Forum: Racing From The Past (go)
Moderators: Racing From The Past

Welcome Noondog!

It's guys like you that make these pages so entertaining. I hope you add more.............

We had to change the rally location due to the fact the city told the fairgrounds it was both private and public property. The city said when events were going on the fairgrounds it is public property however when nothing was going then it was private property. And there is nothing else going on Jan 30 at the fair grounds so they are saying it is private property.

The new location is at Forest Building Supplies, which is located across the street from the grandstands at 300 May Ave OKC. Everything else stays the same.

I guess if it was so called cut and dried and a done deal they would not care.

And the parking lot at Forest Building Supplies across the street is large enough to do what we need to do.

http://www.petitiononline.com/saveosfs/petition.html

http://www.savefairspeedway.com/

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=151258391316

 Randy       

       DIRT TRACKIN
"When it's wet slide it in"

I keep getting requests about another 'get-together', wonder if maybe that weekend would be the best? Maybe like a wrap/history party.

Count me and my dad in if it happens.

I drove by Ronnie Black's place today and it looked like it was empty, anyone know about that?

John Stewart

Retro Racing Custom Model Cars
405.922.6163
[email protected]
Oklahoma City, OK

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Retro-
Racing-Custom-Model-Cars/235624429834292#!/pages/Retro-
Racing-Custom-Model-Cars/23562442983429

Did Dave retire after the 1980 season? Mike Peters drove your car in 1981 and I do not remember Dave after the 1980 season.

Ray

Dave told me the last time he drove was filling in for Garry Lee Maier, when GL was injured(burned foot if I remember right). Don't know if this was in NCRA or ASCS, but was for most of the summer. I think this was around 1988.

Sure wished we could get Dave, Larry Dewell, JJ and others from that era on here, as well as more stories from Noondog. Those were the last days before the cookie cutter cars and drivers, and there are great stories from them. For example, Dave said his first ride in a sprint car was at Belleville. Just imagine that. Now, they don't want to run anything bigger than 3/8's, because the speeds are too high.

BTW...sure glad to see you on here Noondog. When I was trying to find info on rails, your pictures were the first I found on the net. It was on a site put together by a KU prof and the Burnetts from DC, but the last time I tried it, said it wasn't a valid address anymore. It was "Racing in Kansas" or something like that.

it would be cool to hear some stories from Leep, Ewell, MP, Jon Johnson, Stone, and others....Dutch would be cool to hear from and Earnest.....i went to one of the Tulsa Legends luncheons once and it was neat listening to Jim Lambert and Jack Wickett.....its so cool to hear stories like those....i wish someone would do a book like "High Plains Thunder" and have it just be 1st hand stories from racers, owners, and wrenches...David Grace could do his own book!

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

yeh larry, i remember the car very well, was a real nice paint scheme ect. i had some thoughts about the torsion bar set up, but not being a wise chassis builder and certainly not a expert racer ect , i didn't question what was done. anyhow the car was fast, often wondered what became of the car ..... good to see you are still around ya need to attend some of the old racin venue's around the midwest they are very interesting..... i took some pictures of your car when it was built, but some how are long gone .

I love all the videos and have a question about the 100" champ cars that ran the just the little wing on top. I noticed that the wing is pushed forward as much as possible, it looks like that with just this one wing on top that all the cars are pushing like crazy? I had stopped helping withe the cars by this time and would like for someone who helped with them to comment about how they handled and the set-up.

Ray

To All,

Been very busy last couple weeks with installation and training on new computors and software at the shop and to be honest by the time I've been getting home last thing I've been interested in is looking at a computor.

Lyndon Moss called me Friday from Chili Bowl to tell me that Bob Cody had passed away I see Roostasix has posted it on RFTP. When I worked at DP's in '74/'75 Dale had built several of the Amarillo guys cars including Cody, I was not in on that build but did work on the car when Cody had brought it over to get some bumper's & nerf bars and other misc. stuff done. Later on we would build Cody a single rail 4-bar car that was sponsered by Pants West. Bob & Randy usually ran together alot in NCRA they were always very competitive. I always thought it was neat Bob ran those tunnel ram manifolds alot and they always looked neat to me, as a matter of fact alot of the Amarillo guys ran those manifolds. You know one race that I always wanted to win was the Southwest Championship on Labor day weekend but never got it done.

Speaking of Southwest Championship race. I always thought that in the day usually toward the end of the season after all the point races were over it was more fun to run all of the late season races, you could have a disasterious point season but come back and win all those Fair Races or Winter Nationals and save your season. One thing differant back then then now is we usually ran the same car for 3-4 years or more in a row, we didn't build special cars to run Hutch Nationals, Enid Winter Nationals, Southwest Championship etc. you ran the same car that you ran on every Friday, Saturday or Sunday night. This is Chili Bowl weekend, there running some Feature race as I type this right now, it is a great event just like Knoxville or Kings Royal, but I will bet you none of those events have been won by a 4 yr old car lately!!!!!!

