Look on the roof post of Bobby Allison's car here from Nashville in '84 G&G Trucking was one of my dad's companies. I was there working in the souveneir trailer for Bobby and Hank Jones. Hank ended up starting Sports Image that Dale Earnhardt bought out later. The second shot of Allisons car shows Keith Almond pushing the car. He built all the engines for Bobby's cars and Dad's stuff. The car that Mickey Gibbs had at Nashville (black #1) is still in his garage, or at least the last time I was there. Along with the T-bird he won Talledega with. Gary Balough's stuff was always the trickest stuff known to man. Good memories, Kevin
Indybigjohn, Bob Applegate was standing at the end of the pit wall coming out of turn four at GA Int. when we had a bunch of celebrities driving some of the ASA Grand Marque cars they had of a year or so. This dud decides he is a race car driver and gets into it too much coming of the turn and spins and ends up on the end of the pit wall, he knocks down Applegate and Earl Garrison (SP). Applegate goes to the hospital and is back before the race is half over. B.A.King, No that paper was put out by Bob and Brian (darn, another name escapes me) in Andrews NC for awhile, Bob got out of it and now has a web site "Chasin Racin". Kevin, at the time I worked at GA INT. Prototype Racing Engines was the owner of the track. I helped collect some of the money from time to time for some of those engines that went to FL for Gary B. and Harvey. It is not hard to have crome jack stands when money is no object, at that time there was said to be a grocery sack at the end of the coffee table at Harvey's house and when anyone wanted anything they just got a handful of money out of the sack. Those old photos sure bring back memories, I helped with dirt late-models for James (Fulmer) Lance during the time the Biddle Ridley and some of the other shots were made, later I was track photographer at Dixie, Rome and West Atlanta speedways. I've taken photos of all of those drivers from time to time. Bobby Paniter is from Blairsville like myself. I once owned the engine in their limited car back when they ran Fords. If you went to Cleveland you probably know of Johnny Thomas who is also from Blairsville. Tom, I can't remember whether I announced that race or worked the press room, that was NASCAR sanctioned and we ran the Busch cars and the All American Challenge cars also. We had MRN there that day. We had some good shows at GA INT. over the years but the crowds were never what they should have been. Rob Joyce the manager during that time passed away a few years ago, he was in his 40's at the time. This is Bill Elliot at one of our "World Crown 300's": This is from Nashville: This is Billy Harvey at Nashville the same year: I'll try to get back on here next week and post some more. I need to also scan some more of the stuff from GA INT, Dixie, Rome and some of the other short tracks. Darn I hate to have to go as I could "talk" on here all night. Keep'er side open wideways.
Kevin, I almost forgot, this is a Busch front row at Taladega, I think that they made the Monte Carlo change the front end after this race.
Falconred, thanks. I remember that race. Dan Spence and I were splitting the flagging chores. He flagged that celebrity race, and I was driving the pace car. When I came in the pits I saw Appleget sitting on the wall and wondered about it. Then I looked in the mirror and saw him get hit. Interesting story about that pace car. Dan gave me the keys to a Chevy and said, "Go get the pace car and drive it." My son and I found a big Chevy convertible with all kinds of race track lettering on it that the key fit, and brought it out. Dan walked up and said, "John, this is not the car you went after. It was a Camaro with All-Pro lettering." I told him the key fit, and he just shrugged his shoulders. When I put the car back, the track owner who had brought it got a big laugh out of it, and checked to see if we had hot-wired it. Sorry to hear about Rob Joyce. He was a good friend and an official with me in ASA. He was my "gofer" on the short tracks who went out and "found" some bolts on the track when I threw what eventually became a competition caution. I last saw him at Roger Holdeman's funeral at Winchester.
I think thats an ARCA race. I think thats Charlie Glotzbach (spelling?) in that #27 Monte Carlo, Herchel McGriff in one of Petty's cars (notice the # 04 on the headlight door) and Bobby Allison in the Penske AMC Javelin. Not 100% a little before my time. I've been around Bobby Allison all my life. He won a big asphalt race at Boyds Speedway in '71-'72 in a Coca-Cola Camaro and is holding me in the victory lane pictures. I was 2 or 3 years old. My dad worked for him and Davey for alot of years until Davey got killed. We had some of Bobby's best R&D cars that we ran ARCA with. Very trick stuff that Nascar would never let thru tech, ARCA let us slide though because they were Bobby's cars. Ever heard of cigarette papers to get thru P&G test? One of Bobby's old tricks if the engine was a little bit to big. Fun times. Kevin
I've seen Torino Talledegas before...but that is the first Monte Carlo "Talledega" I ever saw. I wonder if the builders of that thought the tech crew and other racers wouldn't notice the additional rake at the nose?
