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That car has a chrome cage! Can't say where, but I'm pretty sure that car is still around. The cage was chromed and then welded to the rest of the frame. However, they could have built several like this one.

There were 2 NCRA races at Lawton that year, we ran alot of tracks in NCRA 2 times a year. That yellow #9 I thought McElreath built, if not I would agree it was a close copy, I know Shady ran the Bowl alot and some NCRA's and ever now and then would venture to OKC for a friday night show. If memory serves me right Scott's McElreath had a chrome cage also, seems like IMCA,BCRA & USAC had a rule about chrome cages back in those days. I know Quick Swick's BCRA car had the chrome cage also.

I just was never sure , reason I thought Smiley had something to do with it is that Steve Perry who ran the #23 Sprinter at Dallas , said one time when talking to Ewell at Dallas one Friday night ,He said Smiley had something to do with the car , maybe it was selling parts or repair work , not sure that is why I was asking, Heck makes sense that they would build there own cars , James was on his way to a Big time career I would imagine, He had talent and the name to reach the Big Time . I thought to in the late 70's that Henry Shoulders ran the Super Modified at Dallas # 12 had a car like McElreath , I know Ewell and Russell Shoulders were running buddies then and Ewell said that Henry had purchased one of his cars and put a totally different body on it and ran it as a Super only in Dallas , Henry never ran anywhere other than the Bowl.

I know Smiley built some cars back in the mid to late 70's , he built that one car Norman Martin drove black #51 called "The Experiment" and it was pretty trick deal back then and Norman would definately put the car through it paces back then at the Bowl. Did some moves that were in that time just unbelieveable. I guess you would call them Bonzai moves.

Another thing I often wonder is wonder whatever happened to Jerry Barnett? (Barnett Chassis), last I heard which was way back in the 80's he went back to Arizona after the issues he ran into down in Dallas.

Don't know what happened to Barnett or Jack Rich, after we got on the Gambler Deal Jack wasn't very happy even though we continued to run the Rich car with Peters & Wooley and win races with it. In about mid '85 Peters drove the Gambler at Tulsa and won while Shane was away racing WOO. The next week we took the Rich car over to Tulsa and it was dry slick and shiny that car was great on those kind of tracks and Peters started 14th and won going away beating Crawford and Ewell. It was a pretty controversial win as he won so bad, we got some breaks early and I think he lapped up to about 5th anyway that Ofixco bunch was not happy and we about had to brawl our way out of there. I think Jack built alot of midgets after that and did pretty good but I don't know what finally happened to him.

Smiley bought Dale Parson's equipment, Dale sold in '77 or '78. Thus I know that Smiley was building at or around '78.

By the way, who was Shane driving for when he won the last NCRA CHAMP DIRT show at the Bowl? That race was one for the history books if it weren't for Ewell's wing collapsing. There had been issues for years between those two. Oddly, Ewell(from Dallas) would win at OkC, Carson(from OkC) won that last race in Dallas.

I also remember Ewell, at OkC, had went through the stands while his rig went through the pits. The rig parked right by the stands , logos on the side, car behind- up walks BOB EWELL, he greeted the gatekeeper to the pits, who in turn refused to let him in since he didn't have a  plastic bracelet (pit pass).

I thought Shane was driving the Gambler #76 last year of the Champ Dirt Cars?

That sounds like vintage Bob Ewell back then, in the late 70's travel all the way up to Tulsa and lose a motor , it seemed like every week and Branch's Discount Auto Supply was sponsoring him then , Jerry Branch built him a bunch of motors then , had to, He sure went through a bunch of them back then.

Remeber riding up from Dallas to an NCRA in Muskogee , were motivating along Hwy. 69/75 just north of McAlester,Ok. and John his brother looks back and notices several tires missing and currently bouncing down the road and on the shoulder and luckily hit no cars , but we had a Firestone Drag 500 in a plowed field at least 250 yds. off the road, me and John went and retrieved it and those RR STEEL wheels sure make you appreciate that they come up with Aluminum wheels . Even rolling it through the plowed field was a chore.

Those Jack Rich 100" cars were good ones , Bert Woodring still has his as far as I know , talked to him several months ago and wanted to sell all of his stuff, That Jack Rich car he has , had a bunch of drivers drive it and a bunch of wins on it and it was tough, Bert set it up in the trees on the back stretch at Tulsa Speedway, I thought it was done then but still lived to race again

Sure something that Gambler was a big time chassis company then and now they build choppers/bikes.

'78 On Parsons selling out. In '87 Peter's won the spring NCRA show in Mr. Bill's #97 Ewell and Shane were right on Peter's butt until about 2 laps to go (48th lap) when Shane made a run under both going into 3 and scooped up a big chunk of mud bending the belly pan up so bad it locked the brake pedal on and Shane spun off the track. In the fall race Shane would have been in the Gambler car, however I thought that Bob ran 2nd because Mike finished 3rd in the #97 and won the Championship. Your right Bob and Shane along with Peter's had some real duels back in those days and there were alot of other guys that were tough back then, we were fortunate to have that good of racing to see back then. II wouldn't been afarid to take those 3 guys or a few of the others and went anywhere in the country and raced, we had good car owners, good equipment and good drivers.

