Budman Posted June 6, 2005 Report Share Posted June 6, 2005 Here's a little story some of you Old-Timers might appreciate. I'll take you back 50 years. The year? About 1955. I was about 6 years old. Can barely remember this, but it's true. It must have been a Saturday afternoon. I was at home with my mom, dad and older sister. There came a knock at our front door. My dad answered the door. It was our next door neighbor with some guy I didn't know. After a brief conversation, my dad went outside with the other two men. I, being the curious six year old that I was, followed along. Well, my dad (being a professional mechanic) went and got his tools and headed out to the curb in front of our neighbor's house, where sat to my utter amazement a RACE CAR! It turned out the stranger was the next door neighbor's younger brother. He was visiting and staying there for a few days. While visiting, he had borrowed this race car from a friend of his while in town (Austin), to race at the local track. So, I sat and watched while the men worked on the car. My dad soon had it fixed for them. (Turns out for whatever reason, the timing was off and neither the neighbor nor his brother knew how to fix it.) That night my dad and I went and watched the younger brother race. His name? ........... ............Jud Larson! If you're not familiar with this name, I suggest you do a "key word search" for Jud Larson on the web. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Definitive Posted June 6, 2005 Report Share Posted June 6, 2005 Budman...we're lazy...plz just tell us more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
txtom Posted June 7, 2005 Report Share Posted June 7, 2005 My father attended Hillcrest Highschool in Dallas a couple years; he had a classmate named Elton Chester. Elton's father had an Offy midget known simply as the "Chester Offy" that Jud Larson would run on Wednesday nights at the Dallas State Fair Speedway. This was a 1/5th mile track that ran from 1939 to 1957, minus the War years. The location is under the livestock coliseum. My dad and grandfather spent many a night watching Larson up there. On a side note, The State Fairgrounds complex also had a 1 mile dirt track from 1914 to about 1929, and also a 1/2 mile dirt oval for a year in 1938. The 1/2 mile is under the Cotton Bowl. There was also a 1/10 mile for a couple years in the 30's in the old livestock arena. This area also had a road course in the 80's, but only a couple races. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racerx Posted June 7, 2005 Report Share Posted June 7, 2005 no sh*&??? Wow. I grew up in Dallas and never knew that. what a great place for a race track. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Budman Posted June 7, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 7, 2005 I was surfing the web the other night and came across a kinda interesting site. Has some great old pictures. It's of some of the race cars apparently owned by two brothers up in Kansas. Three of their drivers were Jud Larson, Lloyd Ruby and Gordon Wooley. What a Texas Trio that is! The site is www.chet-wilson.com. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
txtom Posted June 7, 2005 Report Share Posted June 7, 2005 Larry, Don't know if you follow the Formula One circus, but they ran at the Fairplex in July 1984, won by Keke Rosberg. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racerx Posted June 7, 2005 Report Share Posted June 7, 2005 Did go to that...Nigel Mansel Passed out in the Texas Summer Heat trying to push his car that had died on the last lap over the finish line...that would have been something... Saw Willy T Ribbs damn near win a trans am race there using reverse about three times...I think he even passed somebody once, while in reverse...he would spin, no room to turn around, he would just throw in reverse, going backwards in the right direction, til the end of the short straights and spin it around dukes of hazard style...he had to be doing over 100 backwards once... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeilTPS Posted June 7, 2005 Report Share Posted June 7, 2005 Budman When I was growing up in Houston, I used to go out to Playland Park Speedway. It was a 1/4 mile clay track on South Main. Many big names raced their regulalrly and the field included Jud Larson. He was impressive with his "throw the car sideways at the finish line" entry into the turns. Jud Larson graduated from Houston and Texas tracks to USAC midgets, sprint and champ dirt cars in the midwest. He eventually got a ride in some Indy 500's, but was not as impressive as he was on dirt tracks. I remember someone saying - "If they would change the Indianapolis Motor Speedway from asphalt to dirt, Jud Larson would win every race there". Neil Upchurch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Definitive Posted June 7, 2005 Report Share Posted June 7, 2005 lol...could you imagine that?How long would it take to "pack" the track?how many water trucks?How much dust when the track went slick?No way would a larger right rear stagger work