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Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
| Remembering
Years Gone By by Norm Bogan |
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Several years ago, my wife Pat, started a new job and in conversation
with her boss about weekend plans, mentioned that she was going racing.
His eyes widened and he said, what kind of racing? Sprint
cars, she replied and his eyes grew wider as he explained that he once raced
sprint cars at Ascot Looking
through some old programs, we found his name and even one where we had recorded
his qualifying time. This triggered
a quest for another story to browse through some old programs and mention some
of the names from yesteryear that have either gone on to bigger fame or have
faded away. Looking at a 1976 Pacific Coast Open Program, the feature lineup was as
follows:(from pole to last): Sammy Swindell, Ronnie Shuman, Lee James, Bobby
Allen, Ron Rea, Jimmy Oskie, Gary Patterson, Doug Wolfgang, Bob East, Dub May,
Bubby Jones, Rick Goudy, Max Sweeney, Bobby Olivero, Rick Ferkel, Johnny
Anderson, Mike Shaw, Gary Howard, Steve Howard, Rick Horton, Buster Venard,
Billy Allen, John Redican and Fred Linder. Others of note who didn't make the feature were: Dean Thompson, Gary
Rush, Wally Pankratz, Jimmy Sills, Lee Robison, Tom Roa, Lee Osborne, Chuck
Amati, Eddie Leavitt, Jerry Frantsen, Ricky Hood, Clark Templeman, Jerry
McClung, Chuck Gurney, Stan McElrath, Tony Simon, Jay East, Fred Brownfield and
Larry Clark. There were others, but
this gives you an idea of what the fields used to be like, when we had the
TRIPLE CROWN of sprint car racing; Knoxville Nationals, Western World Nationals
and Pacific Coast Open. Many of the above names are already in the Hall Of Fame or on their way. A 1978 program lists the feature winners for the year as Rick Goudy, Dean Thompson, Lealand McSpadden, Jimmy Oskie, Lee James, Buster Venard, Tommy Astone, Jimmy Boyd, Tony Simon, Bob Meli, Steve Howard, Tom Roa and Bob East. Running a show called the Midwinter Outlaw Championships were many of the above names plus Mike Andrietta, Gary Bettenhausen, Mike Sweeney, Gary Ponzini, Jack Devitt and Bob Brutto. A 1979 NARC/CRA show included names not previously mentioned such as; Walt Kennedy, Ed Organ, Dwayne Feduska, Jac Haudenschild, Hank Butcher and Darrell Dockery. Others of note who didn't make the feature were; Duke Cook, Earl Kelley, Brad Noffsinger, Anthony Simone, T.R. Stump and Darrell Hannistad. Some other CRA names from this year included Paul Sylvester, Rip Williams, Rick Goade, Jack Hawley, Paul Turner, Mike Spencer, Art Bisch Jr., Bill Weinkauf, Leonard Lee, Ken Gidney and Duke Wyrembek. The 1979 Pacific Coast Open had some other drivers of note; Tim Green,
Mark High, Billy Van Meter, Shane Carson, Jack Hewitt, Brent Kaeding and some
kid named Al Unser Jr. Many of the cars running in those years were also famous.
Can you recall the Faas #27 "King O Lawn Special", Snow Speed
Shop #4N, Bailey Bros. #01, Vern Kornbrust #99, Trostle #20 "Vise Grip
Special", Skeet Gibson Twister cars, Jensen Construction #55, Doug Howells
#4X, Siroonian #1X "Western Mag Special", and Walt Ross #56. A few others who raced in this era were Jan Opperman, Roger Rager, Mark Alderson, Gene Brown, Wayne Bennet, Billy Shuman, Bobby Marshall, Leroy Van Connett, Buddy Taylor, Smokey Snellbaker, Jeff Heywood, Rendy Boldrini and a guy named Steve Kinser. There are many others who provided thrills and sorrows for us over the
years. Many of these drivers are now retired. A few have left us
through racing incidents, some are still active as owners, sponsors or other
positions in racing. Some have just
faded away to other pursuits, but to those of us that saw them race, they
provided us with an adrenalin rush nearly twenty years ago, that keeps us going
back for more each week. I may have overlooked your favorite driver of that era and I certainly didn't mean it as a slight to anyone. I genuinely appreciated going to the track on a weekly basis and seeing sixty cars in the pits and possibly a hundred cars for the big open shows. Before the emergence of wings, everyone in the country was wingless and the OUTLAWS were a loose group of guys who didn't run for points, but traveled to the big money shows, trying to earn enough to get to the next show, support the car and probably feed a family. |
