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JohnnyMac

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About JohnnyMac

  • Birthday 09/11/1936

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    Kingwood, TX (suburb of Houston)

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  1. Here is the 3rd of the 4 cars I build. I ran it a while on dirt then sold it to Pancho Locklin and went with him to the Winter Super Modified Nationals in Fa. to help him set it up. John McLarian drove it to a 4 place finish behind the 4 wheel drive rear engine Super. It's shown hear in 1973 at Jackson International Speedway in Jackson, Mississippi. with Paige Reynolds driving it.
  2. And here it is. That's a shame. It started out as a dirt track. After the races I would hot lap my new 55 Chevy till my Dad found out and put a stop to it. LOL. I was only 19 which was a minor back then. LOL again.
  3. Thanks, I went to the races there during that period. What name did you race under?
  4. Does anyone remember the exact location of the old North Houston Racetrack? It was a deserted horse track near where Bush Airport is now. This was back in the mid 50's the best I remember.
  5. Longtime project starting to come together, just sure miss the old coupes. Beautiful mfbarnes, love that era of cars. That engine is a work of art. Being that you are from Montgomery, did you ever race at Moody Clary or Big-H? If so what name did you race under?
  6. Here is what I've been doing for the last 15 years, racing on-line with friends from 4 countries at www.christianracing.com under the name GrandPaJmc. If I wreck I don't have to work all week to put it back together anymore, just hit a button on my computer and I have a new car. And here I am leading the pack at the Taladega Short Track
  7. Here I am in the above car a Beaumont after it was put back together. And here I am resting behind Bill Breshears shop. Me in the Midget I drove at Big-H for Honest Al. And finally, me carrying the checkered at Big-H in the #55 Limited Modified Sprinter I got Johnny Rutherford to autograph it for me when he did a Saftey meeting a few years back where I worked.
  8. That is it. It was #8. It made a heck of a good dirt car. I drove it later at Moody Clary in Navasota with a #55 on it. Then Benny Cotes purchased it from Bill Breshears. (see post above).
  9. I just remembered a few other drivers that drove for Bill Breshears (my brother in law) over the years were Jimmy Mckinney and Gordon Wolley (one night at Navasota). There is one other driver that I can't recall his name. Maybe someone can help me. He drove the Edmonds copy yellow Super at Myers speedway and one night him and Bill White locked wheels sending them both over the wall and he spent several weeks in a coma before coming out of it and never drove again. The car may have had a 5 something on it 55, 56, 58 can't remember or may have had an 8 on it. Ronny Burke also drove for him at Myers the first night after the car was put back together. I drove that same car it Moodey Clary in Navasota. Later on a Benny Coats (who worked with me and pitted for me at Navasota) bought the car, put coil over shocks on the front and won the limited modified championship at Big-H. That was Benny's first ride. Update: I just talked to Bill White and he told me it was Jackie Woosley that went over the wall with him at Myers.
  10. My father pastered the Burbank Assembly of God Church one block north of Tidwell on Fulton and we lived behind the Church. That was about a block from Johnny Reves (spelling) house. This was in the mid 50's. Any time I heard the race car fire up I would come running. Johnny would let me ride with them out to Playland Park and Billy (Griswold) would have me crawl up under the back of the car and pour tigalene (spelling again, some kind of paint thinner, I think) into the gas tank, LOL. Billy in that Fisher Head GMC was an almost unbeatable combination on the short tracks. He could put that thing on the pole and hold it there. Someone said of him (I think maybe it was M.J. Burton, can't remember) that Billy was the only driver that you could see the back of his head on his own mirror, LOL. When he bought the Ford 6 powered dirt car from Cowboy Bunch (out of Marshal), Billy, Bill Breshears (my brother in law) and I took it up to the 1/4 mile dirt track that used to be just south of Cleveland to play with it and Billy let me hot lap it. That was my first time in a race car and I was bitten and knew that was what I just had to do. I'm thinking that this was in the late 60's or early 70's. Shortly afterwords I starting building my 1st race car in Bill Breshears shop.
  11. I remember Mike. Sorry to hear that. Praying for the family. God speed Mike.
  12. Several months ago the guys at Christian Racing (On-Line Sim Racing League) knowing that I had driven sprints and midgets decided to put up a World of Outlaws Sim race on the internet server just to see if I was hot air or really drove sprints. I set on the pole, Won my heat and lapped all but the 2nd place car (had 3/4 lap on him) in the feature when a slower car lost it just as I came up on him. I broad sided him, knocking my from wing off with 5 laps to go. If course I couldn't turn it after that and had to almost stop in the corners and lost the race by just a couple of feet. Sure was fun to toss it into the corners and stand on it trowing dirt all the way around. This was at the Taladega Short Track (1/2 mile dirt) and I ran flat footed all the way around. Surpirsed me that I could still do that. The On-Line Simulator is very realistic. Here is a link to a snap shop taken at the end of lap one showing me leading the field. Me leading the field
