Just curious (Phx. hist.)

Something else to look at.

 

Bee Line.

 

What ever happened to del blades? Was'nt he from the phoenix area?

 

Piranha/AMT, Rod & Custom, October 1966.



Hot Rod, November 1966.



Another AMT project, the Dean Martin Jeckle & Hyde Camaro.

 

Larry Christopherson.

Popular Hot Rodding, July 1968.

Hot Rod, April 1969.

 

Dick Petersen, Scottsdale, Popular Hot Rodding, September 1962.

 

Pics are too grainy, I cannot see them well enlarged. Is there a wall on the right lane? if there is, it is speedworld. If not, it is somewhere else.

Steve

 

By the year, it's most likely elsewhere, probably an airfield. I can't seem to pin it down though.

 

Here is an article talking about that escape of the German POW's.
http://home.arcor.de/kriegsgefangene/usa/camps_usa/papago_park.html

Ancient HoHokam secret...that Salt River...ain't.

 

i heard a secret that october 10th is cruise on central and the 11th is a swap meet at gcc.

 

Here's a piece of local history that many haven't seen in a while. The T roadster built by Chauvin Emmons in the early 60s. It's mostly original and still wears the later yellow paint, but now has a big block Chevy in place of the Olds.

I know the pictures are on the artsy side (not taken by me). It may have been due to the car having been stuck in a corner at a recent get together with a lot of people crowded around it.



Today.

 

Bump.

 

I found a 1961 picture of the Stewart Motors building (from pg. 4, post #64), spire and all!



Lower left, the only major changes appear to be less windows and paint.

Also visible, is this building (pink one in the photo), which I believe may have been Stevens Herb Inc. at 901 N Central.

 

i met someone by the name of bloom who photoed races during the 50's, 60's and 70's , has tons of photos. i ask him about make a book, he said he liked the idea. anybody know anything about bookmaking? truthfully there is a lot of racing history here in the valley. it needs to be recorded, especially since some of the racers are gone

 

I found this on the vintage sprint car page, but its the phoenix fair grounds race track, one mile. it is gone, the track, but the bleachers are still there

 

That picture is just the kind of stuff I wanna see!

 

Here's some other fairground pics for reference.

 

i remember when they had the races here in the 50's, I think 60 or 61 was the last year. I remember a car ging into the fans once, and it ended right after that. But I could be way off on that.

 

Looks like 1920-1963. http://arizonaracinghistory.com/aztracks
All the big races then went to PIR in 1964. http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Phoenix+International+Raceway

 

I was talking to a guy who grew up here in the 50s. He told me about a guy who was killed at the fair grounds and they later had a race dedicated in his name. Does anyone remember the name Bobby Ball?
I remember it but, I was pretty small and also more into the drags than the circle track stuff.

Steve

 

Growing up in Phoenix in the '70s, my favorite speed shop was Goosic. I remember the first time I went in there in '75, there was a glass '55 Chevy front end on display. I also remember Loper's, National High Performance Speed Center, Service Center and Chuck's in Glendale.

 

Hey I know of Bobby Ball! I know that he was a big name in racing through the fifties and into the sixties. I can't confirm if he was killed at the fairgrounds though. I know at the very end he got into talent scouting and opened an agency that was known as Bobby Ball academy, something like that. It was on 16th st. just south of Indian school rd.

 

Loper's is still in the same place, looks the same as it always has! Was in there yesterday for a bit. Chuck's is over off of 27th. ave and clarendon these days with one hell of a facility, ( reminds me, I have to head over there tomorrow) I miss the Service Center on north central, and the head "goose"has been gone for a few years now...

 

Just ran across this thread. I was looking for Del Blades, I had one of his 409 motors in a 61 bubble top Chevy [The Animal]. Scottsdale Speed specialists CHANGED THERE NAME TO SCOTTSDALE AUTOMOTIVE SPECIALISTS, Moved to just west of Scottsdale road on the north side of Thomas. Still in business and still racing a funny car.I worked at the Scottsdale Speed sp. behind the A & W rootbeer stand in the early 70's, Tweety was the painter and Von Dutch lived in his bus for a short time in the parking lot.

