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SAS all-time greats


NickHolt

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Gunar wanted to start a new topic on the all-time great drivers that have ever come out of San Antonio Speedway from 1978 until now.

 

Gunar's picks are (in no particular order): Terry Labonte, Gary Chappell, Ray Becka, John Kelly, Goerge Hagy, Ervin Brieten,Jason Oates, Brandon Bendele, Maybe Robin Mcall-Dallenbach, Eddie Bierschwhale.

 

What would be your picks?

 

GUNAR

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thats a good topic, Ed Schzrek (sp..sorry !!) , Tommy Davis were some pretty good hot shoes. Talikng LM Slick was good there as well.

I remember Carl Wentrick had a good run there for some time time in the Limited then LM divisions.

And who can forget good ole Beaver Stelzig !!

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Freddy Fryar raced at SAS frequently, arguably one of the best LM drivers of all time.

 

Larry Bendele and Leroy Farmer have to fit in there somewhere.. and you spell Ed's name Ed Sczech.

 

Nick Holt

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Gunar wanted to start a new topic on the all-time great drivers that have ever come out of San Antonio Speedway from 1978 until now.  

 

Gunar's picks are (in no particular order):   Terry Labonte, Gary Chappell,Larry Bendele, Slick Yoemens, freddy Fryar, Ray Becka, John Kelly, Goerge Hagy, Ervin Brieten,Jason Oates, Brandon Bendele, Maybe Robin Mcall-Dallenbach, Eddie Bierschwhale.

 

What would be your picks?

 

GUNAR

Nick I was not finished with the list : Terry Labonte,Garry Chappel,Beaver Stelzig,Larry Bendele, Ray Becka, John Kelly, Goerge Hagy, Ervin Brietien,Jason Oates,Brandon Bendele,Maybe Robin Dallenbach,Eddie Bierschwhale. thanks Gunar

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I have read this thread three times and unless I missed him, I find one significant name missing.

He won more TIDA Late Model Series races than any other driver with 27 wins.

 

In doing that, he won two of the races during the ten years of TIDA-LM at San Antonio Speedway, aka San Antonio International Speedway, San Antonio Raceway, River City Raceway, High 16 Raceway or whatever.

 

He always drove a #24 Ford and his name is:

 

Slick Yoemans

 

This nomination submitted by:

 

Neil Upchurch

Former President & Founder

Texas International Drivers Association (TIDA)

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John Kelly Jr.

 

You sent me deep into the TIDA archives to research the answer which I believe you will like reading.

 

TIDA-LM sanctioned 28 races at San Antonio during eight of its ten seasons from 1988 to 1997.

 

(TIDA didn't race at SA in 1990 & 1991 due to the track owner and TIDA being unable to come to contract terms)

 

The TIDA-LM winners of 28 Races at the San Antonio 1/2 mile high banked oval were:

 

John Kelly/LaVernia, TX..................................- 8 races

Jay Watson/Midland, TX..................................- 5 races

Rick Rapp/Corpus Christi, TX...........................- 5 races

David Unscheid/Cedar Park, TX.......................- 2 races

Keith Reithmeyer/Austin, TX............................- 2 races

Greg Davidson/Pearland, TX............................- 2 races

Tommy Grimes/San Antonio, TX.......................- 2 races

Slick Yoemans/Corpus Christi & High Point, NC- 2 races

 

TIDA-LM statistics compiled by:

 

Neil Upchurch

Former President & Founder

Texas International Drivers Association (TIDA)

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Guest The_Greek

i would add Rick Rapp to the list as one of the best at SAS, and i would cast a vote for John Kelly as the best ive seen at SAS through the years, but clearly i think the torch has been passed on to Brandon Bendele.

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didn't Jay Watson win like 4 or all 5 of those wins in a row? I know he had winning streak at SAS for a while.