  13. You are correct. I knew I'd remember it if I heard it. I'm having "sometimers", I sometime can remember but a lot of times not, LOL.
  14. Hi, I'll be 74 this coming 9/11 and grew up going to races in and around Houston and later raced on a few of them. I'm Bill Breshears brother in law. He built and raced Super Modified cars at Playland Park, North Houston (old horse track) Arrowhead and Meyers Speedway. His cars were driven by George Nash, Charles Ray Shiles, Billy Wade, Phil Cronon and Larry Shilds to name a few. He later ran Sprint Cars at Moody Clary and Big H after Meyers closed driven by Larry Shilds, Bill White, Me and I can't remember his name but the track photographer's son. Billy Wade and family spent Christmas with Bill and Elouise (who lived next door to me) just before going to Daytona for the tire test that killed him. I started out in racing by pit crewing for Billy Griswold at Playland Park when I was in my teens. I build my first Super Modified in Bill Breshears shop when I was 30 years old. I always wanted to race but got married shortly after a hitch in the Coast Guard so didn't have the funds till I was 30. Phil Cronon was driving for Bill at the time and his Brother Mike had been driving Broncos and Mike had a friend that would put an L88 427 Chevy engine in my near completed Super if I would let him drive it at Meyers which I did for a while. I decided to race myself so bought a 283 engine from Charles Ray that he had build up for Larry's Bronco and took the car to Moody Clary Speedway in Navatoda. I ran off and on (limited funds) over the next 14 years at Moody Clary then Big H dirt track in North Houston. My last ride in a Modified was the Limited Modified #55 (an old CAE Sprint Car) at Big H. I was competive but not one of the top (limited funds again). I had a brief run in the Midgets at Big H when Honest Al Burnes (Honest Al's Auto Parts) hired me to drive the #53 Kurtis Offy Midget at Big H. The first night we drew for starting positions and old lucky me drew the last starting position. I won my heat and finished 2nd in the feature from the last row. The next week I was 2nd in points so started in the back row again, running 2nd again. This went on for 7 weeks with me running either 2nd or 3rd and only being beat by cars starting on the front row. Just didn't have enough time to run em down. I had twice as many championship points as the 2nd place runner and had won all my heat races when Al fired me because I hadn't won a feature (he had a lot of pressure from Elton Porter to let him drive it). Another owner that had a low dollar home built midget with a Chevy II boat engine in it picked me up (can't remember his name but he pulled it to the track on a little trailer behind and old Chrysler 300) and I out ran the offy with Elton in it the next week, LOL. I'll have to say that's the hardest I ever drove. I was out to outrun that offy as all cost, LOL. BUT my biggest thrill was passing and beating Bill White one night at Moody Clary. Bill was my idol when I was coming up. I've only been to 2 homecoming races since retiring from racing cause I knew I'd be tempted to get in one again and because I was getting up in years knew I had no business in one. I've been racing On-Line on the computer with the Christian Racing League ( www.christingracing.com ) for the last 15 years (keeps my mind sharp). We have members in 4 countries and race NASCAR among other type cars 6 nights a week. I'm still pretty compative at it especially on the Super Speedways. I'm in the top 5 in lap time at a number of the tracks we run on (Not bad for a 73 year old running against the young guys). Not so good on the road cources. Never got the hang of turning right, LOL. OH, by the way I'm John McClellan and raced under the name of Johnny "Mac" McClellan (not to be comfused with the famous "Mac" McClellan that almost lost his life in a midget on a "Saturday Night Thunder" race at Indy Raceway Park. P.S. Charles Ray nicknamed me "Slide Rule" because I always carried a tape measure and was always measuring things on race cars that I thought had a good Idea and later incorporated them into my cars that I built (3 over time). LOL. I almost forgot, the last Super I built I ended up selling it to Poncho Lockland and I went with him to the Super Modified Nationals in Fa to help him set it up. Can't remember the driver, just remember he was a preacher (Mc something I think, maybe someone remembers his name). They ran 4th against some of the best Supers from across the nation. The guy with the 4 wheel drive rear engine car won it but they were in the same lap not too far behind.
  15. While this may have been AJ's first race in a midget, his first race was at Playland Park Speedway in a coupe when he was 16 and he won every race he was in that night. I was there and knew at that point that bigger and better thing were in store for him (to say the least, LOL).
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