Just Curious If They Racing Now

[REBELRACER]

i think you would have to..........that guy could drive a car...............they had the beaver bounty on him at one time he was winning so much.............it was an awesome site watching him run at sas..........

[Budman]

When he was in his prime, in the early 60's ............... man, what a driver. I'd have to go with Buddy Jerkins.

[Budman]

Back to the top ..................... Just because this thread is so interesting to read. I hope some others will also contribute to this thread.

[97car]

Haven't been around as long as you guys down here,but Charlie Koen comes to mind for my vote,seen him make a outdated car run good,or maybe it was cause of a bigger engine that you guys talked about in a previous thread.

[txtom]

97car,

Do you mean this big motor?

This is a reprint of a previous posting of mine about Charlie and Donald Oatman.

 

An Oatman memory I have involves Donald Oatman when he was tech man at San Antonio around the early 80's.

Charlie Koen won a feature, and Donald told him to get ready for p&g. This was the days of 9 pounds of car weight per cubic inch, and most were running those high-winding 302-311 inch motors.

Charlie came over to the Special Automotive trailer, where Mac and I were standing, with a panicked look on his face. He said he needed help, he was light on weight. We asked "how much?"; to which he replied "a lot."

He was claiming 307, and had a few pounds to spare, said he borrowed a friends 410.

We're thinking, how the hell do you beat a p&g for 103 inches.....We knew how to get 30 or 40 inches with a pack of cigarette filters in the cylinder, but 103???

So what we did was, while pulling the rockers off, was to pull the exhaust header on the same bank loose, we cut a piece of ground wire off one of the track light poles, and placed it under the exhaust valve, then put the header back. Oatman came by with the meter, and after we screwed the adapter in the cylinder, he put his hose on it. Usually, one blows or sucks on the tube to check for restriction ; lack of restriction will result in a bad reading. When it looked like Oatman was going to check the tube, Mac would offer him a beer. Oatman was one to oblige a free beer, and directly, he would hook the meter to the tube without checking it. We spun the motor over, danged if it didn't read 309. Oatman pulled the meter off, and started to check the tube again, when Mac offered him another beer. Same scenario, Don obliged the beer, and checked the engine without checking the tube. 309, again. 3rd time, same deal, and after it showed 309 again, Don declared the car legal. Koen promised us $100 for our trouble.

Now some 25 or so years later , if any of ya'll happen to run into Charlie Koen, who lives near Lake Whitney, please remind him he still owes Mac and I the $100 and 3 beers.

[HiTech]

i know rick and those other drivers are great . fred fryar. was bad a.... but i thing the old nascar terry could still put a hammer to the nail. i watch ed and know 90 percent of those drivers .still would be one heck of a race. lets do it .

[Lonesome Ford]

of course I have to go w/ dad. He's not rusty like some of the other "old timers" (dont tell him I said that) & He's raced (and still racing) at SAS since they opened the gates. I don't have his full stats off the top O' my head, but here are some highlights from SAS:

 

1983 - 2nd in points to Hubert B. ( I think )

1984 - 2nd in points to Keith R

1985 - LM champ

1986 - LM champ - bounty year, went 7 races w/ bounty in place b4 breaking a motor

1987 - 2nd to George H. Jr

1988 - 1st TIDA Champ ( most of the races were at SAS)

1989 - 3rd TIDA points

1990 - TIDA champ - completed 100% of all laps run

1991 - NASCAR Winston Racing Series ( Circle Bar Truck Corral ) 13th in points w/ 2 junk Port City cars

1992 - 2nd TIDA to Slick

1993-94 started part-time racing

1995 - 4th in points SAS Late Models (driving Jason Oates old car)

1996-current part time racing for fun

 

I can get together Pan Am stats as well, this is just what I remember from going to the races & looking at the photo albums thousands of times. Oh , Nick I have lots of old tapes w/ dad beating FF hands down just pokin' fun w/ ya

 

Jr

[txtom]

From the era of drivers listed, Tommy Davis has to be on that list.

[HiTech]

someone get those drivers back in a car id pay 50 to 100 dollars a ticket to see them together .neil whats your pic.

[Lonesome Ford]

also gotta give a shout out for Tommy Grimes. Man, I can't tell ya how many times we worried 'bout him LOL

[97car]

Yes Tom,but I don't think I was down here yet at that time.

[REBELRACER]

hey john, what did you ever do with that late model car you ran at sas for a little while.........

