[QUOTE When a hot rodder finds an old gutted dented up stock car, he's going to think "another car ruined by those..." It's human nature[/QUOTE] Actually, a hotrodder should be thinking, "wow, the hard work's been done already..."
I always said that stock car racing was a contact sport. The last division I was in, the rules said no "cow catchers", in reference to m***ive front bumpers. They were okay on figure-8 cars. Go to a strange track, how do you tell the slow cars from the fast cars before the race starts? The fast cars, all the damage was up front, slow cars on the rear. My racing partner one night raced with a busted off cold chisel welded to one of the door bars, just under the skin. There were a few opponents after the race wondering why the sides of their cars were opened like sardine cans.
Sounds funny but when I see a 70’s Nova or Camaro a car shows all I think about is a gutted interior, a roll cage, a Astro Van right lower A-Arm and a Factory o Hobby Stock on an oval dirt track. About 2 weeks should do it.
I have very little "stock" car racing experience... However, I ran a few "late model" and sprint car races in 1993 and '94 at the old 1/4-mile asphalt track in Odessa, TX called the Twin Cities Raceway. I was on break from racing open wheeled cars in Europe - an environment that was far more physical than I had prior imagined, but still - an environment where if you returned back to the pits with a tire donut on your side pod, you were questioned by annoyed crew members. Anyway, while racing these late models and sprint cars it felt as though I was picking up tire donuts on the side of the car on every lap. And when I would nervously pit the car afterwards, no one even blinked. It didn't take long to learn that the inside line on short tracks was anyone's for the taking - room or not. And, that that kind of racing was not for me. Obviously, I have zero experience with short track racing in the 1940's and 50's... but, I can tell you that in the 1990's, these cars often ended the season in a much different aesthetic state than when they started. These guys beat the **** out of each other fairly regularly.... and this was on asphalt.
And now modern wraps make it so the car can look like new every week all season long. Some of these guys (I know a few) probably spend more on vinyl than what it used to take to field a car.
This is a bit off topic, but I feel like typing this story for some reason... I grew up in Midland, TX. For those that don't know, Midland was sort of the epicenter of innovation in American auto racing from 1955 until the late 90's. It became that way because of the efforts of **** and Jim Hall and Carol Shelby. The Hall brothers were mostly oil guys at the time and they financed Shelby early in his career. So, when Carol began developing the Cobra, he did so in the Hall brother's hometown (Midland, TX) and at a private track that the Hall brothers essentially had built - Rattlesnake Raceway. And when Jim Hall and Chaparral Racing got going, they of course used Rattlesnake as well. The track became a sort of "Skunkworks" facility for all sorts of "top secret" testing from not only Jim Hall and Carol Shelby, but other teams as well. By the 1970's, a CART team was based in Midland called VDS racing. My old man was their team doc and their principle was a guy named Franz Weis. VDS and Franz ran their own team (John Andretti, John Paul Jr, etc...), but they also built engines for other teams as well. In fact, they have built more Indy winning motors than anyone else in history. Anyway... all the while... VDS, Chaparral, Shelby, Ford, and countless others were using Rattlesnake Raceway as a secret base of operations. And when I started my go-cart career in 1986 or so, I started it by racing a go-cart on Rattlesnake when whatever team was testing that day was taking a break. My practice partners were guys like John Paul Jr, John Andretti, Teo Fabi, etc... It was, in a couple of words, ****ing ridiculous. But it would be years, before I realized how lucky I was... I can remember being 16 or 17 years old and sitting on the pit wall at Rattlesnake waiting on VDS to finish tire testing so I could work on my line with my cart. John Paul would be a no show and Count Rudy would tell me to jump in the development car and take some cold laps in an effort to scuff the tires. Two years later, I was dominating my go-cart cl*** and the Count and Franz sponsored me to go to Winfield Elf Racing school in France at Circuit Paul Ricard. My roomies were Christian Fittipaldi and an Italian named Luca Badoer. Some of my cl***mates went on to become world champions and one of our instructors was Aytron Senna - just a year prior to his death. It was an incredible experience, but I was miles out of my league. All of my cl***mates had been racing together since they were 6 years old, most were at least 5-years older than me, and all of them had far more talent - developed and god given. In fact, out of our graduating cl*** I was the only one not to land either a development ride in F1 or a full-time gig in F1. I was sent to Formula 3000 which is akin to Formula 4 these days... In the development series, I was with kids my age... but again, they had all been racing with each other since they were toddlers and I didn't know their language. I was an outcasted 18-year old thousands of miles from my parents, no pals... and hell bent on getting in trouble. I did. But before I got in that trouble, I was shifted from the development league to a tire tester in France, Spain, and Italy. So while my talent couldn't cut the compe***ion, I did get paid to drive an F1 car for about 4 months. After I got in trouble, I came home... and before I went to college, played around on some short ovals (as mentioned above) and did a ton of drag racing. ***Anyway, what did all of this teach me? First and most obvious... GET YOUR **** TOGETHER. But also, Americans can't compete internationally in big time racing. Our drivers typically start on a short oval at 17 or 18 years old. If they have success, they might eventually transfer up to a league like CART (IRL) and they often have issues making the adjustment to a road co****. Meanwhile, international drivers start racing road courses in go-carts at like 5-years old. It's like little league baseball to a lot of these guys.... So by the time they are 17 or 18, they have far more experience than your average 28 year old Indy car driver. And that's something a lot of people don't talk about... In most cases, by the time you are 30 - your explosive reaction time has been reduced so much by age, that typically you are at a measurable disadvantage to people in prime racing age - 17 to 27. Look at an F1 grid today - you don't see many guys over the age of 30... and the highest paid are typically the 25-year olds that have shown they know how to win. Begs the question - can international drivers compete with Americans on the circle track? Typically, when they come over here they dominate to the point of their own boredom. See Nigel Mansell, Emerson Fittipaldi, Alex Zanardi, Alexander Rossi, etc... And a lot of these guys dominated PAST the prime racing age... Americans don't really like racing all that much. It's relative of course... But talk to a German or an Italian... and they will tell you. It's born into their culture in a way that I don't think we can fully understand.
