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January 08, 2011 at
11:53:46 AM
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02/04/2005
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I loved to see the cars on open trailers. My favorite thing as a little girl with a Dad racing was to use the tire rack as my jungle gym to hang on. Now my husband teases me me when I see an enclosed trailer and say "race car hauler", because I have know way of knowing for sure what's in there unless it has a picture or # on the side.
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January 08, 2011 at
02:00:03 PM
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04/14/2007
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I love driving to the truck in an open trailer, especially in NASCAR country! Let all who pass by take a look at a real race car! I don't have the most powerful truck in the world, a Toyota Tacoma Pre-Runner, and I refuse to put the wing at a flatter angle to save on fuel. I want it to look race ready!
I've had people roll down the window at stop lights wanting to know where I'm races and what the hell is that thing. At gas stations and Waffle Houses, I've had fans approach me not knowing we actually race sprints in the Southeast.
I had a lot of northern's that moved into the area tell me they are so relieved to know we do race sprints some around here. I always make sure I have a few copies of Pete's schedule in my truck.
My favorite memory of driving to the track in an open trailer was having an 18-wheeler out of New York on his way to Houston, TX follow me for two hours on my way to Dixie Speedway in Woodstock, GA. I didn't notice at all, but he told me in the pits after the race that he followed from Greenville, SC. I wasn't stopping and I didn't have a CB, so his only way of finding out where I was going to follow me and hope I didn't get him too far off course.
Brandon McLain
United Sprint Car Series Driver
2014 Season
National Rookie of the Year!
National Points - 8th
Southern Points - 3rd
Asphalt Points - 3rd
18 Races, 3 Top 5's, 14 Top 10's
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January 08, 2011 at
07:29:45 PM
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Reply to:
Posted By: racrguy on January 08 2011 at 08:41:45 AM
Yep, looked to be an older rig.
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Yup Thats Don
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January 08, 2011 at
08:02:32 PM
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07/26/2005
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This message was edited on
January 08, 2011 at
08:13:32 PM by catpuppy
I was coming back from Dallas where I picked up a stealth. . My dad and I went down there to pick up the car and it was on an open trailer as we brought it back home. As we got near Ardmore, Oklahoma my dad was asleep in the passenger seat and as a trucker passed us he laid on his horn. Woke my dad up and I was laughing and smiling going heck yea.
As we got closer to Okc a bunch of people were heading to Devil's Bowl for the ASCS race and they were calling me saying we just saw you.
"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands
in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he
stands at times of challenge and controversy."
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Erich Petersen
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January 23, 2011 at
04:01:14 PM
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Rolled into Knoxville with this trailer, finished 4th in heat race and 12th in A-main in our first ever trip to the track.1.jpg)
*********
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January 23, 2011 at
06:35:31 PM
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I have helped my cousin on his car. He loads it on the open trailor and as I sit in the back of the truck while we go down to Wilmot Raceway, it just amazes me to see the wonder in the eyes of those who pass by. Plus the trailor is low matanene. Easy access, easy to clean, easy to load on/load off.
- The Wingman Dave
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January 24, 2011 at
03:39:06 AM
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Please bear with me while I reminisce a bit. To me Rick Ferkel had the best open trailer in the 70's. It was so utilitarian it was almost like an enclosed trailer. I thought I had a photo - but if so, I couldn't find it. Enclosed trailers don't necessarily mean security. Just ask Garry Lee Maier when his new tow truck, enclosed trailer and everything inside (sprint, spares & tools) was stolen from a motel lot in Mesquite several years ago. Once at the Devil's Bowl (30 - 40 years ago) I saw an unfamiliar face in the stands - a rather pale face. I asked him who, etc. he was. He said he had no idea that there was a sprint car track in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area but when he saw a sprint on an open trailer he tried to follow it through Ft. Worth and Dallas traffic in 5:00 Friday evening traffic. For those of you who might know - it was Tim Gibbons he was trying to keep up with in traffic. No wonder he was still white from fear. One more spectator! Then there was the time that Bobby Marshall picked up a hitch hiker - no room in the truck - so the guy had to ride in the sprint car on the open trailer. What a treat that must have been. Since I'm from Texas some of this might be wrong - but I believe it was Billy Wertz in Central Pennsylvania who flat towed his sprint car to the tracks behind his station wagon. With the inverted starts he generally started at the front - and actually did a pretty good job of staying there - but as soon as someone passed him he'd pull over and then drop in at the back and continue on - enjoying himself. I understand that when the wings came into being that they were getting out of hand - so Billy put a huge wing on his car - and thus wing rules ensued. Unfortunately (or maybe it's the way to go) Billy lost his life in a sprint car accident. In our area, Skip Wilson still uses an open trailer. We laugh about he won "first in class". He has, however, won a National ASCS race. A nicer guy than Skip would be hard to find.
