History Historic Stock Car Photos

A.R.C.A. did not let the Boss engine run but in early 1968 I did see some of the 427's with two fours. Nascar let two fours run up until I think 1970. I have some pictures of them in old Stockcar racing magizines. A.R.C.A. was usually lagging behind in adjusting rules because they could get a lot of older N.A.S.C.A.R cars just as they do today. I remember in the fall race at Salem in 1972 there was a black and orange Torino with two fours on a 427 and they let it race. A car was a car and the more the merrier. A I said earlier in this thread. A.R.C.A. let a lot of unusual cars to race. Some had 57 Ford and Chevy frames with late model sheetmetal. The Capitol City Body Shop car was a 71 unibody Torino with 73 quarters and front fenders and was really odd looking but it raced. Butch Trinkle had a streched nova body over an older chassis but was allowed to race. If you showed up with a halfway looking late model body and it ran they would let you race. Allstarracing

 

Right, AllStar. When it came to filling a field, John Marcum didn't stand on ceremony. There was a Studebaker (first a Lark, then a later model) that ran for three or four years with a Paxton supercharger. I questioned Frank Canale about it once at Dayton and he said it didn't have a blower. I told him if that was true, it had the first belt-driven air cleaner I'd ever seen. The car never finished in the top ten that I recall.

We used to joke that John had an unwritten rule - You can run anything you like, no matter how illegal, as long as you don't beat anybody.

 

thanx , allstarracing . any idea why ARCA would not let the boss 429 race ?
also , do you know anything about when , where , or how benny destroyed his ARCA talladega ?
jack

 

quote=dave lyall;4922367]speaking of historic nascar pictures, does anyone out there have any photos of curtis turner's "wild hog" 1955 ford, (schwam motor company) in which he led the 1955 southern 500 at darlington before the front suspension failed, and which was ford's first factory nascar outing. (teammates with a twin copy driven by joe weatherly, which also failed the suspension) there is a replica of the 1956 version of the schwam "wild hog" out there, (copy attached) but i would like to see pictures of the real 1955 model, because of its historic significance. I saw a movie clip of the actual 1955 car on u-tube about the ’55 darlington southern 500, but the only close up was about 1 second clip of a close up of curtis sitting behind the wheel, and it only shows s small part of the car and curtis's smiling face. Dave lyall – livonia, michigan[/quote]

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hi dave -
i'm only about halfway thru this thread , so your question is from over a year ago - back on page 135 or so .
anyway , i've been looking for good photos of pops' and weatherly's '55 southern 500 fords for years . SOMEONE must have them , but the above 2 pix [ plus one other very poor pic that won't post ] are the only ones i can find . i have that film [ tape] of the '55 race , also , and , tho they do show the cars , they're usually at a distance .
anyway , the top photo is from the back cover of "ill. speedway news" [ 11/1/55 ] . it shows bill carden crashing what i believe to be curtis' southern 500 ride at memphis-arkansas speedway in oct. note that it's a #99 schwam ford - the same as curtis' southern 500 car - and the driver's name has been painted on tape that covers the original driver's name . curtis is listed as driving a #95 schwam ford in this race . i don't know why .
the second pic shows weatherly's #9 - it's apparently an "outtake" from the race film .
i have quite a few pix of pops' and joe's '56 sedans , hardtops , and converts , if you're interested - but i'm afraid these 2 pix of their '55' s are the best i can do .
incidentally , the story about both cars retiring with suspension failure is , well , not the whole story -tho that's the way it's usually told . curtis' day ended with a bent or broken tie rod suffered when he bumped another car while lighting a cigarette with the field under caution . smoking proved costly way back then , also !
joe was leading - actually pulling away - easily , when , with less than 50 laps to go he BLEW A TIRE and clobbered the wall .

jack

 

They didn't announce it because the accident happened during practice the day before, not in the race itself. You're also thinking of Billy Wade. He was 1963 NASCAR GN rookie of the year. He died at a Daytona tire test in January 1965. The car Foster was driving was owned by Rudy Hoerr, which he raced in USAC. His only NASCAR start was at Riverside the year before.

Billy Foster raced super modifieds with great success in British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest, which got him to Indianapolis type cars. He was a very promising driver, who nearly won two Indy Car races in just a little over a year on the USAC circuit. He even dabbled in sports cars with some success. Thanks for posting the photo, Foster was truly a great lost talent. And that's not my opinion, Mario Andretti has said it.

 

After this crash this car was taken back to Holman & Moody by Benny and one of his crewmen and EXCHANGED for another torino. Later this car was issued to Wendell Scott who campaigned it as a'69 and later a '71 Torino. It was one of the two Torinos used in the movie "Greased Lightning" as a blue '71. I found it in a field in 1994, bought it, and restored it as a Benny Parson Torino and put my original Talladega fenders off of my street Talladega on it as a tribute to Benny's best year in ARCA. It is presently vintage raced, used several times as an ARCA pre-race pace car and shown often by the current owner. This car never competed as a talladega.

