NickHolt

Your leadership on this forum is starting to produce some real results. Now I'm thinking maybe you can use the forum to coordinate the various entities needed to put a meaningful QM Museum on the map. Nick

That's incredible... What a find! Can you believe it???? Nick

What a treasure trove of information about the early Quarter Midgets. As those of us who are getting "up in years" get even further up, it becomes more and more important that we share our knowledge and love of the sport with others - or else it will be gone forever... This History section of the site means more to me than words can describe. Thanks Randy for pitching in to keep this alive and growing. I know I pay you very handsomely, but somehow I get the feeling you do this more for the love of the sport than making all those trips to the bank ... Nick

Actually, a person could probably gather enough information from sites like this to fill in whatever gaps they have in their own recollections to put a decent history together. I'm trying to talk Tom "The Walking, Talking Encyclopedia of Texas Stock Car Racing" Taylor into putting his vast storehouse of information in writing before he gets any older. Someone should do the same for the Texas Midgets. Nick

Here's one of Rick Rapp that goes back a ways.

Fightin' words if I've ever heard 'em.... What say thee, Randy? Doth the man speaketh the truth? But wait, I don't think either one of you would fit in a quarter midget... you both probably have trouble getting in and out of a mini van! LOL Have at it, boys! Nick

Sounds to me like a grudge match is in order here... LOL Nick

Welcome, Bruce. We're dying to see whatever pics you have and to read all about your days in the quarter midgets. Nick

Opps... I think I deleted Rowdy Dowdy post by accident.. I was going to fix up the format of the post but hit delete instead... Sorry... can you repost your comments?? Nick

Way cool, Bruce! And still plugging his sponsors too... Nick

Another scan of the same pic.

What a valuable service everyone who posts in this thread is providing the rest of the world. Almost an on-line museum for quarter midgets... Nick

By now I hope everyone has figured out that all the pics are back and in their rightful spot. It took several weeks of intense work on the part of LSS staff, but it was worth all the effort. This is without a doubt one of the most valuable threads in ... well, anywhere! We genuinely appreciate the trust everyone has shown as we worked through several major issues during the recent transfer of servers and software upgrades. Nick

Yes.... Please don't go out and buy a bunch of equipment. Nick

They are on VCR cassettes - Are there more than one size? These cassettes are about 6" x 4" X 1" inch. The same size that fits into a standard VCR player. Nick

Saturday I was digging through some old stuff looking for my binoculars when I stumbled accross 20 or 20 videos by "Videos by Donna." These were of the years I was Chief Steward - mid 90's - and I had forgotten all about them. How do I get them into digital format? I'd love to share some of these with folks who might be interested. Nick

Well, if you watched me, you learned what NOT to do for sure! Nick

Another time Neil upchurch asked me to flag a TIDA Late Model race for him. In those days there were a bunch of LMs that showed up to do battle Unless I'm totally mixed up, I believe this one was a 125-lap event. I had never done any flagging (except in practice, but anyone can do that) so I was really psyched up - I guess nervous would be a better way to put it. I don't remember a whole lot about the race but as far as I know, I didn't screw anything up too badly. But just like driving a race car, it's a lot easier to do sitting in the grandstands sipping a cold one than actually doing it. Nick

I bet Joe Horne doesn't even remember this, but way back when, he asked me to announce a race or two very early in the season until he could get someone hired. Don't recall what year it was, but the old scoring tower was still there. The plexiglass windows on the South end of the booth - where the announcer was - were entirely missing. Instant air conditioning! LOL As I recall, there weren't a whole lot of folks in the stands, but I had a good time. No driver bios, not even a drivers list. All by memory. But I do remember hanging out the window to chat with folks or to see if the National Anthem was loud enough on the PA.. Does anyone else remember anything about that? Nick

I wonder exactly how many cars ended up bent beyond repair after an encounter with the infamous SAS boiler plate... I know of one for sure. The Johnny Ivy / Nick Holt / Bruce Mabrito Vega broke a RF hub going into turn one in 1978 with Bruce behind the wheel. "Hello wall, goodbye car." Too bad, too. That car was mighty quick on the half-mile. Nick

That would be a young Don Bierschwale standing behind Labonte's ride. Nick

I don't even know where to start.. I was racing at Pan American Speedway in late 1976 when we started hearing rumors about a new half-mile track being built south of town on the Poteet Highway. We all knew that Ricci Ware and certain group of drivers had had a huge disagreement about the way that the drivers' share of the front gate was being handled. And we all knew that many of the drivers had stopped racing at Pan Am and at Paramount Speedway in Austin, Ricci's other track. But what we didn't know is that a group of disgruntled drivers had been working behind the scenes to build a "professional" track that was designed to compete directly with Pan American Speedway. That group of drivers formed a 33-member partnership with various members contributing money, labor, expertise, materials and moral support, but the main force behind the effort was being provided by Don Bierschwale who owned a prosperous funeral home on Military Drive on San Antonio's deep south side. Bierschwale, in fact, was elected President of the group's board. Construction on the new "Highway 16 Raceway" began in March, 1977, and the first race was held on August 22, 1977. The track's motto was, "When the green flag drops, the bullshit stops," an obvious reference to their disagreement with Ricci Ware. Many of the Pan American and Paramount drivers abandoned Ricci's ship and Ricci only ran head-to-head with the new track for a year before pulling the plug. Former NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Champion Terry Labonte from Corpus Christi won the first Late Model Sportsman Championship in 1977 in an abbreviated opening season. Well, I started... I've got tons more, but I'll hold off for now. Nick

Well, once we figure out what's wrong with the upload function in the forum software .. Nick I think we have all systems go again Nick -Randy

$575 Complete with Warranty! Did it include crash damage? LOL Nick

I think this is awesome, Randy! And I truly appreciate all the hard work Randy puts into the very popular history section. Every day I get email and registration requests from people who have Googled some name from the past or a long-forgotten track and found this site. And Tom Taylor (txtom on here) is one of those guys you really can't say enough positive stuff about... Without a doubt he's one of the most well-respected members of our Texas racing community and a trusted friend of mine. Thanks for making this happen, Tom. Nick