the
wall. With blood-soaked gauze on his face and
neck from burns, he hopped off his cot in the
infield care center and announced he was ready
to go again. But he never had the chance to try
to qualify, losing his shot at a front-row start
and possible track record, He lamented, "That
was a low point in my career because I thought I
had it made." Quote and Photo from
RACERS IN THE SUN: The Story of Florida's Sprint
Car Legends, by Richard Golardi. (IMS
Photo) |
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#3515 - A white sport coat and a
pink carnation. Who would have known this 1950s
high-schooler at graduation in the San Francisco
Bay area was already a professional motorcycle
racer performing on AMA.s half-and mile ovals on
the West Coast Flat Track circuit? His name was
Jan Opperman. From
Dialed In: The Jan Opperman Story, by
Jon Sawyer. (Opperman Collection) |
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#3514 - World of Outlaw Late Models
are enormously popular and this photo shows why.
When the race looks as if fans could drive the
cars, it's not as good as when the cars look
really hard to drive. Outlaw Late Models are set
up to hike the left front wheel up in the
corners, while the left side of the car's rear
end moves forward 6-8 inches. Called "roll
steer," that shift forward of the left rear axle
has a lot to do with the incredible speed these
cars achieve in the dirt track's corners. This
photo was taken of Ricky Thornton at
Barberville, Florida's Volusia Speedway Park on
a night that preceded the 2024 Daytona 500.
Think you could drive wide open through a dirt
track corner in a car that's this out of shape?
(Caption and Photo by Dick Berggren) |
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#3513 - Donnie Beechler #14
had a rough landing exiting the fourth turn
during the running of the Tony Bettenhausen
100-mile event in 2011 at the Springfield
Illinois State Fair. That's Dave Darland, #56
pointing in the wrong direction. Also involved
were Randy Bateman and Darren Hagar. No
injuries. Bryan Tyler won the race after
starting in the 14th position. (From our
photographer friend Don Figler) |
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#3512 - "In 1942 leading
race sanctioning group, the American Automobile
Association (AAA), voted to wait until after the
war was over before they would sanction again.
To a degree the Central States Racing
Association (CSRA) bridged the gap. Joie
Chitwood edged out hot shots Tommy Hinnershitz
and Dave Randolph at Batavia, NY, just before a
national racing wartime ban was instituted on
August 1, 1942." From
DAREDEVILS OF THE FRONTIER, by Keith S.
Herbst. (EMMR Collection) |
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#3511 - In Tulsa in 1973,
"John Wiebe qualified number-one in the 32-car
Top Fuel field with a 6.119 ET at 229
mph...Wiebe's weekend came to a quick end, as
did that of 17th-qualifier Jeb Allen when the
pair tangled in the first round. Wiebe's Ed
Mabry-chassis car shook bad and took a hard turn
into Allen, destroying both cars. Allen received
burns in his face and hands, while Wiebe
suffered a broken leg and ankle after riding the
guardrail.” From
DRAG RACING'S REBELS: How the AHRA Changed
Quarter-mile Competition, by Doug
Boyce. (Don Gillespie Photo) |
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#3510 - In 1981 Billy Pauch
did something a little different. He accepted a
ride up north on Friday nights, running the
Ripley and Harbinger #24S Modified at
Albany-Saratoga. He recalls, "We were running
against Jack Johnson, C.D., Dave Lape, Chuck
Ely, Butch Jelley - it was a pretty good field
there. I drove all year for the 24S guys and
never won a race for them. But it was still a
good memory. That was a lot of fun. Get up there
to race, then go to the bars - they didn't close
until four in the morning. Sleep 'til noon. Then
stagger back to Flemington and win about ten
straight." From
THE LAST COWBOY: The Life and Times of Billy
Pauch, by Buffy Swanson. (Mike
Feltenberger Photo) |
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#3509 - On January 27 and
28, 2024, the 62nd Rolex 24-hour race ran at the
Daytona International Speedway 3.56-mile road
course. Four divisions, each running together on
the track at the same time, produced profoundly
varied speeds, some over 200 MPH, and
heart-pounding closing rates. The top divisions
were as exotic as today's Indy cars. Cars had
three or four drivers that shuffled in and out
of the driver's seat during pit stops. The
infield area not used for racing was filled with
fans who visited the many displays (including
historic Rolex cars) and rode on the full-size
Ferris wheel. Most tickets allowed access to the
stadium seats, fan zone and the garage. At the
end, two cars in the top division were within
one second of each other after 24-hours. The
Roger Penske Porsche won with drivers (Indy 500
winner) Josef Newgarden, Felipe Nasr, Matt
Campbell and Dane Cameron. The Whelen
Engineering Cadillac shown here finished second.
