texastracker Posted November 13, 2007 Report Share Posted November 13, 2007 I am looking for any info. on the old Navasota track. Primarily from the early to mid 70's but any info, news clips, programs and photo's. Thanks, Kenny Kemp Waco, Texas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakdad Posted December 1, 2007 Report Share Posted December 1, 2007 What was the location of that track? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Del Harris Posted December 1, 2007 Report Share Posted December 1, 2007 jakdad, it was on hwy. 105 , 3 miles east of navasota on the south side of the hiway, if you go from conroe to navasota, you can see the old track on the left. there is a mobile home on the property where the grandstands use to be and a horse arena out where the track was. the old cyclone fence out front was still there the last time i went bye there, last year. dad ran there after he left the old cleveland and almeda tracks. norman pierce, roy cody, jimmy griswald, billy griswald, wayne brown, lynn cox, howard willis all ran in the stock car class and my dad, f.l. harris, billy griswald, elmer cochran, will goodrow, nolan wren, and several others ran the super modifieds. it's been a while since i looked at any of the information i had from the old moody and clary speedway, but i think i could put my hands on some of it if i can just bring myself to start digging. my shovel has just slowed down some!!! thanks del harris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texastracker Posted December 1, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 1, 2007 PRO2000, I could send ya some gloves for that shovel! Just kidding I know first hand what your talking about. In fact my wife is currently after me to clean up after the last dig! I would love o have some scans from that era you mentioned. Those were some of he best Super drivers ever. I will never forget the (rear engined) #75 driven by Paul Seals. It took him about 2 years to figure it out, when he did Wow! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfbarnes Posted December 10, 2007 Report Share Posted December 10, 2007 Pro I have got Nora (Wren) on a mission to dig up some of our old crap from the MC days. I have some to dig up also, just got me a slide and negative scanner that my wife has been working overtime on to save a bunch of old slide and photo's before they totally deteriorate. But will get some Moody and Clary shots up really soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RETrott Posted December 10, 2007 Report Share Posted December 10, 2007 Another great speedway. Great racing surface from what I could tell from watching. Minimal dust. Absolute shame it is no longer operating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfbarnes Posted December 31, 2007 Report Share Posted December 31, 2007 My first run in a home built Sprint Car with the V-8 installed in 1964 @ Moody and Clarey. Ran that car for a couple of season prior to that with an 300 ci inline six in it. I was rubbing Lee Cade and tried to pass him on the outside coming off of turn 4, and he showed me the flag stand up close. Lee had some wheel time on me, but he liked my sand, and we've become great friends over the years. I wish I still had that old sled I would restore it and run it in the nostalgic league these days. Man I loved that car. [resized by Nick Holt, 12/30/07] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Del Harris Posted January 3, 2008 Report Share Posted January 3, 2008 barnes, that flagman was one of the best, mr. joe dagastieno, he didn't put up with any ones poop either. i worked on the old red and white dodge wrecker from whitley's dealership there in navasota at the track with red smith. my dad ran the # 2 and later #6 modified out there, del harris. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfbarnes Posted January 7, 2008 Report Share Posted January 7, 2008 Yeah Mr. Joe was "the" best. And you are right, he took no guff off of anyone. You knew who was in charge at the track. He always had something funny to say also, but when he gave you that "Don't screw with me" look, you knew fun and games were over. That's me standing below him when I first crawled out of the car, he was looking down at me and said, "That inside line is looking pretty good now huh?". I had just dropped that 302 in that car. Billy Crockett and Nolan Wren stayed up with me the night before putting the car together. Doc Kulhanek pulled the strings (and provided the cash) to get me that motor from Smokey Yunick. That was the small journal 327 with the 180 degree 283 crank in it. That motor went in a lot of different cars over the years. Won a lot of races with it. I still have the six deuce Offenhauser manifold that originally came on that motor before I injected it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfbarnes Posted January 12, 2008 Report Share Posted January 12, 2008 Bill White and Gordon Wooley in 1973 at Moody and Clary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garrettracecars(grc) Posted April 9, 2008 Report Share Posted April 9, 2008 does any have any pitcures of the cars that mc, supper modified from waco that the koon brothers owened. they have all pasted on know. found our pit pass from 1974 when all of our from waco came down there & ran a two day show that our promoter put on. so many cars that they had to park them in spectator parking lot. that was a fun weekend. every one camped at track & partyed together. good times. took two cars& didn`t win a dime, but was fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thumper Posted April 9, 2008 Report Share Posted April 9, 2008 My club,The South Texas Ministock Association raced there too.I raced in 1971.I remember it was the best prepaired dirt track on the circut.Red clay.packed tight.They had some kind of sprinkler system they would turn on around Wed and slow soak the track.On race nite ALL cars,trucks,trailers etc would roll it in and then it was race time.Roll in did not take long with all the traffic.Two things remain strong in my memory. First was the modifieds.All kinds,shapes etc but the ones i remember were powered by stratght 6 Fords.I think they were black.They were low and sleek.Others had more power but these 2 always came to the front.Im thinking they had dual carbs but not sure.Why would they use 6 cyl Fords? The other thing I remember was a special 100 lap race for super stocks or whatever they were call back then.There were about 60 cars entered,almost all the way around the track.On the back row was a 1963 Ply Belvidere just like the one I drove then.Beside him was a 1955 Chev,brown in color.These two fought each other and all the rest of the traffic to get to the front all race long.I of course was cheering on the Ply and this guy put on an exibition in driving.He would get behind a car,give him a bump to move over,then a lap later he would move him out of the way.The 55 Chev was right behind him the whole time.2 laps to go the Ply blew a raidiator hose and the Chev passes him for the win.I was so impressed I ran over to the Ply to see what a great driver looked like up close.Out came a 60 year old looking little old man who looked like he had been doing this for decades and lost a few arguments along the way.Its one of those memories that never fades. Does anyone remember these modifieds or that big race?Or the minnies from Houston? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RETrott Posted June 27, 2008 Report Share Posted June 27, 2008 Hey Thumper, I remember going to Navasota some in the late '60s/early '70s. As a fan, I prefer paved spdwys, but that was one fine dirt/clay oval. I remember either a Dodge or Plymouth Stock Car that was fast, but I don't think the driver was as old as the one you mentioned. The guy I remember was Howard Willis, and he was smooth as silk on that track. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakdad Posted June 27, 2008 Report Share Posted June 27, 2008 Most of the inline sixes did well on dirt. They have so much low end torque, they just slingshot out of the turns. The Fords did well with the 300 cubic inch motors. I don't know about the cars you saw but the description matches a 300 CI Ford that used two Boss 302 heads welded together. Somehow the guy cut the end cylinders off the Boss heads then put them together. I think he had a machine shop and Mark Barnes may remember him. His car would come to the front very quickly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twren Posted July 2, 2008 Report Share Posted July 2, 2008 Texas Tracker. I will help my mother Nora Wren find some of the old pictures of Moody and Clary Speedway or Navasota Speedway. I know she has some articles during that time also. It might take a couple of weeks do to us still racing on the weekends, but I will try to scan them in on a cd and mail them to you so you can choose what you need. Troy Wren Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickHolt Posted July 2, 2008 Report Share Posted July 2, 2008 Troy, Feel free to post as many as you like here on Texas Speed Zone. If you need any help posting or shrinking the pics, just PM Midget 85. He's the pro around here. Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfbarnes Posted July 2, 2008 Report Share Posted July 2, 2008 Hey Troy you can email them to me if you like an I will post them up for you, just don't let your dad near the PC if he's got the Whataburger cup in his hand. You know which one I am talking about too. LOL Mark Barnes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakdad Posted July 2, 2008 Report Share Posted July 2, 2008 Left, Left!!! How many times we got to tell you to turn left!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twren Posted July 2, 2008 Report Share Posted July 2, 2008 No problem I will let you do that when I get everything gathered up. I will see Bill White Friday at HOT. Also his Keith is going for his 100th win in a sport mod tomorrow night at KSP. Troy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texastracker Posted July 5, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 5, 2008 TWREN, great to have you on board! I watched your dad do battle in a Super Modified many times. He was a very good shoe! Are you the Wren running the Mini? I would love some Pic's of any of your dad's cars or any others from the 70.s Navasota gang. PS. Keith did get the win #100 @ HOT as you already know, and a second place Thurs. @ Kennedale behind Chase Jupe. Chase is the grandson to one of the best Modified drivers ever in Texas. JMO but I have watched Jr. Ingram (Granddad) do some serious butt kicking . A man of little reputation but is one of my "top 3" best ever. Oh and mostly with parts picked out of the metal recycling years. He has always made his living as a "core man". Therefore you could find him diggin around the yard for pink rods and such. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garrettracecars(grc) Posted July 7, 2008 Report Share Posted July 7, 2008 does anyone know who owned the #43 that gordon wooley was driving in the picture of him & bill white? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twren Posted July 7, 2008 Report Share Posted July 7, 2008 Texastracker, Thamks. It is my brother and that are driving the mini's this year. They are the 4 and 44 cars. I raced last Friday and lost talent in the heat and then my motor went south at the start of the a main. I watched Keith win his 100th heck of a race there is not too many people that can run that outside line at hot and make it stick. I will get over there soon and start scanning the articles and pictures after this weekend. If you are in the pits and we are there come by and introduce yourself. We are usually at the trailor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texastracker Posted July 11, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 11, 2008 Jr. The 43 super driven by Gordon was also owned by Gordon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanielFifex5 Posted March 14, 2011 Report Share Posted March 14, 2011 My club,The South Texas Ministock Association raced there too.I raced in 1971.I remember it was the best prepaired dirt track on the circut.Red clay.packed tight.They had some kind of sprinkler system they would turn on around Wed and slow soak the track.On race nite ALL cars,trucks,trailers etc would roll it in and then it was race time.Roll in did not take long with all the traffic.Two things remain strong in my memory. First was the modifieds.All kinds,shapes etc but the ones i remember were powered by stratght 6 Fords.I think they were black.They were low and sleek.Others had more power but these 2 always came to the front.Im thinking they had dual carbs but not sure.Why would they use 6 cyl Fords? The other thing I remember was a special 100 lap race for super stocks or whatever they were call back then.There were about 60 cars entered,almost all the way around the track.On the back row was a 1963 Ply Belvidere just like the one I drove then.Beside him was a 1955 Chev,brown in color.These two fought each other and all the rest of the traffic to get to the front all race long.I of course was cheering on the Ply and this guy put on an exibition in driving.He would get behind a car,give him a bump to move over,then a lap later he would move him out of the way.The 55 Chev was right behind him the whole time.2 laps to go the Ply blew a raidiator hose and the Chev passes him for the win.I was so impressed I ran over to the Ply to see what a great driver looked like up close.Out came a 60 year old looking little old man who looked like he had been doing this for decades and lost a few arguments along the way.Its one of those memories that never fades. Does anyone remember these modifieds or that big race?Or the minnies from Houston? Lynn Cox was in the dark car and Jackie Dillard was in the yellow ply. -Daniel Fife, Hempstead TX Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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