60'-70's Vintage Oval Track Modifieds

some Seekonk wrecks many years back

 

I remember the car quite well and yes, it was definitely hard on the ears. I built a model of that car a few years back.

 

Anyone know or have an idea what track this is/was?
Old Bridge (NJ) maybe???

 

Yes, that's Old Bridge, N.J. The car to the outside of the 669 is the Don House owned XL-1

 

Merv Treichler, 1972, at Syracuse

 

Don't know, but Joe Mamma's #31 Pinto is the same car as George LeBlanc's #22, Joe bought it from him.

 

Ken, I think it's Old Bridge. Denny Z

 

Here are some better pictures of the # 77 restoration.

 

Wow Bullfather. That shot of the 669 was the one I've been waiting for. My dad helped build that car. Would love to see more. Anyone?

 

Request from a friend:

Sue Cook, Jerry's wife, is looking for a video:

"
SDCook38@roadrunner.com

We would like to locate a TV video that was taken at Bowman Gray Stadium, on April 8, 1972. It was the first broadcast done at Bowman Gray for ABC Wide World of Sports. Bud Hutchens car, Bobby’s Dad, with Wayne Lambeth driving won and Jerry finished second. Bobby and I would love to locate a copy of this but have not had any luck finding it. Could you help us with this project?"

 

I received this email from Bob Tulipani. Bob and Jim Leary built the original # 77 that Jim drove at Danbury.

Hi Kevin, Thanks for the article, Restoring a car is cool, but building it completely is really something. During the time when we built the original 77 coupe the parts may have been more plentiful, but finding/scavenging, (always used parts) cleaning, inspecting, reinforcing them was just the beginning. Then figuring out how to mount, fabricate pieces and brackets (not buy) was very time consuming, challenging and creative. Ideas came from other cars seen at other tracks, or from us. There was always a problem to be solved. I think the coupe took 3 years to build. We didn't work on it all that time.We needed to spend time on the first car that we were running.
The main Roll Cage hoop was a Basketball Backboard frame. The Frame was an International Scout front. We cut off the back and added 3x4 rectangular tubing and under-slung the frame past the rear end. We also boxed out the drivers side 8" to offset the weight. A first at Danbury at that time, I think especially in a Coupe. Front torsion bar and Rear leaf spring suspension were out of a Satellite. Finding parts like Rotors and calipers from Chevy Caprice. The flex lines were rubber not braided aeroquipt. Buying hubs for wide five bolt pattern. Having the rotors machined to fit the hubs (Kenny Garafola). welding the safety hubs to the Chrysler spindles. Mounting the motor,transmission, rear end. Mounting the seat,seat belts,and steering. Finding a Radiator and mounting it. Power steering!! Finding Upper control arms from a Lincoln. Fuel cell (not a gas tank) from a swap meet. Bending up the rest of the cage, side bars and bumpers (all black iron pipe). Brackets for everything else you mentioned in your restoration. Body work, Cutting the windows and rolling all the edges. Fitting the wheel-wells, Buying the header kits and gas welding them. Jimmy would arc weld the tube to the flange, he could really weld with a stick welder. Shocks and shock mounts brackets. All the fabrication we did was with a Sawsall, torch, 4" disc grinder, small bench top drill press (I had to learned how to sharpen drill bits) and a buzz box arc welder. Tin work was done mainly with tin snips. I had some small bead rolling tools my father had gotten from some old timer tin knocker made for making smoke pipe for old heating systems. I think the hood was off a Datsun roadster. As I'm writing this I think of how many steps it takes to build a car. I forgot how much time it took. The hours we would spend in freezing cold garages. The first one was so cold you could see your breath all the time. Imagine handling steel with frost on it at times. (Ugh, bad memory) But the finished car was beautiful. The inspection team for the club was surprised and impressed with our work. The only problem with that car was it was way over weight. We didn't really consider while we were building it and should have. That's where our inexperience showed. I hope this didn't bore you. Your article just sparked my memory .
Thanks, enjoy
Bob T.

 

1950 Vineland, NJ, program

 

thought this was cool

yes, eddie flemke in one of his few runs in richie's ride

nice nickname

 

One of the Bandits. Found these pics thru a friend on Facebook.

 

He was the leader of the group. Denny Z

 

500 pages might come sooner then 400 did at this point, keep it going guys!

Denny how did The Bandits come to be, I know you traveled a lot, but how long did you know each other before hitting the road?

 

bullfather is god

 

Just wondering... by any chance did Hooker Hood also drive sprint cars? I seem to remember the name from when I was in college in Southern Illinois (Carbondale) in the early 1970's and attended races at a small, steeply banked oval dirt track in that area. I can't remember the exact track name - perhaps the I-57 Speedway or the Turnpike Speedway - and it was run by the Poe family. I'm going to look for old photos. This track raced on Friday nights and quite a few big dog drivers came thru there, presumably warming for bigger races elsewhere over the rest of the weekend... guys like Amati, Larry Miller, etc. Anyone? Gary

 

fixed

 

Bullfather, My first year of driving was 1957 at Riverside Park, Eddie was already an established star there. I think it was 58 (maybe the year before) we tangled, no one's fault I ran over his wheel got upside down spent the night in the hospital. That was the best thing that could have happened to me that night because....something you need to know about Eddie Flemke, in addition to winning races one his favorite things in life was helping other drivers get better ( I was the first then Pete Hamilton then Riche Evans). He also helped anyone who wanted to listen set up their cars to go faster. He loved competition. So in answer to your question, I met Eddie that night in 1958. In 1960 we both migrated to Norwood Arena which was NASCAR, by then Eddie was helping me big time. We started the 61 season running Norwood and I think one week Eddie ran a show at Islip and maybe Westhampton? He came back and told me he was gonna start traveling and finding more tracks and invited me to tag along if I wanted....I said Hell Yes and this was the beginning of "The Eastern Bandits" The rest is history. I don't know who coined the phrase, may have been a promoter or a journalist. It started with just Eddie and me, then shortly Rene Charland and then Red Foote joined us and it was us four up and down the East Coast. Our week would go like this, leave Connecticut Thursday run New Egypt NJ, Friday was Southside in Richmond, Saturday was Manassas VA, Sunday was Marlboro MD in the afternoon then we would hurry to Old Bridge hopefully in time for the consi and qualify for the feature. Then back home to Connecticut, start all over the next Thursday.

Over all of my racing years I have had a lot of help from a lot of talented people.
I've said this before...I was just a kid that wanted to drive race cars and I had maybe 10% talent and 90% desire and a lot of help and a lot of luck.

Bullfather, Wasn't really a quick reply, hope that's OK. Denny Z

 

naw that's cool to read, I was wondering how it got started, I see teams working together and dis band all the time, they do one thing and next thing it's another, just life and racing. But some teams have been together before racing that happened to get into.It's truly an honor to have you here, to read stories from 1st account, it's value that has no price, unless you buy Flemke Sr. book lol, still got to read it. Thank you Denny

 

Bullfather, For sure read the book, Bones did a great job. Each chapter is a first person account from people who knew him. Denny Z