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.*
The Jalopy Journal
