Oval trackers...stand up and be counted!

Making a return to racing this year in an IMCA Stock Car at Thunder Hill Speedway in Mayetta, KS.

 

It was the racing of choice for me. We grew up with a great dirt track but not a drag strip in the area. I have had a couple myself and pitted/crew chief for others. To me there is no racing better to watch than winged sprints on a good dirt half mile. And I have been to several Winston cup races and a few drags, including nationals at Ennis.
Tman, I was so glad to see the speedway stay in the hands of racers, I would have almost bet some developer would buy it and rip it out. Is that Sam's boy who bought it? I might have to start going again. That used to be a Friday night ritual back when Kreeber, Bailey and those Ken Frieze cars were battling it out. I last went the summer they had Robbie Unser driving that C J Raeburn car, 18 19 years ago I suppose.
I remember when Shepard was racing 57s, he had a whole row of Belair 2 door hardtops for extra skins.

 

anyway, a few of my own.

 

Been racing dirt since '85. Dad got me a fake birth cert. for the first two years (because you had to be 16 then). Here's a few from the last couple of years.

Currently SEMI retired....

 

I'm a fixin' to go back oval racing again next year, on pavement this time.

The rebuild/conversion continues apace:



The build thread is HERE.

 

Orange Crush IMCA modified race team, Omaha, Nebraska 1990
( I am lying on the ground beside #46)

 

Ah, the good old days, when you could actually race a motor built for $500.

Now you can't even buy the damned block for $500.

/Grumble

EDIT:

I've got a question for you late model guys.

Why don't any of you guys ever run a window net?

The tires may be too tall to go through the window opening, but the front/rear bumpers certainly are not.

So what gives? Why don't you all run them?

 

This is my 48th year around racing. Most of that has been as a fan. Crewed for a few teams. One team I crewed on won 23 features and 2 track championships and 2nd place at a 3rd track running 3 nights a week. I learned a bunch about the dedication it took to compete for a championship, and how important it was to have the car prepared before leaving for the track.
Sponsored a buddy, and raced a few years too. I ran in the Super Six class which was basically a UMP late model with an inline 6 cyl truck motor. Had a blast but ran out of money so it was back to being a spectator. I last raced in '88.
I've always loved stock cars but in recent years I've gained more appreciation for open wheel cars.
Race promotion is in my future.

 

Window nets are not going to stop anything from coming in the car, they are designed to contain the drivers arms. In a late model, your arms aren't going out the window... Some guys run them, just not necessary.

 

Maybe those string type nets won't stop a bumper, but a real SFI/FIA rated wide web window net will bear several thousand pounds of force when properly installed (it has to in order to pass the cert test).

It's your ass in the seat, so you do as you like, but I've had substantial chunks of mud and crash debris bounce off my window net on several occasions.

I just always wondered their reasoning.

 

Heres mine idk if i posted already..

 

Bought a car from a guy ready to race in what they called the sportsman class-kind of a lower buck stock car class, right out of high school. Drove the following summer and decided I better hang around a few people that know what they're doing and learn a few things before doing much more driving-I'd never even been in the pits until the first night I drove, but this was something I'd wanted to do since the fifth grade. Back then, you had to be 18 to get into the pits. In hot laps the first night, I thought-man, this is easy!! A few seconds later, about five cars went past me like I was standing still! I remember pulling in after hot laps thinking "I've got a lot to learn."
Spent the next fifteen years working on a buddys car doing the chassis/suspension work and loving every minute of it!
Always planned to get back to it someday, but it just wasn't meant to be.

BTW-THE Rocky Hodges?
Used to see you race in DesMoines in a late model back in the '70s-bad fast!! Glad to see you're still around!

 

This is what I raced for fun. Havent raced last couple of years but I still get the itch every now and then. This car and all spare parts is For Sale. Nothing like a ride in a super latemodel!

 

damn tman, do you curse at everyone? lol

 

If Jan was still alive she would love how this thread is still going..

 

Coolhand,
I'd say the biggest reason LM don't use window nets is it would take the driver longer to exit the car in a fire. Larry Phillips (the winningest racer in history) was badly burned because he couldn't exit his burning car because of the window net.
Same thing happened to a Winston Cup driver back in the 80's or 90's. I think it was JD McDuffie. The heat from the fire caused the net to shrink and neither he or the safety workers could get the net down. Now the NASCAR safety crews carry belt/net cutters.
Pops

 

Indeed. I've got one tethered to the main cage on the left side, just under my left arm.

