What's your best racing story from over the years??
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL......
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What's your best racing story from over the years??
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL......
My old racing partner Louie was 20+ years older than me… mid 40's when I was about 19. He drove my first car, a '60 Starliner, after my buddy rolled the car down the front straight and his wife forbade him from going near a stock car again. The problem was my driver owned the car trailer.. I owned the car. I couldn't come up with the $100.00 it took to buy the trailer so when he quit I post the use of the trailer… so Louie would haul the car to the race track and drive it for me… I was only 19 years old and I neeeded to be 21 to drive.
I would work on the car at Louie's son's race shop where he kept his cars and was working on a USAC stock car. Louie's son Butch was a great fabricator and driver but always had bad luck mostly caused by his carelessness.
Butch had a stock car trailer built from an old drive on gas station service ramp… it sat two inches off the ground and had a 'well' in the front where the tires went when you were servicing a car while it was up in the air… you old guys will remember these I'm sure. Butch figured that withe stock car tires in that 'well' he didn't need to chain down the car… his dad always said that would bite hin in the ass someday but he didn't want to hear it.
That's the backstory.
One Saturday we were headed to race at Wilmot, WI… it was 1969 or '70. We ran down the interstate and got to our exit at Hwy 58. When we got to the stop sign here was Butch's '57 Ford sitting smack dab in the middle of the intersection with a county cop directing traffic around the car.
The cop saw us and pulled us over… Butch's first and last name were clearly paint on the old Ford… and his Dad's name was also clearly visible on the hauler. The cop put two and two together and asked if we were related to the guy who owned the '57… Louie looked straight at the cop and said "Never heard of him!"… and we pulled away headed to the track.
A few miles down the road here come Butch and his buddies in his pickup looking for their stock car… we just waved and kept going.
Butch finally did find his car in the care of that county cop…
For me I would have to say back in 2011 when me and a buddy went to Tyler cty for black diamond 125 and during the day we made a drive over to pennsburo and walked around it and checked out the whole place sure was cool and sad at the same time something I will never forget
Simply put, 19 July 1961 Angelica NY Raceway, 100 lap late model feature paying $300 to win, my old man taking the lead on lap 47 from one of the regions all time greats Dean Layfield and crusing to win the feature until his right rear tire started to shred and finally on lap 99 she finally blew as he headed into turn one on the last lap and suffice it to say he manhandled the sh** outa' that car on three wheels all the way around that 1/2 mile oval and beat Dean by a nose at the line finally spinning out just past the finish line. Something I will " never " forget !
It's hard to pick one overall, but from this year:
One weekend my 12 year old son and I made plans for a Friday/Saturday night racing weekend (two different tracks), staying in a hotel Friday night and even doing some fishing Saturday morning. That's like a vacation to a 12 year old! So Friday after hot laps, I realized the radiator developed a leak. And I, like a dummy, had a spare at home...100+ miles away. Not being one to give in easily, I asked enough people until one of my competitors sold me his spare. I swapped it out, missing qualifying, but overall had one of our better weekends of the year.
I make it a point to thank my son for his help (he's all I've got) once we leave the track after the races. On that night, he quickly replied, "Thanks for not giving up." It was one of those "father/son" moments and reminded me there's more to be learned from racing than just how to make left turns!
Probably the racing memory I will never forget took place at the Beckley USA100. Gonna guess here and say 1993. Scott showed up the year before and cleaned their clocks and took the 10k back to Tennessee with him. The format of that particular was always stop at 50 laps, refuel and change tires. For this particular year they changed the format a bit in which you still stop at 50 laps and refuel but no tires. A local driver by the name of Steve Lucas used a provisional to get in the show and to make a long story short by the 40 lap mark he was working on Scott for the lead. The stop at 50 laps came around and Scott brings his tires as he did the year before only to be notified he couldn't change his tires. Scott didn't make another lap. Loaded his car into his trailer and vowed to never step back on the property. Steve Lucas went on to lead the last 50 laps and cash a 10k check. Scott stayed true and never came back until the Lucas oil boys had a points race in 2010 where Ray Cook cashed the check.
Dont know if you could say it was a good one.. At champaign county fair grounds. Say it was around 1969, on the 1/2 mile... WoO sprints coming out of turn 4 start of race the car in front turned sideways and 8 sprints ended up off the track.. One hit a bean wagon one was on top of a plow.. 8 people got hurt my Mom dragged me back as i watched and a car landed were i was standing...8 of the top 12 car were not in good shape . they red flagged the race for 2 hours and 6 cars got fixed and then they raced .. After all that it was one of the better Sprint races i had seen....
