Fading Thunder...Abandoned Racetracks in Virginia and the Carolinas

More South Carolina stuff...

Bondy Long's Bowani I Mustang Funny Car from Columbia, SC

 

Petersburg, VA dragstrip- there at the airport off Route 460.

 

Walterboro Drag Strip. Edweird photo from the Lost Dragstrip thread:

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=313182&highlight=virginia

 

From Fredericksburg, VA Ricky "Surf" Stambaugh. Here's the remembrance for him on the HAMB when he passed away last year:

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=589771

 

From the VW Forums website, a thread on abandoned tracks around the world. A fair amount from SC, NC and VA. Neat photos of Metrolina Speedway near Charlotte.

http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?2854313-Abandoned-Tracks&

 

Somebody in the far lane puts the holeshot hurtin' onto Charlie Carpenter's '55 Shoebox at Shuffletown, near Charlotte. RIP.

 

Tommy Lee Byrd photos of Hudson Drag Strip...







Other auto related photos of his can be found here on his blog:

http://byrdphoto.wordpress.com/

 

'56 Chevy leaving the line at Richmond Dragway, circa 1968.

 

We were talking about the many, many versions of the Virginia-based "Big Red" racecar. Here at Richmond Dragway as a Funny Car (or more correctly, a reskinned Altered). One of the Weiss boys smokin' 'em up....

 

Mac King's Virginia Beach, VA-based funny car, Quicksilver Corvette at Suffolk Dragway, RIP. The track is still there at the airport, but long quiet now.

 

Here is some stuff from my days at Log Cabin

 

Bunny Burkett thread here on the HAMB. She's from Sterling, VA and raced on many of these tracks that are no longer with us here in the mid-Atlantic.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=412347

 

Two Virginia-based Funny Cars square off at Maple Grove. John Carlson's Swinger vs. Kenny Warren's Virginia Twister. Carlson was from Little Plymouth, VA just east of Richmond and Kenny Warren was from Northern VA. Both participated in the early days of the East Coast Funny Car circuit.

 

This is a pretty cool way to start off a Saturday. Spartanburg Drag Strip. Pics of George McCorkle at the racetrack. They tell me he was a regular there.

Don't know George? Oh yes you do (if you like Dixie fried rock and roll):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6Gv0q-qocI

Guitarist for the Marshall Tucker Band and the writer of "Fire on the Mountain." RIP George.

Here's a short interview about the band with him...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKFUI22Xww8

 

More Spartanburg, more Corvettes...Harold Bradey's Modified Production Corvette at the track.

 

Here's a link to HAMBer (Welloiledmachines) Tom Van Nortwick's website with a very nice picture and writeup on the Bob Bateman Coupe, restored by our mutual friend, Roddy Moore. It was the first car from Virginia ever featured in Hot Rod Magazine, in April 1961.

http://www.flickriver.com/photos/13539555@N00/3930299173/

The Bateman coupe at the GNRS:

 

Was there just an East Coast-West Coast rivalry in drag racing? Or were there partnerships? There were partnerships, you betcha, at the very highest levels. More North Carolina. There was a Tarheel at the top of the house and his name was this Barry Setzer.

Who was Barry Setzer? I'll let the legendary Pat Foster (RIP) explain:


Who Was Barry Setzer?

By Pat Foster

Barry was and is a manufacturer of high-end fabric from North Carolina (Hickory). He contracted Ed Pink in ‘70 to build motors for a Pro-Stock Camaro he owned. In his dealing with Ed he was exposed to Funny Cars and loved them. He then had Pink put together a turnkey F/C operation. Pink did the engines, Buttera the cars, etc. When completed, Kelly Brown was hired to drive. This combo proved fast but not very quick.

I was in Don Cook's Damn Yankee at the time. With an over the counter Pink engine, we consistently ran quicker than the Setzer car with little or no budget. This caught Pink's attention. He asked me to help him with the Setzer car at a test session at OCIR. He had also had The Shoe in the car for a similar test weekend. Shoe did what he could, but had his own program to run. My answer to Ed was -- no deal. Put me in the car on a permanent basis and we'll talk. He did that and from then 'til Barry quit drag racing in '73, we did well. He was never involved in any other form of motorsports.