The youth development is growing in Karts here in the States, only in Ovals. We need more road courses for the kids to develop road skills. We spent a summer racing dirt when my son was 12, he was damn good at it. I think our local series is averaging 75 kids a night? Glad he preferred baseball. As expensive as ball is, it pales compared to they $$$ parents are spending to make lil Johnny a successfull racer.
It's growing in the same way Soccer is... Meaning, America has the most cart racing tracks in the world - by a large margin. And there is growth, however that growth is small compared to the growth seen in Europe and South America. AMR says the cart industry will grow 3.9% from 2022 to 2030 internationally. North America accounts for .01% of that growth. On top of that, our growth is not in the 13 to 16 year old age range.... and we aren't entering the electric cart market at all really yet. European tracks already have cl***es for these carts... and that torque curve will also be a learning curve. Point being, we don't really have a racing culture here. At least not to the level and commitment of Europe and South America.
Another interesting question is why European countries developed this culture while America did not... I think it has a lot to do with WWII and America's emergence as a fully developed and modern country. Racing was global before WWII obviously, but post war was sort of a fresh start for everyone. America entered the 1950's as this sort of extroverted and excited culture ready to flex its new muscles and claim its place in the world. We did this in the American way - big, bold, and brave - by dipping our hands into everything from the space race to broadcast TV to the arts. Meanwhile, European countries were already old establishments - introverted, self aware, and not as curious. They didn't explore as many possibilities and stuck to a simpler way of being. By chance or history, many of these countries focused on the same things they did pre-war. For countries like Germany, Italy, France, and even England - one of those things was team racing. If you look at it through this lens, it makes sense why America birthed a huge and defining car culture with less focus on organized team racing and more focus on individuality, personal backyard innovation, etc... HOT RODS and customs are just soooooo American.
I think oval track racing dominates due to economics. Build an oval track on a relatively small property and build seating on each side. Spectators can see the entire race. I believe it is harder to sell tickets for a road course event, where you can’t see all the action.
Drag racing. A lot of our hot rod focus is based on it. American? Red, white and ****in blue. Sudden death, no 2nd place. I grew up with int'l drivers as household names, likely due to Indy as many of them came over for that one and it was a Memorial weekend staple on TV. My folks, especially the old man almost despised drag racing. I don't know why. It's not easy, it's not boring from behind the wheel, and the cars sure stay pretty for the most part. To hear dad talk of it there were engine and trans parts falling behind every car every round, yet I went over 450 rounds on the same engine with stellar consistency. I wasn't consistent but the car was on it's game. No, not some 13 second street car, I made over 700HP and ran mid 10s in a heavy 10" tire car. Get up to the pros, not many from overseas may even care. Nitro, the breath of the Jolly Rodger. Leaves parts looking like it too but we manage. Did a short 7 week stint on an alky funny team. Hard work, took dedication from all of us, and our driver was the weak link. He couldn't qualify to save his *** but he owned it. We walked because it cost us too much. I wouldn't hang my head a 32nd of an inch to a circle track, F1, dirt or Indy driver being "just" a drag racer back then. I can't explain why, and if I could I'm not sure many would get it. Maybe a **** eatin grin as I leaned over the roof, because I know, I knew. @Ryan, you knew too. Am I wrong? Is it like customs, as in you get it or you don't? And to be clear, not 1 iota of disrespect to those guys. Chocolate or vanilla? Frank or Dean?
