Forum: Racing From The Past (go)
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Just finished watching the awesome film posted by Brian26 and it got me thinking about how Saturday nigh went and was hoping to get some help rembering the structure of race night. I think I am close.

1) Modified heat races.

2) Super modified heat races.

3) Trophy dash. Top two supers in each heat raced for the honor of kissing the trophy girl as I recall.

4) Modified B feature. Top two would transfer to the A?

5) Super Mod B feature. Top two would transfer to the A?

6) Water the track.. LOL

7) Modified A Feature.

8) Super modified A.

Am I close?

Back in the day here in Lawton after trophy dash for the supers and modifieds the track announcer would say "now we will have a short 15 minute intermission". About some thirty or some odd minutes later we started the B features and than the A features. That "short" intermission is what we joked about so people could go visit "Taco Lanny's" (concession stand) as we called it.. But we did have some great races here in Lawton which I feel very lucky to have seen these races in the '60's and '70's.

Mike

I would say you are pretty close but at Tulsa they would take the Top 4 out of the "B" feature to the "A"

The older I get the faster I use to be

Mike, I remember Lawton advertising in the Lawton Constitution Newspaper and hearing it on KSWO Radio back in the 70's writing and saying 18 BIG Races each and every Sat. night , start time 8:30 pm Sharp!!! and I remember the Taco Lanny intermissions, my parents use to say that as well, that saying must have gotten around,lol

So that would be 3 heats of Supers,Modifieds and Hobby Stocks, 3 Dash's , 3 B Features and 3 A Features. I always thought they usually had more Super Mods than Mods and had a extra heat of Supers for the show and 1 less Modified.

JD,

You are right. I do know if there was a threat of rain we might even start before 8:30 "Sharp" and get what was needed to constitute a race program and then we would take a "Short" 15 minute intermission. But those were great times and I loved every minute of it. I will say that we were lucky and really didn't get very many rain outs during that time. We only ran three classes than ,Oklahoma City ran two classes and Tulsa ran two classes. When I went to Oklahoma City for the races I got back home at a decent hour, not like today with running all those other classes makes for a dull and late night.

Mike

Mike, Seems Lanny has always been lucky for the most part with the weather, he seemed to be able to race at Lawton when most other places would call it a rainout. Guess it is good to be "LUCKY like LANNY".lol

Ya remember the one time the twister came back in the late 60's and or early 70's and darn near blew the track away , I was a kid and remember running for cover under the grandstands that night or being dragged by my mom,lol and that then was born the race for Super Modifieds known as the "Cyclone 50" , paid more cash and always brought in the Dallas and Amarillo as well as OKC guys , never remember to many Kansas or Tulsa guys coming down for that race. Lanny use to promote the heck out of it in the paper and radio and I am sure spread the word via phone calls to drivers I would imagine, it was really a big race back then that Lawton had and also the "Firecracker 50" as well was another race too. Then the NCRA's as well.

I hear ya on the decent hour to get a race over , that has went out the window from what I have seen in the last 5 yrs. or so , fixing to start those marathon nights soon in the 2011 season,lol, It is all about the back gate for the promoters , easier to get racers with race cars there and get their money than spend $$ and time promoting their show and getting fans to show. Kind of a lost art anymore , I have said it before and I'll say it again, C Ray Hall at 81 has it figured out , charge the same for any show $9 and get'em there and then they will spend money on food ,beverages, souveniers and so on and you will get your money and probably even more in the long run. Instead of spiking the front gate price to $15-$20 for a special event, they say word of mouth is the best advertisement anymore and when the $9 deal got out this past year at 81 , it looked like it was working real well last Oct. 2010 , with a full house of fans. You just don't see crowds like that in this area anymore ,well maybe that indoor show in Jan. called the Chili Bowl,those 5 nights would make ANY Promoter smile and realize I am gonna be rich!!.lol

J.D.

I remember as a kid our family one night went to a weekly show at Riverside in KC. There were stock cars, Supers or Sprint races then a figure 8 at the end of the night. I know it was way after midnight before it was all over. Me being crazy about racing I didn't mind the late hour at all. I think it was the following night we attended a Kansas City Athletics game. My wise father later smiled at me an stated he could see I couldn't care less about baseball if there was race to go to.

My Dad is the one to blame that I became infected from that bite from what we call the Racing Bug. Once it bites you, you just can't be cured. The only treatment for it is go to the races. I remember during the 1971 and 1972 season I sometimes could catch the results being broadcast over Tulsa's KVOO radio station after the races when I was in down here in Lawton. That sure made it interesting and helped to promote the races. Here in Lawton our radio station KSWO broadcast the first 30 minutes of racing action too. It was a great way to promote races down here also. Now we are lucky to even see a newspaper ad for the races anywhere that is still having a weekly racing program. One thing though, they might close down tracks but they sure can't close down my fond memories of the races I have been lucky enough to watch.

Mike

One night in Kc in the early 60s they took the Supermods to the old Memorial Baseball Stadium in Kc and they drove them around the warning track..they were advertising the races.The sound of the engines was amazing being in the stadium were the sound could not get out,,,but one of the drivers got alittle rambunctious and hit the gas and throw a Rostertail of the sandy stuff in the warning track all over the fence in the outfield.There were about 20 cars and they were in a full circle all around the ball field.A few other spun there tires abit..You could see the marks in the warning track when they spun the tires.

They had a fit and several officials ran out and start running the cars out the gate .They were afraid more would turn them sidways and do away with the warning track..

Scotty i went to several races at Riverside in the Mid to late 50s and then in the early 60s,,it was a great place to race..Thanks for bring up that good memory...

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.

Ya and they payed money for placing in the heat race and the B feature if you didint make the A...You dont see them paying for heat races now days..Things sure have changed alot..We should all be very glad that we got to live during the 50s 60s 70s and 80s,to see them times in racing .Pricless memorys.

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 remember racing up at Midwest in Lincoln Nebraska where they had a limited Sprint program. After the trophy dash they ran what it seems like it was called a Speed Dash. I think it was just random cars out of the field but if you won the thing you couldn't run it again that season. By the middle of the season most of the high dollar guys were out and some of the lesser known drivers got to share the glory of finishing up front. Great idea to keep the car count up. (and C.Ray didn't even have a thing to do with the place! LOL)