Just Curious If They Racing Now

[HiTech]

standing in the midle of the infield and looking both ways it seems like it would take 30 minutes to walk to any of the turns from there ,and i agree comeing up over the hill was something i did not exspect .that was something to see hugh . and the cars were so small looking on the back .sitting up there .

[Mod m1]

That is a very impressive list of drivers, but I've seen John Foster put it on all these guys. I know he wasn't a regular in South Texas but he won everywhere he ever raced. He was untouchable in the All Pro Central deal and won a lot of specials around the country.

[Budman]

Hummm.........I remember a guy that used to drive a super-mod #M-1. Any relation?

[HiTech]

Hummm.........I remember a guy that used to drive a super-mod #M-1. Any relation?

He.s probably one of the same . will the real m 1 please stand up .

[SASPEEDRACER24]

I saw early on Tom had talked about Tommy Davis... I dont know if its the same one but there is a Tommy Davis Sr. thats roughly 84 y/o that is running SIMS Limiteds up in Dallas now... I only caught that on another website but I believe it said he won 2 or 3 times this year and is 8th in points...

[txtom]

I saw early on Tom had talked about Tommy Davis... I dont know if its the same one but there is a Tommy Davis Sr. thats roughly 84 y/o that is running SIMS Limiteds up in Dallas now... I only caught that on another website but I believe it said he won 2 or 3 times this year and is 8th in points...

 

Marc,

Different guy.

The Tommy Davis that ran around here is about 70 now. He lives in Boerne.

 

Hummm.........I remember a guy that used to drive a super-mod #M-1. Any relation?

 

Buddy, I think you are referring to Marvin Fillip. He ran M-1 on a lot of his cars.

[Budman]

He's the one I was thinking of. There's a picture of him, taken in 1962 at Austin Speed-o-rama (Longhorn) on the next page. Marvin passed away last year, as you know. Funny, we were just talking about his shop in San Angelo Saturday night out at THR. I'll send that thread back to the top.

[ispygrl]

I would have to say hands down that my godfather Tommy Davis from Boerne could go up against the best and win. My family recalls a night at Longhorn Speedway that Freddy Fryer wishes he had a car like Tommy Davis. Tommy Davis is what CHAMPIONS are made of!!!

[ps 72]

I have to go with Rick Rapp, I hear a lot of storys of this guy form way back then and he was the king...... I helped him one night on a latemodel and he tought me a lot in one night..

[HiTech]

rapp and terry labonty use to go at it .no love lost back then friends now i believe .

[txtom]

rapp and terry labonty use to go at it .no love lost back then friends now i believe .

 

You are right, Oldtimer. Remember Terry keeping mace in his pocket, while Rapp had a knife taped to his roll bar?

Ya know, I was witness to a little of that back in the 70's, and it probably would not have been as bad except for Bob Labonte (dad). Of course, he was protecting his car and driver. He'd go toe to toe with anyone.

But you talk to Bob Labonte today, and he will thank Rapp for making Terry a harder driver, and Rapp has been the Labonte's guest at many races, especially the Busch races that Labonte racing has entered. Rapp has also helped with Justin's programs.

[txtom]

I would have to say hands down that my godfather Tommy Davis from Boerne could go up against the best and win. My family recalls a night at Longhorn Speedway that Freddy Fryer wishes he had a car like Tommy Davis. Tommy Davis is what CHAMPIONS are made of!!!

 

Ispygirl,

I have known Tommy 30+ years, and I have always enjoyed watching him drive, plus he is just a helluva nice guy.

One of my highlight races was the first night he brought the #66 to San Antonio, the car that Waldo Harper bought from Rusty Wallace, around 80 or 81. Tommy put his Prototype engine it it, and he put on a great race. The closest person to run with him was Freddy Fryar, and he had nothing for Tommy that night. This was Freddy's first Camaro, not the Nova.

[HiTech]

textom no one missed with bob .unless you wanted to loose you head bobs a nice man untill . bob took a guy named mike not me and showed him up close i mean very close what a 283 motor looked like .seems he thought that motor was not what they claimed .i was two feet away when that went on the only thing mike had to say after he agreed that the motor was a 283 .was you missed up my hat .

[HiTech]

txtom i was punching holes in everyones shirts in those days i guess i put some in yours to i worked the gate with melton gaiter . mister take a sip when no one was looking he owned a bar on leopard .and after the races we would end up at tipps .in those days it was 3 .dollars to get in the pits .

