Back in the 80's I was involved in sprint car racing . Me and a buddy campaigned a car. Well today I get ane email from the current owner. Seems he bought the car a couple years ago at a swap meet in Oregon and set about restoring it. My name was on the side of the hood, and the owner googled it and found my e-mail addy. Kinda weird to see something come back after 20plus years... Here's the pics He really did a great restoration. I always wondered what happened to that car. Now I know. A happy ending The first pic is how it looked back when I worked on it in the 80's The second is how it looks today. I wish it still had the same nose as when it was yellow, but that's just me being picky and nostalgic. It is a beautiful restoration of an old war horse.
From wing dirt to non wing pavement. Thats a transition you dont see a car doing in todays world. They just roll out to pavement car now.
It was a FUN dirt car...crazy quick. We sure broke a lot of parts on a weekly basis. Every Monday morning I was on the phone to Speedy Bill getting parts blue labeled to Missoula. Yeah, that was before 24 hour ordering. It really brought back a flood of memories of muddy roostertails. We had it on asphalt one time up in Kalispell. Flipped it.
Did you run it at miller creek? I loved that track, I could see it from our backyard. I alway remember the sprints, because of those huge wings.
actually the bullshit they pass off as racing now,a lot of it is gay as shit. racing should involve sliding around corners. and LOTS of mud.
Speaking of huge wings, After we rolled the sprinter you could see inside the torn up wing. The former owner had made it out of large stolen highway signs.(Interstate highway size) Miller Creek was gone by the time we ran the sprinter. You're right though-It was a great track.I did run Miller Creek back in the 70's. Had a 60 Ford Falcon with a 318 Mopar in it. It handled like shit, but it sure could pull out of the corners and down the straightaway. The front end finally folded over. Every track had a local hero. In Butte it was "Jughead Jones" He came up to me (a then young kid) and said. " Kid, if you could just drive that Falcon through a corner you'd kick my ass" When you are a young guy and your hero tells you something like that you never forget it.
When it was yellow it had a 350. Whats in it when its red it looks like a three port exhoust. OR IS THE OUTHER DOWN TUBE IN BACK
Anytime someone restores or resurrects an old oval track warrior, or any kind of racers is Aces with me, dirt, asphalt, drags, Bonneville or road coarse car. Bring em all back on line, so to speak. When you come right down to the nuts and bolts of things, it's all hot rodding. From the days of William Vanderbilt III running the beach course at Osmand Beach back in 1904 to today's record breakers at Bonnevile. They were all born from the same seed, grew into the same tree but just branched off in different directions over the years. All comes down to modifying a car to go faster, handle better, be different and be a design of your own. OK, off my soapbox now.
Yeah, it's always cool to see any type of old race car still around, or restored. Thanks for sharing those pics and stories, Chaz!! Mike
The Jalopy Journal
