Forum: Racing From The Past (go)
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I'm sure all of you have heard ot the tale of Smoky Unick's car winning a NASCAR race in Daytona because it ran a few laps farthur than the rest of the cars in the field. NASCAR confiscated the fuel tank to determine if it was of legal size. After the tank was remove, he started the car & drove back to his garage.

They found out later he had been using the retangle frame rails as gas lines.

Jim,

We use to go Maneys across from Taft and eat burgers after races there, at fairgrounds it was Shotgun Sams or Nicholoiau's on 10th street and if it was a bad night you just went to the Round-Up or Larry's on 39th. Man I use to love those Maneys Hamburgers, they were charcoaled and right around the edge of the bun they were burned, had real mayo with lettuce & tomato, homemade onion rings thick battered and deep fried in real lard!!!!

Shotgun Sams man what great pizza, you almost couldn't get in there on Friday night after 10:30 from all the racers, sure wish it was still there, kind of like our racing things change and not always for the better.

You know now days the drivers when you get above the WOO level are not as fan friendly, at the local level we have a few who think there WOO level hah!!!! Anyway it will never be like it was in the late 60's or early to mid 70's man you could not ask for any more hero's then we had growing up!!!

I hear that, heck most drivers even WoO and below (locally) are not fan friendly, I hear the excuse of well their shy or whatever other excuse to dream up, I say BS to that , people are there to see you perform in a sport of racing and pay to see it's the least you could do is show folks respect and talk to them, As a owner I will talk to anyone who comes up to my car and shows an interest and appreciate that there at the track and are interested enough to come down afterwards and check out what it is all about and I

will start the conversation to make them feel comfortable and will let any kid sit in the car that wants to, Hell even pulled the car back off the trailer because you could see the kid wanted to sit in the car and saw on the wheel and that makes them feel like there a race car driver, cause an old Lawton racer said one time that ran a 6 cyl. "ya just never know who you might be talking to and it could be your next sponsor"

Lot's of teams today locally/regionally take this racing way to serious, I feel they have lost the sense of how to have fun ,it is all to much business to them on a local level when it REALLY IS A HOBBY!,That I gotta be there everyweek no matter what it takes attitude.

I have heard this time and time again in the last 20 yrs. of owning a car and running against some guys that literally think they are going out there on a Friday or Sat. night at the local level to run and make money, which is way to funny to hear, Hell with my car last year when we won at Brill in Aug. $400 for the A main, well gas was dam near $4 a Gal. then and it took about $120 for towing over and back and then $50 in pit pass money and Fuel for the car which was about $80 and of course had to stop at the IHOP in Shawnee to relish the victory over Breakfast at 12 or so and buy the drivers dinner as well as Pit Pass cause the owner was estatic that night and had a good time and was proud of his shoe and thought that was the least he could do and well that was another $60 and oil and a filter and STP for the motor for the next night of racing which will set you back about another $45, which left J.D. with about $45-$50 dollars left and I believe I put it towards fuel for the next night of racing, So just wonder where they make there money at on this local level, Hell I was most proud of my one foot tall trophy for the A main win more than anything.

About 89' or 90' We were running a mini sprint at Fort Cobb & the Duttons were always doing stuff for kids, they had free school supply night, every week they had kids bicycle races, gave out trophies to the kids & all.

Asked one night why they did all that for the kids & got a lesson. # 1 was that their parents had to bring the kids & that was 2 paying customers. # 2: Those kids are our future racers & race fans.

Also when I was racing my late model up north, learned to become good friends with my track announcer. Always gave him an up-dated list of my new sponsers so he would be sure to plug them. Also took a little time every couple weeks to send my sponsers a little news-letter, about where we would be racing, or appearing at a car show, etc. make a big difference, sponsers just want their name to be prominent.

Had 100 color prints of my-self & the car made, let the announcer know that after the races we would stay & sign pics for the kids. He metioned it at intermission & after the races I was there for 2 HOURS signing pictures, & not just for kids. To me it was worth it, if I made just 1 new fan that night.

JD,

Man could you get me going here, DJ figures it cost him a $1000.00 per night to race, when you lug that big ole hauler around (tires, diesel, big generator, general wear and tear) + what it takes in all the maintence to keep the car going, so he doesn't make ANY money at all!!!! True he has his tire deal and an oil sponser (LUCAS) but past that he's on his own, RJ and DJ fund that out of there pockets just like yourself and so many others, when Gary and I raced Bishop provided us with a chassis to start with and there components, I had Larry Allen build the engine when he worked at WESMAR and they helped on parts and labor, Henry Allen (Square Deal salavage) Tom Mercer, Bill Trammell,Jerry Graves and the old man all pitched in time (alot) and money, everything went back into the car, even though Gary got pd 50% he still put it back into the car, we did very well never ran worse then 3rd in pts and won the championship 1 year. After Bishops pulled out of the chassis business we ran Buckley's and they were provided by Billy Turner.

