Love it,,,ya these are a kind of races n times that hooked me on stock/mod ovals, My local hero was Mel n his #30 mod. It made real thunder that raddeled your brains.
Great find. I love it when people save these films just as much as when an old race car gets saved. There's a great beauty to it. Real men. Real cars. No BS.
So much to say about this. Yes, great quality home movies in color! It looks like the 311 Jazz Special 37 Chevy was the one to beat that day, guess the Stovebolt Chevy 6 was working, and the flatheads weren't always dominating. Anyone notice the demo derby cars weren't very old? Also, the Stude racing had to be only a couple years old... Thanks for posting!
I saw this video the other day...I was amazed at the quality of the video...I noticed those old hot rods had no roll cages in them...back when the men were men...I would not wanna take dump in one of them for sure... I fell in love with the old coupes due to my dad taking me to opening night at the local Albany-Saratoga Speedway in the summer of 1965...still love them... Thanks for sharing... MikeC
Spectacular! With the covered grandstands and being filmed in the general era, it shares a vibe with the old Fort Wayne Speedway. And hundreds of other similar tracks, now long gone.
Portland Speedway, Rolla Vollstedt's # 1, had 2 drivers, Len Sutton, and Ernie Koch, looks like Ernie at the wheel.
It is amazing seeing the track as a dirt track. My family was transferred to Birmingham in 1953. I didn’t get to to the track until 60, 61. By then it was paved. Jazz was an Alabama feed store. Very cool seeing this. I do wonder how many big name racers are in this video. The Allison brothers and Earnhardt’s father were several of the big local stars.
I would love to see more pics of the 311 37 Chevy. It looks like the front wheels are farther back from stock suggesting suspension changes. Looks to have full floating axles on all 4 corners? Was that normal back then? Also what’s going on under the hood? A hopped up 235 I’m guessing.
I think,it would add to the fun>;Getting a lip reader to fig out what was being said,and add that narrative {by 2 or 3 talking it,,for added sound track, along with some race car sounds{flathead sounds mostly,but the Studebaker was OHV V8.. Not sure what legal BS would get in the way of doing that. I raced at Bessamer Al./Dixie in 70*. My home track though was Hialeah Speedway/Miami Fla. Enjoyed running out of town,for any extra big races. Even towed race car,along on some vacations out of state of Fla.*
Safety hubs on the front, done is adding bolt on 3/4 truck style spindle to the stock front spindles some times people made them using 4 wheel drive often Jeep hubs. Many track/sectioning bodies required it for the right front, in the conners the weight is transferred to the right front, left front gets light as the car corners. This was also why a smaller left front tire was used. They started with stock 3/4 Ford iron wide 5 huds some 8 lug, by the mid 50s Safety Racing introduced aluminum hubs/for stock Ford backing plates The set up I am running on my Model A stock car- The Bob Mott "Yellow" 3 dirven by Pete Cory at Fonda until it was outlawed note the Jeep hub on the right front. Fonda was NASCAR Sportsman (Single carb, battery ignition, gasoline, any engine up to 300 C.I. later 340 C.I.) NASCAR had a no clothe top roof rule, however it also said at the discretion of the track. It was Y-block (292) powered racing with flathead powered 37-39 Ford coupe and sedan and dominating. Soon the clothe top roof rule was enforced. Charlie Jarzombek Bug
NASCAR Sportsman, became the Late model Sportsman division then the Busch Grand National division, which is now the NASCAR Xfinity Series. NASCAR Modified rules- Mutiple carbonators, fuel injection, superchargers. Alcohol Magnetos Any engine over 300 C.I. later 340 C.I. NASCAR Sportsman and Modified were the first two divisions in NASCAR which formed in 1948. The Strictly Stocks, which became the original Grand National division, then Winston Cup from 1972-2003, then NASCAR Nextel, Sprint, and now NASCAR Cup Series
Here in Portland, we had one car that took full advantage of the rules, the owner/driver was Clarence Smith. In '52 when the field was full of flathead and sixes, he bought a new 317 Lincoln overhead, and ran two two barrels. He also ran dual tires on the right rear, and sometimes on the front as well. Utter domination, I have his 1952 Championship trophy.
I have seen cars with dual right rear tires, many rule books outlaw them, as well as the use of snow tires. For anyone wondering- Softer rubber compound and more aggressive tread on snow tires.
My 1st real taste of looking at a NASCAR late model was in 1977. My brother was on the crew and I stopped by the shop until I was officially hooked. The car was a '68 Chevelle, fairly radical to me. Low as a garden slug. I was there when the owner, a fabulous welder/fabricator, was welding a Lincoln spindle to the Chevy steering knuckle and it somehow used big Buick brakes, 12" aluminum drums. He said he used a special welding rod for that. He had a garbage-picked Marquette welder, the smoothest I had ever used. The car had a leaf spring rear, out of what I'd have to guess. The rear was out of some junkyard bread truck (had a narrow track to it) with the 8-lug rear, spiders welded up. The car was Freeport legal, but was hassled at places like Islip since it didn't have rear coils. They made their own wheels also a few spares. I was there to witness that piece of art being made.
The Jalopy Journal