[Lonesome Ford]

Honestly, I'm not sure where the car ended up. It was a Kelly-built chassis w/ a Thunderbird body. It was a good car but no funds to keep it going. I'm thinking dad gave it (yes made me a lil' upset ) to somebody <shrug> Maybe it was Bobby Jack he gave it to <shrug>

[arob]

You know reading about and remembering all these drivers and races at SAS made me realize how lucky those of us that were able to be there to see them are.Those were the day that 8 -10 drivers had a legitimate chance to win and the competition was much tougher than it is now. And the same can be said for CC Speedway and Longhorn as well.Ahh those were the days!

[HiTech]

You know reading about and remembering all these drivers and races at SAS made me realize how lucky those of us that were able to be there to see them are.Those were the day that 8 -10 drivers had a legitimate chance to win and the competition was much tougher than it is now. And the same can be said for CC Speedway and Longhorn as well.Ahh those were the days!

amen

[HiTech]

Those also the days when drivers didnt argue they just stapped it on and did not care where they were at that moment . i was standing next to terry labonty when he pushed a person i wont name over his finder and bob made sure that person got a good look at terry.s pistons .wh ile they tecked his bore .in a 283 motor funny as hell .the smart remark was this guy didnt think that motor was a 283 .he was in agreement afterwords

[ak8838]

i would have to agree with Nick Fryar was the man to beat anywhere my uncle Benny Mcrae would say he could beat the comp. With his eyes closed his cars handled that good.Dont think i ever seen him lose unless he broke and that wasnt often.The comp was tough back then too.Speedarama/Longhorn,pan am ,CCspeedway ,sas .Fryar was the man

 

 

ANDY

[HiTech]

watched fryar pass dale at the arca winston race at tws on the last lap for 2 place .could not win cuz darrel waltrip had everyone a lap down on fuel . i believe he stated thats all he ever wanted to do was pass dale .and that made his dream come true .

[FryarFan]

oldtimer....

 

unless I'm mistaken, you may be thinking of Herschel McGriff at that ARCA/Winston West combined show that Earnhardt, Waltrip, and Schrader made at TWS after racing at Atlanta the day before. That was early 90's and Freddy had pretty much retired by that point.

 

txtom will be sure to get us all straight on this one.....lol!

 

Billy

[HiTech]

what do you say { SR } raceing history tex tom .this is a good one for you need to know so.s i can sleep at night . it was 91 92 i think.might have been 93 .it was the year that dale jarret won his first daytona cuz i was talking to ned jarret amd bennie parsons just before the race started . they taped that race and showed it lateron tv ..

[RodneyRodriguez]

that was the 93 Western Auto Shootout II, Mcgriff was the one we're thinking about.

That was a wet weekend, a lot of rain and some pretty soggy infield conditions.

Waltrip was indeed a lap ahead of them all.

[HiTech]

that was the 93 Western Auto Shootout II, Mcgriff was the one we're thinking about.

That was a wet weekend, a lot of rain and some pretty soggy infield conditions.

Waltrip was indeed a lap ahead of them all.

Thats right and it took three hours toget on the road cuz everyone was getting stuck in the mud some nenkinpoop thought he new how to operate a backhole .trying to help pull cars out and got himself stuck spent an hour and half make it worst for everyone .so i went and took over and showed him how to carry the backhole out of the mud he didnt know that one .then we were abel to get going . got home at three . instead of 12 midnight .

[txtom]

Guys,

My father can tell the story better on this race; he was there. I missed it, as I had just moved to a garden spot known as Spokane, Washington, thanks to my employer at that time.

Darrell Waltrip won the race, followed in order by Kenny Schrader, Herschel McGriff, and Dale Earnhardt.

The last time I saw Fryar in a car at that track was the late 80's in a TROC race. Our friend Neil Upchurch may have better details about this. That was one of his last starts in a race car.

But Herschel McGriff was in that race, and passed Dale.

 

I will get more info on this, but my father is out of pocket right now; he is headed to Milwaukee next week for the Miller-Offenhauser Historical Society meet at the Milwaukee Mile, and a stop by the Indy Speedway Museum, and the Air Force Museum over in Ohio.

 

Old timer, We thought several times about taking a tractor up to that track on weekends that had recent rain. We coulda made a killing pulling stuck cars out of the mud.

[HiTech]

stuck cars thats no lie we made the mistake of parking next to the track at turn four . there was another time when it rained and this airplaine ran out of fuel and just about to hit the turn 2 wall trying to land on the back strieght . he lucked out and made it . after getting in some trouble .they put fuel and took off useing the back strieght . for you poeple thats never been to tws its what 2 miles around or so .

[RodneyRodriguez]

wow! I had never heard about that. thats for sure TWS was/is(?) really something. i remember my Dad took me there for the first time on a cold March day in '79 for the Texas 250 & TROC races and when we got to the top of the hill and I looked down and saw that it just blew my little mind away!!

I wish that place was hosting big events still!!