Dirt tracking in the 80s

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PA41

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Dec 5, 2008
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I thought I was a good mechanic until I started racing stock cars. Those damned old red necks will make you humble, I didn't know nothing! Glad I did it, learned a bundle, wouldn't do it again. One of those 'Hot Horseshoe' things.
 

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dad

dad in the O4 at elma's 3/8 track 1982 turn 3 going into 4.

those were some fun and great times with the whole family.

Later :cool:
 

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The first turn was the wild one. If we made it through 1 & 2 without wadding everything up there was a race. I ran Monty Carlos a while then Firebirds. I was doing good to just run in the pack. About my best racing advantage was a 2 speed Powerglide with the torque convertor removed and making the low band a clutch with a pressure dump valve. Really made the car responsive, and easier to drive. There was a slight delay in the pressure release clutch that took some adjusting to. Removing the weight of the TC off the crank made it rev REAL quick. The first time I put it in I was winging the throttle in the shop and ate a valve. Ran around a 5.5-6.5 rear gear and it'd move in the pits in low, and ran the track in high. Started having sinus problems from the dust and fumes and quit it.
 
Racing really made me a believer in seat belts!! I was not a very good driver and it was good night if I left by 'driving' the car on the trailer. I got major belt bruises more often than I'll admit. I can't see how the real old timers survived without them. A loose belt is almost as bad as no belt. The more I think about it, I probably shouldn't have raced--just such a redneck I couldn't help myself.
 
we ran asphalt early 90's what was called hog class. supposed to be a stock car but we were stock one half a season the first one. after that we buzzed to track pretty hard, the pure stock and modified classes had a hard time with us if they were on the track with us on practice night. the crowds went crazy when the hogs took the track. i got some old pics i'll try to find. oh by the way they had to be big cars like impalas.
 
The mid 70s Monty Carlos were the biggest cars I ran. They didn't turn well, and I never could get the 4 link coil spring rear figured out. Tough as nails though, could really take a lick and keep going. Almost a demolition derby car, and parts were everywhere. Good starter car.
 
25 years ago. A rare pic of an unmolested dirt car. It didn't look like that long. It was a 'contact' sport when I drove. I've never enjoyed something so much that I was so bad at.
 

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It bugs me a bit to restart old threads, but I'm a new gut here, so what the hey.
We had a 1/2 mile dirt track here in our town. From the time I was 2, I was attending those races at our local track. The track ran the pre 1950 cars until I was 10 or 11. The image of those old coupes coming off that #4 turn getting the green flag is forever burned into my mind.
I knew at an early age, dirt track racing was for me, I was going to be a race car driver and owner.
My dad's buddy ran one of those old coupes, from about age 8 on, he would drag me to the race car garage on Sat mornings as the guys were getting the car ready. Everyone worked in those days, so Sat was the 1st chance most had to work on the race cars, our track ran Sunday nights. I was a motivated little guy, I needed to know everything about race cars. My dad's friend Bill took me under his wing, and showed me, even at that early age, how I could help. By the time I was 12, I was probably a real helping hand, holding things, getting tools, lots of odd things.
About that time our family moved into a house that was a short bike ride to Bill's place, I could ride there to help even without dad being there. I really was learning things, and was getting to know other local drivers. It got to the point that if someone crashed, I would go to the other guys' places and help them with their cars. I was pretty well known as a good helper on many things. Most of the guys taught me things I didn't know.
Like many high schools, our high school had an auto shop, but you had to be in 10th grade before you could get into auto shop. Once in the class, you had to be able to pass the flathead 6 test before you were allowed into the actual shop. The school has a flathead 6 Plymouth motor with the had pulled. For the test was the instructor would pull the distributor out of the block, pull the wires out of the cap, and pull the points and condenser out. To pass, you had to bring #1 up on compression, install the dist, install the points and condenser, set the dwell, put the plug wires in the proper order, and set the timing with a test light to TDC on the compression stroke. It was expected that after the 1st grading period, you could accomplish the feet, but probably not before that. With me helping the race car guys, I knew how to do that, and could even explain the process. The very 1st day in class, I passed the flathead 6 test. The instructor loved a willing student, and things advanced very quickly for me. By the time most of my class was just passing the flathead test, I was putting distributers on the distributer machine and adjusting their mechanical and vacuum advances. The instructor had me helping advanced classmates repair real cars. This would have been about 1971. The instructor helped get me my job at the largest gas station repair shop in town. All this time, I was still helping racers work on their cars.

By the time we were seniors in HS, I was pretty well versed in racing and auto mechanics. Me and 3 buddies decided we should build a hobby stock car. My dad wouldn't let me do it at his house, we had to wait after I got married and moved out.
I found a 69 Road Runner for $150. 383, 4 speed, 3:23 sure grip. Drove it home and took it apart. We sold everything we could off the car. None of us know how to weld, but we recruited someone that did. The little garage at the house I was renting wasn't even big enough to get the RR inside, but it had 110 electric. One of my buddies had an uncle that had a farm where we could weld. I got a deal on 120' of old well pipe a guy replaced because it leaked. We cut that up and welded it up for the roll cage. The rules for the hobby class was a 4 point cage, 70 series street tires, and a 2bble carb. I hustled up a 2bble carb and an adaptor plate to fit the 383's 4bble intake. We arrived at the track just short of mid season, along with 3 other cars to join the 5 already racing. our one buddy that put up most of the money was the driver.
The week we showed up, the track decided they were not going to run the hobby stock cars anymore! Our cars did not qualify to the rules to run with the late models. We did some fast talking and got the track owner to at least let us run that night with the late models. He made us promise we would take it easy. Yep, sure thing! With us included, there were 43 late models that night. Every ran time trials (ours was 28:40 something). The fastest 1/2 of the cars would be run in the Feature, and the rest would run in the Semi Feature (it paid 1/2 of the feature payout, but paid 10 places back). We finished 8th in the Semi that 1st night, paid $35! The guy that had been winning most of the hobby stock races was almost a 1/2 lap behind us.
The next week, many of the guys I'd helped gave us some old tires, we bought 5 new farm equipment wagon wheels and one of the racers helped me weld the wheel centers from our wheels into the wagon wheels. We ran most of the rest of the season, but blew up the 383 when the clutch slipped coming off turn one, the week before season championship. The other guys decided they were going to quit racing, and gave me the car. That was how my racing carrier started. Many more followed.
Gene
 

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