Found this thread while doing some research about my fathers racing back in the late 40's through the mid 60's. I made a website of his racing with lots of pics from the good ole days... http://bobmorrisracing.com SM
Something you didn't see everyday.... 1955 T-Bird late model. Actually it had a 57 front clip tied to a 55 rear clip. My dad raced this car for two seasons . SM
If you enlarge the pic, you can see him staring down the camera with the ever present cigar in his mouth. SM
This is Steve Danish in victory lane a Fonda Speedway in Fonda N.Y., with Miss America Marilyn Van Derbur 07/26/1958.
I enjoyed looking at your fathers site. The news paper articles brought back some old names and tracks I have not thought about for a while like Red Green and Red Cruse and a lot of others. So are you a member of the Ga Auto Racing Hall of Fame?? Does Ga historian Mr Bell know about you collection? Another Q is how did your dad driving a chevy go down at the Ford plant?? I bet he got ragged a little about that. Thank You
I am putting together the package to try and get Bob Morris inducted into the GARHoF. The next submissions period is not until another 6 months. I don't know Mr. Bell but will look him up. The way I understand it, and this was before I was born, he was hired at Ford while he was driving the #27 Red Ram Dodge. I will have to ask my Mom to clarify this. That car was probably where he claimed most of his victories. It was owned by Harry Sullivan. They took that car all over the southeast and won every where with it. It was an ex-nascar car. He then built the 1937 Ford Fastback to run at the Peach Bowl which by then had been paved. His first love was dirt and when Coweta opened he ran mostly there. There is a big article in the site from Ford Motor Times about the 37 Ford. I have been on a quest to see if that car has survived. A little later he left Ford and started his own garage. In 1966 he won the Coweta late model championship with it. In the last race of the season, was involved in an accident that twisted the forward frame severely. He sold it that day and started work on the Thunderbird the next. The new owners of the 37 Ford fixed it over the off season and ran hobby with it the next year. There is a youtube video of the car running hobby at Coweta with the new owner/driver. It was pushing very bad, don't know if that was related to the repairs or the new guys driving. I was a young kid at the time. That is the last I ever saw that car. After the T-bird ran two seasons then came the Mustang ( my favorite car) in the second season of that car at Senoia, Billy Clanton clipped him the tires rolled over each other sending the Mustang flipping all the way down the back stretch on top of the fence. he finished the season with it but it was never the same. He then built the Fairlane for two more seasons. The last car/race he ever drove was at Senoia in a car some drag racers built. It was a Camaro and it's first night on the track the throttle hung going into turn 3, glanced off another car and went straight into the wall at full speed. It took almost 30 minutes to get him out of the car. He seemed ok that night but the following day was having trouble breathing and spent the next week in the hospital with various chest injuries. He never drove again. A 25 year span of racing came to an end that night. update: I looked up Mike Bell and will send him the link to the site. I also have some questions hopefully he can answer concerning some tracks.
Here is my recent purchase. It is a late 50's copy of a Kurtis Midget. Last raced around 1962 with a flathead V8-60. It was being converted to a 1960 Falcon straight 6 engine when parked in a basement in Milwaukee. Only took us four hours to disassemble it to get it up the basement stairs and out into the open again! I didn't get the Falcon engine with the deal and I don't have any leads on a flathead at the moment. Not sure what path to take, but at least it is back in the daylight again after so many years down in the PO's cellar.
These are form Mid-State speedway in Morris N.Y. The fair board stopped the auto racing in 71 or 72 (The only time my dad drove his racecar) Dick Schooner- Ray Kennedy 67, Jimmy Mott 65- Ray Bunzey-
Any pictures from Little Falls speedway? I have a '39 Chevy that ran there. White with blue fenders, red #45 on the doors, fenders are trimmed but the windshield is in it. In B&W the fenders would probably look a tad darker than the body. Has a truck rim with part cut away as a radiator guard, kind of distinctive. Looks like it ran a 55-57 V8, at least it has the 3-speed trans in it. There's a big old can under the cowl, not sure what that is unless it was part of the stock vaccum shift trans deal Fuel tank was in the back. I have enough pieces to put the body back together, but no history on it other than it may have been the son of the old man who's salvage yard it came out of. Smith, common name so not much help there.
Dirt, the track is still there. This is a modern photo looking from turn 1 up the front stretch to turn 4- The Mid-State stockcar club holds a reunion/hall of fame on the fair ground every September. http://www.midstateantiquestockcarclub.com/midstate_speedway.html
No I don't, however I know a lot of people who know N.Y. auto racing history. I will check. The following link covers a lot of N.Y. and New England racing histroy- http://www.catamountstadium.com/Index.htm
Here's a 20 yr. barn find.......great racing family kept this and bunches of pics,racing mags,and memories.....
Mid-state Bill Roese's 56 Ford Late Model My father Willard Palmer leaning in the drivers window- I would like to post some photos of my fathers (Willard) racecar, but a 64 Chevelle is too new for the H.A.M.B.
Here's my newly acquired 1933 3W raced out of Fresno CA I believe And spent decades at the Jerry turner wrecking yard he would not part with it Anymore history?
The Jalopy Journal