Falconred, That was Ron Neal that owned Ga Intl at that time, and we all know about Ron and Prototype Engines. This is a little obscure, but if you worked there with Rob, you may remember a group of guys coming from Corpus Christi, Texas to replace the fencing around the place. It was "Allen's Fence Company" of Sinton, TX. Alan Yates was a longtime car owner in Texas, and he did a lot of fencing for Neal at the track, and also back in Illinois as a trade-out for engine work. His primary driver, Slick Yoemans, was a front runner in Texas, and they bought one of Balough's cars just before he went to the pen in 87. They raced All Pro that year, but it was a logistical nightmare, as the car (with crew chief Robbie Loomis; yes THAT Loomis) was in Corpus, Slick was in High Point running High Point Auto Salvage, part of the crew was in Austin, and I was in Ft Worth. I saw Joyce at Jefferson in 87, and told him Alan and Slick said hi, and I thought he was going to throw me out of the place!! So did Neal when I stopped at his shop in Illinois later that year on my way to Upper Michigan. Alan and Slick are worthy of their own thread, but most of it would have to be edited. In the pics that Kevin from the speedshop posted, take a look at the top middle one with the red Allison car. That official in the foreground is the Len Hayden I mentioned that I got all those pictures from. I knew him from his Military time here in San Antonio when he did PR and announcing for the local speedway, and you cannot fathom how much memorabilia he had. Hey wait, those look like their from my Fotki site!!! LOL, no problem, that is what they are there for. Great memories and stories here, Ya'll keep it coming. Tom
I've posted this before but here's a picture of Ed Howe's 1966 ride it was #100 and painted gold and black to mimmick Smokey's Chevelle. The next year the car was green with two peanuts forming a number 11. The blue door on the wall above my old racecar is the same door pictured on the car. My friend bought the doors from Ed for his racecar, repainted them and they sat out on his property for 30 years. I received one of them as a gift about ten years ago. The blue paint faded off and the 100 and Ed Howe(hand painted by his wife) are clearly visible. I had Ed autograph the door when I got it, he couldn't believe it was still around. The latemodel Camaro is a firts gen. Howe chassis restored by a local guy who just happened to be Ed Howe's former son-in-law.
Why can't they run asphalt and dirt late models that look like this today???? No areo BS. Looks like a real car.
I think it's a Late Model Sportsman race in about '78 or so. Joe Millikan is in the Petty 04, Sam Sommers is the 27 Monte, and Bobby is in the Matador.
Lucky, that No. 71 is my favorite Camaro body style. The second generation body with the Ferrari-style grill. Might not have been as aerodynamic as the later ones, but it sure looked cool.
Yeah, I like them too. Just for clarification, when I said first gen. I was referring to the chassis underneath it. I'll have to get the girlfriend to fix my scanner. I've got some really cool stuff from Chas, Ed Howe's son. Anybody familiiar with short track racing in the midwest surely knows Ed, and remembers the Brand X Javelin he drove in the 1974 season. I wrote to Howe Racing Ent. for some information on the car and Chas sent me about 10 pages of blueprints for the chassis, several scans of the car, and a grimy 8X10 full color pic of the car at speed that used to hang in the original shop at Howe Racing.
We raced LM Sportsman in '78 and never raced against the "Big" cars. The sportsman cars by then had gone to the Nova and Ventura stuff. Bobby left Penske after '77 and started driving the Mike Curb-Bud Moore Ford in '78. Remember when Cale and Donnie wrecked and Bobby stopped to "Kick the Shit" out of Cale? He was in the #15 Bud Moore Ford with Hodgdon on the 1/4's. That was '78. That Monte was a '72 and Petty's car was no later than a '74 so I doubt they were still racing those cars in '78. Bobby was out of the AMC in '78. Heres some good shots of Bobby in the '70's and '80's. One shot of Davey's first ride #23 Look at the Victory circle shot. Look standing under the "S" in the top left corner... That's me. Later, Kevin
The Jalopy Journal