there with those straights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Budman Posted June 7, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 7, 2005 Yeah Neil, And a lot of people around now don't realize it, but during that time, USAC was the preeminent racing sanctioning body in the country. The Indianapolis 500 was a USAC Champ Car points race. Nascar, though growing in stature, was still for the most part considered a "regional" series. USAC still to this day produces some of the best drivers in NASCAR. Incidentially, Jud finished 8th in the '58 Indy 500. Not too shabby for a rookie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Budman Posted July 9, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 9, 2005 Jud Larson (left). Jud was one of those likeable, larger than life, John Wayne type characters you only meet a couple of in your life-time, if your lucky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Budman Posted October 29, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 29, 2005 Under your catagory of Little Known Facts and Other Trivia, you can place this one. Jud was once the stunt double for Clark Gable in a racing sequence in one of Clark Gable's movies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supertx Posted October 31, 2005 Report Share Posted October 31, 2005 Neal and all do you remember that they had a TV deal at playland park. When i couldn't go i would try to stay awake to watch. Does anybody know who was the owner or the promoter? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
txtom Posted November 1, 2005 Report Share Posted November 1, 2005 Under your catagory of Little Known Facts and Other Trivia, you can place this one. Jud was once the stunt double for Clark Gable in a racing sequence in one of Clark Gable's movies. Buddy, My father can expound on this one a little bit. It was a movie called "To please a lady", and several of the dirt racing scenes were filmed at the old Arlington Downs track in Arlington, Texas. Roughly located where the new Rangers Baseball field is now. Larson drove the scenes that Gable was credited for. To add a little more trivia--Cecil Green was also a driver in that film. My father made everyone of the races that track had during that time frame. His father-my grandfather- was close friends of Duke Nalon, Bill Holland, and a few others of the Indy racing scene then, and they all drove those AAA big car races. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Budman Posted November 1, 2005 Author Report Share Posted November 1, 2005 Tom, Good to hear from you. All this stuff is so incredibly interesting to me, and so much of that history is already lost forever. How sad. That picture on the other thread about half way down the racing history page, called "Two Old Pics", I'm sure is Cecil Green, in the #16 Midget at old Pan Am. I've got several other pictures of him in that midget. A question for supertx................... Is that #16 the midget your dad bought? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
txtom Posted November 1, 2005 Report Share Posted November 1, 2005 Hi Buddy, Sorry I didn't get to talk longer at Kyle; I had my hands on a bunch of different cars that night, Stayed some kind of busy! Yeah, I talk the old stuff with my dad all the time; we are trying to compile some of his stories as we speak. We try to do it in the off season, but now we are racing all the way into late November. I guess we'll start next year about Valentine's day....................... That midget pic is one Mel Krauss sent me to resize; he got it out of his father's collection. Might have to get with him to see what else is there. A little side story about Arlington Downs, which was a 1 mile horse track. My father went with his dad out on the track in their street car, and my grandfather gave Dad the wheel. One of the first driving attempts; age about 14. He did all right until he kinda overcooked a corner and spun it out. After several minutes, my grandfather stopped his hysterical laughing long enough to take the wheel and leave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Budman Posted November 1, 2005 Author Report Share Posted November 1, 2005 Your story reminds me of the time in early 1960 when I was given such a ride. I was with my dad and Louis W., the owner out at Austin Speed-o-rama in the early spring, before it opened for its first racing season. My dad was doing some welding on the pit gates for Louis. When he finished, Louis invited us to tour his new speedway. I was 11 at the time. So, we made several laps in our '54 Merc, before a racecar ever made a lap there. What a thrill that was for a kid at that time. So much so, I still remember it well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RFTP Posted December 15, 2005 Report Share Posted December 15, 2005 Jud in 1951 at Oklahoma City in the MA Walker #66. I'm new to this board. My name is Warren Vincent. I try to maintain a web site called Racing From The Past. It covers Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas and Missouri with