Johnny Mantz had both of his arms as can be attested by this 1961 ad. Maybe you're thinking of some other drivers who competed with missing limbs? One-Legged Bill Schindler comes to mind, I'm certain there are others. As far as the argument/discussion about competing "back then" I think it's all just a load of BS. You can't compare different eras of any sport anymore. Life evolves and things change constantly. We may not like to admit it but that's the way it is. Believe me, there are days when I wish it wasn't changing so fast..........
Yeah I'm watcing it too. One thing I don't miss is Ken Squire. I think Neil Bonnett and Ned Jarrett were hands down the best announcers. I miss the Silver Fox - David Pearson. He was one of the best. Today's drivers are as good as they have to be, and do what they have to do & make money. As others have said - can't compare 50s NASCAR to today's NASCAR. There have always been field fillers in the sport, some of today's "pretty boys" are little more than that but they have a famous name or big sponsors that pay "mention money" to get air time. Far as I'm concerned there's only been ONE Junior in NASCAR, and he's retired.
i pretty well agree with everything you said until you hit on bill france. the guy would sell the whole show to anybody that would give him the money. his kids/grandkids are just as bad, hence the state the sport is in. and yea, id love to see these guys that run cars now try to drive a car for 3-4 hours that only wants to turn left, no power steering, on hard ass springs, no cool suit, in 100+ degree temps, with their shoes melting to the floor on hard ass bias ply tires.
A typical opinion based HAMB tread, 50% B.S. and 50% true. Tomorrow will only add fuel to both sides. I plan to watch the first few laps and the last 10. whatever happens in between will only matter to those guys spending a 1/2 million a minute to hawk their wares. Frank
I went to speedweeks a few years back, spent a lot of $$$$$$$ and had a great time but once was enough. Rather spend time and $ on my hot rods.
well the race just started, I would love to see those old cars on the track with all of the c.o.t , and kicking the crap out of them. drivers with just a t-shirt , a helmet and a pack of cigs rolled up in there sleeves.
There are hardly any forms of auto racing that have not succumbed to or been tainted by money. Even the SCCA (which is supposed to be for amateur racers) has been totally inculcated with the greed seen in other facets of sports. I have drag-raced (in the early 60s - as an amateur - my own car...just pals for helpers) and was an SCCA-licensed driver for several years (A-mod, B-mos, A/SR, B/Sr, E-mod, FV) and slowly but surely sponsors and other corporate input ruined amateur dragracing and amateur sports car racing. This is why I prefer build'em n drive'em rodding - no toothbrushes for hours on the tire sipes, no polishing until you can shave a gnat in the reflection, just a bit a noise a bit of power and the camaraderie of fellow rodders - I don't powerpark and I don't go to meets that don't control it. When the BIG money shows up in any endeavor - the fun factor goes way down. I raced for fun and keen embroidered patches for my 'scare jacket'. Trophy or two was also nice, as was contingency bucks. NASCAR never really jostled my molecules anyway, but I still enjoy dragracing with the noise and the smells. Sports car racing has never been a good spectator sport - you can't watch enough of the race at one time. I only liked it when I was a participant. That's the end of my whine dj
The last of the NASCAR motors that had any base in stock engines will soon be gone. Ford was the last holdout of a stock based engine using a 351 Windsor based block with heads based on 351 Cleveland heads. I believe Toyota was the 1st with a "clean sheet" NASCAR motor followed by Mopar and then Chevrolet. Here is a pic of the the new Ford FR9 NASCAR motor.
These guys today couldn't handle the cars from the 70's and before. If they cry now, what would happen if you stuck'em in one of those cars.
Who cares. That organization killed stock car racing. Now they are trying to ruin HOT RODDING too. Fuckin money ruins everything these days. Wish the rich bastards would just stay home and count there money and leave the rest of us alone!
It's kinda funny actually. Now all the drivers have trainers, they work out ALL of the time, some of them after a race looks like they are wore to a frazzle. Nobody works out more than Mark Martin, yeah I know he's 50 years old, but when he is done with a race he looks like he's absolutely had it. Back in the day they had big old cars, hot as hell in there, no power steering, crashin' and bangin' for 500 miles and as soon as the race was over guys like Pearson, Harry Gant and others would jump out of the car, fresh as a daisy and light up a smoke .. and they didn't even have any Gator Aid, Power Aid, Nitro, Red Bull or anything like that. May have had a beer if the sponsor was a beer company .. Hell yeah !!!
The Jalopy Journal