(Photo and caption by Dick Berggren)
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#3508 - The kids were
coming. Sixteen winters back, USAC Sprint Car
Rookie of the Year, Chad Boat, age 16, waltzed
the Billy Boat #30 to the youngest-ever race win
at Hagerstown, MD. From
MODERN THUNDER: The Illustrated History of USAC
National Sprint Car Racing 1981-2019,
by Dave Argabright, John Mahoney, Patrick
Sullivan. (John Mahoney Photo) |
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#3507 - When Maine's Unity
Raceway was reopened recently, it was met with
great enthusiasm. Lots of fans showed up,
especially when the SCONE Sprint cars were in
town. At the same time some neat stuff appeared
from out of the woods – and the past. How about
this '40s truck cab on a narrowed truck frame
from the early '60s? The Cutdown era had to be
one of the coolest and most creative eras in
American oval-track racing. In Maine, they ran
at places like Unity, Exeter, Ellsworth, and
Cherryfield before being largely replaced by
Late Models. This one was driven by Keith
Fuller, up-and-coming when he was killed in a
highway crash in 1968. (Unity Raceway Photo) |
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#3506 - Wow. Practicing for
the 1977 Gran Premio de la Argentina, Mario
Andretti was rocketing by the pit area at 160mph
in his Lotus when the fire bottle exploded. His
visor was covered with oil, but he managed to
ease it through an approaching turn and pull
off. The car was a mess. Mario suffered only
some bruising when the front bulkhead was blown
back. From AUTOCOURSE 1977-78, Mike
Kettlewell Editor |
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#3505 - It was 1990. "The
Wood Brothers #21 Ford sits on pit road during
the spring Talladega race week with Dale Jarrett
at the wheel. Neil Bonnett, who had to give up
the ride when he was injured at Darlington in
April, made his trackside return to Talladega.
Greeting him was Bobby Allison, who suffered
near-fatal head injuries two years earlier.
Bonnett broke the ice in the press conference
when he described his first conversation with
Allison, 'Me and Bobby were sitting there on the
couch,' said Bonnett. 'Between Bobby trying to
say what he was thinking and me trying to
remember what he was saying, it was a helluva
conversation.' Bonnett then told reporters he
would not attempt to compete in NASCAR Winston
Cup racing again in 1990." Quote and photo from
NASCAR: The Complete History, by Greg
Fielden.
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#3504 - Geoff Bodine posts this eerie photo of
the aftermath of his grisly Daytona truck crash in 2000. His caption
reads, "Look closely, and you’ll see God's angels protecting me."
From
ALL OF IT: Daytona 500 Champion Tells the Rest of the Story,
by Geoff Bodine and Dominic Aragon. (Bodine Collection) |
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Our Webmaster, Norm Marx, was on the scene and his dramatic
photo shows the violence of the incident. (Norm Marx Photo) |
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#3503 - Herbert Estes (nicknamed "Tootle" by an
aunt because he was too little to be a Herbert) was a terror in the
mountain of North Carolina, Northern Georgia, and Tennessee, whether
hauling 'shine or grabbing checkers. One season he reportedly won 85
of 104 features. Some say he compiled a career total of 1500. One
thing's for sure: He counted money not trophies. He won 17 in a row
at Greenwood, Speedway in South Carolina, receiving the same trophy
each week, promptly selling it back to the promoter. He passed away
of a heart attack in 1982, on his way home from Bull's Gap,
Tennessee, and a feature win at Volunteer Speedway. (Chris Corum
Collection) |
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#3502 - Starting lineup: The Brickyard 1959.
From MY HERO, MY FRIEND: Jimmy Bryan, by Len Gasper and
Phil Sampaio. (Photo Courtesy IMS)
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#3501 - Rhythm Inn Speedway in Millers Falls,
Massachusetts, was a high-funk 1/3-mile, one of the many that
operated for a short while in the 1950s. Rene Charland was track
champ in ’54 and ’55 and, like so many of his compatriots, he
responded to money, race cars and the ladies - in varying order. The
speedway was connected to a sister business, a club also curiously
named Rhythm Inn. That made for an inventive business model.
Charland often complained, "They'd pay you for the races and take it
all back at the barroom!" (Mike Ritter Collection) |
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All Previous
Photos of the Day HERE |
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