Definitely is Tri-County, when still dirt (or reasonable facsimile thereof), so prior to May '72. #5 is probably Pat Patrick, #28 Ralph Latham and outside him is Joey Stricker. Can't ID the other driver. Wayne
Thanks, Wayne. And thanks to the Kimmels for identifying some of the cars in that Salem photo. Bill or Frank, whichever one of you it was, your mention of Ron Hutcherson winning the race jarred my memory. That was my last race for ARCA until Ron Drager asked me to do a couple of races in the late 70s when ASA wasn't running those weekends. I flagged the first ASA race a few weeks later. The reason? It has always been my opinon that Ron Hutcherson was given that win, and that Charlie Glotzbach was a lap ahead of him at the finish. With about 50 laps to go, Hutcherson spun into the infield in the fourth turn, behind the bridge while running right behind Glotzbach. From the flagstand, I could see him sitting down there behind the bridge, where he couldn't be seen from the tower, while we were under the yellow. He came back out and fell in right behind Glotzbach, and apparently his scorer had given him that previous lap, just a second or so behind the leader. In the speedway office after the race, I pointed this out to Frank Canale, and he showed me the score sheet. When I maintained that he was the reason for that yellow and I had seen him sit there for a lap, Frank said, "Your opinion doesn't count, you're just the flagman." I told him I knew what I saw, and probably most of the people in the grandstand saw the same thing. ARCA's credibility at the time took a tremendous hit with me, and I told Frank he could find another flagman if he didn't want me to comment. I think we had gotten past this a few years later when ASA went to Toledo. Frank greeted me and asked how I was doing. Not being able to help myself, I said, "Just fine tonight." He said, "Why is tonight special?" I said, "You're not in charge of the scoring." Oh yeah, this one will make it into a "Driven to the Past" column on Frontstretch.com sooner or later.
Boy, that #28 car brings back memories. LaFayette Ford was then located right across the street from the junior high school I was attending. I often stared our of the window of my algebra class drooling over the new cars on the lot (probably why I didn't do so well in Algebra!). One day I saw Fred Lorenzen and his #28 out on the lot. I tried to skip but couldn't get away with it.
with nascar going with pony cars next year in the nns, thought i would show the pony's from the late 60's they ran.
Thanks, DDRE. I do have a lot of respect for Ron Drager, and I'm sure the situation has changed from those days.
I am looking for any photos of this car. This driver was Junior Spencer of New Boston, Ohio in the Mullins Ford out of Hamlin, West Virginia. Spencer drove on the NASCAR circuit in 1965 finishing 28th. in points. This is the only color photo I have seen of the car. I believe the B and W shot was taken at Darlington. Would love to find any color shots of the car, especially at Daytona.
I attended a race where something very similar happened at Jefferson County, GA back in '77. The promoter at Dixie Speedway had decided to cover the asphalt with clay so the Dixie regulars (who were arguably the finest collection of asphalt Late Model racers in the Southeast on a weekly basis) were looking for another home. Somebody cleaned up the old JeffCo track and promoted a 200 lapper there in the fall. All the Georgia hot shoes were there; Jody Ridley, Billy McGinnis, Ronnie Sanders, Luther Carter, and several others. The track surface was in bad shape and Ronnie Sanders, who had dominated most of the race, cut a tire late in the race and lost a lap in the pits. Due to the attrition a lesser-known local driver (Sandy Goss, IIRC) was leading and on a lap by himself. Sanders came through the field on the restart like a hot knife through butter, but he knew he was a lap down and needed a caution. Once he cleared the field (or thought he had) he went looking for a caution. He caught up to Goss and deliberately dumped him. I'm sure Ronnie didn't think Goss was leading, he was just looking for a car to spin. The crowd became a bit tense at that point. They restarted with about 20 laps to go, Sanders was on cruise control. The flagman gave him 10 fingers, then 9, then 8. A wisp of smoke appeared behind Sanders's car. 7. 6. 5. The smoke got worse. That's about when the flagman seemed to suddenly become fascinated by something going on elsewhere, because he stopped counting down fingers. They ran about ten more laps before Sanders' engine blew. The next lap by the flagman gave Larry Lancaster the two flags, then the white, then the checkers. I still wonder if the flagman made the call by himself or if he got a call from the promoter. Luckily the fistfight wasn't too bad and I hung around the top row of the grandstands until it settled down enough to leave.
Good story, Gearhead15. I can see that happening. I recall once in an ASA race at Bristol when Butch Miller was leading Mike Eddy by eight laps with twenty laps to go when Butch's engine started going sour. No smoke, no oil, just slowing down as it sounded like it dropped a cylinder every few laps. The tower asked if he was dropping anything, and I said, "No, but make sure I have an accurate lap count." They did, and Eddy unlapped himself for the last time as I threw the white. Butch took the checkered flag as Eddy was coming off the last corner. Pretty exciting for a race where somebody was leading by such a margin.
This car is a replica of the Galaxy built by a gentleman named Chris Smock. This is based on photos he was given by Mr. Spencer's wife. Not the real car but I'll guess it's 99.9%.....
That is a beautiful model of the Mullins Ford. I was in attendance at the Portsmouth Speedway reunion this past June when Chris Smock presented this model to Junior Spencer. He was quite impressed. Chris's models are works of art.
Thanks, I thought they were from this area somewhere as everything looked so familiar. If you look back in this topic you will find several photos I took of Butch at several tracks. I visited Butch at the nursing home after the accident and several of the photos I had sent the family were posted there.
Ran across this picture...I think its of Jack McCoy standing next to Ray Elder's Daytona..http://lh6.ggpht.com/_YbPcIlMqjj8/Suom5aKGPUI/AAAAAAAABIo/QIgY7iPKzXI/s800/Ray Elder0001.BMP.jpg
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