NASCAR History

[Subdeacon Joe]

 

Feb 13 1960

[Cypress Sun]

Real cars, real metal and real drivers. Look at the area around the track, you couldn't give away the land near the track back then.

[Lone Spur Jake SASS #7728]

Was at Daytona 500 in 1965 when local hero "Fast Freddie Lorenzen", who we watched winning races locally in Illinois, won the 500.  Just standing in the infield, because we were 4 local boys without much money who drove together for 24 hours straight thru to get there, was still a fantastic experience.

NASCAR then was for working class hot rod enthusiasts.  My, how times have changed.

 

[Widder, SASS #59054]

July 4th, 1984, this ole country boy was sitting in turn 4 of the Firecracker 400.   Back then, it was called the Firecracker 400.

 

I thought Cale was gonna win, although I was rooting for Richard.   Looking down the trigger-oval from my seat

in turn 4, I couldn't tell who won till they flashed their car numbers on the display board.

It was soooooo loud, I couldn't hear the audible announcement of the winner.

 

My love for NASCAR started waning when Richard retired.   Then a couple others left the sport, Davey died,

Kowicki died, and the final straw was when Dale died.    NASCAR just ain't been the same for me.

 

I would set in high school classes (68-69) and during the week, us boys would brag about how our favorite 'cars'

were gonna win:  some loved the Fords, some loved the Chevys, and some of us loved Mopar.

I was a Mopar fan, of course.

Then on Monday, there was always some of us who had to eat crow for a few days until the next race gave us another winner.

 

Love those memories.

 

..........Widder

 

[Dirty Dan Dawkins]

If David Pearson had raced full time, I think the record books would read differently.

[Dirty Dan Dawkins]

And I'll add, I loved hearing Eli Gold call a race. Best race announcers ever:

 

 

 

Loved seeing Morgan Shepard pull a Dale Earnhardt move on Dale Earnhardt.

 

 

[Cypress Sun]

8 hours ago, Dirty Dan Dawkins said:

And I'll add, I loved hearing Eli Gold call a race. Best race announcers ever:

 

 

 

Loved seeing Morgan Shepard pull a Dale Earnhardt move on Dale Earnhardt.

 

 

 

I loved seeing ANYBODY pull a Dale Earnhardt move on Dale Earnhardt....you know..."I wasn't trying to wreck him, just wanted to rattle his cage a little."

[Widder, SASS #59054]

I always liked it when Dale would put a 'kiss' mark on the winners door with his right front tire.

That was neat.

 

..........Widder

 

[Duffield, SASS #23454]

13 hours ago, Lone Spur Jake SASS #7728 said:

Was at Daytona 500 in 1965 when local hero "Fast Freddie Lorenzen", who we watched winning races locally in Illinois, won the 500.  Just standing in the infield, because we were 4 local boys without much money who drove together for 24 hours straight thru to get there, was still a fantastic experience.

NASCAR then was for working class hot rod enthusiasts.  My, how times have changed.

 

Freddy gave us  "THINK WHM"

He was probably the greatest of the great.

[Creeker, SASS #43022]

A few of my baby pictures are in my Grandpa's Grand National car (Before Busch and waaaaaaay before Xfinity) the "second tier" was Grand National and it was a regional series - not a National series like Cup (but back then, even Cup was just a primarily southern and mid west series with an occasional foray to the west).

 

And a number of Grand National cars drove at smaller local tracks in their weekly shows as the rules were lax enough to allow crossover - I recall a story about a "Claim event (where for a given price - anyone could buy another racers car after the event)" that our car won and my Grandpa gave up the prize money and drove the car on to the trailer stating, "That amount wouldn't buy the heads on this engine" (guess he was hoping to win the prize money and avoid a claim).

 

In the Grand National touring series - when possible and scheduling would allow - our driver was Gordon (Gordy) Johncock (multi time Indy 500 winner).

Gordy was from the Hastings Michigan area and through local short track racing became associated with my Grandpa.

 

Back in those days - our cars were known as "Bongo" 5 and "Ringo" 7.

 

I spent a lot of weekend nights at small dirt racetracks in southwest Michigan and a couple weekends a year on top of our families motorhome in the infield at Michigan International Speedway in the Irish Hills of Michigan.  I watched qualifying, USAC, Busch, IROC, and Cup races from a lawn chair on the roof.