Forum: Racing From The Past (go)
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Well it seemed like 50 feet, LOL I was a kid. I wonder when the last time I was at one. It would have to be the 70's. I pretty much quit going to the state fair in the late 70's. I went to the races but stayed away from the midway.

What happened to the stickers like NCRA use to give out when you raced at a series race, those round stickers with gold and black with the United States and NCRA in the middle of it and what race/town it was from. Showed everyone all the wars you had been to that season and you displayed them with pride.

What happened to non wing racing , except for a 2 day stint this past Aug. here in Okla. , it's the only time you see it and dammit that made me miss it even more and sure wish someone would try the concept again in this area on a local weekly or series level.

What happened to the Non Downtube car, not many are raced anymore except for a few and sure makes me glad I kept my Stealth for future restoration, besides those Hoods on the downtube cars have WAY TO MANY DZUS, 13 to be exact and that makes it a pain to remove to get to the motor, the Non Downtube 5 Dzus to be exact and the hoods off and your looking at the motor.

What happened to day races and I mean where they start at 1 pm and race in the afternoon, guess with EPA and all there regulations that you have to deal with makes it not a viable thing to do anymore, but sure do miss them.

What happened to open trailers.

What happened to the smell of popcorn popping at the track,use to smell it all the time growing up when going to a racetrack, now hardly ever, maybe the EPA thought that was a bad thing to and put a air filter on the popcorn machine.

Whatever happened to officials who wore a complete officials uniform Pants and a Officials shirt, guess the economy made it to expensive for tracks to afford a complete uniform.

Whatever happened to the pit pass tag that you use to hang on your belt loop, now it is a wrist band and I would think that the tag is another victim of cost these days but you can't collect wrist bands like you could those pit pass tags.

Whatever happened to 50 lap A mains.

Whatever happened to contingency money for wining an A main or for a top 3 finish, you could win a case of racing oil or Plugs or Filters along with the money for that place you finished.

Whatever happened to Hand Lettered Cars, (RIP Harold Leep Jr., I sure miss ya buddy)

Just a few things I wondered whatever happened to.

I never would have believed it Ray, all the stories and very good one's, ya can learn a lot by reading them , the number of hits and especially the get togethers that are now a pretty common thing in this area. Really a great thing that has come out of it , where you can go an see the great's of the sport in the past and present and find out things you wondered about back then as for me a kid growing up liking the Super Mods and now you can find out the real story of why it was that way.

Really glad I got to wondering just "what happened to" this and that in Sept. 2008.

Do they still make the popcorn at the track or is it prepackaged?

Wasn't it Jim's Bar B Que?

As a kid my track was Mohawk Speedway west of Hutchinson. It was where Hutchinson Raceway Park is now. A 1/4 mile in a river valley. The bleachers were somewhat up on a hill side and you had a great view of the track. That is if you could see, as lighting was not so great. I just drove by Outlaw Speedway south of Muskogee tonight. The lights were so bright it was almost blinding from US 69.

Posted from Muskogee

"Winning the USAC vs NCRA race at OKC. That Shane wasn't going to be denied and he did it without taking anybody out."

That comment was great!!!

"and he did it without taking anybody out."

The last time Frankie Lies won the Hutch Nationals with Kenny Riffel and the #55. He parked at the finish line and the right rear tire blew out. Anyone remember that?

Welder, I know GOTRA Good Ole Time Racing Association http://www.gotra.com and the Midwest Outlaw Vintage Racers http://www.movr.us/Members.php are far from vintage, but those coupes and sedans etc would look so cool on the weekend with KAR and the NCRA Sprints.

Warren,

Don't forget Herby was the first to beat the USAC boys in 1983 at OKC. His drive

that night forever changed the national perspective of the NCRA. Herby in the NANCE

1n beat a USAC contingent that included Tom Bigelow, Gary Bettenhausen, Bill Vukovich,

Larry Dickson, Ricky Hood, Eddie Leaviit, Sheldon Kinser, Roger Rager, Ken Schrader,

Ron Shuman, and Shane Carson. Everyone of these drivers is in the National Sprint Car Hall

of fame, or the National Midget Hall of Fame, or both. This was the last race my dad would

ever attend, he would pass away two days later. But I remember how excited and proud he

felt over Herb Copeland's win.

Big Frank drove one hell of a race in 1968 at Hutch. That victory was his first in the

nationals since 1958, after winning the first Nationals at Taft Stadium in 1957. Warren,

I know how much you loved the Blue #55, it wa definitely one of the best 100 inch

supers ever.

Ray C

What happened to the stickers like NCRA use to give out when you raced at a series race, those round stickers with gold and black with the United States and NCRA in the middle of it and what race/town it was from. Showed everyone all the wars you had been to that season and you displayed them with pride.