I would rather be racing for $300 to win at Goldsby then any of those 3 events above, I hear from Shane that they wouldn't let Mike Pogue in with his photo booth this year, and I hear that Lanny wouldn't let the Save the Speedway group in with there signing petition, now this is all second hand info so there may be something else to it but I sometimes wonder if we haven't lost our history and respect for our past. Hell I used to race for $300 to just as hard as I did for $5000.00 to win and still do. One thing I can tell you though is I haven't won the Knoxville Nationals or a Kings Royal or a Chili Bowl but I have won at the Hutch Nationals, Enid Winter Nationals, all the OKC Nationals, NCRA Championships etc. and that is something that any of the Kinser's, Swindell's, WOO etc can't claim, and I would not trade all of my wins for any 1 of there's. The guys we had to race with the drivers, owner's, crew guys etc were just as good if not better then any of there's!!!!!!!! Now if I could have just won 1 of those Southwest Championships!!!!!!!!!!!!! RIP Bob Cody!!!!!!!

Hi Ray and you other folks! Yes, Frusher did quit after the 1980 season. He had been racing pretty steady for twelve years and I think he was a little burnt out. If you'll look at a Kansas map and locate Utica, Kalvesta, Jetmore, Ness City, and Fowler you have to wonder how these boys ever got into racing. Coyote hunting, calf roping, and bull frogging was more in line with their location. Davy Ross came to see me today and told me he was going to see Frucher tomorrow and he would ask him if there was any particular reason he quit. It wasn't because of hard feelings on anybody's part. I'm sure of that. Shoot, if you couldn't get along with Charlie Oches or Dave Frusher you couldn't get along with anybody. They were two of the easiest going people you'll ever meet. R.I.P. Charlie. I'll let you know what D.R. found out......Larry P.S. BTW, that picture of my rail can be found by typing in Larry Torson on Google search. That little boy on my knee is my boy, Rick. He is fifty years old now.

Larry and others....Department of Corrections. Got my Daves mixed up. The one I was talking about sitting in for Garry Lee was Dave Ross, not Dave Frusher. Sorry for the misunderstanding.

I do know that after Dave retired he helped Kenny Hacker with the track at Wakeeney. He was Hacker's flagman. Also around that time he was getting into the oil business. Bought a pulling unit. Maybe he had too many irons in the fire to do the racing justice. Also , I have been wondering about the car Dave won the championship in 79. I had always heard that it was the one Danny King campained the year before and that he and Dave rebuilt it during the winter. Changed it to a four bar & put a new cage on it. Then I went to the vintage event in Wichita a couple of years back and lo and behold there is Danny's old car looking exactly like it did the day it left the track.

For those interested , the injunction hearing for State Fair Speedway was today and will determine the future of SFS racing in 2010 and it lasted all day and the judge will have a ruling tommorrow at 1:30.

For those interested found out that Lanny Edwards/State Fair Speedway lost their injunction hearing today and most likely will be no racing at SFS in 2010 or beyond.

Have not heard if he will file an appeal.

I wouldn't say that just yet. I've been checking around a bit.

We'll see soon I'm sure.

I wonder wht the drivers from the 60's and 70's think about the racing situation her in OK, no racing in OKC and Tulsa.

I'm just a fan, I think the closing of Fairgrounds Speedway is sad, but one thing nobody can take away from me is my great memories of the racing during the 60's and 70's .I remember my Dad and I would come from Lawton to OKC just to watch Wayne Cox race "Little Boy Blew" in 1966.

Mike

It sure threw a curve for my racing this season, still glad to win one and finish in the Top 10 at the place in its final season, feel fortunate and gonna miss those Friday nights of racing at OKC on the corner of NW 10th and May Ave.

It is sad about the OK City Track,,,but when you think about it almost all the tracks everywhere that are in the middle of big towns are about all gone that run weekly.. Ether the city runs them out or people around the tracks complain so much about the noice it leeds to trouble for them. The most succesfull tracks that are left are outside City limits or on the outside edge of a town. Joplin has a track setting empty in town and Muskogee also.

Sedalia Mo is running but the city there runs the fairgrounds and its a big thing for that town because it is so small,the people there need the track to bring people there to spend money.The State fair there is a big thing for that town. Monett Mo is another one that has made it , but again also in a small town but is on the outside edge,,it has run 40 years now none stop,,it puts the Joplin guys and the Springfield guys together,,,and it dont have alot of competetion on Sundays nights.Knoxville is another one like Sedelia it needs the money from it.Its the biggest thing in that town.Springfield Mo has a track on the North edge and there is a rumor that if it ever closes for a full year it will not be able to reopen. The Springfield fairgrounds is another track that ended.

It may be the end of tracks in the Bigger intercitys. Tulsa has other problems than just the city with the guys getting together and agreeing on stuff .Thats why the track on the edge of town wont work out. The Chilli Bowl is a Magor event and the City of Tulsa makes a boat load off of Motels taxes.And it only runs for one week.The bussness owners in Tulsa back its coming once a year,,and its in a Building to help kill the noice troulble.

OK City lasted longer than most did i hate to see it go.But there has to be a problem with the bigger towns not seeing the gain from the tracks,maybe it is having to split the money with the promoter just doesnt pay them enough anymore.Or they cant pay someone enough to run the tracks.And also with other tracks opening up out side and around the towns it makes it harder to make money on the in town tracks. 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.