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Roadster at Devils Bowl


torquetube

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i was just a kid when i saw this car get spun , i saw a trail of fuel spew out from the back of the car and it lite up and burned back to it. I think it was 73?? It was just like in the movies, Wayne climbed out the top of the cage and ran as it went up. After it burned down a tow truck was able to get a the hook on it , they pulled it down the front straight away and off the track by where the cars and tow riggs come in, and let it burn out there. i was 13 then, i moved to iowa that fall , came back in 74,to see my relatives, and saw this car now #22, being driven by Tommy Johnson. He won the Heat and trophy. Corky Harris was the flagman, Johnson junmped on the start of the feature and Corky put him in the back. Tommy drove all the way to the lead, and won it, Corky came down and congratulated him......it was so cool

 

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  • 1 year later...

To add to this story;

 

Louis Wusterhausen also owned and drove this car before his untimely death in an ARCA

race at Texas World Speedway, this was before Clark and Johnson raced it. I think Clark

had the car before Tommy Johnson, Tommy Raced it several years on dirt and asphalt.

When the car was recovered it was still painted in Tommy's colors and is being restored to it's original condition as Kenny Weld's #91. I had a cousin that worked for Western Electric here in Houston

and he and some of his coworkers were sent to Dallas for training, my cousin stayed over

one Friday just so he could go to The Bowl and see what all the hoopla was about. It was on

this night that he was in attendance, he thought it was a terrible shame that they weren't

able to put out the fire.

thanks; Byron

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  • 2 weeks later...

Those lines are unmistakable! The car in the pictures is a copy of the Mechanical Rabbit roadster built by Don Brown "The Prince of Darkness". Don built 3 cars, One for "Little Joe" Saldana, one for Greg Weld and one for himself. Little Joe dominated midwest racing with his and Greg went onto winning the USAC Championship with his and Don won a few features with his although driving was really not his cup of tea, He was not bad but compared to Joe & Greg he came in second. I know somebody pulled some moulds off of Greg's body and Grant King made some copies that were very sucessfull. The Original Sprint Car power steering originated on these beautiful cars and Tommy Lee ,You know "Lee Power Steering" worked with Don on the original units which he would latter mas produce.

What a beautifull race car.

Dan Ruth

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I was told several years ago Waldo bought the car from Kenny Weld.

The car in the pics is most likely the #91 car Greg and Kenny built. The three original cars that Don Brown built in North Hollywood California were all the same as far as the chassis main rails and the nose was the only fiberglass part. The roll bars and subsiquent cages were all different and set each car apart from the other. I was a teenager when these cars were built in a shop shared with my father and I swept the floors every Saturday. These cars were works of art and the people whom called Don Brown a friend witnessed a "Master"

Long live the "Prince of Darkness"

Dan Ruth

 

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  • 1 year later...
i was just a kid when i saw this car get spun , i saw a trail of fuel spew out from the back of the car and it lite up and burned back to it.

 

I think it was 73??

 

It was just like in the movies, Wayne climbed out the top of the cage and ran as it went up.

 

After it burned down a tow truck was able to get a the hook on it , they pulled it down the front straight away and off the track by where the cars and tow riggs come in, and let it burn out there.

 

i was 13 then, i moved to iowa that fall , came back in 74,to see my relatives, and saw this car now #22, being driven by Tommy Johnson.

 

He won the Heat and trophy.

 

Corky Harris was the flagman, Johnson junmped on the start of the feature and Corky put him in the back.

 

Tommy drove all the way to the lead, and won it, Corky came down and congratulated him......it was so cool

 

post-3-1264135033.jpg

Saw Wayne driving this roadster as late as 98 at Dev Bowl.

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  • 2 years later...

I saw this picture and saw the signature, but actually that's my dad, Sidney Clark, driving the Weld roadster in 1971, my dad always wore a open face helmet, Wayne wore a full helmet. My dad was let go toward the end of 1971 and Wayne McNally took over driving. Wayne was driving the car when it caught fire. Rueben Brunson bought the car in 1972 and rehired my dad to drive it in 1972 and 1973. Rueben sold the car to Tommy Johnson during the 1974 season.

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I posted a picture of my Dad, Sidney Clark in the Weld roadster in 1971, that's my older brother Richard next to the car. You can also see that he was 9th in points on May 1, 1971 in the roadster. Ten to one there were probably some left over pictures of Dad in the #10 roadster that the photographer was still selling since it was still in the same season.

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Here's a picture of Dad, Sidney Clark, in the Weld roadster in 1973. The number changed to #22 in 1972, it was still white but in 1973 it was orange. It is my understanding that yes it was one of three "Mechanical Rabbits" that Don Brown, Greg Weld and Joe Saldana built. This one was Greg Weld's.

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