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Pan American Speedway


ToryC

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Tory... here's the crew from the 20 Vega.

 

Driver Bruce Mabrito on the left then me and Johnny Ivy. In the background you can see Paul Czekanski's red Ford Pinto and behind that is Ricci Ware Jr's rig.

 

Where do the years go? Seems like just yesterday...

 

Nick

 

Awesome! Thanks for sharing that photo, Nick! I sure recognize Jr.'s tire rack!!! ;)

 

I have an album somewhere with more photos. Hoping it still exists so I can post some more.

 

Dang... I still can't get this "QUOTE" thing right. Even after Tom sent me instructions!!!! :lol:

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Tory,

 

Most of those were hand painted, and he used a series of kits called "Super Stocker Series". The bodies available were camaros, chevelles, I think a monte carlo, and a GTO and a mustang.

Two of those kits were widely available a few years ago as re-issues, but are limited to the GTO and the Monte Carlo bodies.

You could basically build the chassis, and supply another body to get what you want.

 

If you go to the model car forums, you can find someone who will sell ya one.

I got links to those if you are interested.

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Earlier in this thread, I mentioned Mike Knotts putting me in his #25 mini stock and Dub Hamilton helping guide my Figure-8 car building.

 

The memories are flooding in now and, at the risk of boring the p'zeeses out of you guys, I must elaborate on a couple of things...

 

First, I have to give more kudos to Mike Knotts. I left out the part where he helped me build the first car I ever drove on the track at Pan Am. He spent a number of very cold winter nights in his dad's shop on 1518 gutting and caging the car and getting it running. I blew the thing up on opening night!

 

The Figure 8 car started as a 4-door '57 Chevy I found for $75.00 on the South side of San Antonio. I drove it home and lost all four hub caps and half the exhaust system along the way. I drove it into the back yard and started taking it apart. Dub Hamilton would come over in the evenings and have a beer sitting in the back yard with my mom. He supervised me while he and my mom shared some laughs. Those were some good times!

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Yeah O/T .............. I hate to admit it but I had a pair or two of 'um too.

 

Tory, I just searched back to the first thread you are the subject of on here from about 3 years ago. There's some pretty funny stuff on there.

i am surprised you didnt give us to click here thingy. bud your slippin

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by the sponsors on the side of the 17 I talked with mom she said it maybe pop deckard or calvin gustastein (spelling ?). she said that pop wouldn't have put wayne in a car right out of high school.

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Budman - I remember that! I had a "web guy" doing my site back then and I gave him some old racing pics and some facts on Pan American. The captions were "inaccurate" at best, and with the name change, it confused the heck out of Mike Knotts!!!! :lol:

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it confused the heck out of Mike Knotts!!!!

 

Is that really that hard to do??!! LOL

 

Tory, this is one of the model reissues, in this case, the GTO. I have about a half dozen or so of them around here mixed in with all the other crap I have. If Iook a pic of my stashes of stuff, it'd scare ya..

All the chassis were the same in that series, you just had wheelbase adjustments for different cars.

post-21-1256609235.jpg

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I was just giving my mom her pills [i returned to Texas to look after her] and told her that we were reminiscing about Pan American. She reminded me of the time I drove the Figure 8 car home from the track [we lived about 5 miles away]. My tow vehicle had broke down and I drove the back roads in the race car to get home. :lol:

 

She also reminded me that we used to go to Sambo's on Pat Booker Road after the races, or Pizza Inn. At age 88, her memory is better than mine!!!

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it confused the heck out of Mike Knotts!!!!

 

Is that really that hard to do??!! LOL

 

Tory, this is one of the model reissues, in this case, the GTO. I have about a half dozen or so of them around here mixed in with all the other crap I have. If Iook a pic of my stashes of stuff, it'd scare ya..

All the chassis were the same in that series, you just had wheelbase adjustments for different cars.

post-21-1256609235.jpg

 

 

Very Cool!!!!

 

 

Okay... I completely suck at this QUOTE thing!!!!!

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She reminded me of the time I drove the Figure 8 car home from the track [we lived about 5 miles away]

You probably remember where Bobby Caulfield lived on the 35 access road. Since the only thing anywhere around there at that time was the Country Corner restaurant at I-35/FM 3009, we never saw much of the cops around there. We routinely drove demolition derby cars or the like across to lookout road, under 1604 and to Toepperwein the back way. We'd get to the pit gate and all the track staff would just shake their heads--Johnny Miller, Jim Creech, and so on. Not that we would stand out or anything, with a painted up car and that bright orange Studebaker truck!!!!

Can't imagine doing that stuff these days.

Damn, I miss the 70's.......................

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Haha!!! Those were the days, huh!

 

Here's one for you, Tom: The last time I drove the 09 Figure 8, I planted my entire front end into Wes Shields. It was the only time my dad ever came to the races and I was trying to impress him and just screwed up big time. By the time I came to a stop, I was a little dazed and confused. BUT... I seem to recall you being the first to stick your head in my car and ask if I was okay [Goodyear cap and all!]. Does that sound at all familiar or am I just fabricating a memory here?

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Does that sound at all familiar or am I just fabricating a memory here?

 

 

Yes, that is how it happened, as I was usually one of the first to any of that. Bobby would be in the Stude' and I could usually run to the scene faster than he could drive. (remember, this was back in my teens when I was 160 pounds sopping wet).

I do remember that it took a few moments to get you to quit babbling long enough to tell me you were OK!

 

Here is the famous Stude; Bobby is driving, I am on the back corner. (Don't laugh at the hair..now you know why I always wore a hat back then....) A neighbor of Bobby's is on the front corner, and that is Pat Lane and a crewman in the green shirts with a very young Ja Lane in the middle. I borrowed this image from Ja Lane's site.

 

post-21-1256611338.jpg

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So THAT'S what was under that Goodyear cap!!!! Hahahahahha

 

Great pic of the Stude!!!!!! And of you!!!! And the little Ja Lane!!!

 

I remember after the wreck I told Wes and everyone else that my brakes had failed. The truth is... I was just trying to impress my dad and screwed up big time.

 

I remember Wes with his wrecked car in the pits saying "Why me, Lord? Why does it always happen to me?" Man, I felt so bad about that for a long time.

 

Glad I was able to quit babbling long enough to tell you I was okay! :lol: I think I was asking you something about where did the front end of my car go!

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Yeah, I kinda "stole" that cap from a tire vendor; I worked at Randolph at the Military Exchange and was helping over at the BX service station when the tire guy made a delivery. There were a couple in his truck when he got there. There was only one when he left.

I had that cap until the mid 80's or so; it was some kind of disgusting by then, and I think my wife threw it out while I was at a technical school in Illinois. She won't admit to it, though.

Reminds me of a similar cap David Umscheid has for years. only his was dirtier. His lucky cap, someone hid it before a race one time, and he damn near started a riot looking for it.

Maybe J.C or Michael can jump in here and elaborate on that one.......

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I remember wanting one of those Goodyear caps soooo bad! You may have been responsible for that!!! :lol:

 

Now you can get 'em anywhere, but back then they were a gem to find! I went to the ends of the earth back then to find a Goodyear cap and I never got one!

 

Well, I don't know... CAN you get them anywhere... I'm just assuming. Surely you can't get the originals anymore.

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wow, guys!

i grew up on the coast (galveston) and my dad raced at tracks from texas city southward...i was really young, but i remember cars just like these!! same kinda cars...different #'s and drivers...and i have a ton of pics from tracks down there like these that i haven't seen in years.

what a nostalgic moment!

thanks for the walk down memory lane...kinda makes you remember why we got into this sport in the first place, huh?

;)

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