History Historic Stock Car Photos

Does anyone have the entry list, starting field or results from the Hberg Nascar Grand National East Pony car event?...........it was 400 laps and won by Jim Pascel in an AMC factory backed Javelin....

.....there were a lot of famous names in that event and some where still in that unknown stage of their career............like Richard Childress and Harry Gant.

Below if a photo of Pascell's winning car......

 

Let's see............A photo from the Hberg July 1971 Mid Season 150 lap National Late Model Invite.......

Don Gregory on the left and Bob Sennecker on the right...........Gregory broke is left arm in a late model crash at Columbus and Senneck broke his right arm riding a motocycle.............they both raced with casts that night.

Track annoucer Bill Steinbach asked Bob during intermission that night how he manages to drive with the cast on and he replied in that dead pan humor of his........"Well I hold the wheel straight and when I come into the turn I move my arms like this....."

hehe........

 

The Sennecker Family of racing............

Help me out anyone if I don't have this right but according to the late Ray Rogers (Berlin track photographer at one time) there were 5 Sennecker brothers and all of them raced.............

Well, below is a photo of 4 that I know......

From left to right in age oldest to youngest as well.......the late Rich followed by Bob, then Terry and finally Pete.

While the first three raced around the Midwest, Pete mostly raced locally in some lower divisions and as a resulit wasn't as well known outside of the local scene...

Rich lost his life in early 70's I believe at Owosso Speedway.

 

An interesting photo and a question about it......

This is a shot from the Hberg July 150 event in 71..........left to right are Tom Collela, Daytona 500 winner Pete Hamilton and Bob Sennecker.

Hamilton raced there with a Nova.........the only time I ever saw one race at Hberg............

I was at the track early in the day watching him practice before any other cars where there..............and here is the question I have.........he took the car out all alone on the track and after warming up would take one turn at speed then slow down a bit around the rest of the track and do that over and over........then he would move to the next turn and take it at speed while slowing some the rest of the way around the track. He did that for each turn..............the dumb teenage I was at the time I asked someone why he did that...........they told me he studies each turn first before he puts a whole lap at speed..........I've never seen anyone else do that.......anyone have any insight into that?

 

A rare photo to me...............why?

The 1971 July 150 race at Hberg and Ed Howe is saying something with Bob Sennecker looking on all smiles........

How often would you see Ed saying something to make someone else laugh at a race track? ...

Ed used to scare me when I got old enough to go in the pits at Hberg.............I mean I was a skinny teenager and he was this guy who didn't say much with big arms.......a real hard personality to warm up to in a racing environment I guessed, all business you know?..........

I'd of love to been a fly on the wall so to speak during that conversation of that photo.

BTW......The race was won by Howe running away from the field in which I was told he had some special Hoosier compound tires that nobody else had at the time.........I can't state that as fact but that is what I was told once.

I met Ed two times after Hberg closed in 73........one was at Hagerstown in 1982 where he came down to see racer and Howe chassis dirt dealer Rodney Combs in an NDRA show......I was taking a lot of still photos back then and I was suprised to see him there......so I went up to him and asked if I could take his picture.........he looked at me with a stern face and said, "Well you have the camera!"............I was still scared of him even though by now I was a big dude from years of lifting weights by then......lol!!!

The next time I saw him was at Sandusky at the Cavalcade in 85' I was there early in the morning and he was racing a late model at the show......He was sitting in the cab of their race hauler waiting for the pit gate to open........I came up to him and I had this Hberg scrape book with me that has all these photos and stories that I'm posting here........I showed him the pages where I had his cars and stories from racing at Heidleberg and he just looked at it all surprised and starting flipping through all the page of the driver profiles I had.......and said, "Can I look at this??" .......

...."sure!" I said..............(hehe) you don't think I was going to tell him "Well you have the book!!"..........lol!

Anyway, he must have looked through the book for an hour with me making all kinds of candid comments and asking questions...........I didn't realize how much drivers missed that place.........and he was one who told me that and I saw a softer side to the green hornet that day.

 

That spinning car is a Buick.........rare bird at Hberg in those days.......the only driver I knew who drove one there was Bob Siblia...........could that be him???

I'm not familiar with Ernie Waner.........do you know where did he race normally?

