Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

If I missed coverage on this forum I apologize, if not shame on Hoseheads contributors.  Norman (Bubby) Jones passed away Jan 18 at the age of 78.  If you ever got to see the USAC and CRA great race it was a treat you wouldn't forget.  I had the pleasure of seeing him in many venues around the country but my favorite times were probably his Ascot years when he and Dean Thompson went at it weekly in the non wing CRA sprints.  RIP Bubby.

I was lucky enough to grow up going to Ascot on a nearly weekly basis and have fond memories of Bubby Jones. I remember when he showed up in the early 80's after having moved to California and I really had no idea what to expect. I knew that he was a hotshot outlaw from the midwest, but had no idea just how good he really was. I suspect that my dad might have known, but I did not. What's more, the Kazarian car that he drove was a beautiful car and Ray Scheetz was a fantastic chief mechanic. His duels with Dean Thompson were the stuff of legend.

R.I.P. Ole Bub.  So many saturday nights at Ascot watching Bubby battle with Deano.  So sad to hear.

It was 1980, shortly after Ol’ Bub relocated to Southern California. A  CRA race at Santa Maria. The announcer was trying to interview Bubby, who was seldom interested in speaking into a mic. 

“What do you think of racing in California?” the announcer asked.

“It beats workin’,” Bubby deadpanned.

Classic.

I was more of an Eddie Wirth and Bob Meli fan, but Jones was definitely a huge part of the Ascot and CRA scene during the 1980s. That might have been the high water mark for SoCal sprint car racing (although the cars were awfully dangerous back then).

Sorry to hear that he has passed on. 

My first memory of a race car was Bubby in the Siebert Olds #76 at New Bremen Speedway the summer of 79'. 

I still have an autographed picture. 

My first memory of Norman was at Fairbury American Legion Speedway in Fairbury, Illinois. He raced there nearly every Saturday night during the early to mid 1960's. In those days they ran a class at Fairbury that they called the rail cars but they were a mixture of wingless sprint cars and super modified's that made up the division. It was evident that Bubby was really good even then. At that time Bubby was cutting hair in a 2 chair barber shop he shared with Larry "Boom-Boom" Cannon that was located in Bubby and Larry's home town of Danville, Illinois. I was a very young child in those days but watching Bubby and the boys at Fairbury is obviously something I've never forgotten.