ivicic Posted May 16, 2005 Report Share Posted May 16, 2005 My wife's family is from the Lake Geneva area so I have heard all the stories about Slinger and how all the great drivers from nascar would come and race on a regular basis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Budman Posted May 16, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 16, 2005 I can't explain it. But some cars you can walk up to and look at, without knowing anything else about them, and you can tell they are going to be fast. That 14 Nova has that "look" about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Definitive Posted May 16, 2005 Report Share Posted May 16, 2005 They still do.I was there for the Miller Nationals in 1995 at Madison International,and Earnhardt Sr. didn't even qualifly.That kind of racing really sets your opinion of who is a good racer and who isn't.Some of the racers I saw were... Earnhardt Sr. Kenny Wallace Ken Shrader....was the best out of the cup guys Jimmy Spenser Micheal Waltrip Bobby Hamilton Mark Martin Tim Sauter Matt Kenseth Brian Reffner Butch Miller Scott Hansen Johny Benson Brian Hoppe Al Shill Joe Shear Kevin Cywinsky Dick Trickle Robbie Rieser Steve Carlson Steve Holzhousen Rich Bickle Gary St. Amont Thats off the top of my head...prolly messed up a couple and missed some big names,but if you ever want to see a race where 70 cars show for it and the 28 that start are all within a tenth of each other then that's the race.There were no cautions for almost the first half of the race. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Budman Posted May 17, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 17, 2005 Here's a bit of trivia ............ Txtom mentioned doing track prep work at Pan-Am-Top many years ago. I remember from the time Austin Speed-o-rama opened in 1960, for many years the two guys who did track prep and clean-up were Bill Wusterhausen and Don Crumley, using Bill's blue Datsun pick-up. I've got a bit of a problem maybe some of you can help me with. Got an old photo from San Antonio of a group of drivers I need help identifying. It's an 11x17 photo though. Got to figure out how to get it scanned and posted first. (Forgot to mention, the photo was taken 41 years ago.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodlea Posted May 17, 2005 Report Share Posted May 17, 2005 Looking through my scrapbook of Speed O Rama from 1960-1962 and found a picture with Buddy Yantis from about 1961. Car #12 powered by Ford V8 Y block engine, probably 312 cubic inch. Only Ford engine running in super modified class. This was the prettiest car in the field - lavender. Sponsored by RC Motor Service out of SA. Looking at newspaper results from race showed he had two second place finishes in the feature events, and pretty sure he had one feature win, but I don't have clipping. He was a good, clean driver. Rodney Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PAPA Posted May 17, 2005 Report Share Posted May 17, 2005 rodlea I would love to see your scrap book. Is there anyway you can scan whats there and post them or email them to me and Ill post them for you? If your in or around the SA area Ill meet up with you and bring my laptop and scan them for you and burn them to a CD. Ill do this for anyone. Please let me know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PAPA Posted May 18, 2005 Report Share Posted May 18, 2005 Budman sent these to me a while back. Any stories out there that need to be told about this driver? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
see86go Posted May 18, 2005 Report Share Posted May 18, 2005 Found an old scrapbook; I think this is from 1973. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
see86go Posted May 18, 2005 Report Share Posted May 18, 2005 Here's another from 1973. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PAPA Posted May 18, 2005 Report Share Posted May 18, 2005 Keep 'em comin' see86go. That is a cool clipping Buddy Yantis. Look how far the tires extend from the wheel wells. Id love to see these type cars run again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Budman Posted May 18, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 18, 2005 Rodlea, I remember that 12 car very well. The picture you have, does it have the coupe body on it, or had they already put the T-bucket on it? Don Fowler also sometimes drove that car. You said Buddy Yantis was a good clean driver. Hell, they all were. Those were true "open wheel" cars. They had to be clean drivers. That or kill each other. The whole "mind set" of driving was different from what it is today. Most times, they'd race all night without ever bringing out a yellow flag. Doesn't mean they didn't race each other hard and fast though. But, there wasn't all this beatin' and bangin' on each other. Passing had to be clean. Even if they didn't particularly like each other, they still had to respect and trust each other. And talk about masters of car control. They could race side by side lap after lap, inches apart, and never touch. Do I sound like I'm complaining? Could be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PAPA Posted May 18, 2005 Report Share Posted May 18, 2005 Here is another one that budman sent me. This is a COOL race car Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PAPA Posted May 18, 2005 Report Share Posted May 18, 2005 budman The #99 seems to have past by everyone. Tell everyone who this guy is please. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Budman Posted May 18, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 18, 2005 That of course is Wayne Niedecken of Abileen. Wayne was the only actual "professional racer" I knew of around here. That's what he did for a living. Raced and worked on that car. I guess that's what made him so good. No purse, no income. He raced all over Texas and even other states in that car. I guess Speed-o-rama was the best paying place to race on Friday nights, because for several years he was there every week. He led a contingent of drivers out of Abileen and San Angelo each week, that included Charles Johnson(11), Papa Johnson(4) (Charles' dad), Robert Polk(18) out of Abileen. Sometimes Bubba Cowan (99), and Marvin Phillip(M-1) would come out of San Angelo. They had a nice mix of drivers and cars from all around. Funny, there weren't that many cars out of Austin at the time. They would come out of San Antonio, Houston and Abileen. This was about 1960 to '65. Always had a good car count. Consistantly around 16 to 18 modifieds every week. They also ran a hobby class. Always had a bunch of them. They always put on a hell of a show. and race fans? You know those stands on the back stretch at Speed-o-rama? They were nearly full each week. Reason being, there was no room for them in the front stretch stands because fans were packed in there shoulder to shoulder, and loving it. That's when Austin's population was a quarter of what it is now. How I ramble. Back to Wayne N. (See my post on him called "The West Texas Stranger". Its now back about page 6 or so.) Wayne ended up moving to Pensacola Florida in the mid 60s. He found out he could race more than 2 nights a week there. Eventually, he started driving late models, which were becoming more fashionable at the time. He ended up winning 2 of the first 3 "Snowball Derbys" they ever held there. He ended up winning a lot of races and championships in that region over the years against a lot of drivers with names you've heard of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin bowen Posted May 18, 2005 Report Share Posted May 18, 2005 this is so cool , i grew up going to pan american every weekend when my dad raced there . the photos bring back fun memories . i have pics of a 69 stang i had when i was 16 and it has the rear tires and same homade wheel s he ran on his car . They were a stock outer rim and 1/2 inch plate for centers and gussets. all done by hand with a torch . These suckers were heavy but hi gear burn outs in front of the house were the best . no vibration and super white smoke for days . If anyone has pics of a red and white 57 chevy #27 at pan am during early to mid 70s , i would like to buy them or get copies . over the years we have lost ours and it would be cool to have some for my dad for fathersday . the car was called LIPS . my mom and her girlfriend got drunk and painted big lips around the hole in the front of the hood. Crazy days Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobby Posted May 18, 2005 Report Share Posted May 18, 2005 I crewed for Harold Oatman from 1967-77, so I can add a few tidbits about what racing was like at the time. On the wide tires, there was no width or manufacturer rule. The tires were, we were told, the same tires run at Indy and were up to 18" wide. They made a dramatic difference in the handling, although on a poorly set up car they would allow the driver to get way over his head, then let go suddenly. The big problem was that the width (and very thin carcass) made them very susceptible to cuts, and wheel and tie rod bending. They were outlawed around '74 or so, and I think most people were relieved. Harold helped finance his racing by building wheels and cars for other racers. At first the wheels were built by mounting them on a spindle and rotating them against a cutting torch. The wider parts of two wheels were welded back together to make one. At first, it took all night to make one, but he eventually got a cast off brake lath for cutting, and an industrial washing machine wringer for forming bands to insert in the wheel halves. This allowed him to make five or six per night, at $25/each. You will note that some people were running Camaros, others were running the Chevelle type cars. No one really ran well with a Chevelle, as the weight distribution and front end geometry were way inferior to Camaros. The '66 Chevelle which Harold ran in 73 was originally my street car. Since the Chevelle was built entirely from scratch, the Camaro was still complete. It was driven two or three times by Harold's relative Robert Beardsley. During this period we were maintaining Harold's two cars, a Camaro built for Harold and Jody Hall of San Angelo, one he built for "Cowboy" Gonzales, as well as running Friday night in Austin and Saturday at Pan American. Harold eventually gave up on the Chevelle and returned to the Camaro, although it was very "well-used" by this time. A note on Darryl(?) Godfredson. Darryl was the first in the area to run front disk brakes. Prior to that everyone used finned aluminum drums from early '60 Buicks, but by the early '70s they were getting scarce. Darryl's car was interesting because the rotors were always red hot. Recently, his son Chip has been known to run a sprinter around the area. Marvin Fillip - As someone else noted, Marvin would show up occasionally with his white, chop top 55 Chevy. The car always seemed odd because of the big floater hubs, front and rear. I still see Marvin selling parts at the occasional S. Texas swap meet. His son Chet, who began driving the 55 in the early 70's, now has a racing shock business and drives USAC sprinters. A Google search reveals - Fillip started in the 1982 and 1983 Indianapolis 500 and raced several NASCAR events in the 1980’s including the 1987 Daytona 500 and Talladega 500. An occasional out of towner who would cause a stir was Leroy Brooks. He had a Chevy powered Cutlass which was always rumored to be running at Pan-Am with his home track configuration (roller cam, and 9 lbs/cu. inch instead of 10). On Hubert Bean - I remember Harold saying someone was blind in one eye and couldn't see out of the other one. Was that about Bean? The article shown on Buddy Yantis mentions someone not yet mentioned in this thread, Teddy Jones. Jones ran the number 66 and always had clean, front running cars. I seem to remember that one year his 57 Chevy was a convertible. Since someone asked about sprinters at Pan-Am, I have dim memories of them appearing once or twice. They obviously were not set up for asphalt, as they sat relatively high and could barely navigate the turns. They really did not put on much of a show, it was almost an embarrassment to see them accelerate from the turn, let off at the flagman, then tiptoe through the corner. Does anyone remember some of the promotional antics of Ricci Ware? One I remember is him hiring skydivers to parachute into the middle of the track at intermission. I remember that Ricci had a very good sense of what made for an entertaining evening, both in terms of pleasant facilities and polished events. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Budman Posted May 18, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 18, 2005 Papa, See if you can post that pic of the 11 car with Waldo in it. I can't. I can tell you a lot about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PAPA Posted May 18, 2005 Report Share Posted May 18, 2005 Budman sent me this one as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodlea Posted May 18, 2005 Report Share Posted May 18, 2005 Paul Jett is my cousin. He told me he built this car when he was in high school and drove it home late one night on the highway. When Buddy Jergins drove it, if he ever spun it (which was rarely), about the time it was ready to stop he'd nail the accelerator, smoke the tires, and keep on racing - no stopping and stalling. Buddy won more than his share of races at Speed O Rama driving this car. Have a newspaper clipping with good picture of him sitting in this car. If I can ever figure out how to download to this site, I'll post it and some others! Rodney Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Budman Posted May 18, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 18, 2005 Yeah Rodney, If you spun these cars and stopped, you were stuck. No batteries, no starters, no generators (alternators), no power steering to rob hp. (I can't even remember one having air conditioning.) Some didn't even have clutches or transmissions. They were fired by magnetos, and could only be push started. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PAPA Posted May 18, 2005 Report Share Posted May 18, 2005 rodlea Give me a call at (210) 682-7581 and Ill walk you thru the process. Gerald(PAPA) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodlea Posted May 18, 2005 Report Share Posted May 18, 2005 Here's pic of Buddy Yantis driving #12 from about 1961 at turn 1 Speed O Rama. Can guess the others in this traffic jam? They were driving car #83, #106, #95. Rodney Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodlea Posted May 18, 2005 Report Share Posted May 18, 2005 Thanks Papa - picture not great but with your help able to post. Rodney Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Budman Posted May 18, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 18, 2005 Rodlea, Ain't sayin'! Were you there the night that 106 got destroyed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Budman Posted May 19, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 19, 2005 Rodlea, I think the driver of 106 is Jonny Doyle. Right? Trying to figure out if you are who I think you are. You got a brother that kinda resembles you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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