 

My brother saw him a couple of years ago before his heart issues and he was helping his grandson racing in IMCA type pavement mods.........He went up to Tony and told him I was a big fan of his from the Hberg days and loved that Camaro......( I wasn't there as I was done here in NC). He told him I even drew a picture of that slick 67' car......(see my drawing below)

Anyway he said to my brother, "Well really........I thought everyone was a Jim Bickerstaff fan back then....I mean after they played the national antheme this guy yelled out for Jimmy to go get the bananas every week!" ........hehe.

Anyway, my brother asked if he could take a photo of him to email to me.......so they went into the race trailer and Tony took off his hat and spent time fixing his hair and looking for the right lighting to the point where he had my brother cracking up with his antics geting ready for a picture.................

Just like Bickerstaff, I was so sadden to hear of Tony's passing.......

.....all my heros are leaving us.....

 

Where I sat in the stands at Hberg, The guy who hollered that every week was a friend of ours and sat next to us.. To this day at every race I go to I say that after the anthem.. Sometimes I get strange looks and sometimes someone remembers where that came from and laughs or a thumbs up!! John

 

That's great!

If I was there I would definately made it a point to stop by and say hi.....

 

I could use some help here on a some memories from Hberg.......

1) Norm Lelloit from Canada would come down to the big 250 every year.......back in 72 I think he came down with a Chevelle or something like that but it had a unique look to the body the way it hung on the car........almost reminded me of a Ferrari GTO coup.........

it was his normal white Castrol sponsored car.....does anyone know about or have a photo of that car???

I have a picture of his Camaro but not a photo of that one and have been looking for that for decades............

Also.......

2) The Macco Tourch Ford Torino raced an event at Hberg that was a May 100 lap invite, I think Earl Smith was the driver at the time.........I have a photo of it on dirt....but when it was at Hberg it was set up real low and mean to the ground......and it had these unique collector headers that protruded a foot or so from the top of each fender and every time it backed off in the turns flamed popped out of them..........does anyone remember that car or have a photo of when it looked like that??

Finally......

3) Does anyone remember the night that Fred Risker (sp?) hit the gate in turn 1 during the start of that May 100 lap race mentioned above?..I think it was the first night in 1970 when they switch to Saturday night racing as the weather got better.......they usually started night racing with a 100 lap invitational......Anyway, his car that night was a 64 Chevelle painted Red and Blue with white tirm and the #87 on it I think.......No lettering at was just a plain paint scheme.....At the start of the 100 lapper he was in the middle of the pack and it looked like his trottle stuck down the front straight at the drop of the green......and he just slammed the gate head on.........the impact ripped the engine rip out and it flew clear across the track into the infield? The whole front of the car was shredded........when the engine was flying through the air it still had fuel feeding in it and flames where still shooting out of it. I heard he had a leg injury but I never saw him race again.

(His crash reminded me of the terrible fatal crash of Don McTavish at Daytona a year earlier in the Permatex 300 late model sportsman race....which gave me nightmares when I first saw it on Wide World of Sports)

Anyway.........any help on recalling this stuff or photos would be greatly appreciated.

 

Fred was my dads boss and a friend of the family..The throttle did stick.. Yes he had a leg injury..I was there that nite.. Freddy did race again later..Fredy had a few different cars to start.. 57 Chevy, 66 GTO, hard to 64 Chevelle and a rag top too.. He also put together a sprint car but I dont think he ever raced it.. John

 

Hberg lives,
ernie wanner ran the cloverleaf ,midvale,canton,barberton,ohio circuit and was a good runner ...won some features.here is another pic of him View attachment 1261360 at midvale.

 

Hberg lives,
yes i was there when risker hit that gate.....i was sure he was dead.
jerry
i,m looking for a pic of norm lelliot for you.
jerry

 

Thanks for your help and input guys!

 

I have a strange story to tell you regarding that night........

My dad took me and two of my high school buddies who were fans of Hberg to that race as part of a get together for my birthday.............we got there pretty early and we saw Fred's car on the trailer outside the track before we went into the stands...........it looked pretty cool just sitting there as neither of my friends or I were old enough to go in the pits so we didn't see cars close up that often.

but I can remember looking at his car and turning to one of my friends and saying, "Something bad is going to happen to this ride tonight"

Don't ask me why I said it.........it just came out without even thinking about it.......

