FlatBlack84

On 9/20/2022 at 6:18 PM, Bobby said:

Here's one on one of the Minnesota Max montages.  Most of these are from other states but you'll occasionally catch a South Texas car.  Marvin is at 1:19 on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXQiA8LF0V8.  S.A. racers will recognize the 77 of Todd Ford at 1:55. And.....is that Freddy Fryar at 5:17?

These are a rabbit hole, but rewarding.  It's amazing to see how the respective time periods make the cars look familiar, no matter which part of the country.  The picture at 4:45, however, is a first! 

 

Here's another pic of the Fillip car.

https://www.hoseheadforums.com/photoGallery/photoGalleryItemsLarge.cfm?GalleryItemKey=3721

Thanks, Bobby! I suspect that's the car, alright. 

On 9/17/2013 at 9:23 AM, DadRoman said:

I believe your talking about the Orange #24 of Carroll Cheek. You pretty much decribed it to a tee.

 

Its the same car (I believe) in the post #97 marked as number 21. It was the only orange car in this area at that time. Shortly after that pic was taken Carroll fell in love with the orange Foyt was using at the time and repainted the car with it. Being friends with Foyt he spent a bit of time around that color. Most beautiful orange.....actual code name was Foyt Red

 

Does anybody remember Wayne McNally's purple rear engine car? Boy that was a beauty also.

McNally--or McAnally?--ran in Lubbock a few times. Wasn't there a Pat McAnally, too? Maybe I'm misremembering. 

On 5/13/2010 at 11:19 PM, MarkF said:

Thanks for posting. Dave "Wolfman" Yeager is my cousin. Pretty sure Richard Sweat was from Amarillo, not San Angelo, but I could be wrong about that. 

On 7/10/2008 at 3:15 PM, Bobby said:

Early seventies might have been a little early. I know that somewhere in the 71-73 period Chet was a teenager just starting out behind the wheel of Marvin's 55 Chevy stock car. I can't imagine him being in a Super quite yet.

That's right. Chet began racing the white Belair (#91) probably no earlier than 1973--he would have been 16 at the time. Marvin raced it too during that period. Not long after that (no later than 1976), Chet began driving a white supermodified. Had a bad spill in turn one at Arena Park Raceway in that car. 

By the way, if anybody has a pic of that '55 Chevy, I'd love to see it. That was a beautiful racing machine, and very fast. 

On 12/15/2007 at 11:02 PM, Budman said:

Hummmm ........................... Very Interesting! Can it be that the 16 car is the 2nd incarnation of the famous #2 Roadster/Super modified? I've downloaded the pic, resized and enhanced it. I'm also going to post the pic on that other thread. Here it is.............Thanks Chipmunk! ................

 

Anybody know who the driver of this car was? I recall a white, supermodified #16 that used to run at Arena Park Raceway in Lubbock back in the 70s. I suppose this isn't the same car, but it sure looks the same. 

You're welcome, Byron, and you're exactly right about Wolfman at Jackson and Meyer. He was hellbent on racing in the Indy 500 and poured what meager assets he had into racing, traveling all over the south and Midwest in the hope of catching a car owner's eye and getting a ride in the '500.' And in 1980 it looked like it was going to pay off because he got a call in his hotel room from an owner offering him a ride. The deal was agreed to verbally. Unfortunately, however, a certain Tim Richmond approached the owner about the car and brought a big sponsor with him--it might have been PPG, but I'm not sure about that. At any rate, the owner gave the ride to Richmond who not only qualified, but won Rookie of the Year honors after finishing 9th or 10th. Wolfman was so disillusioned by this occurrence that he moved to the mountains of Colorado and got out of racing all together. 

Here's some pics from ARP in the 70s:

https://get.google.com/albumarchive/104313162809188896080/album/AF1QipP1fPOIyirxDlNiwcKA6feUVdJQTvD-uBUclog9

On 2/27/2018 at 3:54 PM, Rhinohead said:

My dad sponsored cars at Arena Park back around 1966 and 67 seasons. 01 and 02 The Gun Shop Specials. Driven by the Eustace brothers. Derwood drove 01, Duane drove 02. Even had an 03 for a few races. Driven by a mystery driver. We think it was my dad, but he wouldn't tell us. He didn't want my mom to know. The cars had big black revolvers painted on the front fenders. The muzzles were cut out and flex tubing was ran from the exhaust to the muzzle. The guns looked like they were firing when they would backfire. Ran junker ( early model stock ) and figure 8. Won mid season and season championships in both classes. Had all of their trophies displayed at the gun store down on Avenue H. We lived on 63rd between Canton and Elgin. Sleepy Nelson lived a couple doors down. My mom thinks she still might have a couple of old programs and some pics. 

Rhino, wasn't one of the Eustace brothers nicknamed Ace? I definitely remember an Ace Eustace running in the 70s, and he was very competitive. 

From 2005 to 2011 me and the wife lived on 61st between Canton and Elgin. Good thing we got out when we did because that area is going downhill fast.

PS--I know that in 1977 Sleepy was living at 41st and Indiana. 

Agreed. And there should certainly be some coverage of the big sprint car races next weekend.

Thanks, Bobby! That's great to hear. Now all we need is for the Lubbock AJ to take some interest like they used to back in the 70s.

Bobby, I think the vast majority of 'em were from close to Lubbock and Amarillo. James Colson had one. Tim Irvin had one. I believe Chet/Marvin Fillip had one, as did Kenny Stead from Amarillo. I also remember two white "B modifieds" whose numbers were 16 and 19. I don't know who drove the #16, but a kid named Benson, Benton or Bentley drove the #19 and had a bad crash on the front stretch. I don't think he ever drove again.

By the way, how has the racing been this year so far?

Well Bobby maybe I'm misremembering. Wouldn't be the first time!

Now when I speak of B modifieds, what I'm referring to is those open-wheel racers that had a squared off roof instead of a roll cage, and a square rear end instead of the rounded one you see on sprints.

Thanks for Howard's number, Spooky. I've edited the post to include that info.

And, by the way, do you know why why we used to call what others call supermodifieds, B modifieds? I've never heard the term B modified anywhere else except Arena Park.

Nick, we enjoyed some fine racing back then. I believe you would have liked it thoroughly.

Just on the off chance it'll jog some memories, I'll list all of the APR drivers from the 70s that I can remember.

#2 Sleepy Nelson (sprint)

#3 George Davidson (sprint)

#5 Jerry Winton (street stock)

#10 James Colson (sprint/B modified)

#12 Tim Irvin (sprint/B modified)

#13 David Yeager (sprint)

#14 Glen Polk (sprint)

#19 A B modified driver named Bentley, Benson or Benton

#19 Bobby Marshall (sprint)

#20 Mike Cox (street stock)

#22 Richard Sweat (sprint)

#23 Wayne McCullough (street stock)

#25 Tommy Holmes (street stock)

#26 David Cagle (street stock)

#27 Dick Woods (street stock)

#33 Jay Turner (sportsman)

#34 Hershel Cook (sprint)

#41 J.D. Hughes (sportsman)

#42 Roland Morton? (street stock)

#43 Pete Faz (street stock)

#44 Mickey Smith? (sportsman)

#45 James Means (street stock)

#47 John Bain (sportsman)

#54 Joe Putman (street stock)

#57 Pete Lovell (sprint/B modified)

#58 Charlie Wharton (street stock)

#61 Bobby Bilbrey (street stock)

#66 Alton Henderson (street stock)

#69 Earnest Thomas (street stock)

#70 Jim Culpepper (sportsman)

#77 Don Burk (sportsman)

#81 Danny Everett (street stock)

#84 Larry Johnson (street stock)

#85 Gary Holloway (sprint)

#88 Maurice Whitehead (street stock)

#90 Ted Howard (sprint)

#91 Marvin and Chet Fillip (sprint/B modified and supermodified)

#99 Johnny Foster (sportsman)

Other drivers whose numbers I can't remember:

Tommy and Bobby Norvell (street stock)

RC Griffin (street stock)

Don Suter (sportsman)

James Weaks (street stock)

Bobby Stepp (street stock)

Kenny Stidd (sprint/B-modified)

Ace Eustace (street stock)

A sprint car driver whose last name was Anderson

Great stuff.... that's why the Texas Racing History section is here... sooner or later someone Googles a name from the past and we get some more stories when they find the site.

 

Nick

Thanks so much for running this site and providing a forum for us oldsters to yammer on about the good ol' days. And they were good!

 

 

FlatBlack84, i am not related to the Norvells ( Although Bobby Norvell is currently involed in helping getting the old Lady Luck Speedway up and running again in 2017 which is now known as West Texas Raceway. ) and my dad ( David Cagle ) raced at Arena Park Raceway ( Junkers class then later on briefly in the Sportsman class when the Junker class was dropped. ) from 1967 to 1973 on a regular basis and then on rare cases till 1978 when he retired for good. We have met before as i gave you some spare programs i had from those early days. I am excited that the track is opening back up this year after being closed for 4 too long seasons !! LOL

 

 

 

Bobby

Howdy, Bobby! And you're right, you did give me those programs several years ago, and I still take them out and look at them occasionally. Thank you again for that generous gift. Those programs are important to me. And I certainly remember your dad. Was his nickname Spooky? I could have sworn Spooky was one of the Norvells and that he drove a white No. 26. Man, that was a long time ago, and my memory ain't what it used to be !!

