Forum: Racing From The Past (go)
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#1 Don Adams, 58 Duane Cain, 75 John Beeson. At one point it may have been mostly white with blue lettering and trim.

Somebody called me one time with this story that this #1 (Harkness #11) was still intact in the Liberal area. It's not the version everybody sees at the shows now. That version never seen the track, Jim was killed before it was ever finished. That's the story I was told.

Warren Vincent
Cans 4 Kansas Heroes

Brian I received your packages in the mail todayand they are great, let me know how much I owe you. I will be out of town from 9-12 to 9-20.

David the next time that you are in the Tulsa area call me at 664-9172.

Ray

To All,

Have tried to contact Darrell Cleveland about the #501 car that Don Engel drove, still no success getting hold of him but I have business down his way tomorrow so I'll just drop by and see if I can surprise him!!

On builder's in the Super Modified era, I've thought alot about it and I would probably go with Walker just because of what HM stated volume of cars that were successful, it really pains me to say that as I am to this day a die-hard Parson fan. I can tell you this I can remember the rivalry well it was south of the river vs north of the river. DP pretty well did it all on his own without not much outside help, Rick & Kim his boys were young then but did help in the shop afterschool, I worked there 1-1/2 to 2 years after school and work but I was no where the quality of help Bobby and Rick were to Jack. Nance probably had the best shop equipment wise and had more shop help but as you say alot of his and Jelly's cars were finished elsewhere, I don't really remember DP just building kits that you finished yourself, while I worked there we pretty well assemblied the car and let them take it rolling, at least all of the suspension was hung and the driveline had been in them and the body was mounted. Alot of DP's cars went to Amarillo, I know Billy Joe, Kenny Stidd, Randy Willingham, Roland Brunson, Bob Cody & I think he even built one for Dennis Glass but that was before my time. Of course he built a car for Issac, Tommy Sampson, Noel Crain, Jim Carpenter, Freddy Street, Cope & Guffey, The Old Man & himself that I know about. Walker built more cars then I can remember and alot of good guys had them, as Jim says show me somebody today racing a 7 year old car that has been raced 30/40 times minimium per year and still be competitive, NOT MUCH CHANCE OF THAT!!!!!!!

As far as a builder/fabricator/driver goes I would reserve that for Jackie I really believe he made everybody really step up and get with the program in the Supers he could do it all!!

You know Benny built my favorite looking Supers, space frame springer's with the Okie Sprinter body, those #13's were bitch'in!!

Then you have to look at the individual builders who built just a few of there own design cars, around just OKC you had guy's like DOC, Les Lusk, Hank Malone, Phil Hancock, Johnny & Horace, B&T, Cleveland etc.

Best Heli-Arc Welder I ever was around Bill Beamon followed closely by DP, then probably Ricky, Cleveland & Taloff, now that will probably get some comments, one thing I feel confident in crashing hard and there welds not breaking of course we were using real tubing in those days not this O to thin shit of todays cars, thats one reason we could run run a car 5/7 years and still be competitive, real steel welded by real welder's!!!!!!!! As a side note I saw a guy stick rod a moly frame one time with lo-high rod and it looked as good as any heli-arc welding that I ever saw and it was tough as nails as it was tested several times and I never saw a weld break on it!!!!!

JD your 1 yr aniversery is coming up for starting this post, you ought to be proud, 75 pages, almost 1500 replies & almost viewed 50,000 times, NOW THAT IS AWESOME!!

About time to have another get together you guys start planning!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is amazing about this post, lots of good stuff.

Congrats David on the Super Sprint Champioship this year. Well deserved. How many is that for you that you have been a part of?

I agree on the get together, need to figure out when here in the near future.

Thanks for the copy, it turned out the price wasn't enough to worry about.

Brian have you watched thed DVD?

I received my "Flat Out" magazine today and it has a great article about the 1969 Knoxville Natioals in it. It mentions Luther several times and a good story about Jan Opperman, I think that evrebody that reads this web site will enjoy it.

Ray

Haven't watched it yet, little time right now.

JD,

Thanks, I would have not believed it would have happened, I knew it was possible but not likely. I learned a big lesson in '87 I got a little big for my pants and thought MP, Mr Bill & I had OKC sewed up in August, over 400 pts ahead starting the month and lost the championship by 15/20 pts I believe, I just flat unzipped my pants and stepped on it. I knew it could happen then as it happened to the Old Man in '78 he and Harold Sr. lost the NCRA championship that year by 10 pts at the Bowl in the last race in the last 2 laps, I'm sure Ray will remember that championship win as Harold had it won until the motor broke with 2 laps to go, I to this day don't know why the Old Man had that plastic line on the oil pressure gauge but the oil was so hot it melted the line and started spewing oil with several laps to go and burned the motor up!! In '87 I just got conservitive and saved our best motor for NCRA's, dumb on my part.

