History VINTAGE SPRINT CAR PIC THREAD, 1969 and older only please.

[indybigjohn]

Flagged at Dayton many times, and loved the place.

[Spike Ruth]

Originally Posted by RABs32

looks more like Steve Butler talkin with Larry........Rich

Yes, that is Butler talking to Dickson.

[R B Blatz]

Fella,s
Butler was racing in the ten car and was in the Main, plus he,s wider and shorter and I belive he put Stanley into the turn 2 wall at the start.

[BillWallace]

Ive posted on here before about going to Dayton in the early 50s. In the week or two before a race at Dyton they would come thru the towns & cities in the area & staple brightly colored signs to utility poles. We would hitch hike up old rt4 to Old Soldier Home rd on sunday & climb some of those trees outside the track to watch practice & when the racing would start they left the gates open & us kids would run in & find a seat. I got to watch some of the greats in the AAA era. Ruttman,Carter,Rigsby, Force, Green & many others. In those days the AAA had a midwest & east coast big car championship & they were the highway to Indy. The last time I was there on leave from the Air Force I saw Hurtabese go out of the place. I was lucky not to be there when Gordon Reid went into the stands. We had three of the best high bank tracks in the country right there in the southern Ohio & eastern indiana area-Dayton, Winchester,& Cincy race bowl now all but gone as Winchester is limited. Great memories of a bygone era.

[baldtireman]

Originally Posted by easter

I saw a couple. One USAC sprint race in 67 or 68. I posted the qualifying times for that day earlier on this thread. Again in 67 or 68, my dad drove the Howell #64 sprint. That's the car Bob Pratt drove as the Vivian Buick (and is restored that way) and after Bob Howell bought the car, Dean Mast drove it. Dean was bad fast in the car. The day Dad drove the car at Dayton, they had bolted on the cage. It was classified as a "Supermodified" race, but they were all USAC and IMCA sprints with cages and a couple roadsters thrown in, too. Dad set fast time and was offered an Indy car ride for Trenton. Long story, but the deal fell through. Dad loved Dayton and Winchester and won at both. However, Dayton would make me sick even before we got to the track. You just knew something bad was going to happen. There were a lot of ghosts there. Winchester, I'd stand inside turn 1, but at Dayton, I'd stand inside turn 3. The pit entry at Dayton came down off the bank above turn 4 and sloped towards the front stretch and met the track right where turn 4 ended and the grandstand began. The grass bank above that entry was a real popular spot for viewing the racing. It was wild to see the difference in the way different drivers drove Dayton. The IMCA guys would drive a particular lane clear through the turns - very even and consistant. The USAC guys would diamond the turns. They'd go in hard, drift to the top, turn left and scream down off the banking onto the straight. To watch a race at Dayton from the inside of turn 3 was an image that will stay with you forever. The old asphalt looked rough and worn out. The black and white metal guardrail looked more dangerous to the drivers than it did a safety feature. The main thing the stays with me were the trees. Trees stood above the outside of the guardrails and the leaves would blow whenever a car went by. I also remember the USAC cars looked very modern, expensive, and fast compared to the other cars. You knew you were somewhere damn historic when you were at Dayton.

Nice post,Mr Easter!

[R B Blatz]

Fella,s
See the fellow at the left in the drivers suit with the white shirt and glasses and blond
THATS Butler.

[Dick L]

Originally Posted by easter

I saw a couple. One USAC sprint race in 67 or 68. I posted the qualifying times for that day earlier on this thread. Again in 67 or 68, my dad drove the Howell #64 sprint. That's the car Bob Pratt drove as the Vivian Buick (and is restored that way) and after Bob Howell bought the car, Dean Mast drove it. Dean was bad fast in the car. The day Dad drove the car at Dayton, they had bolted on the cage. It was classified as a "Supermodified" race, but they were all USAC and IMCA sprints with cages and a couple roadsters thrown in, too. Dad set fast time and was offered an Indy car ride for Trenton. Long story, but the deal fell through. Dad loved Dayton and Winchester and won at both. However, Dayton would make me sick even before we got to the track. You just knew something bad was going to happen. There were a lot of ghosts there. Winchester, I'd stand inside turn 1, but at Dayton, I'd stand inside turn 3. The pit entry at Dayton came down off the bank above turn 4 and sloped towards the front stretch and met the track right where turn 4 ended and the grandstand began. The grass bank above that entry was a real popular spot for viewing the racing. It was wild to see the difference in the way different drivers drove Dayton. The IMCA guys would drive a particular lane clear through the turns - very even and consistant. The USAC guys would diamond the turns. They'd go in hard, drift to the top, turn left and scream down off the banking onto the straight. To watch a race at Dayton from the inside of turn 3 was an image that will stay with you forever. The old asphalt looked rough and worn out. The black and white metal guardrail looked more dangerous to the drivers than it did a safety feature. The main thing the stays with me were the trees. Trees stood above the outside of the guardrails and the leaves would blow whenever a car went by. I also remember the USAC cars looked very modern, expensive, and fast compared to the other cars. You knew you were somewhere damn historic when you were at Dayton.

Great reply, I saw your dad in some of those photo's, that's pretty cool. I couldn't believe that one photo of a section of guardrail all twisted & bent. That would have scared the shit out of me!

[Dick L]

Originally Posted by baldtireman

Nice post,Mr Easter!

Amazing! Did most drivers like or dislike the place? It's kind of like another Langhorne, dangerous but, thrilling too.

[easter]

Originally Posted by Dick L

Great reply, I saw your dad in some of those photo's, that's pretty cool. I couldn't believe that one photo of a section of guardrail all twisted & bent. That would have scared the shit out of me!

