60'-70's Vintage Oval Track Modifieds

les alberti

 

Great shots from orange co. ny brings me back to when i was a kid. charlie shire was alwas a good runner. any shots of bill osmun or rich ricci

 

I remember the Diamond S at Waterford on an early-season Sunday afternoon. 1969 and Lou Toro was driving that day. Thanks for posting the pix!

 

The yellow 55 was owned by Ted Marsh. It turned up a Waterford a few Sundays in '69 or '70. I remember Billy Harmon in it but I think Hank Stevens drove it at Stafford.

 

That pic was worth the wait.

 

The Diamond S modified was built in the winter of 62-63 it first took the track spring of 63 in a bobtail 37 plymounth and a stort wheel base car never handle Pat Piscitelle Slim`s son drove it also Lou Toro, Dick Watson, and Tommy Sutcliff Later a 39 chevy body was used ran Stafford And Thompson Ct. The 39 chevy coupe was narrow and Nascar frown over it when they found it after three years runing that body.

 

Thanks for the background information. It had the '39 body when I saw it. I've always wondered where it came from. A memorable car due to the unusual number and power plant. Modifieds were so much more interesting back then.

 

Wow thats my uncle Rich Ricci in the 406 that was the profile inboard koni suspension car. Fuuny story about that car it was pretty high tech for the time we went to syracuse and the car was loose all during practice and we could not tighten the car up. so getting ready for time trials as a last ditch effort we put reverse stagger in the car and he went out and set fast time pulled in the pits and everone was so excited jumping up and down people interviewing him he walked over to my father and said now what do i do Larry knowing it was good for only a few laps.

 

Zoera, If you go to this site there is a great picture of Sparky. Denny Z

Dave Dykes "Racing Through Time"

 

Here are some more photos of Richie Evans...early to mid 70's....


At Islip Speedway racing with the Ferrante X3 with Gentleman Jim Hendrickson behind the wheel....





another win for Richie at Islip Speedway....






a black front hood on the #61, I would say it was primer, but it looks shiny....




a Len Calinoff photo on pit road at Islip...





a B & G Wurthmann photo and a 200 lap victory for Richie at Islip....Richie sporting a mustache....promoter Dick Corbeil






Evans with the #6 of Maynard Troyer at Fulton





Evans kicking up some dust in front of Paul Radford and the rest of the pack at Martinsville....





Richie battling the 8 ball of Jim Shampine at Oswego....








check out the pants on announcer Joe Moratta....

 

Richie Evans #61 at Spencer battling the #7 of Dean Hoag and the #4 of Ron Martin....don't recall see too many picures of this Hoag car....is it a vega?








Richie racing Ed Flemke in the #1 CT at the Stafford Spring Sizzler....




at speed....





at Utica Rome racing Chip Lanz #77





in the pits....





a ROC win at Pocono...





a Bob Hess photo of Richie at Freeport....








Richie is a rare photo of a spin...not sure who he is with...

 

Richie Evans #61 battling the #17 of Bob Johnson being driven by Ron Bouchard at the Spring Sizzler....





Richie battling the clean coupe #36 of Bud Schilling at Lancaster....





another shot of Richie and Jim Hendrickson at Islip....





not sure where I got this from....














a Bruce Barmore photo of Richie at Freeport...




Richie in victory lane at Islip with Big Bob O'Rourke, I believe Bile Naciewicz and a young Mike Calinoff in the red sports coat...




a Brian Cholerton shot of Richie in victory lane at Islip with the Cromartys...

 

michaelpa, Your post # 11052. That's Johnny Georgiades, number 87. In 1956 the year before I started racing I had a job in a gas station where the 87 was kept. I went to all the races with John that year learning all I could about racing. The next year 57 I began my racing career and John helped me a lot. On a side note that first year at Riverside when I got upside down and spent the night in the hospital, it was John who picked up my wrecked car and towed it home. On another side note...The decal on 87 in the picture RAE. RAE at one time was a popular make of car batteries that were manufactured in Glastonbury, right across the street from the gas station I worked at.

RAE stood for Raymond A. Early the owner of the battery company. So all of us had a RAE decal on our cars and we got batteries for the tow cars and race cars.

In addition to John and myself, that gas station had other guests working on their race cars from time to time. I remember Wally Post and Benny Derocher.

The gas station was a Sonoco Station called Sunnyside Auto Srevice.

ENOUGH OF MY RAMBLING.....but I had to give Johnny Georgiades some credit he was a big help to me in the beginning, and maybe some folks like history. Denny Z

 

Great story Denny!

 

Love the history, Denny. Keep the stories coming!

 

A slight correction in a caption from post #11050: That victory lane shot from Pocono was not from a Race of Champions, but from one of those wild specials they used to have on the 3/4-mile oval. Those races were sponsored by Flight 216, which I believe was an oil additive. Richie won in either 1972 or '73 ... my confusion comes from the fact that he had one apparent win stripped (it was given to Bugsy Stevens) after a scoring dispute.

The ROC moved from Trenton to Pocono in 1977, running three times on the big 2.5-mile tri-oval before being shifted to the shorter track (a GREAT move) in 1980.

REALLY NICE PICS, JBull.

And, folks, aren't we blessed to have Denny Zimmerman offering up the occasional history lesson on this board? Think about this: the brief early '60s reign of the Eastern Bandits (Ed Flemke, Rene Charland, Denny Zimmerman, Red Foote) marked a pivotal chapter in Modified history, and one of those four actually "visits" with us. Pretty cool.

 

Keep on Ramblin', Denny.

 

Thanks Denny. That's the photo I sent to Dave. I got the photo from Harold Kay in Canton. He went to the midget races at Cherry Park as a kid back in the 1940's. Great shot, huh?

 

When I a little guy, the L&M was my pick!

 

Ah, the L&M, a car fondly recalled by devotees of the Waterford (CT) Speedbowl ... Its driver, Angie Cerease, was a really neat guy. When he stepped out of the cockpit, Angie had success as a car owner, fielding the brownish #24 Vega in many mid-70s small-block Modified shows. Kenny Bouchard wheeled the #24 often at Thompson and elsewhere, and Leo Cleary was also among Angie's hired guns. Good memories!

 

I don't think that's FATS Caroso. Denny Z

 

Nevermind.

 

These were taken last Saturday at my RumbleFest preview in Amherst, WI... These cars, and more including jalopies and sportsman cars, will be part of the show next Labor Day Weekend...

IMG]http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a385/krooser/Vintage%20modifieds/GEDC0130.jpg[/IMG]







IMG]http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a385/krooser/Vintage%20modifieds/GEDC0087.jpg[/IMG]

 

I was in Daytona for an RPM ( Racing Promoters Workshop ) in the 80's and I ran across a guy chomping a cigar and talking racing. I went up to him and said 'You're Rene Charland, aren't you?"... He was shocked to see that someone who lived in the midwest would know who he was.....

I got to meet Ritchie Evans and a few others that way... Evans and his crew were staying in the same mom and pop hotel (remember them?) on Atlantic Ave. back in the late 70's(?) when I was there for the 500.

I started driving big trucks in '72 and often went to the NE... I was laid over in the area many times and some of my best memories are from going to the races at Seekonk and Norwood.