If you guys have never seen John do that crossover move, it was pretty impressive. I am sure there was more than one, OH THAT WAS CLOSE........
Thanks, wkends. It was always a thrill, and I loved it. As you can see, Butch is a good two feet away. Most of the guys made sure they were that far off or more when they went to the inside. However, when they were going outside, and could tell how far away from me they were, there were a few of them who got pretty playful. Trickle, Mark, Butch, Senneker, and a couple more would try to get as close as they could to try to make me flinch. I wish I could find the tape of that Milwaukee race. ESPN's Lingner Group put a photographer down there with me. He put the camera right over my head, and when one car got close, he flinched. Made for great TV.
In my youth, I also had the opportunity to attend races at Fairgrounds Motor Speedway and remember Andy Hampton, the elder Kimmel and others. IndyBigJohn, do you recall a 250+ lap feature they had for modifieds? A young DW ...
Goober, indeed I do remember that race. I think we had four or five of them, 500-lappers. At least one was 5 100-lap segments, and at least one was a 400 lapper with two 50-lap qualifiers. I can recall only two winners, and I think those two guys won them all. Gordon John**** won the first two, and Wayne McGuire won the rest.
I think you're absolutely right about them being 500 lappers and with segments for fuel, tires and repair. I recall it was a real marathon and the fallout was rather tremendous since most of the cars had likely only run 100 laps. Also, seemed to be quite a variety of cars in light of it drawing from relatively far away. Sure would like to see some pics from one of those.
That is one of my favorite memories from being a kid. A lot of guys that went on to do great things in stock cars got their start in that series. Back in the day, ASA, ARTGO, ALL PRO, those promotors knew how to put on a show.
I followed all of this when it happened.Seems like General Motor wanted to go Euro back then. We now have SS more door "Sporty cars". But I still love the Chevrolet brand!!!
Interesting note - someone posted a pic of the Smokey Yunick '69 Torino earlier in this thread. I just learned, reading elsewhere, that the Yunick Torino was the car that Maynard Troyer had his huge flip in 1971. Troyer's car owner bought it from Smokey.
As a member of NASCAR you would get a news bulletin after each race. This was great as there was minimal TV, radio or newspaper coverage!
Jerry Norris at the Fairgrounds in Louisville in 1969. As of last season, this guy was still racing, and he has to be my age (70) or older.
Iggy Katona was leading the season-opening ARCA race at Louisville in 1965 when his Hemi suddenly failed him...
Good to see the stuff being posted. Have been busy lately and will try to get some more photos posted soon.
Thanks, Falcon. I appreciate Dog's newsletters. My big problem is figuring out which photos I've posted and which I haven't without going back through the whole photobucket album.
i hope this works. love when somebody tells the truth. http://blog.al.com/blogoftomorrow/2009/01/farewell_to_bir.html i know its not a pic but so much history down the drain. and the city of b'ham is billions of dollars,yes BILLIONS in debt. just a excuse to rip the old place up. like they say at racetrcks,"what go's around comes around"
Woops, didn't mean to post that last one twice. Here is what was susposed to be there; G C Spencer '64 Chevy Atlanta 500, 1964: