Pan American Speedway

[PAPA]

AJ Foyt ?

[txtom]

Correct, Pops.

Foyt ran there once, the only time he is known to have drag raced, have heard no info on when or how he did.

[Budman]

Dang, the IS some cool stuff on that site Papa. There is the story of T.W. Buck. I am reminded of that now after many, many years. I remember him running around town (Austin) in a really cool looking yellow 32 roadster street rod and asking my dad whose car that was. He told me that's T. W. Buck's car. According to the story on that site it later was converted to the dragster pictured there. COOL!

[CuttingEdgeRacing]

Oh, and incidentially Tom, I want to thank you for posting more of those old racing pics in your Fotki file. I sure have enjoyed those.

 

For any of you who are not aware of it, on every one of Tom's posts, below his signature line is a little line that says

 

racing pics. Click on it and it will link you to Tom's picture file. There are a lot of great old pics on there.

 

I never clicked it until tonight. GREAT PICS.

 

Where can I find these fenders/front end:

 

[lilmodified]

ok...after sifting thru a ton of photo albums, i was very disappointed to find that most my old racing pics went down the drink during a flood several years ago. i had them stored at my parents place, and i lost a lot of them...

but i did manage to find a few more...

the first two are my dad's super modified...the day after a race...

the second two are two more of his old coupes...one is a 39, the other a 40...

and, just for kicks, i threw in MY first "race car"

 

i wish i still had all the one's from the circle tracks, but please enjoy these for what they mean to you...

 

and, thanks again everyone, for the trips down memory lane!

 

 

 

 

 

[txtom]

Wellll,

So I go to check out a guy in Schertz that does sandblasting; I will be needing someone to do the subframe out of my firebird. I talk to this guy, and out of the corner of my wandering eye, do I spot a familiar shape.

 

Tory, the search for the famous Studebaker pick up has ended, and here is is, as of this morning:

 

 

 

I found about 8 unique characteristics of the truck that tell me it was Bobby's. It is in worse shape that it looks, has been sitting in this location for a decade or better, and did not drive for about that long before that.

Would be a bad candidate for restoration, the entire cab would have to be replaced.

 

It is actually behind the last place I saw it before today. a place called "Blast from the past". It is across from Bussey's flea market. They got all kinds of old stuff out there.

[Budman]

Now that's really cool Tom. Great memories for ya, I'm sure.

[NickHolt]

Great memories for any of us who watched Pan American crew lay the rosin through the turns from the back of that truck at Pan Am on Toepperwein Road. I can almost smell the rosin now...

 

Nick

[Pushbar]

Correct, Pops.

Foyt ran there once, the only time he is known to have drag raced, have heard no info on when or how he did.

Ran across this.....Awsome forum by the way!

[Hrodder]

This is the NHRA Safety Safari Trailer

 

Class Winners

 

 

 

I went to the drag races forthe first time that day in 1955 it was the first NHRA safety safari regional records meet ever held in So. Texas I was 13 years old. A.J. was there drinfing Ray Harrelson's (Motor Reco Special) Tip Tank. I have numerous pictures taken that day and a copy of the Hot Rod magazine that covered the event. I met people that day like J.E. Kristek and Chuch Oliver and many others that became friends for life I vividly remember many things that occured that day like A.J. was wearing Indian Moccasins on his feet because they were the only thing he could find that would allow room for his feet to fit into the nose of that thing and feel the little strap that was the loud pedal. I had the opportunity to talk to A.J. about that day many years later at a party in Jimmy Fingers back yard at Lake Travis he remembered every detail he said that he told Ray Harrelson to slow the steering down on the thing before some one got hurt in it. Shortly after that week end in San Antonio they took the car to Louisiana where it got off the strip and killed a spectator and destroyed the car. A.J. was not driving the car in Louisiana. Don Garlits got the steering thing figured out in 1986 on his first rear engined dragster after it almost scared him to death on the maiden run. Read his autobiography! Had a long talk with Don in 1998 when he was here at my invitation as show chairman of the I.S.C.A. car show at the convention center he remembered the tip tank.

 

Thanks for bringing this up this is good exercize for the memory bank which is quoteing my wife a virtual storehouse of utterly useless information.

[Budman]

Say there Hrodder, looky what I just found in my bag of tricks

 

 

[oatey220]

Tom,

Nick is right seeing the old Studebaker brings back some good memories, it would be just rewards for the old girl to be resting out at the remains of PAS (in the infield of course) instead behind an old flea market

[tps48]

Tory and Ozzy and I went for a walk around the old PAS last Sat.

Evidently Gunn is not using it any more and there is a new for sale sign out front.

[txtom]

Only thing I don't know about that lot is how far back the property goes. Does it include the track...............................

 

Don, a surreal pic would be of the Stude parked on the turn 3 part of the "X".