 

I used to work for Advance Radiator in downtown Scottsdale in the early eighties. I started as a delivery guy, and got to know all the guys at Scottsdale Automotive Specialties. Although in the ensuing nearly thirty years I can't remember the head guys name. I remember dropping a radiator there on Christmas eve one year, waked through the door, set the radiator down, was handed a beer, and joined in on their party. When my boss called to see where I was, I told him. Instead of getting fired, he dropped the phone jumped in the truck came over with more beer and party continued. The guys from Ron Fassel racing who shared our building on 2nd and Brown were the next call, (Scottsdale Automotive Specialist's cross town funny car rival) more beer, more party. Went well into the night....

 

Wow, you do go back a few eons. I guess I do too. When I went to Washington High, on Glendale Ave in the 60's, Allan Knutsen was a few years ahead of me. He was racing at Beeline. He had a red 1940 Ford coup gasser. He later built 2 more cars, both Willys, a '41 and a 33(?). My senior year (65) I bought Allan's '40 Ford and put it on the street. I had a 292 with an aluminum flywheel and Haye's pressure plate and disc. The rear gears were 4:11s with welded spiders. I went through so many 3 speeds, then got fed up and put 3 4-speeds in it, then I put a 4-speed hydro in it. Shortly after that I met Chuck Forsty(?). He was working in a shop on Glendale Ave about the 2700 block. At that time I lived next door to Dick Buffington who raced a long chassis B/MR. 272 sbc with a 671 and LaSalle trans. It was a T shortbed (fiberglass) red and silver metalflake with a big key for a push bar. Anyone have any pictures of that car, I'd love to have one. Fec 66 I went into the Coasty Gaurds for 4 years. When I got out the 2nd job I had was working for Johnny Loper. The same guy who used to race Allan Knutsen.
My Phoenix was a small town back then. The was another place or two you didn't mention. One was a 24 hour parts warehouse over on Van Buren by the fairgrounds. I was there many nights. I would sleep as late in the day as I could and work on cars at night when I wasn't on Central. The other place was Central Auto Parts. They had an old guy there who knew some Flathead stuff, Navarro mysteries and such. I think his name was Spoonie.
I believe I was Johnny's first employee. It was 1970 and he was married to Joan who had gone to WHS also. The store was kinda small and we did a lot of mail order. I think the address was 10 E. Clarenden or something. I put in a lot of extra hours with John and my dad even came and built shelving units for him for free. Many years later I went back to Phx and visited with John. After I heard all of his stories he was done with me. Didn't ask 1 thing about me. I asked about a T shirt. He said yeah he'd get me one. He did and it was $18.00!!! Nuthin' had changed -

 

Dean something?

 

You can see Bobby Ball's famous car at the Phoenix Museum over by Tempe. It is owned and restored by and on loan to the museum by Bob Fletcher, also a Phoenix racing personality. He bought redeveloped and made PIR a sucess many years ago. He raced 3 Indy cars in the late 60's and his Cobre Tire company sponsored many other types or cars throughout Arizona.

 

I was there the night a young driver who was trying to get his "Fuel" license was killed. The car's throttle had jambed wide open on it's previous 2 passes and the regular drive refussed to drive it again. The kid heard the owner wanted it run so he stpped up. They let him drive. I wa standing at the other end on a bulkhead made of sawed off and burried telephone poles. It was the strangest pass I have ever seen. He made a perfect pass except heseemed to aim it right for the pole I was standing on and he hit it! I had managed to get about 20 feet away. I will never forget that explsion or being second to the scene. I was terrible. I heard his only other injury was a broken ankle. He was still in the cage but the car was in 3. When the motor came out one of the header tuble passed through the top of his head. The car owner had a Mexican name and was from California. Rumour was that he didn't make it back to Cali.. It's a big desert out there and some very large fellas showed him the way -

 

Bobby Ball was involved in a midget race accident at Carrell Speedway in Cal. during the 1952 season which left him in a coma. He passed away in Feb. 1954 without regaining consciousness. Big time AAA driver with a promising future. As I recall they held a memorial race each year a the fairgrounds. Lucky enough to see a few with Bryan, Bettenhausen and Vukovich.