 

Benny told me he only had ONE Talladega and it is correct that they did not trade fenders to make a short nose to a Talladega. After speedweeks 1970 when Benny went to L.G. Dewitt both the Talladega and the short nose Torinos were returned to Jack Bowsher racing. Additionally, an unfinished 1970 Torino ARCA car was returned to Bowsher. Benny told me that several drivers drove these cars in ARCA after he left to include Tom Bowsher. He also said that his Talladega (wearing blue paint and the number two) was the same car that Andy Hampton won the 1972 Daytona ARCA race. Bennys last race in his ARCA Talladega was the 1970 Arca Daytona race. He went to NASCAR the next month.

 

thank you very much .
so benny never wrecked his talladega ?
it sounds like benny only used his talladega at daytona and talladega - true ? the reason i ask is that the nascar ford teams used their talladegas exclusively - even on dirt .
and do you know why ARCA would not allow ford to use the boss 429 in their races ? after all , the chrysler hemi was legal .

jack

 

i believe i read that benny's '68 torino was a holman moody built car . in some article or other i read that benny said the car - in pieces - was sent to him in detroit from HM . he was told to assemble it and be at an upcoming race . benny said this was on short notice , but he managed to have the car ready by the assigned race . this car was also built on the same chassis that took parnelli to victory at riverside in '67 .
did jack bowsher build his own cars ? i'd always thought his cars - or at least the pieces - came from HM also .

jack

 

Thanks for all the clarifications, Jack and Cyclone.

My understanding about Jack was that he liked to build his own cars. It could be that the agreement with Ford stipulated that the basic stuff had to go through Holman-Moody.

 

Benny personally picked this '68 Torino up from the Holman Moody shops. It was considered a "KIT" notated by an "S" in the serial number, we believe. This car is believed to be the car in which Parnelli won the Motor Trend 500 in 1967 although I could never get Charlie Gray to give me a letter saying so. It DID have '67 Torque boxes in the chassis not '68's.

As picked up, it was a H&M chassis and roll cage only, no bolt on suspension pieces, with the '68 roof, quarters and interior metal only. I was told it was taken off of the truck in Detroit by a forklift. Benny picked up the car on January 29 based on the bill of sale which I still have and it was at Daytona for the ARCA race on time and sat on the pole at 179.459 mph. The 427 pole engine was built by Odie Skeen, a GM employee and part owner of the car. After the pole run FORD had a H&M engine put in the car for the race. He crashed early but won the next year in the Talladega. I understand the Talladega was a fully built Holman Moody car which Benny got as a result of his '68 Championship.

Benny relied heavily on Jack Bowsher and his organization. I'm also told Jack did build most of his own stuff.

 

What a killer killer post. I love the old stock Car's.

 

I'm sorry I didn't finish answering the question but John Marcum didn't let the Boss motor run because it was a race only motor even though Ford homogoluated it for competition. It was too expensive for the A.R.C.A. series and a lot of the drivers said they would not run if it was legal and Marcum could not afford to lose cars. The high bucks teams would have it and the rest could not afford it. 427's could be bought from ford or built from readily available parts. We ran a tunnel port 427 that Leonard Blanchard used at Daytona but there were a lot of 427 medium and high risers used as the tunnel port parts were rather expensive even then. Also the Capitol Motors torino that was a 71 with 73 fenders and quarters was driven by Tony Schiller from Frankfort Ky. I think the first Javelin driven by Bill Clemons was on a 57 ford frame. I was at the Clemons garage one day when a truck delivered three engines to them from AMC. I think they ran a second Javelin after the first was trashed and also a Matador Then larry his brother ran a Camaro. Yes even Camaros were legal. Charlie Paxton built one and I went to Daytona with him and the motor went south so he borrowed Lenny Ponds NASCAR back up Chevelle for the race. It was a 76 body but I think the chassis was a 70-72 style. I don't remember it being a malibu. Allstarracing

 

thanx again , cyclone16 and allstarracing .

jack

 

Love this stuff...

 

Riverside, Calif..............Jan, 1966

Another picture of Paul Goldsmith working his way through the esses.
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Norm Nelson & Paul Goldsmith @ Milwaukee Mile 1962. Leaning over Norms 62 Ford. Norm built his own cars & Paul was driving for Nichels in a 62 Pontiac. Keep the kool photos & stories coming....Thanks....

 

"Norm Nelson & Paul Goldsmith @ Milwaukee Mile 1962. Leaning over Norms 62 Ford. Norm built his own cars & Paul was driving for Nichels in a 62 Pontiac. Keep the kool photos & stories coming....Thanks...."

Probably the same car in this photo -


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Norm Nelson a few years later.........

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.....and a year after that (1965)....
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.......and a year after that (1966)...

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Didn't Norm Nelson own/build the cars that Roger McClusky drove in USAC?
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Not my photo so I don't know which one was driving this car.
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Those sure were the days fellows !!!!!!!

 

Hey guys my second stockcar is on the cover of december 2011 issue of Circle Track and there is a nice article inside. I sold it last year and the guy that bought it has been running it in some of the vintage races. Allstarracing

 

Here is a rare picture.........Buck Baker's full sized 1965 Plymouth Fury.

The Nascar - Ford - Chrysler arguing led to the Nascar decision to only allow the Chrysler Hemi motors in their full sized cars in 1965. Baker was one of the few that tried that combo.
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Another shot of the same car.


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The Bakers - 1965


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1964.........Darel Dierenger in the Merc, Jim Paschal in the Petty Plymouth.

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