mfbarnes

If you are a facebook member go to facebook and search Meyer Speedway, Playland Park and other Houston Racing Memories, ask to join the group and I will approve you.

Right you are. This is one of the few times you catch me not in a bowtie. I just love the old Lincoln flathead. It's got torque and revs like a spotted ape. This is a 38 Lincoln I drug back in pieces from Mooresville. A bootleggers car deluxe, had cable operated cutouts, and lots of extra trunk space with big truck springs under the rear, imagine that. You know me Jim, I got to have a multi-carb setup, it's just in my blood.

Longtime project starting to come together, just sure miss the old coupes.

Glen behind the wheel

Glen Wood with the car at the Shop

Sonny's Wood brothers ride

Jackie's last ride Here's Bill walking behind the car giving it the once over, little did he know the fate to come

Definately better than the old homeys shot with the old Bell and Howell double 8 camera. They had nice professional camera crews out the that day. Sad they never had more of them out the during the good ole days, because there were some really great runs out there that are nothing more than a foggy memory of some saggy old farts, that sit around straining trying to remember, and post on the Internet...... Oh shoot that's us! Damn..........

Larry I believe you are correct. Now that I look at that picture more closely, that is Schild standing next to the car in the striped shirt I believe. Nice catch.

To Happier Times Jim....... Look at this hansome devil, coulda been a movie star, instead, he hung out at the track........ The Uncle Jimmie's Special And the end result......way to go Jim happy 4th to you buddy........

Yeah if Parnelli would have ever caught him, they would have both been wadded up in the infield.

Y'all remember that IMCA stock car event they had out at Arrowhead in Oct of '51. It was two days of racing, the 27th and 28th. I am sure of the dates because Sunday was my fathers birthday, and we hada car in the race, driven by my uncle Bobby. What a marathon. We ran a 100 laps on Saturday, which Eddie Harrisons won in his Olds, and the 150 laps on Sunday, which Eddie won again. and then a 25 lap trophy dash, that Pat Kirkwood won. Man what a show. Arrowhead was packed to the rafters, it seemed like everybody in Houston was there.

Larry if I remember right Gene Force won that race in November. Man those were some great days, and the track was super fast. Skippy Michaels and Gene Hartley put on a good show only to have some problems late in the race. If I recall correctly it was: 1 Gene Force 2 Dale Swaim 3 Bill Homeier 4 AJ Foyt 5 Tony Bettenhausen In Dec of '59 they had the USAC Stock Car race there at Meyers, Harold Smith and Roger Ward battled to the last lap, with Smitty taking the win. AJ won the USAC Sprint race at Meyers in Oct of '59 Him and Parnelli Jones put on a clinic that night That may have only been AJ's 2nd or third win in a USAC Sprinter. The next year in '60 Parnelli Jones Beat AJ at Meyers, in a Sprint Car owned by the late Harlan Fike. Johnny white took over that car later on and drove for Harlan until '64 when he flipped a sprinter he built himself and broke is neck up at Terre Haute. I ended up inheriting that Fike ride after Johnny was paralyzed for life, and drove it for a couple of seasons because Wayne Weiler gave Harlan my name. Wayne drove for Harlan for many years. Harlan Fike was one of the nicest guy's I ever drove for. If Joe Meyers would have been around loger there would have been a Texas version of Martinsville or something on the lot in Houston. I think that track was his entire life. Not that he needed any money, he did it because he loved it, and for no other reason. They broke he mold when they made Joe Meyers hat's for sure.

Yes Sir that is the one and only Texas Terry, in a car his dad built and maintained. That car won a lot of trophies. Hello from Mosul, Iraq all. Can't wait to be back in the Lone Star State. It is hot as Hades today 103° in the shade, and there ain't no shade. Somebody took all the trees.

Man those are some great photos of the Gambler, suspect most of those were taken by Mack MacKenzie. So just to keep things in perspective, let's give am atta boy to the man who was always on the job, and ahead of his time in a lot of ways. The late great Mack MacKenzie Here is one of Mack's Cameras mounted on the front of Sonny's #1 Mod I am pretty sure that's Bill's wife working mack's table at the entrance way at Meyer's A bid thanks has to go out to the MacKenzie famly, because if it were not for Mack's work and dedication, a lot of these memories would have faded away a long time ago.