But then again, my cars don't have windscreens or side windows, so three of the four escape routes are open at all times.

Since I've had stuff hit the net, but I've never ruptured a fuel cell (and I have on board fire suppression), I'd rather deal with the devil I know.

Fire sucks, but so does getting hit in the head by a bumper or nerf bar.

 

maybe a few yrs OT. i hauled it out of the woods. it belonged to a friend that raced with my dad in the 70's. it was free. he said come get it. it has a shortened 55 chevy chassis with weight jackers and a one ton truck rearend. i really dont have any plans for it yet.

 

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Nice to see an Oval trackers post. Any special rules for this post? My dad raced stock cars in the Chicago area in the early 50's, I was a left coast drag racer in the late 60's - early 70's and now that I am on the right coast and building a late 60's-early 70's modified to race at some vintage events. Anyone out there from upstate NY, Vermont, Mass, RI, Conn. NH?

 

Window nets are also good for people trying to get at you in the pits after the race. I mean, shit happens on the track and you may dump someone unintentionally or squeeze them into the wall (sometimes intentionally...).

The best thing to do when someone from another crew runs up to your car as you enter the pits afrer a race, put your helmet back on.

Bob

 

That's the first bit of advice I got as a rookie.

"When you run over somebody, don't get out or take off your helmet until they've been over to say their piece."

It's as good an idea now as it was then (and I suspect, for years and years before that too).

Never had anyone take a poke at me with my helmet on, but I have had a couple of guys try to reach around the window net while they was cussin' me.

That's as good a reason as any to run one, IMO.

 

Advice- The gas pedal will get you out of more trouble than the brake pedal will.

 

Been there myself did the round track thing for quite a few years started in late 80's with a street stock type car and won about 8 races that year and got it bad by the time I walked away I was running a NASCAR late model stock spent a load of money but had a blast and even now everytime I go to a race I want to do it again' Its worse than drugs man

 

Cool old cars!! John

 

Okay, I'm an old dirt track racer - I have the busted up back, screwed up neck and 60 % hearing loss to prove it, lol. But it was fun and I haven't given it up completely yet. The picture of the '57 Chevy was taken in 1969, it had a destroked 327 and would scream coming off the turns. the old coupe is my latest project and I hope to run it before I get too old to get in the thing - I refer to it as the "Rust Bucket Special". This is my first attempt at posting photos so it may not work - here we go.

 

my father ran cars like Hermit Ridge posted they were called sportsman until he couldn't win anymore with flat heads we had 13 cars sitting in the back yard the drivers would come by hook up their car and flat tow to the races the split was 60/40 the driver got 40% of his purse. I sat many a nights in the stands alone with a chip and a coke kids weren't allowed in the pits the when I got older older it was my turn to build and race

 

I was racing up until a couple years ago. Would still like to, but I work most weekends and no shop to work on my cars. I have been working on my 54’ Chevy in the driveway and I can enjoy it when I have free time, not just on Saturday night.

I’ve raced the white car on both dirt and asphalt and won in it. I’ve run that car as a street stock, stock car and pro stock, depending on the track and surface. The black car is a limited late model stock that I ran in the TSRS series here in Texas.<O</O
I use the skills I’ve learned while building and working on these cars to build on my 54’, still have more to do.

 

Devil&#8217;s Bowl Speedway (Vermont) is planning a vintage weekend on Saturday, July 21 and Sunday, July 22. Saturday will be a stand-still show, Sunday will be hot laps and vintage-style racing, plus an awards ceremony.

Attached is a tentative weekend schedule. Spread the word, and make sure to contact Justin - (802) 265-3112 with any questions.
Limited show space available for Vintage Race Cars & Hot Rods - Must register in advance!!! Call Justin - (802) 265-3112

 

Have run IMCA modifieds, IMCA stock cars, IMCA Late Models and Open Late Models thenback to IMCA mods. Been doing this for over 20 years. Built our own cantilever late model, currently putting the final touches on a new mod we built ourselves. Gotta race!