History Vintage "Cageless" Midget Picture Thread

Yes, Dick Corbeil was quite a character .. with one of the biggest egoes I ever encountred. .... But beneith it all, a nice guy.

 

I too am curious.

 

Corbeil started at another track .. [maybe Stafford (CT)] .. with the concession to rent those orange clip on seats with backrests; before moving to Islip (NY) with them .. then climbing the ladder there.

 

He was both a good and valued friend.

Sonny "The Sizzler" Sanders .. (Anthony Madonia)

 

http://www.nationalspeedsportnews.com/more/end-of-an-era-nssn-ceasing-publication/

End Of An Era:
NSSN Ceasing Publication

by NSSN Staff

All good things come to an end.

And so is the case for America’s Motorsports Authority, National Speed Sport News. After more than 76 years, the publication, which was first published as National Auto Racing News on Aug. 16, 1934, has printed its last issue, dated — March 23, 2011.

While hundreds of other newspapers came and went during the past three-quarters of a century, NSSN continued to ride the support of its readers and advertisers in producing the most thorough weekly racing publication on the market. But economic times have been tight and the newspaper business has suffered at the hands of high production costs and modern technology, which provides information to readers instantly.

“This is one of the saddest days of my life,” said National Speed Sport News Publisher Corinne Economaki. “The sluggish economy has made it too difficult to continue publication and no matter how I try to make the numbers work — and believe me I have tried — it is just not feasible to keep the business going.

“For 76 years, since August 1934 when my father Chris sold copies of the first issue at Ho-Ho-Kus Speedway in northern New Jersey, to today, as I oversee the very last copy printed, this paper has been an integral part of my family,” Corinne Economaki said.

Through the years National Speed Sport News was the industry leader in covering motorsports, much of it thanks to Chris Economaki, 90, who sold the first issue of NSSN at Ho-Ho-Kus Speedway in New Jersey, and began writing for the publication soon after that and became editor in 1950.

Economaki saw the publication through its glory days, launching a career on television and taking his newspaper into thousands of homes across America. In a time when there was no Internet and very little racing was on television or radio, National Speed Sport News thrived.

When National Speed Sport News began its run, there were no seat belts, drivers wore leather helmets and the flathead Ford V8 was one of the most common racing engines. Today, safety is the utmost concern and HANS and other safety devices are all the rage. Fuel-injected engines are everywhere.

Not only has technology changed what fans see at the race track, it changed how NSSN gathered the news. In the early years most news arrived at the NSSN office by mail or telephone. Later the telecopier and the fax machine played key roles. Both were replaced by the computer modem and later by e-mail.

NSSN was printed by linotype, but later changed to phototypesetting and finally went completely digital in 2002.

But after enduring all these changes, a familiar friend will no longer appear at the mailboxes of its loyal readers.

http://www.nationalspeedsportnews.com/ , the online version of the newspaper, will continue to be updated with daily news, giving Internet savvy readers the opportunity to keep up with some of the same news they enjoyed every week.

But as far as the newspaper goes, it’s the end of an era.

 

Here is Vic Edelbrock Jr with the V8 60 that beat the Offy's in 1950 at Gilmore Stadium - and I mean literally at Gilmore Stadium (now CBS TV ) More info here: http://www.harrypallenberg.com/WHER...ot,_Petersen,_Edelbrock,_Sweet,_and_more.html

 

Don't know if you guys are aware that Vic Edelbrock family was instrumental in producing some of the finest RC 1/4 scale sprintcars ever built.....they are collectors pieces now!!!!!!

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl...&hl=en&biw=1533&bih=698&gbv=2&tbm=isch&itbs=1

 

I've seen Vic's 1/4 scale sprint cars. The one with the Conley V8 is a piece of jewelry.

 

I was asked if I know who it is in the # 12 car, and I don't. Two ARDC Midgets, maybe at Vineland, NJ. Might anyone know the identity of the driver in the car on the outside?

 

Forgot to point out the neat way the rear of front belly pan overrides the front of cockpit belly pan that has a curved edge up to the frame. Click on the thumbnail a couple three times and take a close look.

 

I was in attendance at williams Grove when Tony Bonadias had his fatal crash. The car did not break into two pieces! I also do not blieve it had a progressive rear end. It had Halibrand axel/hubs.

Frankenfeld had 2 kurtis cars, one for dirt and one for asphalt. Tony only drove for him on dirt. Colors were slightly different, dirt car black with red, asphalt black with orange. If you know history of ARDC look up the 25 miler at Trenton when Vern Harriman won and the protests about the restart.

Tony had the misfortune to break the right rear axel about 200 from the entry to turn 1. Car barrel rolled to fast to count...

 

I've made it through the first 50 or so pages of this thread.......I'm liking it alot!

 

Tim Mehner. Are you Billy's son? If so tell him I said Hi.
Jim Graybeal

 

.....'28dreyer, I want to thank you for all the pics and the links that you've provided us with. And speaking of those links, do you know why the Nevada Museum calls the black #8 Reichenbach car a SESCO??? When clearly it looks like a Chevy II with Eggers & Vetting fuel injection. I do know that Bill Krueger did win the 1969 UARA Championship in the Reichenbach car with one of the very first SESCO-Chevy engines. I guess they couldn't get their hands on a genuine SESCO when they restored the car? Incidentally, Bill Krueger is an active participant here on The H.A.M.B. and has provided me with a lot of very useful and helpful info.

note: 'Even though I was a big fan of Ron Hoettels and the SESCO-Chevy engine, I'm sure that you and a lot of us were disappointed that it marked the end of the Offy engine in the midgets. But even it's lifetime was short-lived when just a few years later the VW emerged and phased out the inline SESCO.

 

THANKS Jim for clearing that up for me.

 

Stan, yes I know the configuration differences from Progressive and Halibrand center sections. But I didn't see an Offy run a progressive rear in the sixties, they didn't handle the power that well. We went from a Progressive in our V8-60 to halibrand for the falcon for that reason.

Frankenfeld had a history of taking non servicable stuff out of Ken Hickey's trash. Ken wouldn't leave it outside any longer because of the posssibilities....

 

Going back to the Duncan flip in the Darrell SESCO .. check out the upper right in the picture below (taken from the Vintage Modified Stock Car thread).

Seems this happened before a fairly simple safety item was fully utilized .. meaning Len wasn't wearing arm restraints!!!!

 

Can anyone identify ..

1. The driver
2. The car
3. The track

(I can't.)

 

Way before my time Ken. Denny Z

 

Bob Lombardo (110 Offy) tells me that the (repairable) chassis of the Darrell car that Duncan took that NASTY flip at Flemington (NJ) in .. hung of the wall of Bill & Ed Mataka's RACEWELD shop for awhile.

 

Before mine too Denny.

It looks MAYBE to be a board track?????

 

Yes I am and I will tell him ya said hi.

 

Sprinter2 would probably know this one.

 

yea Ken looks like a temporary track inside a baseball stadium

 

Some TQ (three quarter) midget pictures

 

Some OLDER TQ pictures.

 

Hey Billy ..

How's your recuperation going????

I agree probably a baseball stadium with a wood track installed ... but the car looks to early to be at the Polo Grounds in NY City.

 

Cliff Riggott and Ed Smith are two guys I see driving V8-60's that I have in my results. Could be either! Or neither!

 

Hello, TQ's ?