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Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
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Little Piece of Pennsylvania by Norm Bogan |
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In May of 1993, a group of fans traveled east with the CRA Sprint Cars
on their Eastern Tour. This was a
great adventure, because we got to see some of the fabled tracks, which we only
read about and also many of the drivers, who are the heroes of these parts. On Saturday morning, after an outstanding night at
historic Williams Grove, our entourage journeyed to the Latimore Valley
Fairgrounds, home of the Eastern Museum of Motor Racing.
The museum has a number of vintage racecars on display along with some
other memorabilia, such as driver's suits and helmets.
In one corner, the racing shop of the fabled Tommy Hinnershitz has been
recreated with his Miracle Power sprint car as the centerpiece.
In another part of the museum, is a library with many newspaper articles
and photos, featuring racers from the eastern United States.
The highlight of our visit was that two racing
icons were present this day, Tommy Hinnershitz and Lynn Paxton.
We got to visit with them for about an hour and they told many stories of
their racing experiences. What a
delight to meet one on one with these two stars.
We were very much aware of them, but had never seen either race.
Both possess outstanding racing credentials. Tommy raced for thirty years, from 1930 to 1960.
He was seven times Eastern AAA Champion and participated in four
Indianapolis 500 races. He ran his
first race at the Reading Fairgrounds in a 1914 Model T and his last race at the
Allentown Fairgrounds in a USAC sprint car.
Of the records available, Tommy had 103 wins, 92 second and 57 third
place finishes. There were many
more, but record keeping during that era was somewhat primitive and much of the
information was lost. Tommy was one
of those barnstorming racers, who traveled the Fairgrounds circuit, around the
east, through the Midwest and down south. Known as the "Flying Dutchman", Tommy
credits much of his success to his ability to read racetrack surfaces.
He was able to find spots where there was still some good dirt and run
there. This was quite often right
against the fence or at the top of the bank.
A story by the legendary Jud Larson, related as to how he had gone back
east to run and was about this close to the fence, not enough room for a
motorcycle and suddenly Tommy goes by. Tommy
was known as a clean driver. He
said that he didn't want to follow and wait for the driver to slip up and he did
not want to push him out of the way, so he would just drive around the outside. Tommy credits much of his longevity to being his
own car owner. He said if there was
a change he wanted to make on the racer, he didn't have to convince the owner
and crew chief first. He also
related a story about the benefits of running at Indianapolis. The tool companies would give sets of tools to the various
competing teams, so over the years he had built up a pretty significant toolbox.
For the guys campaigning on the bullrings, Tommy was a source of many
tools they didn't have themselves. At
a time when many superstitions were prevalent, Tommy painted all his equipment
GREEN, a big taboo. Many went to
borrow a tool and were taken aback at the color, but many took advantage of
Tommy's Toolbox. He didn't have
much trouble tracking down loaned out tools. In an era when the cars had no roll cages and many
of his peers perished in the sport, Tommy came through with only a few broken
bones and reduced hearing from the years behind those fire-breathing engines.
After his retirement at the age of 48, Tommy served as a mechanic.
In 1964, he tutored one of the rising young rookies on the idiosyncrasies
of running a Dirt Champ Car and how to survive the treacherous Langhorne
Speedway. Mario Andretti says if it
had not been for Tommy's help, he probably would have ended up in the stands
that day. He raced to a ninth place
finish behind some guy named Foyt. Tommy, now in his eighty-fifth year, still attends
numerous racing functions, quite often in the company of Lynn Paxton, a pretty
fair racer who claimed Tommy as his idol. Lynn Paxton grew up around racing as many racers
frequented his father's garage and eventually took him to races as part of their
crew. In 1961, he got his first
seat time in a Mechanics race at Silver Spring Speedway.
He soon succumbed to the urge to be a race driver.
He first ran a '47 Ford coupe in the Hobby division, but in 1963, moved
into a Corvette powered Sportsman and ran against the injected Modifeds at the
Selinsgrove oval. Lynn moved into
the injected modifieds, running against sprint cars and eventually landed a
sprint car ride in the Shorty Emrich car. In
1969, "Scruffy" Allen came in from Florida and teamed with Lynn.
For five years, the two drivers won over 200 features and numerous track
championships. In 1974, Paxton hired Ralph Heintzelman to wrench
the car and they campaigned on the KARS circuit, running Williams Grove,
Selinsgrove and Penn National. They
won the KARS championship and the Selinsgrove and Penn National Track
championships. They also won the
Tuscarora 50 at Port Royal. For the
next couple of years, Lynn drove for Al Hamilton, Maynard Boop and himself.
He still was winning features and track championships. Footnote: Tommy
Hinnershitz passed away in 1999 at the age of eighty-seven. In 1979, he teamed up with wrench Davey Brown Jr.
and engine builder Davey Brown Sr. for a five-year reign.
They picked up 26 feature wins, including three with the World of
Outlaws, Selinsgrove, Williams Grove and KARS championships.
In 1980, 21 features, three with the WOO again and the KARS title.
In 1981, an All Stars feature win and the Williams Grove title. 1982, was seven features and the title at Williams Grove, ten
features and the title at Selinsgrove, two features at Port Royal and the
Williams Grove National Open Trophy. In 1983, Lynn won the Port Royal title and his
second Williams Grove National Open, leading every lap, his 224th career sprint
car feature. He announced his
retirement at age 39. Since that
time, Lynn has occupied his time with his antique auto restoration business.
He has dedicated many hours to The Eastern Museum of Motor Racing, where
Lynn accomplished much of the restoration work on the displayed cars.
It was a pleasure for us fans to visit with two of
the finest race drivers of their time and two very cordial gentlemen.
If you are near the Williams Grove area, make time for a visit to the
Museum. If you should have the
pleasure of meeting Tommy or Lynn, listen carefully, as you will hear some truly
classic tales unfold. I truly
appreciate Lynn Paxton's contributions in the preparation of this story. |