What happened to non wing racing , except for a 2 day stint this past Aug. here in Okla. , it's the only time you see it and dammit that made me miss it even more and sure wish someone would try the concept again in this area on a local weekly or series level.

What happened to the Non Downtube car, not many are raced anymore except for a few and sure makes me glad I kept my Stealth for future restoration, besides those Hoods on the downtube cars have WAY TO MANY DZUS, 13 to be exact and that makes it a pain to remove to get to the motor, the Non Downtube 5 Dzus to be exact and the hoods off and your looking at the motor.

What happened to day races and I mean where they start at 1 pm and race in the afternoon, guess with EPA and all there regulations that you have to deal with makes it not a viable thing to do anymore, but sure do miss them.

What happened to open trailers.

What happened to the smell of popcorn popping at the track,use to smell it all the time growing up when going to a racetrack, now hardly ever, maybe the EPA thought that was a bad thing to and put a air filter on the popcorn machine.

Whatever happened to officials who wore a complete officials uniform Pants and a Officials shirt, guess the economy made it to expensive for tracks to afford a complete uniform.

Whatever happened to the pit pass tag that you use to hang on your belt loop, now it is a wrist band and I would think that the tag is another victim of cost these days but you can't collect wrist bands like you could those pit pass tags.

Whatever happened to 50 lap A mains.

Whatever happened to contingency money for wining an A main or for a top 3 finish, you could win a case of racing oil or Plugs or Filters along with the money for that place you finished.

Whatever happened to Hand Lettered Cars, (RIP Harold Leep Jr., I sure miss ya buddy)

Just a few things I wondered whatever happened to.

Ya know was mainly going to races since mid 60's to early/mid 70's at mainly Lawton Speedway till mid 70's,with the exception of venturing south of the Red River to Wichita Speedway on a few occasions back in the early 70's with my dad and then my parents and me started venturing out to some of Lanny Edwards other race tracks he owned like Dallas Spring Nat. in 1976 and of course the first WoO race in 78 and other shows at Da Bowl and also venturing up to Tulsa Speedway in the late 70's as well and watching Bullet Bob Ewell lead races and then motor let go and end up with a DNF on the 5/8 ths ,cannot remember how many times that happened but it was several, this was when he was driving his own stuff and had Branch's Dis.Auto Supply sponsoring him out of Dallas,it was before the RySon deal existed, learned some from helping him and his brother back then on how things worked on then what was a 100" Super Modified , the getting out and going to NCRA's in the late 70's and not missing one in 1979 and also watching ,listening and paying attention then ,but it seemed after about 1980/1981 which I was a Sr. in High School did I really get the bug to want to get a race car.
Remember use to go to Pits as then you were old enough at 16 , I'd just by a Pit Pass and just walk around and ask questions and ask some more questions and then a few more questions and listened a lot.

Never really looked at the money end of it back then but when you get real serious about it and you are NOT rich and loaded, the money end of it seems to be at the forefront most all the time and found that out in 82 when I started thinking about buying a Openwheel car then.
Knew $5-10 G's to purchase a Car was not pocket change and was going to have to save up the loot , My Parents also said no race car till after graduation of College which I was able to do in 1986, was not an easy task for a 18/19 yr. old kid to save money but knew I wanted to get a car and kind of set my mind on it, thought it was really a cool thing to travel and head up and down the road pulling a race car and racing it at a track and seeing what you had for em that night and the thrill of the competition.The ability to compete and watch your stuff you put work and hours in at the shop during the week and go out and see what it would do and the outcome/conclusion on a Fri. or Sat. night would be???.

Was not really sure about the Champ Dirt Cars back then in mid 80's as they were quite a pricey deal (or so I thought back then),now they don't seem that pricey.
Fortunately a longtime friend from up in OKC let me in on some info about a class that Bud Carson was going to start up in OKC to replace the costly Champ Dirts which was called the Super Modifieds and the Wingless Modifieds which both ran 2 Bar. Carbs which the Super Modifieds evolved into what is known as the Super Sprint class at SFS till it shut down,I tried the Super Modifieds for 2 yrs. and quickly seen needed to step back down to the Wingless Modifeds V8's and 6 Cyl's then which is now what they call a Champ Sprint class today ,they ran the wingless 100" cars on the 1/4 mile at OKC and was starting to run at a few other places as well and like I said has evolved into the Champ Sprint Class of today, really surprised this class has lasted as long as it has, usually the 5-7 cycle pertains to classes , start out cheap then innovation etc. step in and boom once relatively inexpensive class is now expensive and less and less cars show up so ya just start up a new class and the cycle goes again ,this is not to say the class has not become more expensive as it has , some rule changes to the 2 Bar. classes over the years has been good and some I wonder why they did it , seemed to just drive the costs up more. Thought the Brodix Alum. Spec Head was a good change and Bottom end changes were OK , but the Roller Cam still baffles me on why , I heard over and over back then , breaking solid cams , running lobes down etc. , then they should have put a lift/spring rule on them , been easy to check but I guess opening it up was easier than trying to police it, but it sure openened up a bunch more stuff needed to be competitive then.

