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In 1969 Red and Black 37Al Weiland and Jack Belk Built that car in the Winter of 1968. Jack Belk also won the Muskoggee 50 laper Nationals in 69 in that car. That car was a little over 1800 when it pulled over the scale at the end of the race.I was standing right there. There was a wieght limit at Tulsa and Muskoggee weekly races. But the 50 lapers at Muskoggee and Tulsa and Ok City were 1800,,,, 50 LBS less than the weekly shows. Also the car that Chick Shaddox won the Tulsa 1971 Point Title was a copy of that same car also built buy Al Weiland, 1969 .

Al Weiland had alot of success at Tulsa 1960 and 61 Belk won the Championship in Tulsa,,,1966 Ron Fowler won Tulsa Championship,,and 1971 Chick Shaddox, and 1969 Belk and Shaddox in Muskoggee was first and second. Al Weiland built all them cars. He was crew chief also ,,,Chick Shaddox did it without Al at the track.in 1971. Al Weiland won alot of other Championships with Belk and some other drivers in SE Kansas in the late 50s

Win as if you are use to it.And lose as if you enjoyed 
it for a change.Its hard to get to the top and alot 
harder to stay there.

Redbanda,...(Jack always wore one) I was not there that time but started going to Topeka some in 62 but did not take my until 64. I think Jud got reinstated in USAC in 63 & I don't remember seeing him at Topeka. I knew Al well. My first car, a flathead Ford had a 4 bbl Holly & first time out, it sputtered. I called Al & he told me to buy a new 1/8 in bit & drill the needle seat hole out. That fixed it ! It was lean on gas. Al built a new super super single tube frame with small struts underneath. I was down in Iola when he was working on it & he used the ends of a bedstead to make the roll bars. I don't think they were ever tested.

I could talk about Jack's driving all night. He was good. Al used to run 700 X 15 pickup tires on the rear grooved like a Goodyear diamond. Jack would throw a rooster tail over on 75 Highway through turns 3 & 4 at Topeka. It was a sight to see........Luther

Bkcr,...Al Weiland built every car he ever owned. That super Al built. I just mentioned it in my last post. It had parallel bars in the rear & ford cross spring in front. The rear bars were from a Morris Minor or something simular. He got all of his parts from his brother in Iola that owned a salvage yard. Now I think that is correct. I know I have heard him mention his brother & the yard. He did not skimp on his engines. When he quit racing Topeka in 64, I bought a 364 cu in Small Block Chev ( for $400)that had a stroker kit when everybody else was running 327s. From what I saw of the car, it probably as light as any even though it had the truck housings.

Al also built a car in late 60s but I never saw it. He and Bud Hatch came to my House in Drexel about 1968. and we went to a yard in east KC & bought enough 1 in tubing for nerf bars and bumpers. We has to take a hack saw to cut in half to haul it in the back of Bud's El Camino. I had a bender & bent the tubing to the shapes the each wanted. I never saw that car after it was finished.

I NEVER saw any of Al's car break down. I bet he never had a dnf.....Luther

Als biggest problem was he would brake axles,in 1961 in Tulsa Belk won like 8 in a row and when he didnt win he broke axles, He broke a few in Topeka in 63.and a few in 64. I only seen one Engine of Al Weilands Blow. Jack Belk had just won the Belleville Highbanks 2 day Fair race 1963,he beat Art Dishinger and Jerry Weld,, Belleville wont let your engine breath. They went to Topeka the next Friday night Jack Belk was leading the A Main.and the Motor let go there was so much smoke they put out the yellow.flag. In the Pits later AL Weiland being the quit person he was he said i told you Jack we sould have pulled the Motor after Belllville,i told you it has to breath somtimes. One other time Jack was running at Muskoggee and was not going to the front like normal. He pulled in the Pits with the car running . Jack said it sick /. Al cut the Oil filter off and it was full of metal. . Jack said it would run but he just didnt feel right.

.

Win as if you are use to it.And lose as if you enjoyed 
it for a change.Its hard to get to the top and alot 
harder to stay there.

Last I heard Al and his son (?) were followers of the site. They were looking to restore some kind of car with a flathead engine if I remember right??? They might be lurking out there??? That would be great, keep it up, someone will say something maybe to get them in on this.

I believe Jack Belk son is a follower also. He is maybe lurking out there. Or maybe Redbandana is that person???

Warren Vincent
Cans 4 Kansas Heroes

Good guess,,,,i just was trying to get Luther to tell some more good ol storys. I was with Luther on some of them when my Dad drove for him.I got your number here somewere i will call you Luke, it would be good to here from you. .This is Tim

Al isnt on a computer he still lives in Iola ,,he did put a Flathead together for a guy in Iola that had a truck. We have talked about what a flat head would do in a modified. He has a problem with the cam shaft that he would want to put in it.Als son lives somewhwere up NorhtEast,i forget were. i go buy and see him every chance i get. He is like Luther when they talk you leason and you learn...,With the B Mod class growing strong that flat head just might work. Al still looks like he did in the 60s. From a distance it stops me in my tracks because he looks the same from a distance.. He helps some local guys there Rodney Sigg and the Volk Brothers. You just dont go there and beat them guys on there track.Al goes to the local races at Humboldt Kansas and sometimes in Coffeyville KS.