Actually Shane was in the #12 Gambler car in '87 as the old man had pretty well retired by then due to his health, he had sold the Rich car to Bert along with trailer and a couple of engines and some parts but he took good care of Shane and I as he helped with alot of pieces and THE MOTOWN MISSLE which was his favorite engine that thing was way ahead of it's time it made lots of power and lots of r's in the 3 yrs that we ran it it won alot of Heats and Features, Ewell had the Shaver, Peter's had the DRE or Carbone (depending on which car he drove) and we had the M&M. In '85 one of the most impressive side by side nose to tail races I've been part of happened at the Fall NCRA race at OKC. Peter's was driving the #75 Stanton DRE, Ewell was in the Nance #1N Shaver and Shane was in the #76 Gambler M&M we ran 50 lapers then, Peter's and Ewell were in the front row Shane 2nd row outside, the track was wide open fast top to bottom, Ewell took the lead on start Peters managed to muscle by on about the 8th -10th lap,Shane was 3rd nose to tail these 3 were just driving off from everybody,driving through traffic high and low as if possessed. At about 1/2 way there was a red all 3 bolted on fresh rubber and added fuel, on restart Peter's led Bob was 2nd Shane 3rd on restart Ewell manged to get by Peter's on start but then Shane surprised both of them with a power move on the bottom in 3 and 4 a couple laps later for the lead with 20 to go Peter's passed Shane back for the lead on the bottom of turn 2 and that is the way it finished but all 3 were side by side several times during that last 20 laps. They lapped up to 6th and were over 1/2 straight ahead of 4th, after the race our tach was setting on 8700RPM which was alot in those days, Shane said he didn't lift after the restart and I don't believe Bob or Mike did either.

I remember that race, Ya know I always wondered why Mike Peters never gave the WoO a shot , You figure with a lot of the races he competed in and won in the 70's ,80's ,90's around this area , Nance or someone would have gave him a shot, I know Court Grandstaff gave him a great oppurtunity in the Trop Artic car but not a full WoO run, just always wondered why, maybe it was like Ewell story , to much to leave behind and walk away from and take a chance on the uncertain of making a living racing.

Mike can still get the job done today , see that on Friday nights when he gets down to SFS and runs a Sprinter.

Mike did drive for Nance in WOO had to be late '70s they had raced a few times and were back east and had some engine issues so Mike came home and then he and Carol had some issues and the deal went south, LaVern thought alot of Mike and it's a shame they couldn't get things worked out. By the early 80's Mike had pretty good rides around here and could run 3-4 times a week in Supers or Champ cars and a occational sprint show in Och's #1 or Buzz's Hemi and then there was Mussato's care that Mike ran at Knoxville and like too have ended his career in '81 or '82 when he flipped violently totally destroying the car. I can tell you this with no doubt in my mind Shane did very well in WOO and with a little more money might have had a shot a a WOO title, so there's no doubt in my mind what Bob or Mike could have done if the had the same oppertunity!!

Figure out a way to put it on HERE!!! Believe it or not, I think I remember that race. Wide World of Sports hardly ever showed a sprint car race. Was this the crazy race where Dick Tobias won and then stopped in the first turn with a flat tire? I think I remember Jack Howerton in that one.

mike

I would like to get it on DVD . I am still pretty new to all this computer stuff, besides it's on vhs. Have to take it to somebody to get it done. Then maybe a few copies.................

This race is not the same one you are referring to. I don't want to give out the winner in case I give out a few copies.

The one Tobias won was a mud slinging affair. Most of the cars caked up the radiator and overheated. I think that is what happened to Dick after he crossed the finish line.

Warren Vincent
Cans 4 Kansas Heroes

I guess I was not paying attention then , was not aware Mike drove for Nance , Mike always had good rides but that is a credit to his driving and being able to win races , I know back in the early 80's , Ken Wright out of Tulsa approached Bob on building his motors , guess he watched him struggle with blown motors at Tulsa in the previous years and he also said he could maybe pull somehting together for Bob to go with the WoO and Bob was somewhat skeptical and had obligations (Business and Kid) in Dallas and never really went anywhere from there on from what I understand, Heck Wright wore a Cowboy hat then and still wears one today I guess , have not seen him at a track in several years now. But your correct both could have gotten the job done with the WoO if the right deal and timing had come along.

Another thing is seen Terry Doss at Harold Leep Jr. funeral and the guy looked like he could still step into a car today and be competitive. Some guys just don't age at all.

Here's the proof.

http://www.racingfromthepast.com/lavernnancelap2index133.html

Warren Vincent
Cans 4 Kansas Heroes

Your correct , even seen those ads in programs and magazines and just guess never noticed Mike Peters name on the car.

Can say this he is one tough Hombre even at his age now , the head on hit he took at SFS on Friday night into the front straighaway wall was something , could not believe he was able to just walk away from that one. But the seat and safety equipment did it's job.

Yeah Mike took a monster hit Fri. Took till @ 11;30 to get his car load-able. First time I got to work w/Mike was when he took over larry Hills car for the 78' Winter Nationals, which he won. The next year we won 10 features in OKC + the championship. he was on a real role until he got hurt at Knoxville in the early 80's, it took a little time to get 100%, but I think he's as good as ever right now. He & Ojar are getting the other car ready for NCRA. Other than a sore left hand, he's fine.

Good to hear that about Mike.

Congrats are in order for you and the 11 car on Friday's A Feature win. Not only tough to do because of the competition but a rough racetrack on top of that, really surprised more cars did not bend iron last Friday night, Hope he gets the track sheepsfooted and packed so to not have the problems of a rough racetrack for the remainder of the season.

That's all they need for the topless tour this week, is a rough track

Posted from Buda, TX

Warren Vincent
Cans 4 Kansas Heroes

To add to it all the rain we are getting here in central Okla. today, sure hope they got on the track Sat. and Sun.