Our championship year we had a dually (Mercers) an open tandem axle trailer (Henry's) everything spare and then some (assortment of everybodies) and 4 engines (1Turners,1Henry's,1Bishops & 1Pats) we also had one of the best overall crews, I was so proud of that group. We worried about money for sure but we never expected to make any either we just wanted to go out and finish in the Top 5 every night, yes that's a far cry from the way we raced in the 70's & 80's when we raced to win to hell with a Top 5 it was all about winning then.

I can go on and on so I better stop, when do you guys want to try and get together again!!!

Funny how your perception of drivers changes once you meet them in the pits. I'm a Christi Passmore fan only because I took the time to go visit with her. No one else was, they were all getting autographs from Kinser, Lasoski, etc. Really a nice kid. So she gained one fan that night. Another nice guy is Craig Dollansky. My ex is from Minnesota, so he took the time to talk to her about their mutual home state. And Ronald Laney. I met him about six weeks before he was killed. What a nice kid! And you have to like a driver who has a picture of his dog on his photograph. That team is still campaigning in ASCS. I saw them in Houston and Edna. Don't remember who is driving the car now, or if Ronald's dad still owns the team, but the trailer said Laney Racing on it.

m

For you Jim,

David,

Don't know when we'll all get together again, but I can tell you they'll be gettin' the fever soon.

Norman Gumm was my uncle. I helped with his 3 modifieds, that are on page 14. the drivers were Mike Peters in the 71, Gene See in 117, David Moore was in the 17 until June 1975, after that several drivers drove the 17, Coutney Grandstaff at the Dewey modified nationals James warren at Tulsa and Larry Coleman , Wichita, Fayettville, Ar and the Enid NCRA nationals Modified and Super. At the Enid Race in Oct. 1975, Norman put Wilson's V-8 in the 71 for Mike. He started about 24th in the feature and finished 7th. We put a 12.5 inch drag tire on the right front and he drove the 50 laps without power steering. We were suppose to put Wilson V8 in the 117 and Jay Woodside was going to drive it, Jelly's 24 was at the Western Winter Nationals, I remember teasing Jay it didn't have powersteering - he told me he thought he could handle it.

I don't know how we were going to get Jay in the 117 - he was 6'4" and Gene was 5'6" - but anyway we had to Chevy V8 into the 71, the Ford V8 with Gurney-Westlake Heads burned a piston in practice in Wichita, KS.

Ray

Page 14 is if you have your forum set at 20 records per page. You can set your forum 10 - 50 records per page. Warren RFTP

I just looked at the picture of Norman's 3 modifieds on page 14 again. If you look closely, I think that that is Mike Peters walking in the front of the picture. Norman is at the back of the goose neck trailer, working on the back of Gene's car. I think that he was in a wreck with Bugger Waller the previous night at Tulsa. I think that the man bent over the tool box is David Moore's father-in-law, Morris. Norman still had that orange goose neck trailer when he passed away in 2006. In 1975 he used it to go to over 60 races,most of the time with the little trailer hooked up to the gooseneck. After the Enid Fair races in Sept. 1975, we were on the Cimmaron Turnpike, headed to my house in Tulsa and the 71 car came loose from the big trailer and was riding on the tonge of the little trailer at over 70 mph. Mike was driving the tow truck with me and Norman. Mike's wife was driveing the pickup behind us and was honking and flashing her lights. She said that the 71 car rode on the tonge of the little trailer for over 2 miles. we got stoped and man handled the car back into place. The only damage was a bent belly pan. Mike won the feature that night in Tulsa. If I ever learn how to use my scanner I have some pictures to post.