I was hoping they would put him in the Bellville High Banks HOF he said he would go if i took him.

Win as if you are use to it.And lose as if you enjoyed 
it for a change.Its hard to get to the top and alot 
harder to stay there.

To All,

Great to here you guys talk about Jack and Al, as a kid setting in the Grandstands at OKC in mid to late '60's occasionly the would run the weekly shows and some specials, I think the first time I saw the Red & Black #37 Jack was driving and in later years Tiger Bob Williams drove it, the car was always fast and they won a couple Features here, think the last one was a National in '69 or '70 with Bob driving.

Luther I agree with you about Grady Wade, I slipped into the races at OKC during the Fair one year in the late '60's and Grady was driving Chet's #25 he won the A-FEA. that night and was fast on a really slick track. My favorite Grady win was the NCRA race at OKC in '71 he was driving Schippert's #4 and smoked everybody, he was always fast on the dry slick stuff.

Luther did you know Bub Kearney or Gary Mussato or the Don's Speed Shop Guys? I remember as a kid reading about Foyt beating Opp. in those twin 50's in Speed Sport.

The first couple of Modified's I was around had those Morris Minor torsion set-ups, then helped a guy Billy Trotter who had a modified that used parallel bars off the front of an old Dodge that had chains that wraped over the housings then to some home made arms which had 4 holes in it and we adjusted wgt by what hole we had the chain hooked to.

I understand that work ethic from '75 to '88 I traveled and worked on about your same scudule but wouldn't trade that time for anything it's PRICELESS!!!

Well JD you've made 50 pages of Heritage & History since you started this post in Sept '08, you should be proud look at the guys that have posted on here over 30,000 views and 900+ posts, thats also PRICELESS!!! Have really enjoyed reading Sprint97 & Redbandana post's last couple of days, kinda fills in some blank spots about racer's in KC area that I saw or heard of as a kid.

Hey Luke the 2 bad rolls Dad took in your car in 1965 at Topeka i have them pictures of both rolls frame by frame ,there are about 7 or 8 pictures of both rolls in action.,. man that photo guy was right on them. I know you got the one with him about to flip over frontwords with his eyes buging out.. I didnt knowm if you had the frame by frame ones.,,,He climb out of one and got carried out of the other one.

Also a close friend of mine close to me has the #8 Isacc Trucking car Herb Copeland drove ,its rolling now.It an Edmonds Car. And they have the #37 that Al Weiland put togehter for Roy Bryant that won the 81 Speedaway title in Witchta in 75. It was a Nance Kit. . They might need a little tech help with it down the road. I may have to call Sparky to get your number didnt know if you are stil in Gator country or not.

Win as if you are use to it.And lose as if you enjoyed 
it for a change.Its hard to get to the top and alot 
harder to stay there.

I've been meaning to put this on here. This is an older version of Rustyrails 100" super that he is putting together. Look at the frontend--

I agree David, The stories are great to read, you learn stuff ya just never realized and the pics are great as well.

Did not realize 50 pages and 30,000 + hits , I think a book is in order for this area and we can all contribute to it. Be a heck of a deal.

Hello Tim,..I had a suspicion !, Only one driver ever wore the red bandanna. Yes, I have all of the pictures. The 2 wrecks were 2 weeks apart. The one that he is squatted in front of the car is because he got out on his on but was to dizzy to stand. I have tried to post a reply twice today & an error messade came up. Tim, my email is [email protected]

DGM 7620, I knew Gary Musatto real well. He, his wife & daughter started coming to the pits in Topeka & visit around my car. He later became heavily involved in sprint car racing. I did not know the others..........Luther

Luther, why do you think that the old modifieds of the early '60s evolved into sprint cars in the KC,Topeka Knoxville area and into super modified /champ cars in the Tulsa OkCity area? Wichita had some of both, but dropped the sprints in 66 or 67 and just ran the supers.

Ray

Hi Luke i emailed you a picture of the car al built for Bud Hatch

Win as if you are use to it.And lose as if you enjoyed 
it for a change.Its hard to get to the top and alot 
harder to stay there.

Sprint97,

Gary was a great guy, I met him through Bub Kearney from Topeka. In the early '80's he helped me alot on fuel injection set-up's, MP drove for him some and destroyed Gary's car at Knoxville qualifing for the Nationals. Later on when I worked the NHRA Drag events at Topeka he would bring his Grandson to the races and we would get them in, of course at least 1 night while at the events he & Kay would insist that we come to Osage City to there house and she would fix dinner, now that girl could fix the fried chicken and mashed potato's. The last time I saw him before he passed they had just moved into a beautiful house that they had built, I was very saddened when he passed and lost a good friend!!!!