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There were four names mentioned here on this topic that will be racing each other tonight they go as follows Brandon Bendele, Jason Oates, Larry Bendele, Joe Armendia . All of these Guys have cosiderable laps at san antonio lets see who the best out of the four really is, Gunar

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Guest The_Greek
There were four names mentioned here on this topic that will be racing each other tonight they go as follows Brandon Bendele, Jason Oates, Larry Bendele, Joe Armendia . All of these Guys have cosiderable laps at san antonio lets see who the best out of the four really is, Gunar

if u were there, its pretty obvious Brandon is the best of the bunch, or should i say the fastest.

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The Greek Just for your info i was there helping larry & kevin bendele. They have been very good friends of mine for years in fact brandon was the best man at my wedding back in 1994. Jason Oates is my brother-in-law. Brandon did dominat. On another note you picked rick rapp as as one your favorites. as i recall rapp in the early 90's ran late models and was quoted in the paper saying it will be like taking candy from a baby,The first night of racing oates on the outside raced rick rapp for 5 laps in a homemade lead sled rick quit because he had the best money could by. and could not beat oates. o by the way the car jason was driving if u were there was down on horse power, because the engine builder ordered the wrong parts at least 50 ponys, larrys car was perfect, kevin did a great job. other than that glad you made it to the races. next time come down and say hello. thanks, matthew

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Rocketdog,

 

Tom Williams got me converted from drag racing to roundy-round. I got involved in maintaining & rebuilding his engines, then seeing him run at SAS, at TWS, and at Atlanta (USAC Grand National). Although I was his "engine man", I was fascinated by what Tom and his crew were doing to get the car thru the corners. I was hooked. It was great when we won the pole in Atlanta and got to push the car to the front of the grid in front of A. J. Foyt, Rusty Wallace, Bobby Allison, and Richard Childress. By the way, Richard Childress asked my wife Rosemary to be a backup scorer for him in case the person he had coming failed to show. As it turned out, Richard became more famous (and richer) as a car owner than a driver.

 

When Benny Parsons was the Cup champ, Tom bought a used engine from him. It was a work of art when we slowly disassembled that engine.

 

Tom was a very talented racer, and did what it took to win at every track he raced at. One of the very best at road-racing.

 

He was mischieviously devious kind of guy. I enjoyed his tech inspections. If the "check wheel" for ground clearance wouldn't fit under his chassis, he'd shove it under the car like a gorilla, turn to the inspector, and say that his wheel fits OK now....If the tech person wanted to P&G a cylinder after a race, he'd pour coke into the cylinder, foul up the P&G meter when they cranked it over, then lament that a head gasket probably gave out leaking water into his (oversize?) motor.

 

There are tons more stories about Tom. But in a different forum.

 

Larry Bendele

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Guest The_Greek
The Greek Just for your info i was there helping larry & kevin bendele. They have been very good friends of mine for years in fact brandon was the best man at my wedding back in 1994. Jason Oates is my brother-in-law. Brandon did dominat. On another note you picked rick rapp as as one your favorites. as i recall rapp in the early 90's ran late models and was quoted in the paper saying it will be like taking candy from a baby,The first night of racing oates on the outside raced rick rapp for 5 laps in a homemade lead sled rick quit because he had the best money could by. and could not beat oates. o by the way the car jason was driving if u were there was down on horse power, because the engine builder ordered the wrong parts at least 50 ponys, larrys car was perfect, kevin did a great job. other than that glad you made it to the races. next time come down and say hello. thanks, matthew

are you suggesting to leave Rick Rapp off of the list? with 5 TIDA wins at SAS. im not sure how many non-TIDA wins he has at SAS but im sure their are plenty, Rick ran C.C. most of his career and has competed at various other tracks (CC, Longhorn, SAS, TWS) and has won just about everywhere he has gone. also has won at dirt tracks in latemodels too, to me that signals a mark of a "great" driver. again in my earlier post i stated John Kelly was the best (imo) ive seen through the years at SAS, and i feel the torch has been passed on to Brandon as long as he continues to race in these parts. and lastly im not sure where u are going with the Oates comments, Oates was a fine driver at SAS also.

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