Features VINTAGE SPRINT CAR PIC THREAD, 1965 and older only please.

Here is a good Steve Stapp/Pancho Carter story for you.
We were racing sprint cars at New Bremen in 1979. Our Armstrong Mould cars were pitted at the end of the pit toward turn four. Pancho was having great fun running through a mud puddle “accidentally” splashing our cars when he came off of the track during practice and hot laps. Sherman Armstrong sent word down to Steve Stapp to “ask” Pancho to “please” stop running through the mud puddle. To insure that Pancho got the message, Sherman sent a guy with a drain pan full of mud down about five or six cars, with instructions to dump the mud in Pancho’s lap as he passed by if he splashed our cars again. Pancho ran through the puddle and got the mud dumped in his lap. The heated confrontation never came to blows. Pancho knew what he had done and he knew that Sherman had taken his just revenge.

 

Hey Zombrian..

Check this out. Same Track?

(from page 5 of this thread)





And from you collection..



Looks close..

What do you all think?

JD

 

These kids are in high school... They done good!


So.. How many of you were watching this go on Ebay? I thought it was a deal. If I wasn't working a deal on something else rightnow.. My "play" money would have went to this.

$2000 bought it.. pick up only, in Illinois.

Cage unbolts!

(check out the car on its nose in the background!)

















A set of spindles, a stout injected 327 and some wheels and tires and youd be ready!

 

That's soo close it's scary! Could be it. Inside one of my albums, there is a newspaper clipping announcing the participation of "Howdy" Wilcox at Jungle Park Raceway in Crawfordsville, IN (I think). I hear it had one hell of a fourth turn bank that led to some serious injuries for drivers and maybe even some deaths. Do you know which track you have pictured?

 

Or how about when the throttle stuck wide open on Stapps car and Pancho pulled in the pits, hopped out and left her runnin wide open, or how bout when Pancho was driving my dads motor home and shoved some gal through an intersection cause she sat though two lights, or how bout the time Pancho held my by my belt loops on the 4th floor balcony of the Holiday Inn in Springfield Illinois, or how bout the time Pancho.......... I could go on for hours if you want But I am going to tell one more Pancho Carter story in a seperate post on this thread

 

OK, 1982 INDY 500, I am 19 years old, still supposed to be 21 to get in the pits at Indy but that hadn't stopped me since I was 16, I am working the pit board for my step dad's team, Panco Carter is driving he's been one of my heros my whole life, my first racing uniform I ever raced with he gave me, my second Midget came from him, anyway I am getting side tracked. Gordon Smiley goes out to qualify and Pancho is next in line Smiley gets loose in 3rd and fourth turn has arguably the worst single car accident ever in Speedway history disinigrated, blood on the track, deep gouges out of the track surface, it takes hours to clean everything up, Pancho goes out in a pace car looks at the track, blood, debris that is pretty much swept up because thats all that's left. Tells the chief steward well the gouges aren't exactly in the groove I think we can straddle them. Now Remember this 19 year old kid working the pit board, they had radios then but they didn't always work so good so I am out on the wall across the pit lane and grass, the layout is a little different now. I get flashed with a pit board from the hot pit and I put the same thing on my board to flash to Pancho. Now remember a guy has just been totally disinegrated, vaporized, blood stains still on the track, I can't even begin to totally describe this to you but if you google Gordon Smiley you might see what I am talking about, Pancho rolls out to qualify, does his warm up laps I am staring down the front straight so I can see him as soon as possible, comes down to take the green comes off the fourth turn uses so much race track that he just barely kisses the wall with his right rear tire but you can see a mag flash off the wheel, lap 2 same thing mag flash from banging the wall but just barely does this all four laps trying to get everything there is to get out of the car. Qualified 10th and finished 3rd in the race. And let me tell you NOTHING I have ever done, not running second the first time I ran Winchester, ditto for Salem, not any of the few races I won ever gave me the feeling that I had at the start of that Indy 500, Standing out on the track as the car was started holding a hand up in the air when the engine fired the only thing that could have topped that day was if I could have fulfilled my lifelong dream and got to race at the greatest race track in the world. Pancho shoulda won Indy at least once. Josh, he is in my top two I have more Pancho Carter stories if anyone is interested.

 

Roy
I wish I had a tape recorder and sit with you for hours just so my kids would know what it was really like lol
"Doc"

 

Pancho starting 4th in the dash since he had quick time in an indoor midget race in my dad's car

 

[QUOTE="Doc" Parsons;2541783]Roy
I wish I had a tape recorder and sit with you for hours just so my kids would know what it was really like lol
"Doc"[/QUOTE]

Doc, I am just consider myself VERY fortunate to have been able to be around to see the tail end of the good old days of Racing cause they are gone forever, I encourage everyone who has the love and respect for this sport and these men to buy a camcorder or at least a tape recorder and take it to old timers events etc, just get em to talk they will tell the stories you don't really need to ask any questions, I have been doing this at Jungle Park, The Miller Meet, the bench racers weekend etc for a few years, once they are all gone they are all gone there will never be anyone to take their places most of them lived lives the rest of us can only dream about.