The 1st actual car that I worked on that won a pts championship and I mean did it all was with Shorty in '86 that was an NCRA title and turned around and backed it up with MP in Mr Bills #97 in '87 another NCRA title. Then Gary & I won the OKC Super Sprint title in '97, then the '08/09 OKC Super Sprint titles with DJ. Family wise the Old Man won the Super Title outright in '74 with Benny, kinda 1/2 way with Holman in '75 at OKC, then Harold Sr. at OKC in '76/'77 and of course the NCRA title in '76 with Harold Sr.

What I pride myself on is the great battles, rivilries & people that I've met and fought with over these past 35/40 yrs and most if not all I can say I consider friends today. Along time ago Pat tought me that no matter how many races or Championships you win in the end all of that and a quarter still won't by you a cup of coffee, so it's best to make peace with your enemy's and be remembered as the person that you really are, whether that is good or bad!!!

Something that most people (racers/fans etc.) don't think about is just because a team didn't win the pts title doesn't mean that there not a championship quailty team, I can assure you this I think the world of Darren Stewart, his dad Mike and I have been friends since the late '70s and Butch Roberts I've known since I was 8/9 yrs old and consider him a good friend, they are with out a doubt a championship quailty team and were the standard that you had to beat right up to the 19th lap on last Sunday nights A-FEA. When you take a race team and race all season and on the last night your within distance of winning and lose on the last night, I consider that a championship team, you might wind up 2nd or 3rd or 4th maybe 5th in pts then you lost that championship earlier in the year somewhere, you finish 6th instead of 5th or you missed the set-up or tune up a little. I always enjoyed it better when you had the championship sewed up a week or 2 early it sure makes it easier on life.

Some of the best teams that I worked with never won a championship, won races but no championship!! When I raced with Lyndon we won alot of races and I considered us a championship quality team but we never won the pts title at Lawton, close but no cigar. I felt like we had a championship quality team with Howard the Duck at Lawton in '82/'83 and if it hadn't been for that guy named Bullet Bob we would have been. I felt we had a championship team in '85 and if it hadn't been for that same guy we would have been, in '87 I know beyond a shaddow of doubt we had a championship team at OKC except for a guy who didn't know what give up meant, that guy Bruce Jennings, I could go on and on would'a could'a should'a. In the end it is how you conduct yourself and present yourself is what makes you a champion not that damn trophy or money!!!!!!!!!!!

My favorite championship team, is all of them anytime you can get a team together and win a championship thats AWESOME and the team that I work for now isn't to shabby, I'm proud of everone of those guys and gals they never gave up right down to the last checkered flag last sunday night!!!!

JD your team is not to shabby either and I consider them just as championship quality as the #83's you guys should be proud!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hopefully see you at Ada this Saturday!!

David, That's a lot of great accomplishments over time and something to be proud of, tough to do this deal let alone win a championship or in your case champioships multiple times.

Pat was correct with who you are as a person, good words to live by, this sport is full of BIG Ego's and lots of know it alls as I have discovered over the years.

I appreciate the kind words, never ran for a Championship before and who knows might not have the oppurtunity again, but it is tough to do, a grind , marathon or whatever you want to call it, never had been down this road before and well the road can get quite bumpy towards the end and cause you great stress and sleepless nights and will admit it , got to me a couple of Friday nights , but also was alot of fun and pretty dam exciting as well as I look back on the season, came up one spot short in our case , Frank Dittman had no crashes or hiccups as I like to call them and we unfortunately had one on the 28th and that is how the chips fell.

I can tell you this David , IF someone told me say in 2007 before Joe Wood Jr. started driving my car that I would be running for a championship in 2009 at State Fair Speedway , I would have ask them what kind of Bad Crack have you been smokin and put it down, it is affecting your thinking.

I never even envisioned it , I have learned though that it takes all three pieces of the puzzle , good car , good motor and most of all a good shoe to mix it all up and make it work and a lot of dedicated hours to make sure car stays together and all goes well and NO DNF's, there is no one magic part that does it , learned one thing along the way that a guy in the parts business told me "keep it simple stupid" and it sure has worked since I have been doing it with that philosophy.

