Big Ole Cheater!!! I loved that guy!!!
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Ronnie Weedon was one of my faves when he came to Peoria. I was a youngster then.
Those 55-57 chevys were some good looking race cars. There was just a few of them running around when I started racing in 81 or so. Most everyone had moved to Camaros and a few novas
Going to Brownstown Speedway on a weekly basis and watching:
Russ Petro
Ray Godsey
Kenny Simpson
Jim Curry
John Gill
Bob Pierce
Don O’Neal
Ira Bastin (fastest hot lapper I ever watched)
Paul Shaffer
Paul Crocket
Harley Brown (he was always the slowest but always good to see)
This list doesn’t even scratch the surface of the greats that raced there back in the day.
We also had arguably the best announcer cutting his teeth at the time in a guy by the name James Essex.
Brownstown Speedway back in the day had the best weekly battles in the country.
Riding shotgun on victory laps with the Flying Irishman, Larry Flynn!
I have really enjoyed all of these memories. Back when I was a kid, they opened the pits to the spectators after the races and the drivers hung around and chatted with fans.
The announcer telling everybody to come to the pits after the races for autographs but the race cars could be hot so be careful
Flagman red flagging the cautions, putting the field in the correct order and rolling off for a green flag the next time around. East Moline's flagman was the most efficient I ever saw; still quicker than it gets done today with raceivers!
I miss how as a victory lane was going for a lesser class the next race feature was already pulling onto the track and lining on up for the next feature, Or how a feature took 1 lap around the grandstand and the next lap was the green. Not this wasting 4 laps getting ready, doing, and then getting relined on up while doing a 4 wide salute for a 30 lap crate race ! !
Remembering Ernie Deer rumbling down the front stretch in that STP hemi Dodge Charger. A sound still embedded in my mind.
In The Gas In The Gas is offline
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Going to Brownstown Speedway on a weekly basis and watching:
Russ Petro
Ray Godsey
Kenny Simpson
Jim Curry
John Gill
Bob Pierce
Don O’Neal
Ira Bastin (fastest hot lapper I ever watched)
Paul Shaffer
Paul Crocket
Harley Brown (he was always the slowest but always good to see)
This list doesn’t even scratch the surface of the greats that raced there back in the day.
We also had arguably the best announcer cutting his teeth at the time in a guy by the name James Essex.
Brownstown Speedway back in the day had the best weekly battles in the country.
Wow what a spot on post, I was there every week to see them all race. And don't forget Ed Covey in the red 55 chevy #19 that was unbeatable in the street stocks that one year.
Tom Helfrich was never able to win a feature at Brownstown against those guys, in fact he never did win a feature there.
I really miss the Barren County Speedway and the flagman "Mule Skinner", also Hollis the grader man.
A full moon rising on the backstretch, was so neat. I even miss those wild Fats Coffee fans!!!
https://scontent-ort2-1.xx.fbcdn.net...NQ&oe=638CD22D
The same car being raced on both dirt and asphalt, Fast car dashes, Simple, homebuilt bodies (And suspensions, rear leaf springs.)White fire suits, The Marc Times Racing News, The Dealers Choice at Crystal Raceway, A few guys buying used NASCAR engines and parts to run in their Late Models, The World 100 with over 200 race cars showing up, Having only two classes at most weekly races, Late Models and Pro Stocks
Never got the pleasure of seeing Ernie run, but my all-time hero in racing is a guy that used to race against him and all the top Midwest drivers and that's Mert Williams. The most memorable sounding cars I've ever heard were Mert's Camaros back in the 1970s, especially at the big half-mile horse tracks in southern Minnesota, Owatonna and Austin. The sound of those engines was sweet music to my young ears.
I miss those old precision plastics spoilers
I miss that black and white, BWRC #18!
Big Johnson race tshirts before the world got so sensitive. “ they’ll get down on there knees when you pull in with a big Johnson “
☝️☝️I liked these also. Now there's DIRTY (not a nice word)(not a nice word)(not a nice word)(not a nice word)S GARAGE. Not as good but still something different