I grew up in the west Texas desert town of Midland, TX. We didn't get much rain, but when it did rain... Well, it poured. Flash floods were handled by drainage ditches located throughout town. Essentially, these were raw holes in the ground measuring... <BR><BR>To read the rest of this blog entry from The Jalopy Journal, click here.
That certainly looks fun if you have the brass to get in an run one. What kind of speeds do you think they were running? Many cars lost their lives to that type of Tom Foolery I bet. Love it.
I'd start walking every Sunday morning at 10:30, allowance in hand. At about 11:45 I'd arrive in heaven- The BUTANA SPEEDWAY (Butte. Montana) The walk was about 6 miles alongside the highway, but in those days parents let their kids do things without constant supervision or a coach. The best part of my week began at noon. An old record player belted out the star spangled banner and the races began. Heats, Trophy Dashes and a Main Event. I once even witnessed a high schooler named Bobby Knievel jump a motorcycle over two pickups set nose to nose. I'd hope for local hero "Jughead Jones " to win..... He usually did. I wish for every young kid a childhood like that.
Dad raced the tracks of Eastern South Dakota in the early to mid 60s with cars much like that. You can still find the remnants of the Brookings Track on Google Earth, he took me to the site long after it closed in the early 80s.
When I was in high school in Sonoma Ca. in '65, I worked at a local gas station, Rubkes Chevron. John Rubke had a '40 Ford Hardtop Race car that we raced mainly at Vallejo Raceway. Those were some great times.
i love early dirttrack racing. The ex got me a dvd pack covering a bunch of early daytona runs down on the beach. Been a big influence
I love old racing....my favorite is from 1938-the mid 50's. Dawsonville Ga is what some (including me) call the birthplace of stock car racing. Although there were Daytona races that started in 1936, come 1938, the first organized stock car race was held at Lakewood Speedway in Atlanta in which Lloyd Seay won in a 1934 Ford Roadster for his cousin, Raymond Parks, who had a movie-script life. But that's all for a later story. Anyway, Dawsonville has had 6 people from Dawsonville to win atleast one race at Daytona - Bernard Long, Roy Hall, Lloyd Seay, Gober Sosbee, Bill Elliott, and Raymond Parks as a car owner with 11 wins at Daytona. Elliott was also the only one to win on the new track. That's all for now, but maybe in the future I'll post more of my history blogs. -Cody
I love the old racecars. It is amazing the difference in the cars then and the dirt late models of today. It does break my heart to see some of those cars being destroyed, oh well.
When I was a kid in the early 50s my dad took me to Lanham Speedway in Lanham Md. I remember one of them lost a wheel coming out of #2 turn and it almost made it a complete lap. One night there was a beautiful black 47ish Packard sedan entered. The announcer got a big kick out of it and wondered if the drivers old man knew where his car was. My favorite racer was Pewee. (loved that name!) He had the name painted over the 40 Ford coupe drivers door. I recently read here on the HAMB that he is still alive and well. That brought a smile to my face.
That picture brings back some fun times, my Dad raced a Hudson coupe--no buying trick stuff back then, you made everything.
Take me back in time! I had so many great trips with my Dad to these type races, what a blast. It was so damn dusty you could hardly see, then out of a cloud of dust they would roar and you were yellin again! ~sololobo~
I was raised on this stuff.... My Dad raced dirt all over the southeast since the early '60's. Sadly I only have a VERY few pics of him racing. What I do have is a huge collection of pics of everybody else. Here's a few... If you ever wondered why '32-'40 Fords are so hard to find.... Look at these pictures.
If you liked that...you're gonna LOVE this: http://jimmiesoldtimeracing.mywowbb.com/ Buckle up and hang on...oh, and make sure you have PLENTY of time.
If you want a little taste of how these same scenes are being played out in modern times, this YouTube video from the Munger, MI Figure Eight race shows that some of the same grassroots, homebuilt racing action is alive and well http://youtu.be/zMTMyRKL5hs Michigan's dirt-track Figure Eight racing is fantastic. A local sanctioning body called USA Demo Derby puts on a full schedule across the state. I find the demo derbys a bit boring but the dirt action Figure eight racing is where an average Joe can be very competitive. Brings good entertainment for the fans for not alot of $$. Enjoy!
I posted this in a different thread earlier but some of you might enjoy seeing it if you missed it before. This is a clip from one of our races at Crawford County Speedway near Van Buren Ar. Our rules are all original metal pre 1948 bodies with flathead V8's or inline 6 cyl engines. Our group is Ozark Vintage Stock Car Racing Association. Andy <INPUT class=UIThumbPager_Input value=0 type=hidden name=UIThumbPager_Input> DSCF0400 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAMEPMsgNP4
"Our rules are all original metal pre 1948 bodies with flathead V8's or inline 6 cyl engines. Our group is Ozark Vintage Stock Car Racing Association." That's a great video. Driving by on the top... Gotta love that. I wish we had something like that around here. I'd build one in a heartbeat.
<object style="height: 390px; width: 640px"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/pmrSmTpLxKQ?version=3&feature=player_detailpage"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/pmrSmTpLxKQ?version=3&feature=player_detailpage" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="360"></object> Stills, but lots of great memories here.
I was lucky the race wasn't a couple of laps longer. My 16 year old grandson in the white coupe was not just coming, he had caught us. Hate to brag but that kid is going to make a driver. Andy
Would it be possible for you to give the coordinates or the location of where the Brookings Track remains are? Thanks!
I have no idea what the GPS would be. Fill out your profile a bit and do an intro in the intro section so we can get to know ya.
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