a little bit of everything from the past. I thought you viewers might like this page Midgets since some of the names mention on this page. You also might be interested in the Texas Super Modified Page I have to Texas Super Modifieds Lap 1 Also the other photo on this thread of Jud doing an interview. The guy in the middle is Chet Wilson owner of the "Offy Killer #25" that Jud probably had just won with in the photo. Beings this is Texas Board I know you old-timers will love this slide show at Chet Wilson Engines just click on the image of the #25 (history) at the top of the page and a slide show will start and change every 10 seconds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PAPA Posted December 15, 2005 Report Share Posted December 15, 2005 RFTP Welcome aboard Warren. I found your site a few weeks ago and its great! Like you, we've been trying to gather as much info on our racing history as we can. Thank you for helping to keep that history alive. Let us know if we can be of service in any way. I suggest that everyone who reads this check out your site. Ive spent hours on it and have a lot left to see. Keep up the good work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Budman Posted December 15, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 15, 2005 Warren, I've seen your site, and what an awesome site it is. Welcome. Hope to see you on here often. Don't be a stranger! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RFTP Posted December 15, 2005 Report Share Posted December 15, 2005 Thanks Papa and Budman for the warm welcome. I edited my post but thought I would place the part I edited here also. I think it has some great photos of some of the greatest Texas drivers from the past on it. You don't even have to do anything once you get to it, just set back and view the slide show. Beings this is Texas Board I know you old-timers will love this slide show at Chet Wilson Engines just click on the image of the #25 (history) at the top of the page and a slide show will start and change every 10 seconds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Budman Posted December 15, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 15, 2005 Warren, I noticed in your "midget" section, a pic taken at Oklahoma City, with 3 Texans in it ............ Cecil Green, Jud Larson and J.D. Park. I was up reading late the other night and came across a great story about J.D. Park at Oklahoma City. Sometime in the late '40's, J.D. (who was known for being very much the showman and a "lady's man" who threw kisses and roses to the ladies in the crowd before races)..... J.D. had won a big race up there. So big, even the Governor of Oklahoma was in attendance. Well, after the race, he paused to get the checkered flag for his victory lap, then paused again at the pit entrance to pick up his girl friend. She made the victory lap with him, perched upon the cowl of his midget, wearing naught save a lovely, lovely SMILE. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RFTP Posted December 16, 2005 Report Share Posted December 16, 2005 Budman, Those stories are great. Those days are just outside of my memory. I was born in 54. But I just love those days. My greatest memories are from the 60's and 70's and many from around Kansas, but I try and read a lot when time permits. Over the last 5 years doing the site I have had so many e-mails and stories. It also makes me feel really great when people e-mail and think the memories are gone until they have seen some of my site. No doubt the Govenor was there. If you look at some old photos, the grandstands were full and many of the Sunday afternoon races, fans came from straight from church. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supertx Posted December 19, 2005 Report Share Posted December 19, 2005 Budman The number 16 midget was very possible the one my dad bought.I was just a young kid and don't remember alot .All the pictures were destroyed in a flood many years ago and there's no one left in my family to ask .All I remember was that it was one of ceciel greens midgets and a few memeories of push starting it in the neighbor hood they stsrted feeding the addick didn't they lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Budman Posted June 18, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 18, 2006 IT'S A SMALL WORLD ........ or at least it was back then! Since there was no racing around Austin nor San Antonio last night, I attended a family get-together out at my aunt's house. She is into her eighties, but you would never know it by looking at her or talking with her. The years have been good to her..... a lady with never any vices. After reading a story about Jud Larson that was recently written by TQ3, and published in a local paper, she looked up from the paper and said, "You know, your aunt Lois dated Jud Larson for a time, before she met and married your uncle Billy." I replied, "Your kidding, I never knew that. Wow, what a small world!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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