Chassis brand

[MI Dirt Fan]

Bush Wacker?

http://www.racingjunk.com/Late-Models/182651190/Bush-Wacker.html

[Slideways]

Walter Newman Race Cars out of Augusta, Ga. had a car called that, at one time.

[RayCook53fan]

Brandon Overton had a Bush Whacker about 2 years ago, I saw him run it at Tri-County in Brasstown. Plain black car with white letters.

[MI Dirt Fan]

Brandon Overton had a Bush Whacker about 2 years ago, I saw him run it at Tri-County in Brasstown. Plain black car with white letters.

Speaking of him, I saw his 16' Victory Circle is for sale on racing junk.

People come up with some odd names.

[President Clinton]

Casey Roberts started making a name for himself in a Bushwacker, by Walter Newman.

[AnnouncerLife88]

My favorite name is a toss up between Dirty White Boy and Jiggalow. Although actually I do like Kryptonite.

[LeafMaster41]

Walter Newman Race Cars out of Augusta, Ga. had a car called that, at one time.
He still does.
https://www.facebook.com/Walter-Newman-Race-Cars-266082813464965/

[a25rjr]

What about Smoky Joes?

[racer41]

theay must not want to sale real bad

[RW57]

It's spelled JIG-A- LO I think Scorpion race cars are the offspring of them built by Ben Thomas and his son Jimmy good race cars also. Smoky Joe's no longer builds cars although Jody still races some. I go by about once a week and talk to Joe super guy. When I was 18 years old and Smoky Joe's was starting to build chassis I went to work for him it was a dream job with me racing myself and getting paid to build race cars. The first cars Were Tri City Buggy which were the same as a Howe.

[LeafMaster41]

What about Smoky Joes?

I'm not sure if Smokey Joe is still building cars. His son Jody Summerville retired from racing several years ago and I haven't seen or heard from them in a while. He was kinda like TNT, built interpretations of other cars as well as his own designs. Geometrically they match up with whomever you wanted but the cage/frame layout was all Smokey Joe's. Built nice stuff.

Ah yes Jig-A-Lo, "Jimmy's Speed Shop" they built a superb leaf/coil dirt late models and even some ARCA cars too. Jig-A-Lo was I think Bobby Thomas mainly and then his brother Ben Started Scorpion Race cars. I'd like to have an old leaf spring Jig-A-Lo, my friend Stan Massey drove the house car for a while and told me it was the best car he'd ever sat in, bar none.

[a25rjr]

I'm not sure if Smokey Joe is still building cars. His son Jody Summerville retired from racing several years ago and I haven't seen or heard from them in a while. He was kinda like TNT, built interpretations of other cars as well as his own designs. Geometrically they match up with whomever you wanted but the cage/frame layout was all Smokey Joe's. Built nice stuff.

Ah yes Jig-A-Lo, "Jimmy's Speed Shop" they built a superb leaf/coil dirt late models and even some ARCA cars too. Jig-A-Lo was I think Bobby Thomas mainly and then his brother Ben Started Scorpion Race cars. I'd like to have an old leaf spring Jig-A-Lo, my friend Stan Massey drove the house car for a while and told me it was the best car he'd ever sat in, bar none.

Jody and his dad were 2 of the good guys. Really enjoyed talking to them at the track.

I saw recently where Jody had raced at eams last fall.

[CageFaraday]

Casey Roberts started making a name for himself in a Bushwacker, by Walter Newman.

Yes he did. Matter of fact Buck Simmons took over that ride when Casey left, I still have the seat Buck used. Slab Sellars out of Toccoa owned it. We took it and Buck to the National 100 in 99'. Good times. and its like you spelled it, one word, "Bushwacker" which was a sort of guerilla fighter in the civil war if I'm not mistaken. Ironically that particular frame was about 3 years old before Casey and Slab started using it, they started out with an old Rayburn and were winning so much Casey never wanted to try the Walter Newman car out. They even approached Rayburn about building them another car like the old one they were winning with, he said he would. Slab finally convinced Casey to give the Bushwacker a try before they went ahead with a new Rayburn and they never looked back.

[Mod Runner]

Very interesting stuff in this thread. Thanks.

[rdcllk]

Yes there is. And some brands you hear very little about anymore

[CageFaraday]

Yes there is. And some brands you hear very little about anymore

Yes, I've seen a few pass on in my time. Custom Chassis out of Columbus Georgia was a national player in the early 80's and extremely innovative, but mismanagement put them in bankruptcy before the end of the decade. The team I started out with in 86' attempted to buy all the jigs and tooling from the bank, but lost out to a drag racer of all things. Jig-A-Lo was another big player and one of the first major DLM chassis builders, located across the river from Custom in Phenix City, AL. Jig-A-Lo I guess didn't die, but morphed into what is today Scorpion Rac Cars and passed from one brother to the next. I don't know the details on that one, but love'em or hate'em, their family legacy continues along with EAMS and the National 100 too. There was another builder in the 70's & 80's in South Carolina that was pretty good, he ended up going into street rods. I believe his name was Hawkins, but I'm not sure on that. Another Carolina builder was Tri-City Buggy, they still exist, but they don't build DLM's anymore, but I do know where one of there old chassis is in storage. If I think of more I'll post later, Florence is coming soon, so it may be next week.