Then when the crash happened I felt sick...........it looked so bad that I thought the worst.........I also felt very uneasy about having a premation like that......

That kind of thing never happened again to me and I'm sure glad about that....

 

Hberg lives...still lookin for pic

The Honourable Members
of the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame ​

<TABLE width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top>Norm Lelliott
Inducted in 1995

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

Stormin Norm Lelliot's racing career spanned 23 years and included everything from go-karts and formula fords to super modifieds and even top fuel dragsters. But Lelliott really made his name in stock cars, starting in 1954 at the CNE and later at Pinecrest Speedway. In 1971 he joined the Performance Engineering team and won the Export "A" Championship in 1974. He died in 1991 in a tragic snowmobile accident.

 

here is what i found on gn east ponycar race at berg.1.jim paschal 2.jimmy vaughn 3.david ray 4.bobby fleming 5.paul tyler 6.richard childress 7.bobby brewer 8.earl canavan 9.jerry heffin 10.kenny miller
paschal won by 4 laps
jerry

 

Thanks for that update.................wow..... lost in a snowmobile accident.....terrible........seems that a few drivers have met that fate.........Todd Sennecker comes to mind......younger son of Terry Sennecker.

 

Two photos of the pace lap during the 1971 Pgh 250 at Hberg.........some rains held up the start but they cleared out and the complete race was run that year......

Lots of stars in big field..........

Please refer to the official finish list posted here for the car numbers/drivers that you can match up to competitors in the photos.....

 

More 71' Hberg 250 photos........

Tom Maier and Ed Howe by Maier's Howe prepped Chevelle.

 

Another shot of that big field during the 71' Hberg 250........

 

Sennecker Pits during the 71' Hberg Pittsburgher 250..............

From left to right.........the late Rich Sennecker (oldest brother) leaning on his ride........next is Pete Sennecker (who didn't race but came down to help his brothers).....Bob Horton is working on the car of Bob Sennecker who is leaning on his ride........Terry Sennecker was here too with his car but didn't make the field, however I think this is the only time three raced in the same event at Heidelberg.

 

A couple of photos during racing action at Hberg in the 71 Pgher 250........

(Please refer to the attached list of drivers to match up the names to cars in the photos........)

Just look at the racing grooves on pavement here among the myrid of talent jammed in this first and second turns..........and this was during green flag racing!

Is there any question that this race on this track might have been one of the best short track events in stock car racing history??

Trickle, Middaugh, Marvin Smith, Diano, Dick Freeman, Larry Moore are just some battling here........

 

Crash sequence during the 71 Pgh 250.................Tom Collella was leading the race around lap 140 when Danny Bird's 08 got sideways in turn one..........Collela was on his way to being the first two time winner of the 250 when this accident spelled the end of his day.....in the first photo TC is in the black hooded Chevelle trying to take avoid the mishap heading to the outside........

In the second and third photo he hits the outside wall and comes to rest.......

(List provided to match up drivers in incident)

 

Bushy.....I stand corrected here.......you are right the 7(4) here is in fact Marvin Smith in the Bud St. Amant owned Chevelle normally driven by Don Gregory. Don did race the Monte Carlo in the 250 as # 7(1)........

in 72' during the 250 Don was back in the Chevelle and car owner Bud was then running the Monte Carlo...........got my years confused......

 

View attachment 1261555




here,s the draime cars at new smryna in 1972
middaugh #84....sibila #63..bobby flipped around the second nite and broke his hand...jerry makara drove the car a few nights then

 

View attachment 1261574

View attachment 1261575

View attachment 1261576
i took these of delmar clark in the arca race at daytona....not sure of year

 

View attachment 1261577

neil bonnett in pee wee griffins car at daytona..late 70,s??

 

View attachment 1261587 danny byrd..sharon..1974

View attachment 1261589 ed howe..danny byrd..sharon 1974

View attachment 1261590 jody ridley..sharon 1974

 

View attachment 1261600 michigan driver ed vanderlaan...sharon 1975

View attachment 1261601 joe mihalic..sharon 1975