 

Ok quarter after 5 I better go to bed now,

Danny Caruthers 1971 USAC National Midget Champion, who knows how far he woulda went. Some say he was the best they ever saw, gone way to soon

 

I never saw anyone like him before or since. He sure could stand on the GAS!!!!

Tony D.

 

Since Roy mentioned to me that he was friends with Dusty Thacker,I thought I`d show some photos of my Uncle driving Dusty`s sprinter back in 1966-67
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2343/2199002245_8bc3c0cb4e_o.jpg

Here Jerry karl in Dusty`s #35 duels with Lou Johnson. I like how I can see Jerry keeping an eye on Lou in the photo.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2019/2199803694_a62f120003_o.jpg

This is Jerry again in the Thacker #5 at Reading Pa.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2101/2199017125_13334641ee_o.jpg

Here is Jerry Strapped in and ready to go to war on the dirt.

Tony D.

 

Here is Dusty Thacker standing right next to driver Jerry Karl at Indy in 1973. Jerry is driving Smokey Yunick`s twin turbo 1100 HP stock block Chevy monster.




http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2146/2211996615_374d195c66_o.jpg



Sorry For the rear engine car content-LOL,but this is the only picture I own of Dusty....

Tony D.

 

So.. How many of you were watching this go on Ebay? I thought it was a deal. If I wasn't working a deal on something else rightnow.. My "play" money would have went to this.


This is the shop of Bruce Moore in Moline, Illinois. I have been to their shop a couple of times, and these pics do not even begin to show what they have. They have been involved in racing since the late 60's, and were the first ones to use a Cleveland head on a Chevy II block. In later years their sons ran 410 sprints at Knoxville.

Anyway, they have a huge collection of Indy cars and early sprint cars, most of the non-caged variety. They are really into the history of these and have a room dedicated to photo albums and documentation. Another smaller room held three complete Offenhauser engines, a ton of oddball quickchange rearends and steering gears, and more Halbrands than they have made in the last 10 years! They even had one of the Halibrand Shrike Indy cars, and were restoring a Smokey Yunick built car.

They have kept all of their own midgets and sprints all these years. It is like a museum out there, and it is all for sale. Make sure to add them to your Ebay favorites, as they are selling off some neat stuff. Nice guys too.

 

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2283/2230404033_2b0bfb413f_o.jpg


Here is a little smething I did to keep the open wheel thread going full bore.

Jud Larson in the big brother of a sprint car,known as a Dirt Champ car.

 

Nice! I really dig it! This thread motivated me to do a sprint car painting as well . It will end up in the art show, I'm sure.

 

Before anyone gets the idea I`m better than I really am, mine is a photoshop, I only dream of being able to paint. Still, I get the effect I feel in my heart about racing from some of the ones I do.

 

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2349/2231145674_e711887baa_o.jpg


This picture I did sums up my feelings about racing. Jud Larson-1957 Hoosier 100.

 

There was only one Jud Larson. There is a three part series that just finished in the last issue of Sprint & Midget. It will give you a bit of flavor to the "Dusty Heros" of the 50's and 60's who defied death in cockpits of sprints, midgets and sprints.

 

Thanks guys. Great stuff! I'll try to phot some of the openwheel art I've done over the years. It interests, and motivates me the most, but so few understand it that I don't get asked to do it ever...

Fritz is one of those that gets the "feel" in his head. It comes out in his paintings. Now only if he would do some champ car pics!













Here is the Paint set you will need!!

 

More shots of A.J.

From the begining!

 

Several more from my collection. First one is one of the all-time midget greats....Bob Tattersall.

 

Damn that 4 cam ford car is beautiful!! Saw Tat's wife Dee last summer at Jungle Park, on a side note to your Tat pic, midget race Mike Stroud who's dad owned the HonkerII just passed away recently

 

Bob Harkey, he might be the only man to have lived after crashing a vintage Stearman biplane not once but THREE times.

 

Johnny White Terre Haute, maybe I shouldn't post these as he was paralyzed in this crash but ya gotta remember this sport can bite you hard

 

Indy Fairgrounds

 

More Indy Fairgrounds

 

more Indy

 

Sorry if I am getting carried away, Damn Josh why did you start this post I am obsessed with it now

 

Tat's good buddy was Bill Finkle. I currently work with Bill's son.

BTW....somewhere around here I have an old issue of a VW magazine that has an overhead shot of the LTC VW midget on the cover. Do you have one of those ?