[fastford]

the whole thomas operation has gone to crap in my opinion , track and all , they have cheated so many people , including my self , over the years that there aint much left , little willi has a good run ever now and then , but thats about it , and cage , i try not to hate on anyone , but after 15yrs , i still have a bad taste in my mouth over the whole bunch.............

[dirty bert]

What about Ray Callahan and bullet chassis they were a major player on the national scene for awhile

[drunkinashortbus]

I'm pretty sure the year Buckshot Miles ran the xtreme series he was in a bushwaker. Speaking of Buckshot where is he now? Haven't seen his name in awhile.

[ZERO25]

Yes he did. Matter of fact Buck Simmons took over that ride when Casey left, I still have the seat Buck used. Slab Sellars out of Toccoa owned it. We took it and Buck to the National 100 in 99'. Good times. and its like you spelled it, one word, "Bushwacker" which was a sort of guerilla fighter in the civil war if I'm not mistaken. Ironically that particular frame was about 3 years old before Casey and Slab started using it, they started out with an old Rayburn and were winning so much Casey never wanted to try the Walter Newman car out. They even approached Rayburn about building them another car like the old one they were winning with, he said he would. Slab finally convinced Casey to give the Bushwacker a try before they went ahead with a new Rayburn and they never looked back.

Back in the early NLMS days, Walter Newman built quite a few winning stock clip chassis'.

[EvelB7]

Tri City Buggy was actually Gary Oliver out of the Quad Cities (Iowa/Illinois). He moved south in the mid 80's and changed it to Tri County Buggy. Gary passed away a few years ago, did quite a few unique things ahead of there time (bolt on front clip, fiberglass torque arms, etc.). My first car was one of the last he built before he moved south. Alot of big name people drove his stuff (Duvall, Webb, Hearst, etc. on dirt, believe Joe Shear ran his cars on pavement some).

[Krooser]

I used to visit Gary Oliver at TCB in the 70's. He had an old quonset hut and a barn (?) where he stored trade in late models... he'd have 10 or 15 cars in stock... I believe he was in Rock Island, IL.

I owned a Jig-a-low in the early 80's. I stopped at the Thomas operation one weekend in '82 iirc. Met Jimmy and his family. They treated me well... got the grand tour and got to watch the weekly race. Jimmy was very sick... it was just a week or so before he passed.

[CageFaraday]

I used to visit Gary Oliver at TCB in the 70's. He had an old quonset hut and a barn (?) where he stored trade in late models... he'd have 10 or 15 cars in stock... I believe he was in Rock Island, IL.

I owned a Jig-a-low in the early 80's. I stopped at the Thomas operation one weekend in '82 iirc. Met Jimmy and his family. They treated me well... got the grand tour and got to watch the weekly race. Jimmy was very sick... it was just a week or so before he passed.

Jig-A-Lo was a prominent brand at Dixie/Rome Speedways when I was growing up there, 80's & early 90's. The cars were top notch and though I've never witnessed it myself I have heard rumors/stories of some bad stuff too surrounding them. A friend of mine, Stan Massey, drove for Ben Thomas in the Jig-A-Lo house car in the early 90's. Stan was about the most prominent and experienced driver I interacted with in my late teens early 20's and he unequivocally told me the leaf car he drove for them was far and away the best he ever sat in.

[ZERO25]

Jig-A-Lo was a prominent brand at Dixie/Rome Speedways when I was growing up there, 80's & early 90's. The cars were top notch and though I've never witnessed it myself I have heard rumors/stories of some bad stuff too surrounding them. A friend of mine, Stan Massey, drove for Ben Thomas in the Jig-A-Lo house car in the early 90's. Stan was about the most prominent and experienced driver I interacted with in my late teens early 20's and he unequivocally told me the leaf car he drove for them was far and away the best he ever sat in.

Epj got his first prominent slm ride with Marvin Harris, when Stan decided to cut back his racing career!

[Rednax20]

My favorite name is a toss up between Dirty White Boy and Jiggalow. Although actually I do like Kryptonite.My Father has a Jiggalow he won the 1978 Hillbilly 100 at Pennsboro WV.

[PRCKartRacer9]

AJ, that you?^^^

[CageFaraday]

Epj got his first prominent slm ride with Marvin Harris, when Stan decided to cut back his racing career!

I built the shocks for that ride. Small world.

[ZERO25]

I built the shocks for that ride. Small world.

The start of the 3 wheelin days! lol

[CageFaraday]

The start of the 3 wheelin days! lol

I hated that ever got started, still do. So many shocks got ripped apart with that nonsense. Its about as crude mechanically as you can get but so many think its "high tech". It may take high tech to control all the violence, but its a crude beast that's killing the sport. Every race for me now is like visiting a terminally ill friend, I can see it killing him, and even though his hair is coming out in clumps, teeth laying in the sink, all his other buds tell him he'll be fine this is progress. The next glorious level...

[ZERO25]

I hated that ever got started, still do. So many shocks got ripped apart with that nonsense. Its about as crude mechanically as you can get but so many think its "high tech". It may take high tech to control all the violence, but its a crude beast that's killing the sport. Every race for me now is like visiting a terminally ill friend, I can see it killing him, and even though his hair is coming out in clumps, teeth laying in the sink, all his other buds tell him he'll be fine this is progress. The next glorious level...

Sure was fun to watch though....esp guys like Francis at bullrings like Eastbay!