60'-70's Vintage Oval Track Modifieds

3 big drivers no names needed lol

 

To get the correct scoop on the Jarzombek fleet of cars you'd have to speak directly to either Ricky Jarzombek &/or Harold Seaman (both are lurkers here - in fact it was they who both told me about this site, plus Ricky showed it to us on his laptop).

There were more cars in the Jarzombek fleet than I ever realized. Two of which are currently in the shop on the Jarzombek farm being restored, plus the Bug & the Coupe are there too.

Not too long ago I spend a full day with Harold and part of that day with Ricky too and it was all explained to me .. but I don't have enough confidence to be sure that I'd be able to explain it all correctly, so I won't even try.

Yes, one car was not allowed to run by NASCAR (at Trenton, NJ), because the shock was outside the body, etc. and it was later reskinned .. but I'm not sure with what &/or which car that was &/or is now. .... (I THINK I know ... MAYBE????)

MAYBE either Ricky or Harold will jump in here & help???

I'll say this .. one of the cars that they're currently working on (had no paint, wheels, tires when I saw it) looks really U L T R A _ S L E E K and V E R Y _ F A S T just sitting there.

When you see what these guys are doing .. understand more of what the Jarzombek family (and some others) did .. see the progression of the cars over the years (they have four from different periods there) .. one gets a better understanding of what modifieds should be (and no longer are) .. at least in my humble opinion.

Add to that .. seeing all four cars in the same place at once is a most interesting lesson in the evolution of the home grown east coast modified stock car.

RICKY????? ......... HAROLD?????

 

All of which brings to mind a TRIVIA QUESTION for any Long Islanders &/or displaced Long Islanders here.

"The Bug" was NOT the Jarzombek family's first stock car .. NOT Charlie's first ride.

Can anyone here tell us anything at all about the car that was?????

 

was it a fat fendered coupe?

 

is that a very young "pepi" standing next to bugsy`s #15? he was a super loyal race fan.......

 

Kempster

 

I dont remember seeing a picture of that Blewett ride

 

Anyone have Westboro pics ? I sat in turns 1 & 2 one night and I thought the bleachers were going to collapse every time the pack went by. I also remember a huge dip on the backstretch.

 

Talking about the Jarzombek cars, I believe John Blewitt bought one of the original vegas. This may be it, the hood and the bumper look similar, but the roof seems to be raked a little more than CJ's vega. It may just be the paint job.

JBull

 

could also be banking at wall stadium too lol

 

Is that Jimmy Reed in the 17X?

 

I believe that is Bobby Holmberg in this 17X although Jimmy Reed did drive a 17X a few year later.

JBull

 

It's holmberg!

 

Charlies first car was a tall 37 chevy with a sportsman (less than 302ci) small block Chevy in 1962. I thought the person the family bought it from was named Art Waite but Harold would know better. Charlie ran good and was fast right out of the box his first year.

 

Don Dionne #0 passed away on Tues., he was 70 years old.
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/providence/obituary.aspx?n=donald-d-dionne&pid=138289131

 

Man, you guys are really scraping the bottom of the barrel when I start seeing my old pics being posted.

This was 1977, the first year of the new concrete wall. I believe Wayne Anderson was the first to check on how well the cement had cured..............and I think the guy standing near the fence in the pic most certainly had to wipe after this one.

One other note, the pic of Charlie J. standing next to the vega. You'll notice there were no other cars around in the background. I received a call from Dottie from the Islip office that Saturday in '77 asking if I could get down to the track early as Charlie wanted some posed pics of him and the car. Seems he was going to visit the Little Flower Childrens shelter the next week and wanted some photos to hand out. He went with 200 copies of that one.

 

thanks brian for the story :O) I want to do something with them and the track if I can this year

 

Yeah, that's Bobby in Joe "Chicky" Malave's Vega 17x. That car was formerly Gary Winters' Cougar. Chicky had a killer big block in that car...man! that thing was fast!

 

Great pictures, Pete! You got the one of my Brother flipping over...LOL...he's gonna love seeing that one here. Bobby Holmberg in that #71 sedan won 15 features and the Jalopy championship in that car one year. And that's him with Mousey's Gremlin. He sure drove a lot of different race cars.

 

I'm not sure, but that might be me in the 9A Falcon. It's definately one of the Meade Brothers. We bought that car from Tommy Baldwin. It used to be his orange #747 "Wheels of Man" Falcon.

 

When we did the magazine, we sent thousands of photos of rods and customs to Little Flower. We heard the kids there loved them.

 

I believe Bobby was a very under rated driver by the fans. We always enjoyed watching him run.

 

Those were great races! I can't recall precisely which year this was I think it was one of the last years as Radford was on the pole.
I was young when we went Trenton in '72 and had not heard of any of the Southern boys, but I liked to see Satch Worley drive.

I remember one year there was a scandal as Stevens or Jarzomabak had a crewman meet him on the back straight with a can of gas during a late caution.
For such a great and historic race there seems to be very little information on the internet.

 

I've been looking for Merv's Pacer for a while now. I couldn't remember of it was a dirt or asphalt car. It was while searching for this one I stumbled onto this site finding the Kniesel 711 back on page one.

 

Hey Mod Driver,
The first driver I remember in the 115 was Chuck Ely. I remember he ran the photo shack at the Valley. I always liked Chuck. Was Kathy the daughter who also raced for a while? I remember a night at Devil's Bowl when the two Treamont 'kids' started on the front row of the feature after both winning their heats.

 

Really saddened that there is only one photo of one the greatest independent modified and super modified drivers in North East History. I'll never forget seeing Dynamite Ollie Silva in the 0 at Star speedway. I loved that he ran it basically as three wheeler with the left front carrying almost no weight and 80% of the time off the ground.

Here are a few more from http://www.jakessite.com/07/notforgot/silva/silva.html











Look at the motor placement on this.

Ollie was a New England Legend and winner across the country.

 

What ever happened to that car?

 

As far as I know CORRECT!!

I'm not sure of the man's name either, but I believe that he was a farmer (maybe) and was from the Port Jefferson (NY) area.

Pictures of this car (the only ones I've even seen) hang in the race shop on the Jarzombek farm.

An unimpressive looking car that kicked off the outstanding career of one heck of an excellent race driver .. who was also a superb person.