Jump to content

Street Vehicles on RaceTracks


Recommended Posts

Let's travel back to about '75 or '76 to Pan American Speedway. Ricci Ware started a deal where you could race against another guy for one lap around the track, from a standing start at the flag box, back to it. They had a winners bracket or ladder to determine a final winner.

And of course, you had to sign a liability waiver.

Well, one night, some young guy showed up in a beautiful yellow (what a coincidence)with black vinyl top '69 camaro. We are all in the infield betting quarters on who will win, when it is his turn. When Bill Lay waves the flag, this kid goes smoking down the front-stretch, gets through 1 and 2 OK, and is getting it down the backstretch. He hits 3, and the back of that Camaro jumps out, and he stays in it. The other guy is just riding at this point. Camaro dude loses it off 4, and sticks the right side into that immovable object called the front stretch wall. Peels metal most of the way down the wall, and stops a little short of turn 1.

We all run over there, and he's bawling like a baby, and cussing like a sailor. The ambulance guys get to him, and ask him if he's OK. He says so, and then they ask him why he's screaming so loud. I mean, this guy is incoherent at this point.

He finally calms a little and tells them "this is my dad's car, and he doesn't know I have it here."

We had to walk off before we fell on the track laughing, and last time I saw it that night, it was waiting outside the pit gate to be hauled off. We also found out it had just gotten out of the paint shop a few months earlier.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

txtom,

I have seen the exact same thing at Twin Cities in Midland. It was called Spectator Drags (it was on the oval so I didn't "get" the drags part). What happened there matches your story almost point by point with one addition. The kid with the wrecked dad's car got caught up in a fake accident scam on I 20 trying to cover it up later that night.

BTW, what color are all the factory Chevy road and endurance racing Corvette C5's and 6's?

 

Jay

Link to comment
Share on other sites

jracer,

I raced in one of those out at twin cities back in 82 or 83. My dad like to had a conniption when he found out about it. By the way in about 82 there were 2 guys that I remember racing there, one had a black wedge camaro late model, first one out there back then. Had degreed headers and just smoked everyone. the other guy was running a 60's camaro without the front fenders and ran 3/4 ton spindles on the front, I think it was white with orange graphics. He was a track favorite and was the only guy who could give the other guy a good run. Do you remember either of those guys. Oh yeah and occasionally, a guy from my math class showed up in his buick regal late model, Bobby Hillin. Sure was a lot of money in those towns back then.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

By the way in about 82 there were 2 guys that I remember racing there, one had a black wedge camaro late model, first one out there back then. Had degreed headers and just smoked everyone.

 

You gotta be thinking about John Foster. Car # 99, and was usually black with silver, and a couple accent colors.

Beautiful and fast car. Ran chassis built by Dennis Frings, and a lot of that chassis design went into the late models Jay Watson built back then for himself, as well as Jaret Lozano. For awhile, he had engines built by Donnie Ray Everett of Indianapolis. First class stuff all the way, from the way they prepared the car to the way they carried themselves at the track.

Next time you see SLM # 90, go by and ask about the guy they called "Gentleman John Foster." He was one of the most straight up guys you could ever meet. Ask anyone in the 90 pit area; they are a great group of racers, and all looked up to John.

John David, driver of the 90 SLM, is a protege of Foster's, as well as Jay Watson. And you can not find anyone in the pit area who can truly say anything bad about Foster.

Linda Foster is part of the owner group of the 90 SLM.

Sadly, he passed away a couple years ago from a surgery complication.

 

Also, if you ran in '82 or '83, you probably ran at the old Odessa Speedbowl at the corner of Hwy 80 and a road called fadree or something close to that. Twin Cities wasn't built until '87, and it was the track that replaced the Speedbowl.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This type of racing at Colorado National Speedway they call" Circle Drags" and I was there and saw a crash like that when i was helping on my brothers Modified Coupe on 1 Oct. 2005. they even had F 250 pickups racin . Had a very fast 69 camaro too. the crowd loves it. But I can see if the vehicle isn't his and wrecks it too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

THR did this for a couple of years - called it "Spectator Races." Basically, there was a $20 entry fee. Winner took all. If I remember right, there were two cars on the track at a time and some cones to delineate lanes. There were not any incidents, but I have a feeling the insurance put a stop to it. Some of the races were a lot of fun to watch.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

SAS ran these races back in the 80's. I raced my brothers 1980 Ford F150 with a straight 6 and 3 on the tree. Got beat by a 69 Chevy P/U with a Big Block. That night cars were tearing the wheels right off the studs between 3 and 4. Had a couple more spin into another and both wrecked. I ended up 2nd out of 12-14 cars. The 69 and myself were the only two that got to drive them home that night. The others had to be towed. I think they stopped letting the fans run their street cars that night. It was fun but all of us could have been hurt real easy. It was a good show for the fans but it was dangerous.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looked a little deeper, and the Odessa Speedbowl was also known as Twin Cities. The original was built about 1959, and ran until 1986, when the new track was built by John Foster

This link is to the old Odessa Speedbowl or TC #1, which is on the North side of Hwy 80, and closer to Odessa. It is northwest of Twin Cities, which was between 80 and I-20 about 6 miles away.

Odessa

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...