To All,

In '82 we had built a new Jack Rich 4-bar car and it was the first year for us to run the 350's and fuel injection. The Old Man converted 2 of our 302's over by just changing the cranks and pistons until we could get a handle on what to do. Emmitt Hahn was our driver, it was a very volitile relationship, we had alot differant idea's on chassis and motors, we made the first couple of races starting at Dallas we didn't do bad until something happened to the motor and he pulled out of the A-FEA. had a couple of top 5's and were just trying to sort things out broke a couple of those stock 350 steel cranks (they were notorious for breaking) Next up was a Triple hitter Dallas on Friday, Lawton on Saturday & OKC on Sunday, it paid an extra $1000.00 to the team that scored most pts. & $500.00 for 2nd. At Dallas we ran our 383 motor we knew some of those Dallas guy's ran big engines so we took ours, well I haven't been so embarrssed in my life we struggled to run 7th Emmitt drove his ass off to get that passing a couple of cars in the last lap, we went to Lawton after we drove home and changed motor's didn't do to bad there 4th or 5th in the A-FEA but we still had a shot at the money so on to OKC. We won the heat and started on the front row outside of the A-FEA. it was a day show so it was dry slick but rubbering up, well we put a pair of M-15 diamonds on had about 4-5 inches stagger, Pat & I wanted to put a higher gear in but Emmitt insisted on the 5.88 instead of a 5.64. On the start we fell back a couple of spots and settled in about 5th but we were holding our own when on about the 10-12th lap coming off turn 4 it was rubbering up bad, we looked like a AA Fuel car ther was so much tire smoke, there was a Red on about lap 20 Emmitt was a hollering to tight so we changed the LR to a 4 BLK put some fuel in and on the restart we were alot better moving up to 3rd pretty quick, Bob Ewell,Stone & MP were still in the hunt for the money also Stone was leading and Wooley was 2nd we were 3rd, MP 4th, about lap 30 that damn RR started smoking again and Pat told me if he doesn't stop that we're done well shortly we started loseing positions, falling back to 5th by lap 40 and finally finishing 7th at lap 50, our RR was on the canvas and the LR not far behind. So we didn't win the bonus and by the middle of July those drilled out bolts had taken there toll on Emmitt, we had went through 40 shocks, 8 frt axles, 2 Lee steerings, 4 complete drive lines, 3 rear ends and 7 motors and thats not counting the radius rods, arms, stops etc. but somewhere in that time We managed to win a NCRA race at Lawton in what was one of the best drives on one of the roughest damn tracks I've ever witnessed. So no matter what anybody says about our relationship we weren't alway bad but this race is another story!!

In the KC, Topeks, Knoxville, Sedalia & Linclon areas, we all wanted to be able to run supers & also run some IMCA dates like, Topeka, De Moines, Sedalia, Linclon, Tulsa, Oklahoma City & Hutchinson. Most of the fair dates were after our regular seasons closed. Also, go to Tampa Winternational in Feb for 5 race dates in 2 weeks at the Florida State Fair. It was also sanctioned by IMCA. IMCA would not let us run a super show & sprint show with a sprint tail on the car for both shows. Most of had 2 tails for the IMCA dates and run the sprint tail at all other shows.

In Wichita, I can only guess. I thought at the time it was to have the same rules at all of the tracks in the area, wheelbase, cubic inch and carbs. The were still getting a lot of horsepower and handling, only different rules.

That was my opinion at the time, ....Luther

David, did Emmitt drive this car at Tulsa for you?

Ray

Bkcr,

No, Tulsa was still on the 305 cu in rule, and even though we had 302's (5) we converted 2 to 350's then just put injector's on 1 302 and ran it that way and surprizingly did pretty well with it. The other 2 302's we kept just in case we wanted to run a 305 show. Which we did at Muskogee, we did decent in the heat but pulled out of the A-FEA with power steering problems. We ran 1 race at Tulsa with Sewell with the 302 but by that time we were in transition to changing all engines over to 350's. In the fall of '82 The Old Man had me break up the last 4 set's of Mondello ported cast iron 292 heads, I was sick but he didn't want anybody to get them and use them against us, 3 of those set's were awesomely ported funny thing is in '96 when we got back into racing at OKC Pat eat my butt out for breaking up those heads as OKC had a iron head rule in '96. We had about 7-8 302 cranks a couple were from Hank and the rest were just stock GM steel cranks, when I destroyed the heads he had me kill the stock 302 cranks with a torch so nobody could use them either. One of the 302 Hanks Pat put into a 400 block and that was 1 our early BB/SS combinations it had a 6.25 long rod with an Aries Piston and had a set of Paul's -8 heads, we had a 2-1/16 injector on it first but changed it to a 3.5 inch Garete throttle body and that made that motor a HUMMER, it was small only like 330 cu in but it would run on that 1/2 mile at OKC!!! I've always felt that we had apart in a couple of current ASCS rules (1) no throttle body injectors, (2) no drilled out bolts.

This picture says it all for me. Down here the idea was to bridge the gap between the wide bodies and the new narrow bodies and the 100" wheelbase at 50% engine setback theme worked well at the time. Keep in mind this setup put us closer to the Dirt Champ Cars that still ran for points on the Indycar title. The car counts stayed up pretty good and the widebodies were still somewhat competitive.