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February 01, 2021 at
05:16:49 AM
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best tory i saw was one night at Lincoln when Randy Ruth pulled in with an open trailer & the big trailer boys were doin some hecklin'.
His reply was " I did'nt know we were racin' trailers".........Then he won the feature.
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February 01, 2021 at
12:42:00 PM
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Great topic, great comments.
Enclosed trailers are probably safer on the road, more secure for the teams and shelter the car and tools from the elements. For a traveling team, I'm sure they are "necessary" in order to keep enough parts on hand and to be able to work on your car on the road.
For those that can do it, the open trailers are awesome. Big time advertising. At 54, I still turn my head when I pass an open trailer regardless what type of car it is. I remember as a kid, some guys flat-towed their cars to the track while others drove them through the pit gate (nice to live in a small town where the cops don't get excited about "minor" infractions). Heck, I roll down the window in my car when I am a mile or so from the track so I can hear if hot laps have started.
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February 01, 2021 at
08:13:37 PM
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Although I'm a stock car guy I've been towing with open trailers for over 60 years and wouldn't do it any other way. My son has been on me since he started racing nearly 30 years ago to get an enclosed one but hasn't had much luck. I give him all the same reasons many others have mentioned but have a couple other ones.
Back in the mid to late '60s while working in the Ohio/ Indiana area I was running a '39 Ford hardtop with a flathead, of course, and got the idea of hitting up a few promoters with the suggestion that if they dropped the pit fees I would hang a sign on the back of the car saying "Follow me to ---- Speedway" and maybe get a few fans to do just that. It worked out good for them and saved me a couple of bucks. I was young, racing 4 or 5 nights a week and was getting next to no sleep as I was towing close to 700 miles a week, mostly with no help and one night, think in Michigan, I'd forgotten to change the sign from the night before in Ohio and the promoter gave me a little grief but still let me in free.
Live in northern California now and a few years ago was towing to a tiny little track half way across northern Nevada and we stopped for lunch outside Reno and two couples struck up a conversation: where, what, the usual. They'd just come across the whole state from the eastern side and were race fans from, I think MIssouri. After they talked it over they turned around and followed us over 150 miles to the track and really enjoyed the little town and it's little track and the races.
The enclosed stuff is nice but I'll stick with the old way that has worked forever for me. Also got to meet a lot of nice people that sure wouldn't have happened if in a big white box.
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February 02, 2021 at
08:17:59 AM
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When I was a kid in the late 50's and early 60's we lived a few blocks from the Minnesota State Fairgrounds. We used to ride our bikes to Auto Repair Service which at the time was across the street from the Fair before they widened the street and made it a four lane. The shop housed the McDonald #69 that Jerry Richert drove before he hooked up with Wagner.
I bring that up because we would see the old cageless non-winged Sprints of that era parked along the side street on open trailers. My usual racing spectating was home built Modifieds that were ugly by comparison to these chromed up beauties with fancy paint jobs and with all that chrome.
Today it's a lot different with the interstate system that was still under construction back then. Traveling and touring series were a lot different. I agree that the touring drivers need those shops on wheels but the old days of open trailers is an experience that I will never forget.
Stan Meissner
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February 02, 2021 at
11:43:11 AM
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When I was a kid we went to most of the races at Ascot and would always go in the pits after the races. As a result of leaving late, we would often see cars on thier open trailers on our drive home and I was always excited to see them despite having just watched them race earlier that evening. I understand why teams use the enclosed trailers now, but open trailers sure are nice to see.
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February 02, 2021 at
02:13:15 PM
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12/21/2005
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It's been a while since I helped out on a sprint car team but I remember in the late 90's we had a nice Rezner open trailer with 2 or 3 tire racks. It was so easy for one guy to go to the car wash and clean the car and all the tires. We could be in and out of there in 30 minutes or so. Wasn't the greatest for traveling, but for in town races it was awesome.
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