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The last race that I went to was the Gumout series race at the North Tulsa track. I took a friend who had never been to a dirt track race but had gone to a lot of asphalt late model races and drag races. We were going through the pits and the exhaust fumes were heavy and then we could smell something different, he said somebody is running nitro in their fuel. I had to agree because it was so different . I know back in the day a lot of races would jazz their gas up with toluene, is it common know for sprint racers spike their fuel with nitro?

Ray

The cars that I helped only ran gas, the fuel era was started later. With gas we ran very lean and were on the verge of burning pistons all the time and had several to burn. The 6 cyl. modifieds were the easy to burn a piston if you were not careful, we would pull number 3 and 4 plugs and look at them very carefully. If we saw little slivers of metal we knew we were way small on the jets. The biggest made were #100 and we had to have them drilled out bigger and we still burnt pistons. No matter what we did the sixes with the Holman/Moody manifold would run lean on number 3 and 4 pistons. The chevy V-8s were a little better but we still burnt a few pistons, in the feature we would back the timing off from 40 degrees of advance to 34-36 degrees of advance. Most of these problems stopped when they changed to fuel but we were out of it by then.

Ray

Hey Studieman were can i see the Picture you talked about earlyer that has Harvey Shane and Bill Dillard leaning over an engine.I would like to see that pic..

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.

redbandana are you talking about the pic where Bill and Harvey were standing beside the front of the car Bill crashed in. If so I have a copy of it somewhere, you can also see it on the Danley Clow site. I will see if I can find it.

I like them pics that show the multi Carbs and stuff from the older days...Send that pic the Brian so he can post it,,,yes i would like to have a copy of the car that Dillard crashed in,,i dont think i got that one ether..I was also there the night Dillard lost his life..The crash is one of my first and strongerst memorys of Racing...And one of the worst ..That car beat him to Death....My Dad told me on the way home to Joplin he said now do you understand why you should always were your helmet..I dont think i ever got on another Motorbike or Gokart after that without a helmet on..

Dad drove for Al Weiland and Al ran multi carbs alot ,,it was amazing how close Al could tune them to make a motor really run...There are not very many pictures from Tulsa around from 1960 to 1961 or even before that...I was hoping it was a pic i had not seen yet...

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 have known Bill Jr and Shelby Dillard for many years and also Lynn Grant, who's Dad Don owned the car. There is a picture album which sadly has been misplaced they are looking for, which has pics of that car in it, hopefully they will find it soon. But recently Bill Jr and Shelby left me speechless, they have loaned us Bill Sr helmet and goggles for as long as we want to use for display at our events next year.

I was 5 years old when it happened..I know that Bill was late getting to the track and jumped in the car for hot laps with no helmet..He got beat up pretty bad inside the car bouncing off of things during the flip.I liked Bill Dillard and was a fan of his....My dad was friends with him,he would always talk to me in the pits after the races.I seen how bad he looked when they carryed him off after the wreak.I dont want to go into details.I was probably more to the right farther into turn one than you were close to the end of the stands..I was a hethin at the tracks i was running all over the place foot racing .

.I had seen my dad flip so many time i learned early to watch the driver while its happening.And i had plenty of questions for my dad like what do you do when you are fliping.He first words was hold on to the steering wheel and dont let go...I seen many bent steering wheels and hospitals as the son of Jack Belk...Dillard was like my dad they both had no fear in a Race car.

I know as i raced and played hard with my gokart i learned from the Dillard wreak that with no Cage or seat belts on a Go Kart you had to get away from a Gokart if it started to turn over on ya..In other words get away from it before it throws you away from it or smouches you under it..It is funny how things you see can change the way you do or look at things...The Dillard wreak was the first time i realized this Sports can take you at any time.It bothered me.

.After that over the years i seen my dad take many rolls and bad rides...It was amazing he walked away from some of the wreaks he had..And many times he woke up later at the Hospital..Then he finally had his bad one at Topeka in 1971 and never woke up..but he hung in there for 5 days before it finally got him. To much damage to his body to over come.

There was another guy in Joplin in about 1964 or 65 that rolled his car on the back straight..It throw him about 3/4 as high as a Telephone poll...he had a helmet on and seat belts..His belts were rottin and broke during the roll..

Do you have any pictures from the 60 or 61 years at Tulsa..I would like to see any you know of..

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.

Is this the car you were thinking about studieman. This pic was sent to me by Mike Pogue. The driver was Harley Estes on the left Don Grant on the right.

Here is an earlier pic of Bill at Flying Saucer Speedway in Fort Smith Ark late 50s

Thanks for posting this ,,there are not many pics of Dillard out there..I have heard some storys of him in Arkansas in the late 50s,I would like to see more of Dillard...My dad ran down there in Arkansas a few times then..The rules were always so different there compared to tracks in OK and Mo..It made it hard for Mo guys to run there with there cars..I know my dad went there one time i think in 1958 or 59 and they told him never to come back because he laped the whole field,, there was so much difference in the cars.,they would not let him run again unless it was in a local car.He did go back and drove a local guys car once or twice and won anyway...I always remember the Red Clay down there good bite flat on the floor......

In 1968 my Brother Randy went to Crawford County with his JR Mod 6 cylinder and won about 4 in a row and they told him never to come back ..The promtor payed him for first place and made him leave,,none of the other guys would race if they let him run that night..So Randy never went back....That is a good thing that a track stands up for its locals to keep things equal...They just didint have rules in writing were you could follow or know weather to go or not...

They ran JR Mods 6 bangers at Joplin and Neosho in 1968 and 69 .Randy won most of the Races he ran over 2 years with the Orange 75 owned by Max Reed..I wish they would have went to Tulsa but they never did..I think he would have ran well there.Neosho ran on the weekend like Tulsa did..But Joplin always ran on Tuesday night and always had a good field of cars.1969 was the last year for the Supermods or Jr Mods in SW Mo...Monett Speedway opened in 1970 with Late Models and Joplin followed suit...I know Bud Hatch and the Beckhams Duane and Terry Sr from Jopln went to Crawford County in the Late Models in the early 70s and had a great time..The 2 area matched up rules pretty well..My brother ran down there some also...They all loved that red clay......

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.

Here is a pic of Terry during that era at Crawford County with his Mustang Late Model

Here is another one of Bill Dillard Sr when he drove for Chuck Knights Dad and Grandpa