Thanks, no problem !! Here is the story on how my dad and "Spooky" came about. Back in 1966 my dad was working for Jackie Flemons at Southwest Wheels here in Lubbock and had already started racing at Arena Park Raceway that year. During that year he took my dad ( David) to the races and my dad was immediately hooked !! So, in 1967 my dad started racing too. His boss, Jackie Flemins was racing a white-colored dodge ( car # 20 ) with a Casper the friendly ghost cartoon on it. So, my dad got a 51 or 52 white-colored Ford and used the number 21x and decided to put a Spooky cartoon on it ( because of the comic books LOL !! ) and every thing was going good till my dad started beating his own boos on the racetrack a little too much !! LOL They would end up being friends again !! Not related to the Norvells but it would not be hard to get confused back in those days as a lot of those cars were painted white and real similar ( perfect example would of been my dads car and his boss's car as they only way you could tell them apart was the cartoon characters on their cars !! ) especially in the Junker class !! LOL

 

Bobby

 

Thanks, Bobby. Lots of fascinating stuff there. Is your pappy still into racing?

Also, do you remember who drove a white, No. 16 B-modified back in the early- and mid-seventies? Outside of Wolfman, that may have been my favorite car out there.

And do you recall those great duels between Marvin Fillip, Don Burke, Johnnie Foster and J.D. Hughes? When those guys got together it was a friggin show! I doubt there's ever been more entertaining racing anywhere.

Thanks Bobby, that is awesome your mom remembers my dad. He ended up being a bit of a contender in the later years, he did things kind of unconventional like having a center mounted huge steering wheel from a bus, his seat straddled the trans hump with the throttle pedal on the right side! His thoughts being the big steering wheel it was less work than the other guys constantly working the smaller wheels and sitting in the center, his view was unobstructed by the roof pillar. Hey it worked for him! Hershal removed the center mount wheel much to the aggravation to my then 11 yr old self!

 

I couldn't remember his name but I very much remember Johnny Huskey's crash on opening day that year. I remember seeing his head fall down between turns 3 and 4 and his car headed straight into the wall. It was horrible, took them forever to get him pulled out of there.

 

I don't remember too many names, I heard Sleepy Nelson passed a few years ago, he was always one of my faves. Jim Culpepper was my dad's best friend and ran there. We still keep in touch, he still lives in Hereford. His son lives in Dallas and has always raced something or another. Great memories.

 

Tim

Tim, I remember reading about your dad's accident while surfing the Internet. What a tragedy. But that and the Huskey accident were before my time; I didn't begin attending races at Arena Park until 1971 when I was four years old. Later on I heard that Huskey probably had a massive heart attack behind the wheel and that's what allowed the crash to happen. Amazing that after all these years, Huskey is still the only racing fatality at the track, although there have been some other severe accidents. A guy named Tim Irvin (or Irwin) drove a No. 12 B-modified and had a terrible crash where he went airborne and smacked the wall back first coming out of turn three. He survived, but I heard he was never the same after that wreck.

You're right, Sleepy is gone, but Charlie Bolton, among others, is still around. I've seen him a few times at that antique place called the Train Station on Avenue Q. in Lubbock. As nice a guy as you'd ever want to meet.

Now Jim Culpepper is a name I hadn't heard in many years. Wasn't his car No. 70?

FlatBlack84, i am not related to the Norvells ( Although Bobby Norvell is currently involed in helping getting the old Lady Luck Speedway up and running again in 2017 which is now known as West Texas Raceway. ) and my dad ( David Cagle ) raced at Arena Park Raceway ( Junkers class then later on briefly in the Sportsman class when the Junker class was dropped. ) from 1967 to 1973 on a regular basis and then on rare cases till 1978 when he retired for good. We have met before as i gave you some spare programs i had from those early days. I am excited that the track is opening back up this year after being closed for 4 too long seasons !! LOL

 

 

 

Bobby

Howdy, Bobby! And you're right, you did give me those programs several years ago, and I still take them out and look at them occasionally. Thank you again for that generous gift. Those programs are important to me. And I certainly remember your dad. Was his nickname Spooky? I could have sworn Spooky was one of the Norvells and that he drove a white No. 26. Man, that was a long time ago, and my memory ain't what it used to be.

Spooky, I'm guessing your dad is one of the Norvells!

Have you got any pictures or programs from those early days? Seeing as how I was a kid hanging out at Arena Park throughout the seventies, pulling for my cousin Wolfman Yeager, we probably bumped into one another a time or two.

QV, Been a while since I've been out there, but last time I was there they were racing street stocks, modifieds, super modifieds and sprint cars.

If you're willing to part with those programs etc., I'm willing to buy them.

It's been over a year. I figure it doesn't hurt to bump this.

Back in the 70s my daddy used to take me to the races every Friday night at Arena Park Raceway just south of Lubbock. The track still exists and is called Lady Luck Speedway. Anyway, I'd sure like to get my hands on some racing programs from Arena Park ca. 1971-1979. Any help would be more than appreciated.

First post, BTW. Fascinating website.