 

But you'er right, seeing that truck brought back lots of memories, from the Friday road trips up th Speedorama to some stuff we better not talk about........................

[mfbarnes]

Oh, and incidentially Tom, I want to thank you for posting more of those old racing pics in your Fotki file. I sure have enjoyed those.

 

For any of you who are not aware of it, on every one of Tom's posts, below his signature line is a little line that says

 

racing pics. Click on it and it will link you to Tom's picture file. There are a lot of great old pics on there.

 

I never clicked it until tonight. GREAT PICS.

 

Where can I find these fenders/front end:

 

 

 

Same place Neil got his

 

[Bobby]

Great memories for any of us who watched Pan American crew lay the rosin through the turns from the back of that truck at Pan Am on Toepperwein Road.

 

Nick

 

Night after night, after night

 

With Tom's remodeling skills and a little drywall mud, that truck could be like new....

[ToryC]

Wellll,

So I go to check out a guy in Schertz that does sandblasting; I will be needing someone to do the subframe out of my firebird. I talk to this guy, and out of the corner of my wandering eye, do I spot a familiar shape.

 

Tory, the search for the famous Studebaker pick up has ended, and here is is, as of this morning:

 

I found about 8 unique characteristics of the truck that tell me it was Bobby's. It is in worse shape that it looks, has been sitting in this location for a decade or better, and did not drive for about that long before that.

Would be a bad candidate for restoration, the entire cab would have to be replaced.

 

It is actually behind the last place I saw it before today. a place called "Blast from the past". It is across from Bussey's flea market. They got all kinds of old stuff out there.

 

 

Wow!!!

 

Now all we need is a wealthy angel investor and we can buy the old track and the old Studebaker and go back in time!

 

I'm in!!!

 

P.S. You found EIGHT unique characteristics??? Serious? How many orange Studebaker pick-ups were made anyway? I would have thought like... I dunno... one.

[txtom]

Tory,

You are right, the orange would be the first thing!

 

Things like the hi-back bucket seat interior, traces of the pin stripe he did to the truck after it's last paint, bracket holes I myself drilled when he had the double CB antenna set-up, that Coors decal on the bed panel from when he drank that horse piss, some other decalling, a couple things on the engine, the mirrors we put on it, the flat sheetmetal panels he welded in place of the original rotted floorpans, things like that

I was convinced upon first glance it was the truck, and the features above reinforced it.

 

With Tom's remodeling skills and a little drywall mud, that truck could be like new....

 

Drywall mud for Bondo? That sounds like something Bobby C. would have done. He had some of the most bass-ackwards ways of fixing things I ever saw.

[lenny66]

Question: What class are the #41 & #72 Camaro's in the pix. Is this at SAS and what years? Thanx, Lenny66

[txtom]

The #41 is Tom Partridge from Corpus in a late model. Picture was taken at Texas World Speedway about 1979 during a TROC weekend.

 

The #72 is a NASCAR Superspeedway Modified, a short lived class.. Neil Bonnett is driving, car was owned by Pee Wee Griffin. Not sure where it is taken, but probably Daytona, 1979 or 1980.

This class ran from 1974 to 1980, and never really took off. Too expensive to build this car for only a few races a year.

This particular car, the 72, is in the Museum at Talladega Speedway in Alabama.

[NickHolt]

David Demere, Johnny Ivy's step-son, found an old pic of the #20 Vega at Pan American.

 

That's Bruce Mabrito driving, Johnny Ivy with the checkered flag and me hanging on for dear life. I haven't aged a bit since then!

 

Nick

[PAPA]

Nick

Have any idea where that car ended up? Would be cool if it was sitting around in some field just waiting to be restored.

[NickHolt]

The Vega ended up in the turn one wall at San Antonio Speedway after breaking a RF hub the year after Pan Am closed. I think Johnny took it to Newall Salvage after taking out the drive train.

 

Nick

[Mel]

Drywall mud for Bondo? That sounds like something Bobby C. would have done. He had some of the most bass-ackwards ways of fixing things I ever saw.

 

When Levi was 5 or 6, he had hundreds of Hot Wheels cars that he raced around our kitchen table hours upon hours. Heck of a baby sitter. One day Bobby was over and saw this and had an idea. He took an old solid wood door, a couple cans of foam spray, half a gallon or so of bondo, and made Levi a high banked oval. He did one heck of a job on it, it was complete with pit road, infield stands, green grass... Levi kept it under his bed and we would pull it out (it was a lil heavy) from under it and he would play Nascar racing all the time. Bobby has always had a vast imagination and loves to create. Sure wish I could find some pics of it to post.

 

Side note, Levi's lil brother Kasey now has hundreds of Hot Wheels and does the racing around the living room table, carpet, his parents bed... and his room too!

 

Mel

[saflyracer]

Know who this is?