|
|
|
|
|
Topic: Photos from Gary Cole
|
Email this topic to a friend |
Subscribe to this Topic
| Report this Topic to Moderator
|
|
Page 4 of 4 of 65 replies
|
|
|
|
|
November 08, 2011 at
12:28:06 PM
|
|
|
Joined:
|
01/17/2009
|
|
Posts:
|
42
|
|
|
Reply to:
Posted By: jdsprint71 on November 08 2011 at 11:55:54 AM
That one shot of right side of the 35 car with Gary and Crew ,look in back ground and the Blue with Red #9 Modified and looks like a young Mike Bickel setting on LF tire talking to someone, looks like the infield of 1/4 mile at the Fairgrounds ,you can see 1/4,1/2 mile and 1/2 mile fence in back ground and how about that battle tested right side nerf bar,lots of character built into that one on a race by race basis.
J.D.
|
JD:
You are right. That is Mike Bickel. See the blue/white chevy pick up with white camper top. That is Joe John Moxley's truck and his driver (Troy Matchen) is backing the #86 car up to go out to hot laps. Their car is the black car just behind my rear wheels. That picture is on the east side of the 1/4 mile track and inside the 1/2 mile track. If you could see the left side of the car, you would see where part of the top was gone. A couple of weeks before this picture was taken, I was inside of Mike Bickel who had a bad push coming out of two and when his car finally caught hold, he came down and clipped my right rear tire. I did a flip ending upside down right out of two. Crew(s) came out, put back on wheels and I ended up winning the heat race, trophy dash and finished fourth in feature. The front end was bent pretty bad and I just flat wore out during the feature. Fun times!!
GRC35
|
|
|
|
November 08, 2011 at
03:40:09 PM
|
|
|
Joined:
|
05/02/2005
|
|
Posts:
|
1337
|
|
|
|
Guess I thought that was 1/4 mile track right on other side of Mike B. car and now see it is infield to the 1/2 mile, sounds like you had your hands full that night with bent front end and still got a nice finish, was you fortunate enough to have Power Steering then??.
Still see Mike Bickel and his wife Betty still at races today , in fact seen them over at Muskogee in Sept. at a Sprint Show and we talked about Travis their son who passed away several years ago and (who I miss seeing a whole bunch) and Dennis his other son made me a smaller pulley about 2 yrs. ago to slow down water some in motor for my Sprinter , Bickels are good folks
J.D.
|
|
|
|
|
November 08, 2011 at
04:09:54 PM
|
|
|
Joined:
|
01/17/2009
|
|
Posts:
|
42
|
|
|
Reply to:
Posted By: jdsprint71 on November 08 2011 at 03:40:09 PM
Guess I thought that was 1/4 mile track right on other side of Mike B. car and now see it is infield to the 1/2 mile, sounds like you had your hands full that night with bent front end and still got a nice finish, was you fortunate enough to have Power Steering then??.
Still see Mike Bickel and his wife Betty still at races today , in fact seen them over at Muskogee in Sept. at a Sprint Show and we talked about Travis their son who passed away several years ago and (who I miss seeing a whole bunch) and Dennis his other son made me a smaller pulley about 2 yrs. ago to slow down water some in motor for my Sprinter , Bickels are good folks
J.D.
|
JD:|
Power steering was not allowed then. Used a Schroder streeing box. Mike had an ill handling car that night as we all experienced at times. I saw him with a bad push and was trying to get by as fast as I could, but didn't quite make it. You are right, Mike Bickel was a good person and a heck of an engineer as I remember. I don't see a lot of the ex racers as I stay away from the race tracks.
GRC35
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
November 08, 2011 at
05:19:59 PM
|
|
|
Joined:
|
05/02/2005
|
|
Posts:
|
1337
|
|
|
|
Ya know Gary you don't see a lot of ex racers once they quit racing come out and watch much ,when I have been down at Lawton in last decade or so would still see a few old timers that would come out and watch a show or 2 occasionally that ran back in the 70's and 80's , but not many, most drivers have the mentality that if I am not driving then not going to go watch, not all of em but most of em have that thinking and nothing wrong with it and not sure why?? ,maybe it is their worried the ol urge/want to might creep back up.
I know one thing , Drivers were tough ol Hombre's back then with NO powersteering , trying to get the Openwheel and Full Bodied cars around the track, be funny to see a race one time with no PS in this day and time and it'd be pretty unpredictable who might win.
Also your correct on Mike ,Travis (RIP) and Dennis Bickel, all 3 are great engineers and fabricators.
J.D.
|
|
|
|
November 08, 2011 at
05:29:08 PM
|
|
|
Joined:
|
06/25/2005
|
|
Posts:
|
407
|
|
|
Reply to:
Posted By: jdsprint71 on November 08 2011 at 05:19:59 PM
Ya know Gary you don't see a lot of ex racers once they quit racing come out and watch much ,when I have been down at Lawton in last decade or so would still see a few old timers that would come out and watch a show or 2 occasionally that ran back in the 70's and 80's , but not many, most drivers have the mentality that if I am not driving then not going to go watch, not all of em but most of em have that thinking and nothing wrong with it and not sure why?? ,maybe it is their worried the ol urge/want to might creep back up.
I know one thing , Drivers were tough ol Hombre's back then with NO powersteering , trying to get the Openwheel and Full Bodied cars around the track, be funny to see a race one time with no PS in this day and time and it'd be pretty unpredictable who might win.
Also your correct on Mike ,Travis (RIP) and Dennis Bickel, all 3 are great engineers and fabricators.
J.D.
|
Didn't Mike drive a Nance coil-over car?
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
|
|
|
|
|
November 09, 2011 at
07:55:05 AM
|
|
|
Joined:
|
05/02/2005
|
|
Posts:
|
1337
|
|
|
This message was edited on
November 09, 2011 at
07:56:57 AM by jdsprint71
Yes he did John, back in the Champ Dirt Days of the early 80's , was the same baby blue color paint with red #9 , that was when I first met Mike and Travis , they were trying stuff with the coil over deal and did what they could with what funds they had back then.
That is when I discovered Travis was very sharp on Fab and Engineering stuff, heck the guy made it all the way to Indianapolis and worked for several Indy Teams and before his death he was working his way up to being a Main Engineer for a top Indy CarTeam, Travis knew how to think outside of the box and make it work.
Funny thing about Travis Bickel that I'll never forget we were at Lawton for a Sprint Show back in the 80's and Travis was helping Billy Turner back then and he was on back stretch and Lawton still had pipe fence around it then and was standing with Travis to watch the A main and he would go up by the pipe fence during Yellow flags and talk to Billy Turner in almost sign language for several laps while under yellow, Billy was running about 12th or so and he came back to stand by me and I just ask him just what did you tell Billy?, change his line or try something else and he said nope, I told him if he did'nt get up on the wheel and get up in the Top 10 we were gonna have McDonalds tonight on the way home and we had talked about Steak on the way down that day and I got my heart set on some steak and like the car to finish where it could pay for the steak dinner. I knew Travis was a sharp mind then but also realized from that point on he had just simple common sense as well and knew not to take it all to serious and not try to over engineer it all , like I said sure miss seeing him around.
J.D.
|
|
|