Ray

Note: Page 14 is if you have your forum set at 20 records per page. You can set your forum at 10 - 50 records per page. Warren RFTP

Ray,

I had a little experience with MP driving the tow rig, I don't know how he can be such a good race car driver, cause the only time I rode with him pulling the car I was scared shit-less Bub Kearney was also, we were on our way to Pennsylvania to run Hill&Kearneys Dirt Car so where over in Ohio Bub said I'm tired, I had drove from OKC to St Louis so Mike spoke up and says I'll drive, he started driving Bub in the front seat myself John Kearney & Ojar (they where both pups) in the back seat, we hadn't went very far and Bub says hey Mike move over a little your on the shoulder, we went a little bit futher and I could feel the trailer whipping around a little Mike was sawing on the wheel, think he was racing at a short track somewhere, pretty soon we where in the hills and started down this curvey hill man all of the sudden we were running about 85MPH that thing was a rolling when the traffic started stopping, that trailer had good brakes which is the reason we only passed 3 cars on the shoulder before we got stopped, ol Bub was spread out all over that front seat and me and the boys were spread out in the back, we started up again and didn't get to far down the road and we started weaving a little, I started nudging Bub who was already mumbling "Jesus Christ" at the next exit Bub says Mike pull in here I need to take a leak, so MP pulled off and we got out and kissed the ground 40 miles total he drove. Rained out at the Grove so we went to Flemington the next day, on the start of the A-FEA. first lap first turn Dickson punted Rice into the wall and MP had no place to go and collected Rice turning us over we almost were able to fix it before the restart but didn't make it. Next morning called the old man and told him to get ready to go run Enid NCRA we hopped a plane flew into OKC at 5:00PM old man picked us up drove like hell made it to Enid and won the heat and the A-FEA. it was quite a week!!!!!!

Anybody know anything about this car? It has a Nance style cage, converted to 4 bar. There is a sticker on the side that says "New Paris, Iowa".

Brian,

Do you have this car? It has a similar frt torsion conversion that Walker's put on the old mans car, it has a little differant shock mounting set-up but the torsion come straight up and out off the main rail. Diffently not a Walker or Parson cage.

Harold Lindsey from Wichita Falls bought it from David Hesstand out of Houston. I think David got it probably from Iowa "maybe". ?

David comes through here some so he'll let me know.

check this out!!!!!!!!!!!!! Click on the 1963 Indy 500 side A and side B

Turn it up, if you have stereo, BONUS...

They also have videos of cageless Silver Crown Champ Dirt Cars

http://www.yesterdaysneuz.com/Indy500.html

David, I figure it runs about $200 to pull out of the front yard for me to head to the track and that means just about everywhere since racetracks are all a tow for me.

Good to have help and people who want to help out $$ wise and physically as well.

Gets tougher and tougher to do every year on my own , it takes so much $$$ and time to do this deal ,even on a local level.

How about late Jan. or early Feb. on another get together, get the Holidays and the Chilli Bowl out of the way for me and by then hope to have the 09 version close to being ready to race then.

JD,

Week after chili bowl would be good for me, holidays and week of CB I've got to go to Akron for a meeting and I've got a test at TX 1st week in Jan.

Shot hampton"s 94 car was the best looking super that I ever saw. I was with Norman at the Nance shop in December 1975. Mr. Nance and Norman wre working out an agrement for the 1976 season. The Nance shop would furnish Norman a car Like the 94. Mr. Nance said "take the car and race it as much as you want he would fix any thing that they could in the shop at no charge and just charge their cost for any thing that Norman had to buy". This was quite a sponership for 1976. The car was finished, even painted. Mr. Nance had to take the power steering out for his sprint car, well Norman was very hot tempered and told Mr. Nance to keep his car. Courtney GrandStaff bought the car and even left the yellow paint on it until 1977. Norman ran the old car for two more seasons. That car was probably raced more than any other in this area during 75-77 seasons. In 1975 Mike won the modified chapionship at Tulsa and Finished in the top 10 at Dewey and Wichita, running with the supers. In 76 and 77 the top ten at all 3 tracks. Danny McCutchen Bought it and finished 2nd in the modified class at Tulsa in 1978. I don't rember how many features that were won or how many wrecks. I have a lot more stories.

Ray

David, Maybe throw out a couple of dates say after the first of the year and see what everyone thinks of em. Let it get a little closer and get all the Holidays and stuff out of the way.

Sit and watched a video of my 100" car at Meeker from 91 and 93 and 94 for about 2 hrs. yesterday and those 100" cars with NO Wings was just good stuff, got to watch the A main where my ol car won and we beat D.E. Suggs and stopped his I think it was 6 or 7 wins in a row streak then and Jack Claxton gave us a $50 bonus for doing that and made $500 that night , I thought I was rich that night with $500 , heck D.E. could have got us once coming off of turn 2 but I guess the bottom had gotten marbly from the Factories the previous race trying to run in the infield and getting the bottom all rocked up , felt real lucky to win and I guess that saying goes rather be lucky than good anyday and we were lucky that night, glad I got it taped and that House Trailer on Stilts has sure been at that place a long time and the place sure has changed over the years to, with each promoter who tried there hand at running it.