A quiet, soft-spoken, intelligent man. Also a man of his word and always a gentleman. A better car owner would be hard to find.

 

Wow...what a great compendium of history. My old man told tales of Soldiers drag racing on the weekends at the airfield at Camp Pickett (Blackstone), and how one of his buddies blew up a flathead motor by trying to run some pilfered avgas in it. I grew up in Pittsylvania County in the 70's (few racers from Danville back in the day) and my sister used to race stock cars in the "Ladies Class" at South Side Speedway in the late 80's, so this brought back a few memories.

 

More George McCorkle from MTB. The group remained loyal to their hometown of Spartanburg, SC even after they hit the big time. The text says George got tired of a constant parade of "pussy cars" from other stars so he built this stout '67 Camaro.

George McCorkle, MTB, and Spartanburg Drag Strip all belong now to the ages. Rest in peace, my friends. You all left your mark and we miss you. Never forgotten, still cherished.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUL68ZeclcA



The caption says the car was built by Fulton Competition, a local shop still in business with a long history of engine building for drag racers. Owner Gene Fulton is a member of the N.C. Drag Racing Hall of Fame. Here's more on the shop:

http://www.dragracingonline.com/innerview/ix_11-fulton-1.html

And some pics from their website of local cars over the years with their motors:

 

Nice article on Harold Denton, Drag Racing Hall of Fame member, who was born in Rocky Mount, NC and raced out of his garage in Spring Hope (outside of Raleigh).

http://springhopeenterprise.com/sh-garage-owner-recalls-racing-fame-p4796-100.htm

 

Speaking of Spartanburg, SC, how about another local hero in the early days of Pro-stock, "General" Lee Edwards? Here's a pic of a couple of Carolina boys going at it, Lee Edwards vs. Roy Hill (who raced out of the Petty Enterprise shop in Randleman, NC).

 

Where was the Spartanburg dragway? I'm from Spartanburg and didn't know about it. I went to Greer a few times. I remember the Spartanburg fairgrounds, where Nascar ran way back when on the dirt. I used to watch the fireworks after the fair.

 

More on the drag strip....

http://www.goupstate.com/article/20120120/ARTICLES/120129950

 

Thought I would add this video clip. Junior is a bad ass puttin out that fire with his shirt on that quick lil 88


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYgBqX0stB8&feature=youtu.be

 

That's a neat clip. I was just by there this week. Thanks for posting.

 

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZqKS-vOU1Q&feature=youtube_gdata_player

From the North Carolina Dept of Cultural Resources, amateur film shot of the State Fair in Raleigh, circa 1940. Dirt track racers, motorcycle hell riders, the Wall of Death, stunt drivers, and much more (including the girlie show on the midway).

 

east coast drags hall of fame this weekend in henderson n.c,plus approx. 300 hot rods , custom lining the main st. anyone going?

 

On the subject of Barry Setzer, I live in Hickory , about a mile from the old Regal Manufacturing which has been closed for a while now. My brother worked with a guy that was teen age friends with him. He says he had a mean 55 Chevy that got him in the local paper with his street exhibitions,LOL.We have always been trying to find out more as he is a local legend. He use to come into Ace Hardware where my brother worked every once in a while. If i ever find out more we will let you know here.

 

Thanks you for the reminder, my friend. Bunny Burkett, Kenny Warren and Don Carlton are all being honored. We've had posts about all three here on Fading Thunder.

Here is the flier on the weekend festivities:

http://eastcoastdragtimeshalloffame.com/

 

It was very interesting to see what our State Fair looked like about the time I was born. A dangerous hell of a way to make a living, huh. That head on crash stunt between to two '20s model cars at about 7 minutes into the clip was troubling, especially when the windshield was covered on one of the cars after the crash. It kinda reminded me ot the footage of two locomotives running head on I have seen. Sure totaled the two cars. 65 years later it is ecoli poisoning that is the most dangerous thing at the fair.