History 32 Chevy circle track time capsule

Stopped at a little podunk track in Iowa once, where the tech inspection on my super mod was nothing more than showing me where to park. Same track wouldn't let out-of-towners win races either. Took me fifteen laps to win a 10 lap heat race. Then I was 'informed' to pick up my money at the hotdog stand and put my car on the trailer, since it wasn't going to 'pass' tech for the main. It was also 'suggested' I load up and move on down the road.

 

And here I thought my 1965 dirt modified was in bad shape when I got it. It was pristine compared to this.

This is how it looks today :

 

Holy shit, that’s just plain scary and kool at the same time!

 

Some of the local circles track stuff I see here resembles this Chevy a lot.
Except has a fuel cell and a race seat.

 

I have to agree. Passing tech was a "local deal" at a lot of tracks in Iowa.

 

Square tube was easy to find in relatively long sections. Just go out on the highway and grab a few signposts. The car with the beer keg fuel tank, yeah it had a mostly square tube roll cage. 57 Chevy hardtop. What a waste...

Oh well, we all knew better!

And Robert, I love that cage of yours. Remember the guys who built cages from coduit? Yeah, not many made it...

 

Yep Jumbo's....hopefully there's one on the other side.....

 

Looks like both fronts are the same.

 

Most of the guys that built these cars were local guys with little equipment and less knowledge.. The square tube was a lot easier to make good welds with the Lincoln buzz box most racers had. Few had the ability to cut the fish mouth curves required to get good welds with round tubing. With square tubing, you made a straight cut, butted the tube against what you wanted to weld to, and welded.

The first car I was involved with building (1972), one of the seasoned guys told me to cut a "V" on each side of the round pipe, heat it a dull red with the torch, and stick the hot end on a short piece of round pipe the same size I wanted to weld to., then beat on the other end of the pipe until the gaps were closed up. Then measure the other end and do the same thing., but make sure your pipe is a little long. Then you prop it into place and hammer it between the two pipes to where you want it, then weld it in place. The whole cage was done that way! It held up much better then the guy that crashed into us, he cut the round pipe with straight cuts, fit it between the two pipes where he wanted it, the welded to two contact points, and filled the gaps with bolts and weld (complete with slag) as a gap filler. The next car we used 1 1/2" square tube, it was much easier, faster, and held up in several crashes.

I remember one of the old guys (when I got started in 72) had a car with a round pipe cage (the standard material for most at our local track). With his, he used pipe elbows, pipe tees, and threaded pipe for his cage, plumber style. Then they went in a tack welded (not fully weld) all the joints. That car had been running at the track for nearly 7 years at the time.

Our local track started pushing only round tubing in the mid 80s. It was into the early 70s before most tracks were concerned about what the roll cage looked like, how it was built, or what material was used. Before that was a scary time. The cars started getting a lot faster in the mid 60s, and there were a lot of on track crash deaths and injuries across the country, before a lot of the tracks started having any interest in on track safety. Tracks where deaths had occurred started the trend. Usually, when ever there was a bad crash (with or without injuries), a lot of the other racers would wonder over and look inside of the crashed car to see what held up and what didn't!

Those old drivers had big balls! Many only had a leather football helmet, tee shirts and jeans. They tied themselves into the car with a piece of rope wrapped around the seat frame and their waste (many didn't have seat belts). That car was probably a pile of junk (from a junk yard), with a questionable cage (if it even had one). They drove down a straightaway at 70 mph (more or less), made a sharp 90 degree left, then another 90 degree left, then another 70 mph straightaway and another pair of 90 degree lefts, for 25 revolutions, with 30 other guys doing the same thing at the same time, that are trying to get to the end before you.

People paid money to watch those guy do their thing. Its no wonder the guys that got the job done first, very often were local heroes. If they could do it consistently at a couple different race tracks, they became legends! Gene

 

Got an old modified frame once in a deal on a garage full of parts, that was made completely out of exhaust tube. Guy who built it must have been some kind of evil genius. Where he drilled the tube inspection holes for thickness testing, he had welded washers inside to give the illusion of a thicker wall. Found out from old timers the car had been off and on successful. They also said it always had some little thing wrong with it at tech, that could be easily fixed before qualifying.

 

That’s awesome.
This is one reason I like this old beater.
Built with what they had, the best they knew how.
And still showing it’s battle scares and get by repairs.
I’ve seen some restored higher end race cars.
Love em.
But it nice to see an authentic small budget, getter done race car.

 

Here is a good example of what I am talking about. My dad's Chevelle just after he finished it...


...and after he sold it, notice how much higher it is in this photo. The new owner put leaf springs (not well) in the rear and the 56 Chevy bumper and grill and different grill protector. Little by little the car kept getting worse. This is a staged preseason photo, and my dad hate to see it knowing what the car had been before this.

 

When I started racing in '73 I paid to have a NASCAR legal roll cage in my car but there was some pretty scary looking stuff on the track. Some friends built a car and the first time they welded anything in their life was the roll cage. First night they ran it the welds holding the rear axle broke and they rolled it. What saved him was the car was so slow he was only going about thirty mph when it happened. Tech inspection was a joke, if you could pay the entry fee you passed.