Still think they ought to just take the wings off of the Champ Sprints and run'em that way , better racing in my opinion, won't EVER happen but I sure wish it would , sure miss the non wing days of 100" cars of the late 80's/early 90's.
Just thought I would contribute to the thread some Ray.

J.D.

What happened to the stickers like NCRA use to give out when you raced at a series race, those round stickers with gold and black with the United States and NCRA in the middle of it and what race/town it was from. Showed everyone all the wars you had been to that season and you displayed them with pride.

What happened to non wing racing , except for a 2 day stint this past Aug. here in Okla. , it's the only time you see it and dammit that made me miss it even more and sure wish someone would try the concept again in this area on a local weekly or series level.

What happened to the Non Downtube car, not many are raced anymore except for a few and sure makes me glad I kept my Stealth for future restoration, besides those Hoods on the downtube cars have WAY TO MANY DZUS, 13 to be exact and that makes it a pain to remove to get to the motor, the Non Downtube 5 Dzus to be exact and the hoods off and your looking at the motor.

What happened to day races and I mean where they start at 1 pm and race in the afternoon, guess with EPA and all there regulations that you have to deal with makes it not a viable thing to do anymore, but sure do miss them.

What happened to open trailers.

What happened to the smell of popcorn popping at the track,use to smell it all the time growing up when going to a racetrack, now hardly ever, maybe the EPA thought that was a bad thing to and put a air filter on the popcorn machine.

Whatever happened to officials who wore a complete officials uniform Pants and a Officials shirt, guess the economy made it to expensive for tracks to afford a complete uniform.

Whatever happened to the pit pass tag that you use to hang on your belt loop, now it is a wrist band and I would think that the tag is another victim of cost these days but you can't collect wrist bands like you could those pit pass tags.

Whatever happened to 50 lap A mains.

Whatever happened to contingency money for wining an A main or for a top 3 finish, you could win a case of racing oil or Plugs or Filters along with the money for that place you finished.

Whatever happened to Hand Lettered Cars, (RIP Harold Leep Jr., I sure miss ya buddy)

Just a few things I wondered whatever happened to.

Ray,...Yes Grady drove my car twice that I recall. It was at Topeka 1/2 mile in 69. He won the main, Dale Reed drove the T Coipe during warm ups at Topeka 1/2 mile in 66 when Ray Lee was late getting to the track. Dale was running it so deep in the turns I found myself walking on tip toes trying to help him get through the turns. He and Grady were together that night. Grady drove it the same way when he drove but it was the sprint painted white with red trim three years later.

Ray Lee Goodwin starting driving for me the 66 season (Jack Belk drove 1/2 of 64 & all of 65 & deceided not to run the north circuit) Ray Lee wanted to run sprints & I wasn't to crazy about running without a cage. Every chance he got, he would go run a USAC or IMCA sprint race. I had several week ends with other drivers on a temporary deal. He convinced me to sell the T Coupe & build a sprint. He even found a buyer. But he continued to go run USAC when he got a chance.

In 68 he started driving for Swenson (24 car out of Linclon) but came back & drove mine some in early 69. He went back to the 24 car about mid season. I did not have a steady driver the rest of that season & sold the car after winning the Oklahome City IMCA race in Oct 69 with Dick Sutcliffe driving. I did mechanic the #26 car that Roy Hibbard was driving in 70, the #26 car is on page 32 of High Plains Thunder. On page #33 is the T Coupe car I built & ran in 66 & 67 with a different body with Bob Williams in it. It is also on 56 & 57.

I was not at the OKC Winternationals in 69, only at the IMCA Sprint race with Sutcliffe.....Luther

Does anyone know how to get ahold of Max Albright, Thanks [email protected]

Although this is not related to the usual 100" or NCRA topics.........(ahem) ........does anyone remember when Gary Mussatto ran the shows at Topeka, etc. he always wore a shirt that had a light blue square sewn on the back? You could look from the stands and pick him out easlily from all the others moving around in the pits. (he rarely stood in one place too long) Was that his intent or did he just like to wear that shirt to the races? I was always going to ask him but he passed before I got the chance.