For starters, Seeing the gates open every week.
When we finally won a track Championship after so many years of trying. Ended up getting 2 in 3 seasons. The other one we finished 2nd and lost by 1 point on championship night.
Beautiful summer evening at Southern Iowa Speedway. Time for national anthem and the crowd rises and,,,,,silence, can't get the recording to que up. An awkward silence occurs for maybe close to a minute as murmurs build and people continue to stand respectfully. Then three ladies off to my left took matters into their own hands, they started singing without the music. Most of the crowd joined in until it was completed. A special moment that re-enforced my faith in this country, the people of Iowa and race fans in general. To this day the most stirring national anthem I ever heard was one that was impromptu.
Early 80's or so, a buddy and me were at an open comp race at Santa Maria Speedway in Ca. watching the best racers on the West coast go at it for 100 laps. I think Steve Vaughn won it, Pete Van Iderstine was second and Scott Bloomquist finished third. He was just 18 yrs old. After the race, they let us come down onto the front stretch to see the cars and drivers. Well, my buddy(who shall remain nameless,most of you know him from 4M) had a beer in a cup, and when we got to Bloomer's car he was still sitting in it. Long story short, he spilled his beer on him when he leaned in to say something to him. Hahahahaha. I wonder if he remembers that!
One of the best of my memories was the first night my son got in the modified at 16 in 1992 at Watsonville. I made him start last in every race and told him to just get some laps and try to just get some experience. He started last (11th) in his heat and finished in the top 5. Was supposed to start about 3rd row in the main but I made him go to the back again, 21st. Within a few laps he was on Scott Busby's tail, who was one of the biggest winners on the West coast, for 7th when Scott blew up, some shrapnel from that cut our power steering hose, Brent got black flagged and followed Busby off the track. I asked him how he liked it and he told me "that was easy." I knew my driving days were in trouble after that. Thirty plus years later we're still at it and, just as I predicted I'm lucky if he lets his old man get in the car more than a few times a season while he does most of the wheeling. But I still pay the bills and do most of work.
Awesome stories guys. Keep them coming. I'll give it my best shot.
As a kid growing up, I always heard other people at race tracks talk about this legendary race track in the corn fields of Ohio. I can remember begging my father to take me to Eldora Speedway to see the World 100. In 1997, we finally made the trek to Rossburg Ohio, as a 7 year old boy, it was like Christmas. However, the 4 and 1/2 hour trip turned into a 10 hr trip because our truck started over heating near Columbus Ohio. I can remember sitting on the side of I-70 with tractors and trailers speeding by. We had to stop every few minutes to cool it down. Finally at 4am, we arrived at Eldora. The sight of seeing all of those campers and the facility was worth the trouble. After that weekend, I was hooked. I've made every World 100 minus 2-3 since then, and I still feel like a kid on Christmas when I see those campers every single year I go back.
kazual, that is one great racetrack story!!Quote:
Originally Posted by kazual
We were at The Springfield Mile for the Illinois Fall Nationals back in the early 1990's. With less than a hand full of laps to go in the A-main Jack Hewitt, John Mason and Kenny Schrader were sluggin' it out tooth and nail for the win. On the white flag lap those 3 guys went into turn #1 3 abreast with Mason on the bottom, Schrader in the middle and naturally Ol' Jack is out in the fluff on the outside. Schrader's NASCAR career had taken off somewhat and he was the only one with the foresight to lift and fall in behind Mason and Jack. Mason went on to win and Schrader got back around Jack for 2nd. During the podium interview the announcer asked Schrader about the 3 wide incident in turn #1. Schrader said he knew full well that neither of the other two guys had sense enough to lift, especially Hewitt. At that moment Jack took a bow in response to what Schrader had said. I do Schrader's interview no justice but he and Jack had the whole grandstand laughing.
Had a similar experience at the annual Minnesota State Fair when they ran a 300 lap race on Labor Day. The tape recording of the National Anthem didn't want to play so the announcer asked the crowd to join in and sing. What an experience, from then on I wish it would be done that way everywhere, what a way to unite the citizens of the United States.Quote:
Originally Posted by kazual
Going late model racing with my 12 year old son. 24 races, 22 top 10s, 13 top 5s and a track championship this year!https://www.facebook.com/CarderMiller69/
MBRcompound, keep up the good work. Sounds to me like you have a good little driver there. Good luck in the future!