Fonty Flock in a Mercury at Darlington in 1956, I believe. Also, for fuzzball, this is a good example of the kind of bumper I was talking about our Figure 8 guys at Louisville scouring the junkyards for after we went to the "stock" bumper rule but allowed them to substitute.
And for lawman, here's that 1961 409 that Harold Smith used to win the opening night race at the old Fairgrounds Motor Speedway in Louisville...
Another great read about the early, and I do mean early, days of NASCAR and southern stock car racing is Driving with the Devil -- Southern Moonshine, Detroit Wheels and the Birth of NASCAR by Neal Thompson.
What a fantastic thread! I just found it this evening and spent a long time going through all 20 pages. The pictures of Fed Lorenzen and his various #28 Fords brought back lots of memories. I sat in 9th grade Algebra class across the street from LaFayette Ford. Several times when I was daydreaming and staring out of the window I saw him walk across the car lot and hang around the #28 setting on display there.
John, Thanks so very much for the Harold Smith picture. Gosh those pictures from Fairgrounds bring back the good times as a teen.Those drivers realy had diehard fans. I remember one night at the Sports Drome a fellow for Shively,Ky got drunk (Real Punk) and said some bad things about Jack Mc Donald (58 Olds) and some guys in the stands hit him in one eye with a Ballpeen hammer an through him off of the top of the grandstand!!!!! Those were the days.I miss them so much and I,m sure you do to.
Ah: The good old days were the same at Flatrock in Michigan. Drunks throwing up on you and beating the hell out of each other AND the rent a cops. Fun days huh?
Well, lawman, I was usually at the Fairgrounds working, so I don't remember that. I did know Jack McDonald, though, and he was a friend. Actually, we didn't have much trouble with man-on-man fights. Just had a couple of officials get between them. With two women fighting, however, the procedure was different - take two steps backward and yell, "Hit the b**** again!" Never, ever get between two women who are fighting without at least ten guys to help.
Thats Great Johnnie, As a Louisville Police Officer for twenty years I"Have been there & Done that"LOL. BTW the guy who went off of the Grandstand lived (sorry to say)
This is an awesome thread! Just a selfish request though... does anyone have pictures of '50s Mopars in racing trim? I see Richard Petty's '60 Plymouth and maybe a couple of others. But it's almost all Ford, Chevy, Pontiacs, and Mercurys. How about the Tim and Fonty Flock '55-56 Chrysler 300s? I know there were even some DeSoto race cars. Just hoping to see a few. I'll go back to lurking now!
Here's a great pic of a couple of dueling Mopars. Roger McCluskey in the 'Bird. I'm not sure who's in the #41 car nor where the photo was taken. I wish it could all go back to these... Enjoy! Joel
Gotgas, I'll have to check through the files I've been accumulating. Did you see the one of the two Mopars starting an ARCA race at Salem? Meanwhile, here's Bobby Allison in the Ranier Pontiac Lemans. Isn't this the car that the rear bumper came off of during the Daytona 500?
john i think the bumper-gate car was a miller buick.white with red #s i think. this car didn't win the 500.again, i thinkl
John, you would'nt happen to have the picture of Jack Bowsher holding his hands out the window , coming out of a turn in Milwaukee....would you? Milwaukee was his favorite track, and he told the crowd that his cars always handled so well, that he could take his hands off the wheel and it would drive itself. I was told by bones that there is a picture of him doing it.
Skrap, I don't have that photo, but I recall watching him set a track record at Salem, when it was in the low 20s, and I swear when he went under the flagstand he was picking his nose with one hand.
Was stationed @ El Toro '74 thru '78. Near the back gate to base & just over the fence was dragastrip . I believe OCR-Orange County Raceway. We use to sit on the roof of the base photolab & watch/ shoot the drags. This though, I shot in '74 or '75 @ Riverside, in the days where $ 15 bucks could get you any where, & I mean anywhere, pits, garage almost on the track. One hard core Race Fan, & that's a compliment !!!
That just made my night! It gave me quite a chuckle . I can see him doing something like that. I sure do miss that guy. We've got tons of neat pictures around the shop, and I'm sure we've got it. But, I doubt they'll let me scan any. I do appreciate what you're doing on this thread. Its amazing how all the holman-moody cars look just like his...as well they should. He did work for them for a while, and I think they collaborated on a lot of stuff. He had his hands on a lot of different legendary driver's cars back then. The 17 Torino, Benny Parsons ARCA car, and a ton of others. I've got a post card somewhere with A.J's USAC car. I need to find it. Thanks again, guy. He was never a big fan of publicity,or the past, but I enjoy seeing the work he's done.
Isn't that a '55 Dodge in the left hand photo? Yes I put that one up for gotgas, the second photo is the later model mopar
Skrayp, I think Jack was the first driver who used to come to me after races and "debrief." He wanted to know why I did certain things and what keyed my response. He said this made him better prepared. He was certainly a complete car owner, mechanic, and driver, and his cars were always immaculate. I recall one day when Curtis Turner was running in ARCA with us at Salem, the first time he'd run when I flagged. I saw him talking to Jack, and Jack motioned toward me while he was talking. Turner was on the pole, and before driver introductions, he came over to me and shook my hand, and said, "How do you want me to bring 'em off that corner, Pops?" During the race, I had trouble getting one car to move over while Curtis was leading, and after three attempts, he waved at me and somehow, I got the impression he was telling me not to worry about it, he'd take care of it. Sure enough, coming out of the second turn he gently got the car sideways, planted the nose of his car in the driver's door and took the guy all the way down the backstretch sideways at about 120 before turning him loose going into the third turn. Never had another bit of trouble out of that guy. Thanks for reminding me of this. It's going to turn into one of my Driven to the Past columns on Frontstretch.com when it starts up again next season.
Awesome! That's great. Now everyone is posting up Mopar pictures, I appreciate it. Race looks like it may be 1956 John
Could be 56. The photographer says it's 55. I can't tell from the cars, but that does look like a 56 Chevy on the outside of the third row. I'm finding more and more of them. I was on a Mopar crew in the 60s, so I'm interested, too. Here's one of Charlie Glotzbach in the second K&K car in 1967. This was the 65 Dodge Coronet that Gordon Johncock drove early in 1966. Bobby Isaac was in the primary car, a Charger, by 1967.
John, About that race a Salem. Was that the race that Turner was in a borrowed Ford and lost a right front wheel while leading and still made three or more laps.As I remember he drove them until they "Blew up" or he won!!!!Also did Charley Glotzback drive a Pontiac at the Drome built by Harry Hyde ? I saw a 60 Pontiac in 1962 owned By Atherton Trucking and I think Charley may have driven the car.Gosh that was a loooog time ago!!
The Jalopy Journal
