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Flagmen of yester years...


uhcougs

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Cougs,

 

I most remember Wade Franklin. I think he flagged at Oak Hill Downs outside of Austin in the 50's. Then, when Speed-o-rama opened in 1960 he was the first flagman there, and continued there for many years. Initially, he flagged from the ground. Eventually, they built him a platform beside/above the outside of the track, when they decided it was too dangerous for him to remain on the ground.

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No thread about past flagmen can go by without having the name Bill Lay on it.

 

A super nice guy who flagged Pan American and Austin Speedorama, and later Hwy 16 for awhile.

 

Bill had complete control of the cars while they were out there, he did the same thing every time, I never saw him make a mistake, and he had the respect of the racers.

 

I have seen Bill and his wife a couple times in the last few years, albeit under less than ideal conditions, at Mimi Ware's memorial service, and most recently at the viewing for Buddy Yantis.

 

He owns a catering service, and still lives over in Live Oak.

He doesn't get involved in the area racing, for more reasons than I will get into in this post.

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After retiring from driving, Cotton Grable became the flagman at Playland Park Speedway in Houston, Texas and appeared as the pudgy flagman in the 1950 MGM movie "To Please A Lady" staring Clark Gable and Barbara Stanwyck. Grable was still flagging at Playland Park Speedway in 1953 when A. J. Foyt began his driving career there. Johnnie Parson did a lot of driving and had a small speaking park playing himself. I guess being the 1950 Indy 500 winner has it's perks. Some great footage of 1950 IMS in the finally.

 

10133058.jpg

 

Attached s a picture of Cotton @ Love Speedway in Dallas in a car owned by Charles Hoggwood of Dallas, Texas circa 1935 Oh yeah Cotton Passed away in 1962 in Houston.

post-30-1157597306_thumb.jpg

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bob jonhson at cc for years .i believe he is still alive .has a wrecker service ..lost his arm when a car hit him at cc not sure what year . but it was before they had a flagstand and from what i heard that was the reason for the flag stand be.ing built .correct me if im wrong .

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Tom,

 

You're right about Bill Lay. That man knew what he was doing and did it well.

 

About the only time I ever saw Bill loose it was one night at Pan American Speedway when someone refused to pay attention to his flag - I think it might have been either a mover-over or a black flag.

 

About the third or fourth lap the driver ignored the flag, Bill held the flag like a spear and threw it with all his might at the car as it sped by. I think it got the driver's attention that time.. LOL

 

Nick

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Who was flagging at speedorama the night I almost caught a couple cars in my lap?Twenty something years ago. Two cars coming out of four got together and used the front streight wall as a ramp and plastered the flagstand.

 

I can't even remember who the two drivers were.

 

It was my first real date, so I was a bit preoccupied. :D

 

 

#05

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bill hyyte(sp)............the blue #34 and the yellow #11 door to door , up the wall , through the air and right thru the flag stand. i was like 6 or 7 yrs old then and man i stll remember that vivid

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i'm sure he owned a garage .............now he owns four and a 2nd house on the beach.

oh that was the old days.............he said "nah let me walk it off , i'm alright. put some duct tape on it and i'll clean it out with some salve when i get to the house."

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I remember when I was a kid in Corpus Christi, the flag man was run over by a car while he flagged(flaged in the infield) He survived but lost his arm.....If I remember right he owned a garage or something.Will one of the old timmers help me with this......

read oldtimer you.ll get what you want

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It would have to be ole Walter Schumacher. That man did a bunch for racing in CC. His white shirt with CC Speedway on it and his black hat was standard equipment. After every race, even as he got older, he would walk the checkered flag down his ladder from the flagstand and personally hand the flag to the winner. After the victory lap, he took the flag back and walked back up the ladder for the next race. He also was very involved with softball leagues here in Corpus, and he had a float in the 4th of July parade every year. So, on Saturday night 4th of July weekend, he would bring his float and before the whole save the dolphins deal, he would let loose about a million and one balloons for all the kids. The man probably had a ton of stories. Unfortunately, he passed away about 7 or so years ago. He is missed.

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greg you remember the days when old walter would get his bike and pull little wheellies .he was not very good at it but we would always whatch. his favorite driver was terry labonty . if you ever went to the ball park his little office was full of pic ,s of him and terry .as a few others . he would talk about anything with you .except when he was sick .he never said a word . the last night he ever flaged before he past .i went up on the flag stand to check up on him for he did not look very well .and all he said was he was glad that night went real smooth and he could go home early . that was the last time i saw him alive .if ever a racer had a friend it would be walter

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I thought that was Ron Kinney in the #34 that took the flagstand down, I may be wrong. Then maybe in '83 I remember Jerry Simpson and I think Don Chrudimsky taking Bill Lay and maybe Lou Bonan out of the tower @ Speed O Rama. Last night of the season if I remember correctly.

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Tom,

 

You're right about Bill Lay. That man knew what he was doing and did it well.

 

About the only time I ever saw Bill loose it was one night at Pan American Speedway when someone refused to pay attention to his flag - I think it might have been either a mover-over or a black flag.

 

About the third or fourth lap the driver ignored the flag, Bill held the flag like a spear and threw it with all his might at the car as it sped by. I think it got the driver's attention that time.. LOL

 

Nick

 

Nick - I beleive he rolled the black flag up tightly and threw it like a jevelin right through where the front glass is suppose to be and it passed through the driver's side window and landed on the track. Needless to say, he got the intended driver's attention. He was well respected.....

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