22nd year as a car owner and really have never had more fun than in the last several years , Watching Joe Wood Jr. put my car through the paces and watch him run lines and find the race track and put passes on people and work his way up through the field every week and your thinkin , DAM did he really just do that with my car and along with being just flat out fun to watch , sure makes the Car Wash easier along with those long hours in the shop just about every night not seem so difficult.

I feel fortunate to have Joe Wood Jr. running my car , he has made me pick up my program to a whole new level and gain confidence and not just go out to race but go out to race and win and run upfront on a consistent basis. Which is not the philosphy I had in the previous 20 yrs. of racing, Hell before 2008-2009 when I pulled into the pit gate a top 10 on occassion would have been great , now I feel like I missed out on something that night when ya miss the top 5, but that is what confidence will do for you.

Hope to see you at Ada Sat. as well.

Congrats JD!

Your Mom would be proud! I'm sure your Dad is.

Yes Brian Pops is proud that we did well and just wish my mom could have been here to see it as well.

Ya know Brian I still look back at that debut night in 87 with me and you at Lawton, heck last weekend we were talking about that when I got started in the ownership business of a Race Car after Sunday show at SFS.

That was quite a night from Hydro Locking the Motor to just trying to finish the show, guess we both have learned a few things since then.

Wow!!! look at this picture and the Driver. I think everyone knows who the driver is but my question is:

Who built the Chassis with the coil/over shocks on the rear?

(A) Nance

(B) Walker

(C) C.A.E.

(D) Walt

Who Lettered/ Sign Painted the ol' beast?

(A) Gary Littleness

(B) Harold Leep Jr.

(C) Troy Matchen

(D) Rick Knight

Uncle A,

Walt built this frame I'm 99% sure, I believe Ivan Peters helped him during this time. I remember one time at Whicita The Old Man was talking to Walt about some motor stuff and Walt was telling him how light this car was, if you look it has only 1-1/2 main rails with a very light under frame, it was really fast on the dry slick or rubbered down tracks, I believe it had cross torsion provision on the rear also. Walt was a master of the low profile tires, when everybody else was running drag 500's or diamonds Walt was kicking there butt on the little tires. Walt was a very accomplished engine builder also, I believe he and Ivan built most of there engines and Wilson did the machine work, Walt ran a Ford for a few years when he used the old Victora bodys.

One time at Hutch Walt started about mid-pack and he slowly started picking them off one by one and about 5 laps from the end he had ran the leaders down and was contesting for the win, I believe he finished 2nd or 3rd and just needed another lap to win, he was the only car on low profile rubber!!!!

I am pretty sure that Walt did most of his work himself. He helped Norman with some motor problems that we had in 1977. Did he sell his old cars or just cut them up? I do not recall of any of his cars being driven but any body else after he was done with them. Jis Vicku tha he drove in 1969 wa one of the best looking race cars that I ever saw.

Ray

they can be copied at moler's camera shop in wichita. phone 316 -685-1114 2609 e douglas 67211 wichita any questions call me 316 686 5801 dennis

copies can be made at MOLER'S CAMERA SHOP WICHITA phone 316-685-1114 2906 e douglas wichita 67211

Hey Bkcr,is there any way i could get a copy of that tape from 1969 Tulsa. I was at 24 of them races that year with my Dad. Jack Belk. I was a big fan of Leeps. If i could get a copy of it we have a place here in Joplin that has done dozens of tapes for alot of use here. They can go from whatever tape to whatever tape combo. I could have extra copys made and send some back to you if you would like just tell me how many you need.

Also i got a tape that Bud Hatch put together from the Tulsa area from around 1965 66 67 , it has some good pics in it of the pits down there of the cars and stuff. I would send you a copy of it in trade and more copys of what you send me if you need. You can email me [email protected] for info.

Tim

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.

didnt a female from okc drive it???

"its useless to put on the brakes when you are upside 
down"   -Paul Newman

Kind of off the subject of RFTP , but would like to let everyone know that Joe Wood Jr. who drives my car as well as his dad Cars will be interviewed on racinboys.com tonight at 7pm via phone. You get a chance listen in and if not , they will have it archived to listen to.

http://www.racinboys.com/

I think it interesting to me to keep up with the 2nd and 3rd generation drivers from the 60's and 70's etc.

http://www.racinboys.com/

Warren Vincent
Cans 4 Kansas Heroes