You are correct about it being a Chevelle, but whether it was 15/16 scale or 7/8 scale, will always be a mystery, because Smokey never let anyone put a tape on it. But according to Smokey's book it was 7/8 scale, and dubbed "the Lil' 13" NASCAR used very limited templates back then, basically they only had one that checked the Hood/Roof line, and rake of the windshield, because quite a few, (namely Jr. Johnson) were known to lay the "A" post back a little to reduce drag on the super speedways. Well Smokey hand built an entire carbody, which in those day was unheard of, and scaled it down a little, without changing the Hood/Roof line, nor the wheelbase. It was narrower, buy a few inches, as the story goes, and he had managed to reduce the drag by an estimated 25%. The car with Curtis Turner driving, lapped the field during speedweek testing, it had been cited 16 times for various knit pickey violations. Smokey blamed both Ford and Chrysler for putting so much pressure on Big Bill France that he had his tech inspectors overscrutinize his super- slippery Chevelles. They tore the car completely apart twice at the track, looking for anything that looked fishy. Legend has it that Smokey’s ’66 Chevelle picked up sixteen violations that year in prerace inspections, that had to be fixed before qualifying. He got in the car and drove it back to his garage in Daytona with the fuel tank still sitting in the inspection area. His parting shot was, “make it 17 you dumb bastards.” Smokey did it on purpose, just did it to prove a point. Smokey later recanted in his book: "Whether or not I had a gas tank didn’t matter, because that car had an illegal 11-foot fuel line with a 2-inch ID hidden in it that held an extra 6 gallons of gasoline. I will never tell where it actually was hidded, but I could have driven to Jacksonville 90 miles away with the fuel in the line." That's typical Smokey through and through. JOE PLOWMAN 65-67 That is a great shot of the "Galveston Gambler" That Mod was bad fast.

Larry, I am pretty sure that was Charles "Doc" Kulhanek. He was one heck of a driver. (pronounced Cull-a-neck). Doc is dead, died in 2004. I believe him and Ray Gene Sr. were first cousins. The Original Hot Rod Hill in Bryan out on Hwy 21 West, was on Doc's Dad's property, and his father was the promoter there. I think his fathers name was Samuel "Sammy" Kulhanek. They called him "Doc" because of his skills with a wrench. He could do wonders with a small block Chevy. He helped me acquire a motor from Smokey Yunick. That 302 was one of the finest motors I have ever had. As a matter of fact that engine is still alive and well to this day. First time we ever tore that motor down, we all just looked at each their and shook our heads. There were things done to that motor that no one could begin to explain.

Here's a picture of one of Joe's Torino's, For some reason, I think this one was aquired from Banjo Mathews, and it was 351 on the hood as well as under the hood. Pretty sure this one had a 351C beneath the bonnet. Joe Plowman was always fast in everything he drove. Especially this fine modified Coupe.

Are you referring to Ray Gene Kulhanek Sr.? Raymond Peter Kulhanek (the original) is still alive and living in Fayetteville. He's 92 years old. Ray Gene Kulhanek Sr. is 65 years old and living in Fayetteville taking care of his father, Ray Gene Kulhanek Jr. is in his late forties probably 48 or 49 and living out in Angleton, probably on probation for driving like hell and fighting in a bar. Ray Allen Kulhanek lives over here in Conroe, and races ASCS Sprint Cars. Know them all very well.

Anyone out there remember Monty Decker? He came over and helped out in my Goddaughters pit the other night, when they were thrashing around chasing the setup at the ASCS race. They crew told me on the phone, when they called me to tell me about her coming in 5th in the feature, that he asked about me, he evidently recognized some of my old photos they have in the lounge of the hauler. If memory serves me right he drove a Ford in the Broncos out at Meyers, for a few years. Anyway, he evidently is alive and well, and was helpful as hell, according to Robert and them. He helped them with a Bar and shock choice to deal with the bumpy track, and got Brandie's car handling. I owe him a steak dinner, when I get back to the states. I think Richard "Crazy" Cooper was the man of the hour as I understand, he out dueled Kent Lewis Jr., glad to hear he's still turning left.

Dubai, currently. Was in Mosul Iraq with very limited Internet access, working, fell into a contract over here, that was two good to turn down. But I now have all the modern bells and whistles here in Dubai. It's 5 AM and I am getting ready to push off TGIF.

Half Mile Dirt Track and I believe it's "Cuddihy", I may be wrong. The Ice Man highschooler on a Friday night....... This car won many many races in the neck of the woods.

DK, what Randy is telling you is gospel, Walgreens and Photo-mats do good work. I actually bought a slide scanner for under 200 bucks, I just didn't trust letting the old slides get out of my hands. So many deteriorated, stacked in the shoe boxes. The acids that are used in the developing phase, get to eating themselves up with the humidity in our area. So I bought a scanner myself, and saved what I could. Some were just in such bad shape you couldn't make anything out. but I have thousands of slides so it paid for itself pretty quick in saving as well as not worrying to death about some jug head kid losing my slides. The scanner I bought also scans negatives and the software develops the picture into a jpg. I believe it's a Mustek 7000, but don't hold me to that. I just left Indy and am headed over to PA today if my son doesn't flip this motor-coach and kill us both in the Pocono Mountains, I should be home in a couple of weeks if you want more info on the machine by chance.