I've watched a ****load of both circle track races and Grand Prix races. Aside from the first and last laps, both are pretty tough watches in person... Twenty camera setup and a 75" HDTV and to me, circle track racing is still pretty boring for long stretches. I'd rather watch golf than a NASCAR race on any medium... and I hate the very essence of golf. Grand Prix racing on TV, however, is well... GRAND. I've actually watched the 24-hours of Le Mans in one sitting as a challenge (my wife still owes me $100)... and it was actually kind of awesome. I don't go out of my way to watch F1 or IRL races, but I always enjoy it when I do catch one on TV. Drag racing on TV? Terrible. But my favorite form of racing in person is without doubt, drag racing. Top Fuel cars are so god damned brutal that the TV can't convey the violence. And historical drag racing? Sooooo much fun... Street Racing? Unbelievable. I love all forms in person. *** Yet another aspect of racing is the historical changes. And I swear I'm looking at this from non-biased eye balls... But as racing has gotten more and more advanced, the cars themselves have gotten less and less aesthetically pleasing to me. And this goes for almost all forms of racing. But an obvious one to look at is a 2022 F1 Ferrari vs. a 1994 F1 Ferrari? The '94 is clean lined, simple, and purposeful. The '22 is cluttered, busy, and HUGE. Go back even further and look at something like a 1954 Ferrari 553 F1 car and it's even more obvious. Very few forms are as beautiful as a 553. Maybe one of the lone exceptions to this is Land Speed Racing. Over time, these cars have gotten cleaner and cleaner... and they were pretty damned clean to begin with.
Holy cats. The more I find out about you, the more I'm impressed. For about ten years I did some amateur road racing, in a Spec Racer Ford. It was a lot of fun, but it's an expensive hobby and I was mediocre at best. Besides the simple raw talent that's necessary to be a good race car driver, it also takes a compe***ive mindset I don't possess.
I agree with Ryan that NASCAR races are boring. Just too long. Drag racing in person is great. But , for televised racing, the WRC races, especially the Paris to Dakar rally are the best. All the cl***es are cool. The compe***ion between the crew trucks just knocked me out. LSR racing is at it’s best in the pits. I’d rather participate but those are my thoughts on spectating.
We concur bud. I used to like NHRA on TV, not any more. Sterile, corporate. Yes, YES, in person. The smell, the thunder, I read once that 2 funnycars on launch generate 2.2 on the Richter scae, and not at the light! I'd also say cheers to the evolution as you've noted. Every concours event I've been at I must see what comp cars are there. 1 word. ***Y. In my very biased opinion, nothing says speed or compe***ion or style like a mid 60s T/F car. Something like Pruhomme's Cammer or a full Hanna bodied Ivo car. Yeah, if ya gotta explain they wouldn't understand. Dammit, I love this ****in place...
I'll take a good World of Outlaws/USAC Sprint car or Midget race over NASCAR or Drag racing. Brutal and beautiful at the same time. Elemental by design. Complex in it's execusion. A high speed dance were one mis-step can put you over the fence.
WOO a 1200Lb. Car with close to 1000 HP when you step on the ****on some thing happens extremely fast wether it what you want or not, slipping on a greasy track and don’t jump the cushion or you will go for the ride of your life. We start them young. Check out The Outlaw Driving School Run by Smiley on the web
First-time racing is an eye opener. We all start somewhere. I used to talk with the great late Fred Harbach (X90 modified fame) and the advise he gave me was, run low and slow. Make them p*** you the hard way, on the outside. And it worked. Poor handling cars would slide up the track, leaving the bottom lane open. Tire donuts were the least of things. In a heat race, we were happy not to have the track welder put a rub-rail back on after. Where I ran they policed rough-riding, but a lot of things happen while running 10th in a pack of 30 cars for 30 laps. Some guys like to win the race on the first lap, all that does is stack up a bunch of cars real quick. In longer races, 30 to 50 laps, unless I was way up front on the starting grid, I'd hang back for a few laps until everyone got their pace going.
This takes me back....the original photos on the intro, show my Dad in his #3020 32 3 Window Coupe, "The Galley Nipper". I still have his MSCRA racing jacket and a couple of dozen photos. He's p***ed on now, but we recreated his car 20 years ago, and it sits in my garage to this day. He drove for Slim Dale (My Dad was personally responsible for balling up 5 1932's in his 4 year career) before going off to the Korean War in '53. The aforementioned "Wild Bill", went after my Dad with a broken beer bottle one night after the races, determined to put him out of commission. They hated each other! My Dad later introduced him to me, and he validated the story.... These were men of a different time....what respect I have for them.
The beauty of "watching" races and ball games on TV in the garage is that you don't have to watch. Just kind of keep an ear open while you are working and watch the replays of the big moments.
You're right about the rubbin'. But I sure love those early open wheelers. There's a beautifully restored one in my area that I've had the pleasure of photographing in action a few times. Powered by a Ranger aircraft engine, it's pure poetry in motion! Great fun to watch!
I think that would be pretty well received. There are several pretty active vintage dirt track racing groups around my area and one of them does a "Nostalgia Night" every year at a track about 20 miles from me. Many of them are actual rescued old race cars from those years. The running gear isn't necessarily period-correct but they're out on the track and having fun, and they're a blast to watch.
I've actually thought about selling my car & buying a new bike. The whole race thing just doesn't do anything for me anymore. I'm kinda on coast at this point.
I hope you'll include sprint / champcars too if you do organize one. I usually think, "Hey, I could build something out of dat." Right, Anthony?
I am willing to help, but my days of organizing something like this are long gone. I’ve been feeling better after my cancer surgery, but I’m short on endurance. I can work, but that’s about it. 45 hours of hard use makes my old noggin tired.
The Jalopy Journal