Thanks. Anytime you happen to come across a photo of my dad (Luke Easter), I would really appreciate it if you let me know. I don't really have that many photos of Dad - and none of him at Dayton. I appreciate the comments.

[easter]

Let me be clear about something - I never saw an IMCA race at Dayton. When I said the "IMCA guys" I was refering to drivers who I had seen in IMCA races elsewhere. No one has said anything - yet - but just realized I could have been misleading. I sure hope there will be a bunch of photos from the Cincy Car show.

[easter]

I just remembered some photos of Dad that were "varnished" onto a board years ago. These are photos of photos and not of good quality. I'll try to do better, later, but for now -

Here's Luke in the Howell car before leaving for Winchester in July 1967



Here's Dad in the Howell car earlier at Winchester (May or June 1967) on the gas. Note the different injection stacks and uniform:



This is Dad at Anderson - I believe before qualifying for the Little 500 - in the Pappy Buckley car from Akron, OH. Not sure of the year:

[fogs58]

Originally Posted by BillWallace

Ive posted on here before about going to Dayton in the early 50s. In the week or two before a race at Dyton they would come thru the towns & cities in the area & staple brightly colored signs to utility poles. We would hitch hike up old rt4 to Old Soldier Home rd on sunday & climb some of those trees outside the track to watch practice & when the racing would start they left the gates open & us kids would run in & find a seat. I got to watch some of the greats in the AAA era. Ruttman,Carter,Rigsby, Force, Green & many others. In those days the AAA had a midwest & east coast big car championship & they were the highway to Indy. The last time I was there on leave from the Air Force I saw Hurtabese go out of the place. I was lucky not to be there when Gordon Reid went into the stands. We had three of the best high bank tracks in the country right there in the southern Ohio & eastern indiana area-Dayton, Winchester,& Cincy race bowl now all but gone as Winchester is limited. Great memories of a bygone era.

I'm not old enough for some of this stuff being 53 , but. My dad who just passed this last year was at Dayton for both Rigsby and the Reid incidents. The Reid wreck him and my mom were setting down towards the other end. When the wreck happened my dad went down to the end to see what had happened. Anyone who has ever heard of this wreck knows it was pretty grizzly. One thing that has never been talked much was the amount of people down there in the stands that had to go to the hospital because they were covered in paint. I guess they were getting ready to paint the grandstands and barrels or buckets of paint were setting down there at that end of the stands. He said it was quite a mess. He always talked about those two wrecks and a coupla others at Winchester. It took awful large ones to drive sprint cars back in those days. Also sometimes just to set in the stands. Remember how close you used to set to the track at Winchester in the old covered stands ?

[rooman]

Originally Posted by easter

Let me be clear about something - I never saw an IMCA race at Dayton. When I said the "IMCA guys" I was refering to drivers who I had seen in IMCA races elsewhere. No one has said anything - yet - but just realized I could have been misleading. I sure hope there will be a bunch of photos from the Cincy Car show.

Not a huge number but try these

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/s...d.php?t=661471

Roo

[old age but great memory]

Originally Posted by Dick L

Ya got me there Easter. I was paging thru some old posts and came across a web site on the Dayton speedway. What a place that must have been. Anyone ever see a race there?

Went to Dayton in the late 1940's and early 1950's with my racing nut father. We went to several Mutual Roadster Associations races and some AAA 'Big Car' races. We actually spent more time at Winchester and rarely missed the AAA 'Big Cars' in the early 1950's. Winchester was, and probably still is, a scary place and I witnessed my first racing fatal when Chuck Stapelton went over the wall in the first turn in 1954. It was an education in raw guts as the drivers usually wore t shirts with a pack of cigarettes rolled up in the sleeve and you were close enough to the cars to actually see the well muscled arms on the drivers. Mr Easter's description of the fourth turn at Dayton and the adjoining pit entrace is right on. In the 50's the fourth turn was also made more difficult with the overhead pedestrian bridge.

[raengines]

just a little OT for Easter

[easter]

Originally Posted by raengines

just a little OT for Easter

Thanks! Yep, that's Dad in Pappy Buckley's #40 at Parkersburg. That car had a fuel injected 400 ci Pontiac motor. He won a lot of races in that square box. Pappy later owned the #51 Sprint (in the picture earlier) that Dad drove a few times. That square supermodified beat a bunch of the Pennsylvania sprinters at Ohio Valley, Skyline, St. Clairsville, Pennsboro, Debo, Dobbies, and Hilltop. The throttle stuck on that car one night at Parkersburg and Dad drove through the turn 3 fence (rather than hit it sideways) and after numerous flips ended up near the new grandstand with the cage folded down on top of him. Pappy and Tub rebuilt the car and Dad came back the very next weekend (without a wing) and set a new track record. In fact, Dad used to beat the Howell owned Trevis sprint that he would later drive. Old times.

[wynns #1]

Blatz,
I know this is after 1969 but I will throw this out there. When USAC came to Reading in the early 70s one of my my favorite cars was the Grant King built Spotnails car wrenched by Jack Steck. Lee Kunzmann drove the wheels off it 1973, too bad he got hurt! Any comments?

[RABs32]

Joe,Is this the one your talkin about......Rich

[Harley Gene]

As usual, our leader Mr. Joshua Shaw did a fine job at the Cavalcade in Cincy this weekend. Here is a shot from there. Who went besides me?
HG

[Buildy]

Wynn`s 1 : Kunzman ran good at Williams Grove in that car too. He was a good shoe.