[Crazyhorse]

it just occurred to me that someone that deserves to be on this list is not.......................Jimmy 'flippin' Finger

[NeilTPS]

Crazyhorse: I remember his official handle was .....

 

"FIREBALL" Jimmy Finger.

 

He was a great driver.

 

Thanks for remembering that his name does belong on this list.

 

 

Neil

[HiTech]

Crazyhorse: I remember his official handle was .....

 

"FIREBALL" Jimmy Finger.

 

He was a great driver.

 

Thanks for remembering that his name does belong on this list.

 

 

Neil

what is your raceing history as a driver neil

[FryarFan]

what is your raceing history as a driver neil

Can be summed up as:

 

One of the handful of true Texas legends in racing, not only for his driving history, but most of all for what he has given to racing in Texas.

[debwill]

I ran across someone from the past last night at San Antonio Speedway. I'm sure many of you remember Ken Neal. He said he's no longer racing anywhere himself, but he's enjoying motocross racing with his two sons.

 

I remember his many victories at SAS, but I also teased him about the time that he was racing a big semi at SAS and hit the Turn 2 wall - moving it backwards a few inches!

[txtom]

Do ya remember when he made one of his stock cars street legal?

Wildest Camaro street rod you ever saw.

[Bobby]

Hey Nick, is that how "Fireball" got his name for setting that fast time?

No, they were calling him Jimmy Fireball Finger by at least the early 70's at Pan Am.

[txtom]

QUOTE (HORSEPOWER @ Feb 8 2003, 10:50 PM)

Hey Nick, is that how "Fireball" got his name for setting that fast time?

 

 

 

No, they were calling him Jimmy Fireball Finger by at least the early 70's at Pan Am.

 

The following is a repost of something I put on here last year or so after talking with Finger at a San Antonio USRA race.

 

Someone asked awhile back how Jimmy Finger got tagged with the "Fireball" nickname. Well. I saw him at SAS this summer, and asked him that very question.

 

Seems he was running a hobby class car at Austin in the 60's, and doing very well. He also was kind of aggressive. One particularly wild night, A.B. Wusterhausen went to him and said something to the effect of "Now hold on, Fireball, you gotta settle down a little."

Wusterhausen continued to call Finger that, as many drivers had a nickname of some sorts. Finger didn't really like being called Fireball, especially since Glenn Roberts died in that terrible crash at Charlotte in June of 1964.

Well, Finger in the mean time became fast friends of the Wusterhausen family, and especially Louis.

Louis later died at Texas World Speedway in a bad crash, about 1972, and after losing his friend, he said the name never bothered him after that. Thus, the name stuck.

This may not be complelely accurate, but close as I remember him telling me.

[302cominthru]

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

 

I've got a picture of your uncle at Austin's Speed-O-Rama driving a 57 Chevy, #18. He was one heck of a driver back then and one heck of a Gentleman.

[Lucky161]

Everyone listed deserves to be, but I didn't see a lot of other names that should have been listed in my opinion. I realize that most of you are in the Austin area and south, but John Foster who I saw mentioned and J.D. Hughes and Don Burt should be there too. J.D. won the Copper World Classic and I don't think anyone else mentioned has done that. But of those 3 I would give the nod to Don Burt. J.D. and John often had new Howe type cars with Baker type engines. I don't know for certain, but I am pretty sure that Don was building his own car at that time and his own engines and was running just as good as they did. He didn't always beat them, but they didn't always beat him either.

[txtom]

Hughes and Foster definitely two great racers from the West Texas area.

 

To elaborate on each, Foster had several great cars built by Dennis Frings, and he had legendary Indianapolis engine builder Donnie Ray Everette build several of his engines for him. Everette engines did not come cheap; and most of his customers ran USAC sprint cars. Foster has been chronicled many times on this forum, and he was just a nice guy to be around. He had his hands in just about anything around midland/Odessa, and he considered a handshake a contract. Every racer lost a friend when John passed a few years back.

 

Hughes had several cars built by Pete Hamilton, the same one who ran Cup with the Petty's and others. Hamilton relocated to Atlanta, and started building cars. They were exceptionally good cars. We saw Hamilton at SAS a couple times with Hughes.

Hughes got a lot of engines at Carroll's Machine in Amarillo. I'd be interested in knowing if J.D. is still around.

A couple of J.D's cars ended up in the hands of Johnny Gray from Carlsbad, New Mexico. Same Gray who ran some NHRA funny car with the Del Worsham blue team a few years ago. He raced several races at TWS in the TROC series in the 80's.