Another pic from the past

[txtom]

All you Houston guys will recognize this as Tony Bettenhausen in a 72 Chevy owned by Gordon Van Liew.

 

This pic is from the 1973 Alamo 500 at TWS.

 

Bettenhausen started 36th, and finished 23rd before suffering engine failure 78 laps from the finish.

 

Although Van Liew sponsored cars for years, He only owned Cup cars from 1972 to 1974. Bettenhausen drove the Van Liew-owned cars in 1973 and 1974, While Ronnie Chumley drove 1 race for him in 1972 at TWS.

[Mel]

Tom,

Do you ever get the feeling you were born 20-25 years too late.....

 

 

I know I do.

[A-ROCKET]

Does anyone remember the Vita Fresh car that nailed the pit man running across pit road at TWS?

 

It may have been Tony Bettenhausen Jr., I cannot remember.

[txtom]

Does anyone remember the Vita Fresh car that nailed the pit man running across pit road at TWS?

 

It may have been Tony Bettenhausen Jr., I cannot remember.

Actually, It was Clarence Lovell in the 1973 USAC Texas Twin 200.

 

The following is a discussion from earlier this year about that very accident posted by Charlie Lovell (Racerduck) on another forum he frequents:

 

The next spring (April 7th) he started 30th in the Stock Car race portion of the USAC Texas Twin 200's. He made it to 2nd on lap 44, hung around the top 5 for the rest of the race. He finished 5th behind Gordon Johncock, Roger McCluskey, Ramo Stott and Johnny Rutherford.

 

On lap 67 he followed AJ Foyt into the pits for a pit stop. A crewman from McCluskey's crew ran in front of him, he swerved to miss him but clipped him with the front fender. The crewman, Johnny Galt, received a ruptured spleen, a broken arm, and head and chest injuries and was taken to a local hospital in Bryan where he underwent surgery to remove the spleen

 

AJ's motor gave up the ghost on lap 82 relinquishing his lead to Johncock. Lap 87 Clarence moved up to 3rd behind McCluskey, but was passed by Stott who had spun on lap 76. With about 5 laps left, Clarence faded to 5th and fell a lap down.

And:

 

I was talking to my other brother this weekend about the USAC race. He told me he was on Clarence's pit crew for that race. He remembered that Clarence was very up until he hit the guy in the pits. After that pit stop he seemed to loose his desire to race and dropped to about 10th in the race. Finally McCluskey's crew chief got on the radio to Clarence and told him to not worry about the guy, that he was fine and that he had a history of running in front of cars during pit stops and this wasn't the first time he'd been hit. Clarence perked up after that radio exchange and started racing again. According to my brother, Clarence just ran out of laps 'cause he was charging at the end.

[A-ROCKET]

Thanks for the reminder of events, I remember watching this whole deal unfold, it was one of those slow motion deals.

 

The pitman was at the trackside wall with a pit board, he dropped the board and started running back to his teams pit stall, he never looked up pit road and had tunnel vision with his pits, the next thing as they say was history! Oh yeah there were no pit road speeds at that time and the cars were rollin as they pitted under green

[RETrott]

Thanks for the reminder of events, I remember watching this whole deal unfold, it was one of those slow motion deals.

 

The pitman was at the trackside wall with a pit board, he dropped the board and started running back to his teams pit stall, he never looked up pit road and had tunnel vision with his pits, the next thing as they say was history! Oh yeah there were no pit road speeds at that time and the cars were rollin as they pitted under green

As I recall, it was definately on pit road. As A-Rocket's post states, the crewman was crossing pit road and heading towards the pit stall. I was in the grandstands at the end of the tri-oval approaching turn one, and was looking in that direction when it happened.

[RETrott]

All you Houston guys will recognize this as Tony Bettenhausen in a 72 Chevy owned by Gordon Van Liew.

 

This pic is from the 1973 Alamo 500 at TWS.

 

Bettenhausen started 36th, and finished 23rd before suffering engine failure 78 laps from the finish.

 

Although Van Liew sponsored cars for years, He only owned Cup cars from 1972 to 1974. Bettenhausen drove the Van Liew-owned cars in 1973 and 1974, While Ronnie Chumley drove 1 race for him in 1972 at TWS.

As I recall, in the early '70s, Stock Cars were quite similiar to stock cars. The Chevy Chevelle Malibu and other similiar GM cars had to stretch the wheelbase in some cases. If I remember correctly, that was often accomplished by using a 4 door frame and a 2 door body with the rear wheel openings moved back.

[jakdad]

And another pic of Mr. Bill in another sprint car.